What's the quietest motor oil I can use?

[minicar]

I learnt that the quietness depends on the motor/oil combination and not on the oil alone. That said, the following order in 5W-30 synthetic flavor seem to reflect the collective opinion on most to least quietness on different motors.
1) Amsoil / Pennzoil
2) Castrol / Valvoline
3) Mobil 1

 

[Jaymus]

I think it depends on the vehicle. For instance, I've noticed in the many 4.6 Mustangs in my family, (2v, 3v), PP 5W-30 and 5W-20 make them quiet. In the 600 RWHP S/C Cobra (4v), Rotella 5W-40 makes it quiet. Same for my 5.0 EFI F150. Rotella 5W-40 in, for instance, my grandmother's 2000 Buick LeSabre (3800 II), gave it a ticking noise, but PP 5W-30 made it quiet, again... zero ticking.

It depends on the engine, then the weight, then the oil. One brand of oil may make an engine quiet, but then if you change the weight to something too thick or thin, you may hear a little noise.

 

[afoulk]

I've tryed vwb, maxlife, synpower, pyb, qsud, and pp in my scion, and pub seems to be the best at keeping my valvetrain quiet. Maxlife did a good job too, but it started getting noiser about 4000 miles into my oci. I'm going to give castrol edge gold bottle a try next, or possibly synthetic maxlife since my WalMart started carrying it now. I do have piston slap when cold as well, and no oil I've tryed has seemed to make a difference there. I've tryed 5w20,0w20,5w30, and 10w30 in most of the oils I tryed and can't really say that changing viscosity made a difference.

 

[Lex94]

If anyone wants to go a questing for the quietest oil, I encourage you to start with PYB 10w30 as your baseline. I have been thru at least 20 oils in the last few months and in 5w20, 5w30, and 10w30 varieties...PYB 10w30 was the best.

 

[KCJeep]

Originally Posted By: Lex94
If anyone wants to go a questing for the quietest oil, I encourage you to start with PYB 10w30 as your baseline. I have been thru at least 20 oils in the last few months and in 5w20, 5w30, and 10w30 varieties...PYB 10w30 was the best.


I believe it, I've been through countless oils in my Jeep and have yet to find one as quiet as PYB in it, although several ran quiet none could quite match the PYB.

 

[Nickdfresh]

I never hear my motor oils, they're all very quiet, shy and introverted...

 

[cheesepuffs]

I literally just switched from PYB to QSGB today after switching from VWB to PYB. Valvoline was noisy, PYB noticeably quieter, and now QSGB even much quieter than that. I can barely hear my engine run now from the drivers seat and thats saying a lot for my old small block Chevy. Try conventional Quaker State, its on the cheaper side too.

 

[Mark72]

Oil that is inside the bottle is the quietest

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: rikstaker
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
If you have a noise problem, you might want to stay away from synthetics for awhile. I don't what it is about synthetics, but if someone is having a noise problem, they're usually using a synthetic of some kind. Either that or they're using an oil too thin for the application.


I feel one can go a grade up with synthetics within the allowed range of course.Look at the 5w30s from sopus:qsud ultra and platinum are all almost as light as dino 5w20s at 40c and almost as light as a thick 20grade like redline 0w20.


I agree. Synthetic oils seem to act thinner than the grade they're labelled as.

 

[stranger706]

The oils I've used that consistently seem to quiet down an engine are Shell Rotella T6, PP/PU, and M1EP.

This is over several makes/models of vehicles.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: rikstaker
I feel one can go a grade up with synthetics within the allowed range of course.Look at the 5w30s from sopus:qsud ultra and platinum are all almost as light as dino 5w20s at 40c and almost as light as a thick 20grade like redline 0w20.

I agree. Synthetic oils seem to act thinner than the grade they're labelled as.

We also must not discount HTHS. Just because the KV40 and KV100 are a little different doesn't necessarily translate into having an oil that's really thinner at operating temperatures.