oil- what brand, type, weight, change intervals

Im just curious as to what brand of oil everyone uses and what weight. Have you noticed any differences in the performance or protection.


I use Mobil 1 synthetic 10w-30. I have used it ever since i built the engine and have sworn by it since. i change it about every 3 seeks reguardless of miles but i useually clock on around 100-150 miles. I had the head off a few times and the top end looks like it was new. I didnt have many miles on it but the car has been run extremely hard and has several dozen quarter mile blasts.

red line 5-30 and 5-20 mix. also use a more custom mix for race day. One thing I don't like about the syn. oil is that it is darker than regular oil to start... oh well it's a trade off...

I was thinking on going to Redline when the car is car is taken off the street. Race oils seem to not like to be heated and cooled constantly so im still considering.

Did you notice a change when you switched to Redline or is the rumor hype about performance gains with different oils.

[Addict]

I use Mobil 1 0w30. I've used it for quite a while now. The idle is real smooth compared to conventional oil. No complaints on my end. If you use your car for daily driving, I would stick to Mobil 1.

I change mine every 1500 miles or so, considering its about $4.50 a quart plus $6 for the filter(Purolator Micro).

I ALso use MObil One.

[2ndGenTeg]

0w30? That's crazy. Just to make sure everybody knows what viscosity is a measure of- pretty much the oil's thickness.

As you would imagine, a thinner oil will cause less resistance to movement. I've seen considerable (5 hp) increases throughout the powerband just from switching from 10 to 5w30.

The bad news? As stated, thinner oil will not stick to your engine's internals as well as a thicker one will. This means that while the car sits not used, it will gradually drain off the pistons, wrist bearings, etc- putting a HUGE amount of stress on the internals upon startup. Bad news. If you live in a fairly consistently "nice" climate, I'd say you could get by with running 5w30. If you live in a consistently hot or cold climate, I'd stick with the 10. I wouldn't recommend running 0w30 consistently.

As for brand vs. brand- everyone I've ever known who REALLY cares about their car runs Mobil1- except for those that run Redline. 90% of the people I know who have run Redline say they quit doing so because they couldn't justify the expense to any sort of realistic advantages on a street car. If it were a race only trailer bitch, sure, they'd run it. But for a daily driver, Mobil1 synthetic is all you need.

Well SaiD.

True that was nicly put. I particularly like the trailer bitch part which is where mine is heading next. I may then try some Redline or something of that nature.

[Addict]

Not sure about the ludes, but the Civics use 5w30 from the factory. I don't about you guys, but I'm in my car driving more than I'm home. So there's no sitting time for my car. The car starts fine without an hesitations. Synthetics stick much better than conventional oils anyhow. Personally, unless its a trailer car, I see no reason not to run it. Just my $.02....

i use castrol 10w30. on my next car im only gonna use mobile 1.

I use Mobil 1 5W-30 Fully Synthetic oil (cali style.. no cold) with a K&N filter. Change every 3000k, takes around 2 months. Previously I had deployed regular Pennzoil 5W-30

Originally posted by 2ndGenTeg
0w30? That's crazy. Just to make sure everybody knows what viscosity is a measure of- pretty much the oil's thickness.

As you would imagine, a thinner oil will cause less resistance to movement. I've seen considerable (5 hp) increases throughout the powerband just from switching from 10 to 5w30.

The bad news? As stated, thinner oil will not stick to your engine's internals as well as a thicker one will. This means that while the car sits not used, it will gradually drain off the pistons, wrist bearings, etc- putting a HUGE amount of stress on the internals upon startup. Bad news. If you live in a fairly consistently "nice" climate, I'd say you could get by with running 5w30. If you live in a consistently hot or cold climate, I'd stick with the 10. I wouldn't recommend running 0w30 consistently.

As for brand vs. brand- everyone I've ever known who REALLY cares about their car runs Mobil1- except for those that run Redline. 90% of the people I know who have run Redline say they quit doing so because they couldn't justify the expense to any sort of realistic advantages on a street car. If it were a race only trailer *****, sure, they'd run it. But for a daily driver, Mobil1 synthetic is all you need.

