What oil do you use?

[ryanprins13]

Conventional or synthetic, either one, doesn't matter to me.

I'm split with trip distance. Half of my trips are about 6 miles. 55mph almost the whole trip. On the other hand, I have plenty of trips that are a good 20 miles, or about 25 minutes of driving, mostly highway.

I'll check out that website you included.

Couldn't tell ya about the asterisks.

Then i would suggest picking syn or conv based only on how often you want to change your oil. Then pick either cheap and more frequent changes or expensive and less frequent changes in either category. Then look at what oils in that category you choose are.
Your trips are fine for burning off water, its just people who only do short town trips that really need to think about that.
When looking at that website its easiest to search it using google. Just search in google what you want and constrain it to that website.

My personal recommendations would be amsoil or mobile one for best synthetic.
Whatever is on sale the cheapest regularly for cheap synthetic.
I honestly dont know for best conventional oil, i never would consider doing that so ive never looked into that.
Then for cheapest conventional just whatever regularly goes on sale cheap that is not a house brand like no name oil from the grocery store.
Reason i say regularly for it all is that switching weights of oil in the same brand is fine (5w30 to 10w30) but switching brands all the time is harder on your motor because the different additive packages react with each other.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TWFodor]

Then i would suggest picking syn or conv based only on how often you want to change your oil. Then pick either cheap and more frequent changes or expensive and less frequent changes in either category. Then look at what oils in that category you choose are.
Your trips are fine for burning off water, its just people who only do short town trips that really need to think about that.
When looking at that website its easiest to search it using google. Just search in google what you want and constrain it to that website.

My personal recommendations would be amsoil or mobile one for best synthetic.
Whatever is on sale the cheapest regularly for cheap synthetic.
I honestly dont know for best conventional oil, i never would consider doing that so ive never looked into that.
Then for cheapest conventional just whatever regularly goes on sale cheap that is not a house brand like no name oil from the grocery store.
Reason i say regularly for it all is that switching weights of oil in the same brand is fine (5w30 to 10w30) but switching brands all the time is harder on your motor because the different additive packages react with each other.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the help. I appreciate it

[navdoc101]

Would you mind clarifying what you said so people aren't confused?
Wouldn't want people thinking 50weight and 0w16 are the same at 212f or that the additives are all the same in any oil.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just read www.bobistheoilguy.com , Motor Oil University, Motor Oil 101, & 102 at least under Articals.
Great education rear all of Motor Oil University.

[Eaglefreek]

As I've mentioned in other oil threads that pop up, I've had many cars over the years and not one has suffered an engine failure due to oil issues. In my opinion, as long as the recommended oil weight is used and the oil and filter are changed on a regular basis 3-5k miles, oil brand and synthetic or conventional isn't important.

[sketchman]

This is mostly conjecture without oil analysis printouts scanned in and posted.

There is a guy on here that has a rig that he's only changed the filter on for many thousands of miles now without apparent adverse effects. And others religiously change the oil and filter all the time and again without "proof" you have no way of knowing whether or not what you're doing is worth it. Just like the guys who use Super Wonder Juice in the oil and claim it does super wonders because they haven't had a failure. It's a negative argument.

But if you want experience, I've used every weight of engine oil I've ever found at Wal-Mart and several different brands. I've had quite a few cars now too, and some got religious maint and some didn't. So then add all the above posts up and you'll see there is no definitive answer.

Use the thin runny kind that comes in plastic containers, and keep it clean.

[Eaglefreek]

This is mostly conjecture without oil analysis printouts scanned in and posted.

There is a guy on here that has a rig that he's only changed the filter on for many thousands of miles now without apparent adverse effects. And others religiously change the oil and filter all the time and again without "proof" you have no way of knowing whether or not what you're doing is worth it. Just like the guys who use Super Wonder Juice in the oil and claim it does super wonders because they haven't had a failure. It's a negative argument.

But if you want experience, I've used every weight of engine oil I've ever found at Wal-Mart and several different brands. I've had quite a few cars now too, and some got religious maint and some didn't. So then add all the above posts up and you'll see there is no definitive answer.

Use the thin runny kind that comes in plastic containers, and keep it clean.

I had a 77 Mustang II with a 302 for a couple years and I never changed the oil. It would leak oil so I would just add oil, but I wouldn't add new oil, I would add used oil that was drained from a delivery truck at work. I wrecked it a gave it to a buddy. He said when he took the engine apart, it looked brand new inside.

[sketchman]

^Haha. I've heard other stories like that too. Friend of mine who's probably 70 now said once he had a car they called Smokey for obvious reasons. Never remembered changing the oil, and it just kept going.

