Any of you guys have a favorite oil that you've been using? I've got a 2001 BMW 740iL with about 85k on it, and I decided to use the Mobil 1 Full Synthetic 5w-30 rather than the BMW-Castrol Synth. The full nine quart purchase is expensive, but since it's synthetic, I can go around 10k miles before a change. It's been running fine on it, but I'd like to stretch out the life of this engine as long as I can, since it'll have to last me through grad school (got about five years left.) I do plan on staying with synthetic, but that's about the only allegiance I have as far as oil goes.

Now, I've read that some people really like Royal Purple or Amsoil, but I've never used any of it. I've also heard one mechanic gripe that he's heard some cars make a whole lot more noise on Mobil 1 than the others.

I ran Mobile 1 10w-30 in my '94 chevy pickup. I sold the truck 4 months ago with 260,000 miles on it and it still ran great, started on the first crank, idled smooth, and ran strong. The truck made it through 200K miles of highschool/college kid with lots of towing miles. It made me a believer in synthetic.

matt

I have run Mobil 1 in all my vehicles for years now. I'm in the energy business and saw a report done by Chevron's lab guys that said Mobil 1 was far superior to any other synthetic or conventional motor oil on the market. This was about 10 or 12 years ago. Mobil one maintains it's viscosity until ~90,000 miles. Theoretically, you could run it that long if you simply changed filters and topped off your oil once every month or two.

I change mine every 5,000 miles because I'm just that way with vehicle maint. However, a gentleman who is a master mechaninc told me I should run that oil for at least 9,000 miles between changes or I'm wasting my money. He also told me that Mobil one was always the very best until Royal Purple Synthetic came along. He told me tests indicate RPS is far superior to Mobil 1, fwiw.

stick with mobil 1. especially since your engine is already used to it.

You can't go wrong with Mobile 1 For that matter any name brand oil is good oil, However some of it is overpriced and i tend to avoid them. All of this is just my opinion!!!!

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/ is by far the best site on the internet for information on any oil. They debate oil over there like fishermen debate reel brands.

I have ran Mobil 1 in my '92 GMC truck, purchased new, to date.

Zero problems with the engine........ZERO.

Since my dealer has a buy it here get oil changes cheap for life and it only costs $15, I run what he puts in and change every 3000 miles in my Duramax.

In my Jeep Liberty CRD I use Mobile 1 and change every 6250 miles.

I just try to stay away from the PA parrafin based oils. I use regular Castrol and change every 5k.

I went ahead and used the Mobil 1. The only oil that could have lured me away was Royal Purple, and the price of it drove me away. I did find it (today, I did the oil change on Sunday) when I had to go to Napa to pick up the valve cover stud that i'd broken when putting the covers back on () , for only eight dollars a quart. That's about what I paid for the Mobil 1.

As far as I know, the car has only had the BMW Castrol (when the previous owner had the dealership service it ($$$), and Mobil 1 in the three years I've owned it, and the inside of the valve covers looked pretty good for 85k miles. I went ahead and cleaned them anyway. The (once) silver paint looks pretty terrible on the outside of the cover, but there's no way i'm pulling those covers again unless there's a catastrophe.

If you are going to continue to run moble 1 I would start buying it at walmart. You can buy a 5 quart jug for 22 bucks or so, or at least i did for a bunch of years till I sold my old truck. Thats like 4.40 a quart, makes it alot easier on the wallet and your mind.

matt

I'm using Pennzoil Platinum 5w20.
Tried RP before in my Suburban and the motor blew at 32000 didn't think any thing about it. Used it on the crate motor, had issues thought it was a coincidence. A couple issues with my new truck and RP products. I wouldn't put RP in my lawn mower.

Valvoline 5w30

Here is what one set of tests said:

http://www.performanceoilnews.com/oils_against_oils.shtml

That said, many moons ago when I first got out of college I worked for an independent oil blending company and boy was I surprised the first day I went to work and found several major brands of oil that were actually blended by this one company.
Interestingly, these several different major motor oils were all blended using the exact same API standards, so in effect the only difference between major motor oil brands was the can.

For the additional price of synthetic oil, when you run a car under normal conditions, there is no cost savings or real benefit in using synthetic. A dealer is not going to give you more money on a trade in just because you've been using synthetic oil. My advice is to change your oil regularly using a good premium oil, after all the real difference in oils is the additives, and even then, most premium oil brands use the same brand of additive.

castrol 5-20 in my new ford, thats the only oil i use.