Synthetic Motor Oil

[hypervish]

What type of synthetic motor oil would you guys recommend? I have the 3.8L. I'm just curious cause I will hopefully be changing my oil soon (waiting on the weather) and wanted to try something new.

[Jeepman]

Firstly, "synthetic motor oil" may not be all that "synthetic". They are basically high quality mineral oils using Group III base oils.

Group III base stocks are considered synthetic motor oil ONLY in the United States.

Ture synthetics, per European standards, are from Group IV base stocks.

The motor oil called for in your Owner Manual, in a Group II, Group III, or Group IV base stock, or a blend thereof, will work, depending of how much you want to pay.

Looking at the Castrol line up:
- Castrol Edge provides 8 times better wear protection than Mobil 1 5W-30, so they say.

Castrol EDGE. Unsurpassed engine wear protection from the technology leader in motor oil.
Castrol EDGE’s is an advanced synthetic that offers unsurpassed engine wear protection that no leading synthetic can beat and is guaranteed to protect your engine for up to 15,000 miles, or one year, whichever comes first.*

- Castrol Syntec sounds great as well.

Oil and filter Manufacturers, for the most part, like to keep you in the dark about the finer details of their products while they say how great they are and how much better they are. NONE, ABSOLUTELY NONE, OF THEM ARE TO BE TRUSTED WHILE THEY KEEP YOU IN THE DARK (NOT TRANSPARENT) ABOUT THEIR PRODUCTS AND DELUDE YOU WITH "THEIR GREATNESS".

Personally I stick with conventional oils and frequent oil changes (5,000 to 8,000 kilometers). Some reasons for that are:
- to not carry the contaminants forming in the oil around for extended periods of time,
- to not carry possible bad batches of oil*** around for extended periods of time;
- to grease, apply rust inhibitor whereever needed and check the underside of the vehicle out frequently.

If going to synthetic I would use whatever is on sale in the 5W-20/30 or 10W-30 grades, probably the Wal-Mart house brand providing it has the API Starburst Symbol.

If going for the fancy stuff, I would go for the German Castrol 0W-30 (says German on the container) as that oil comes highly recommended by many and is available locally.

Shipo has extensive experience with Mobil 1 synthetics and Jason has extensive experience with Castrol synthetics. They will likely respond to your Post.

***Valvoline publically challenged Mobil as to their oil meeting API Standards per this site.

For those that took the time to read the Q&A sheet that accompanied Valvoline's letter (see link below), Valvoline turned up the heat even more by saying " Mobil 1 5W-30 DOES NOT MEET the most basic API SM or ILSAC GF-4 specifications. That means Mobil 1 5W-30 cannot meet basic GM, Ford, Chrysler or Honda specifications."

Ouch! That's certainly a serious claim, and one that Thomas R. Smith, Technical Director of Valvoline Lubricants told JobbersWorld he stands behind. According to Smith, Ashland made ExxonMobil aware of this issue in September and as of December 11th, "ExxonMobil has been silent."

But whereas ExxonMobil apparently has not responded directly to Ashland, they did respond to JobbersWorld's request for a comment. So here it is, ExxonMobil's response to the press:

"We would like you to know that while we are aware of Valvoline's assertions, ExxonMobil stands behind the quality of Mobil 1 and all of our lubes products. ExxonMobil's GF 4 licenses for all product lines are valid."

Sounds like ExxonMobil were caught with "their pants on the ground".

Discussions on motor oils can go on forever. Here's a discussion from BITOG that may interest you.

[shipo]

What type of synthetic motor oil would you guys recommend? I have the 3.8L. I'm just curious cause I will hopefully be changing my oil soon (waiting on the weather) and wanted to try something new.

I've run Mobil 1 0W-40 year-round in all three of our 3.8s; the UOAs come back showing stellar results, even after 10,000 miles, and the engines run extremely well and return fuel economy well above the EPA estimates. What's not to like.

FWIW, I completely discount the Castrol and Valvoline marketing bilge. Why? Due to the above mentioned Used Oil Analysis results, Mobil 1 0W-40 comes back with lower wear metals after 10,000 miles than the Blackstone Labs "Universal Averages" which are only for about 3,700 miles. If Mobil 1 was as bad as the marketing literature is trying to indicate, my engines would have been toast years ago.

[jrprich]

I always run Mobil 1 in my Vette and MINI.........haven't tried it in the T&C as yet.

You can get it in 5 Qt jugs at Walmart or by the case at COSTCO at good prices

[jgbat]

I run Mobil 1 Fully Synthetic and also use the Mobil oil filter. 10w/30 in the 03, and 5w/20 in the 07.

[john1944]

I am on my last few miles of GC 0W-30 in my 2003 3.3l engine with 191000 miles. My van sits outside in the Minnesota winter without a block heater. The GC 0W-30 has been very good in starting below zero. The engine runs very smooth and quiet at idle. What I don't like about it is a perceived drag on acceleration and a somewhat lower gas mileage. I am finally going to try shipo's suggestion and try Mobil 1 0W-40. I'll see if I can divine a difference between the two oils.

John

[Chrysler1924]

Run Mobil 1 0W-40 Fully Synthetic in both my 1996 and 2000 Chrysler Town & Country.

Gotta watch the filter though, might get a slight engine tick depending on the anti-drainback valve. Motocraft FL-1A!

[andyg]

I've never had the lifter tick in mine and I've used pretty much every brand of cheap filters.

[F BULLDOG]

Pennzoil Platinum Synthetic 5W30, filter FL-1A Motorcraft.

[shipo]

I've never had the lifter tick in mine and I've used pretty much every brand of cheap filters.

Funny thing, when I changed the oil on our "new" 1998, I noticed that the engine side filter mount was very-VERY different from the one on our "old" 1998. I wonder if this explains why some vans seem to be very sensitive to the filter and others seem as they could care less.