I think maybe he meant to type 10W-30 instead of 1 0W-30

[Addict]

Originally posted by adam
I think maybe he meant to type 10W-30 instead of 1 0W-30

Nope. I meant 0w30. Its actually meant for extremely hot or cold climates. Read the back of it......

[2ndGenTeg]

The 1 is from Mobil 1.

The idea is that in extremely hot or cold climates, the oil gets thicker. However, starting the engine is more stressful in those climates. As I've already been over, a thinner oil will seep from your internals faster than a thicker one will, making startup even more stressful. I can't recommend 0w30 daily driven under any circumstances.

[Addict]

Well you live in CO so I assume you get your fair share of winter. In Ohio its not much different. The summers are fairly hot and the winters are pretty cold. The car actually seems to run smoother with the 0w30 than the 5w30.

Though I will say I'm not comparing apples to apples. The previous owner used conventional oil from what I could tell and a cheap oil filter(something no one should be cheap on).

I'll admit that I am thinking of switching to a heavier weight synthetic, just for the sake of comparison. But I won't switch from Mobil 1.

I switched to Amsoil 20-50 Racing synthetic when I installed my turbo. Amsoil was the first manufacturer of an automotive synthetic oil, way before Mobil1 (and I'm not knockin Mobil1), and they used technology from jet engine synthetic lubricants. Amsoil's wear test show that they exceed every other brand with Mobil1 on the bottom of the list - http://www.amsoil.com/products/tro.html
The only way you can buy Amsoil is through a rep, sort of like Amway, or direct. I bought a case of the oil direct along with a an oil analysis kit. The case has 4, 1 gallon containers. At first, I thought it was a mistake because it looks like Type F transmission fluid, but I got what I ordered. The oil analysis kit is just a plastic container and a mailing box that you send off to a lab to have your oil analyzed. I am about to send mine in this next week when I change my oil. I will post what kind of results I get. The cost of the oil is about $8.00 a quart and the oil analysis kit is $20.
Another important quality that I like about Amsoil is that you can mix it with other petroleum and synthetic oils. You don't always carry a gallon of Amsoil with you in the event that you need to add a quart.
On viscosity. The whole purpose of a multiviscosity oil is the oil's ability to change it's viscosity to the ambient and engine temperature. For example, a 5w-30 weight will be at a viscosity of 5 when it is super cold outside, those of you that live in Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, etc., and, once the engine warms up, will change to a viscosity of 30w. Consequently, the 5w-30 is good for winter driving but not good for summer driving. I know it gets *** awful hot up North in the summer and a 5w-30 just doesn't cut it in a turbo'd car. Better to go with a 20w-50 or a 10w-40.
On the other hand, in Austin, where we had 3 weeks of 100+ temperatures and where, in the winter, it freezes only once or twice, you could use a 20w-50 year round, and I do.

[Addict]

$8/quart!

Damn that's expensive. I don't think I'm willing to throw that much money into the oil. That test that was shown used 15w30 for Mobil1 and the rest used 20w30. Not to say that would have helped Mobil1 all that much.

Still....
$8/quart

Originally posted by Civic_Addict
$8/quart!

Damn that's expensive. I don't think I'm willing to throw that much money into the oil. That test that was shown used 15w30 for Mobil1 and the rest used 20w30. Not to say that would have helped Mobil1 all that much.

Still....
$8/quart

No, the Mobil1 was 15w-50 and all the rest were 20W-50. It is interesting that the wear test showed Mobil1 on the bottom of the list with Havoline, Valvoline, Castrol, and Quaker State Synthetics beating Mobil1 too.
Another thing to consider is that you should be able to go longer than other synthetics, Mobil 1 included, which, in effect, brings your price down.

Turbo-charged, non-race gasoline engines: drain oil at intervals up to three times longer than those recommended by the engine manufacturer, or six months, whichever comes first.

[BlackDeuceCoupe]

•