[Stinsin63]

I worked in a bus garage in the early 80's and there was a mechanic with a 1970 Monte Carlo. He only added used bus oil to that car and never changed the filter. He drove that thing for many years until it almost rusted in half. I believe the drums of oil were marked Phillips 66.

[nitrofarm]

If you really want to read some good BS :sad3: Start a "What Kind of Oil thread".

[Bert]

Wow! Here's a thread that lit up. You can't go wrong with synthetic oil (infinitely reduced wear upon start up, doesn't break down nor dry out seals and gaskets) and since you've decided to do an oil change yourself you can splurge on materials cost since labour costs are no longer an issue. The first number on a can of oil is the viscosity of a freezing temperature product (ie 5) and this is followed by a W and the viscosity of the product at boiling temperature (ie 30). When your motor is old and blowing a bit of smoke and compression is down then overall thicker oil is what you want. I made the mistake of running 0W20 synthetic in a Festy engine (during a -30 cold snap) years ago and discovered that vintage B3 engines don't tolerate that stuff (motor clattered incessantly) once the outside temperature went back up slightly again. The thinner the oil the better the fuel economy but everything is a trade off against age and temperature. 10W30 or 10W40 is a pretty safe bet and you can always change your mind 5000 mi or 6 months from now when the next change comes up.

[Dragonhealer]

Just WoW.
My 2 cents over more engines than anyone should see the inside of in their life. From new, the B series likes 10W-30 in medium and hot climates, 5W-30 in cold, any top shelf conventional oil for the first 12000 miles. Do not use oils with zinc unless you used racing bearings, but these engines won't benefit from zinc anyway. Do not switch to synthetic until the engine is ready for it ( A whole nuther discussion! )' call it 12000 miles. More important than the oil brand (except the viscosity, which is key!) is the oil filter, the oil filter, the oil filter!!! There are 3 oil filters only that we will use: Factory Mazda made in Japan (not the -9A, those are just "authorized"), Factory Ford Motorcraft, and in a pinch Wix. Besides the filtering properties, the filter sets the bypass pressure!
When your annual oil pressure test shows full hot oil pressure at 4000rpm is below 47psi, switch to 10W-40 or 15W-40 or replace your bearings, (but if your crank wasn't plasma nitrided, it will probably need regrinding too).
Full race set-ups can't really be discussed, too many variables and I am typing challenged!

[sketchman]

A lot of things become apparent when you know more about what goes on inside. I watched a tech talk DVD with a Chrysler engineer where he got all anal about everything. The reality is the engines survive in spite of what we do to them.

I'm not dissing anyone's experience. Please don't take it that way. But it just seems that reality differs from predicted outcome on MANY occasions. I mean from the motor oil university you'd think that ANY oil would destroy an engine based on the fact that the thickness is all over the place instead of being right where it "needs" to be to lubricate properly, but the engine lives anyway.

FWIW I've had nearly a 6 pack at his point, and anything I say is not my fault.

[Dragonhealer]

Cheers!ccasion5:ccasion5:
FWIW More than half the B series engines I have torn down that died of lubrication issues had a Fram oil filter on them. Good marketing? or poor filter? Other than that, they can take about anything, even running them out of coolant while towing a trailer with car on it up a mountain grade............No, not me, surely!

[rickbz28]

Cheers!ccasion5:ccasion5:
FWIW More than half the B series engines I have torn down that died of lubrication issues had a Fram oil filter on them. Good marketing? or poor filter? Other than that, they can take about anything, even running them out of coolant while towing a trailer with car on it up a mountain grade............No, not me, surely!

Funny you should say that about Fram filters.My 90 Festiva with over 650,000 miles has only had Fram oil filters on it since I bought it with 98,000 miles.They aren't the regular Fram cheapos though.My 95 Aspire with over 450,000 miles has also had only Fram oil filters since I bought it with just over 100,000 miles.Again not the cheapos though.I did switch to a K+N filter the last oil change just to check it out.The Festiva does smoke a little on startup when its been not run in a while.The Aspire has absolutely no smoke or burns no oil.

[i218127]

Oil and Filters

I see a posting about oil filters. The post lists only three (3) filters that are qualified as good. A genuine Mazda filter, a motorcraft and a WIX. Got me to thinking. Where can you buy a genuine MAZDA B3 filter ?? Which Ford filter, and which WIX?? On Rock Auto there is only one Ford filter, I expect this is the one that's recommended. There seems to be two (2) WIXs filters, a cheap one and one more expensive, and I can't find a genuine Mazda filter anywhere. Oil pressure is a key factor in engine performance. Good constant pressure is essential. I always used FRAM or whatever they had at the oil change place. This seems to be a mistake. Along with a good quality oil, a quality filter that does not hold down pressure and traps the greatest amount of dirt is the ticket. Recommendations for the best filters for hard running with frequent oil changes ??