When you have found the right combo

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Well it's nice when you stumble upon a very good oil and filter combo for a car. For the lady's Camry it was the Motorcraft synthetic blend and Wix filter. I have run PYB, Pennzoil Gold, and Havoline in it. The quietest it's run has been with the Motorcraft by a wide margin. It surprised me a good bit the sound difference between the Motorcraft and the other oils I had run in it.

The Altima has run very good with the Havoline Pro DS 5w30. Runs has quiet has the Castrol gold bottle 5w30, Castrol 0w30, and Pennzoil Ultra. I am very pleased that I can usually find the Havoline on sale as well.

I don't believe there's anything at all wrong with running whatever is in sale. That line of rolling with maintaining one's vehicles is fine due to the fact there are so many good products to choose from. I am not against trying another oil that would happen to be on a good sale. I haven't run Valvoline or Quaker State Ultimate Durability, Formula Shell, Kendall semi synthetic, yet in my car. So, I may well give them a try as well. But I have discovered 3 oils that work very well in my car with Mobil Super Synthetic a good choice 4th choice as well.

My old Nissan Sentra saw nothing but Castrol Syntec 5w30 in it for over 120k miles. My Ford Fusion saw Valvoline Synpower and Castrol gold bottle 5w30 about 50/50% of its 70k miles. It's interesting to try different oils in my car. And it's good to find ones that do very well. It's not a one size fits all affair when it comes to this for all the different cars and trucks. What works well in one application may not do so well in another. Not that any major harm would be done by running a in specification oil in a particular vehicle. It's just another product may perform just a bit better than another at times. As an interesting side note a guy on the 350Z site did a lot of work compiling UOAs regarding the VQ 3.5 motors. And some oils did a bit "better" than others.
 
I'll go for quiet as a good indicator anytime
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My Camaro had M1 and AC Delco for it's first few oil changes by the dealer but it just never felt "right". But this speak was blasphemous for my Vette and Camaro buddies.

I came here and heard about Pennzoil Platinum and looked into it more and it just kept looking better and better the deeper I looked into it.

Made the switch this past OCI and right from the first start up I could just feel the difference. Quiet, smooth, and just felt like the car woke up.

I've stuck with the AC Delco PF 48 filters, but I'm wondering about trying out some other ones, since it just seems small to be on that big of an engine.
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I wonder if many people could reliably tell one brand of oil from another from lustening inside the car in a blind test? I'm pretty darn sure you can't hear a filter difference at speed.
 
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Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
I wonder if many people could reliably tell one brand of oil from another from lustening inside the car in a blind test? I'm pretty darn sure you can't hear a filter difference at speed.


Good point, but I buy into the idea myself. My old Volvo has 289k miles and bad compression after it was two of my kids first cars. After I got it back it leaked pretty badly and rattled. When I put in 20w50 you couldn't even tell if the car was running (actually got that comment a few times).

My Buick likes thin oils tho. I think most of it has to do with the fact that your taking out oil with many miles and replacing it with fresh new oil tho.
 
Well with the Camry and the difference between the Pennzoil and Havoline and the Motorcraft I would say yes. It surprised me quite a bit. Now with my Altima 3.5 and say Mobil Super Synthetic and say Castrol gold bottle... maybe not. Wasn't a very big difference between these two.
 
Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
I wonder if many people could reliably tell one brand of oil from another from lustening inside the car in a blind test? I'm pretty darn sure you can't hear a filter difference at speed.


No kidding. Lets say that on average the oil is changed every six months. How can you claim to change your oil, start it up and so oh yea... That sounds so much better than it did 6 months ago with Brand X 0w-30. Runs so much better. It 'likes' it. I've been driving and changing oil every 2-3 months for 25 years, have superb hearing, and never once thought 'hmm that sounds a little different than last time.' If you ask me, such thoughts are approaching insanity.
 
My 4Runner at 155K on Red Line 0w-30 does not move one bit on the dipstick between oil changes at 5-10K miles with the Mobil 1 M1-209 filter every other oil change. This is with a lot of heavy off road towing and bumpy dirt roads and a lot of up and down hills. The V8 engine runs like it's just broken in and ready to start its service life. I know for sure that I could get oil a lot cheaper but I'm sticking with something that's familiar and that works.

Last year in the desert at 110F with the A/C going full blast with 4 people and 4 dogs, I towed a 6K pound trailer on a sandy, bumpy road for over 50 miles, almost never getting over 25 miles an hour sometimes near full throttle for over 3 hours and the level on the dip stick did not move enough to measure. I'd say the oil was doing a good job along with the Red Line D4 in the tranny.

You're right, there are combinations that just work.

By the way bbhero, how's things going. I haven't heard from you in a while. Sounds like you're still kicking.
 
I don't really notice much of a difference in sound with other oils, but with my current fill of PP in my Camry currently, I'll try to pay more attention since it's getting closer to be due for an oil change (7,500 miles). Next fill is Mobil 1 EP.
 
Yeah I'm kicking pretty good Oneyejack:)

I finally got a new job that has worked out very well. Good pay and only 5 minutes down the road to boot. I have been very fortunate and blessed to be working there with some great co workers and residents/patients.

But yeah I would have 0 hesitation telling anyone that the motor sound difference with the Motorcraft versus the other oils was quite a bit. It was very surprising to me.
 
Well let's try to put it this way.... I used to pay 0 attention to anything to do with my cars when I was in my teens and early 20s. My step father who couldn't hear the greatest stopped me one time and said, " well your car sounds rather loud". It was 2 quarts low on oil in a car that had a 4.5 qt capacity. Noise does matter at times. In fact just last year when I borrowed my step father's Toyota Avalon I noticed it sounded louder than I remember it when I drove it 2 years earlier. And guess what... it was 2 quarts low on oil.

Many oils may have 0 or no difference between how they sound when running as well. Which I would agree on that point. But there are times there is a difference that is noticeable. And can be very noticeable as was the case in the Camry.
 
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Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
I'll go for quiet as a good indicator anytime
smile.gif



I'm glad that I'm not the only one thinking like that.

It's amazing how people underestimate their senses, alltogether the sound and vibration perceptions is an incredible diagnosis tool.

I think that:
- An engine that's running smooth and quiet, that revs up fast and smoothly has the right oil & filter.
- An engine running rough & noisy , with painfull acceleration and fast decelerating once you lift your right foot, has an inapropriate oil or filter.

In small, low-powered engines those characteristics are way more obvious.

My best combo: Shell Helix Ultra 5w40 GTL + Mann Filter

Here in Europe we have plenty of fine oils that are running smooth in my engines; the goal is to find the one with the longer "smoothness & quietness" feeling. Most of oils I used start getting rough & noisy at 6-8 000 km; SHU GTL changes sound and feeling at 11 000; very impressive!
 
The Mobil 1 EP 0W-20 runs so much better in my Mazda than the OEM oil, and the engine sounds much less ticky/clacky when cold or hot running it. I notice no change in engine noise over 7500mi, and zero oil consumption.

The first three oil changes I used the OE Mazda Moly oil thinking it would be better, but I lost a quart between changes and the engine would be noisy at idle in the garage after it had warmed up. I think the reason is the Mobil 1 0W-20 is slightly thicker than the Mazda OE oil, so it ends up being more "in grade" when hot and used. Just my best guess for engine noise patterns.
 
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