Recommended Oil, brand and weight? Reg. or Synthetic?

[roadhog0]

I've run Castrol 20w50 Dino, Redline 20w50, Kendall 20w50, and AMSOIL 20w50 (current) and have not really come to a verdict on any of them. I have 80,000 miles on my 02 and I burn (or leak out) darn near a quart every 500-1000 miles. The AMSOIL is nice but 10 bucks a quart it aint cheap...

[02Les]

FWIW, here's pic of what BMW recommended back in day dependant on your climate (stock motor).

[Zorac]

i look for something with a good amount of zinc. currently using shell rotella t6 5w40

[jimk]

Some info on effects of zinc can be found here:

https://www.amsoil.com/technical_service_bulletins.aspx#motoroil

Select Motor oil and third from the bottom in that category is this Technical Service Bulletin.

Flat Tappet and Camshaft Lobe Lubrication

Values for the various z-rod oil weights can be found in the data bulletin for each weight.

[Guest Anonymous]

I recommend to buy oil that is not made by a gasoline producer. Oil to them is an after thought (I got this from a lubrication engineer). Second heavier weight oils 20-50 for example normally have higher zinc content than the lower weight oils as the GOVERNMENT exempted them from the smog stuff as they are mostly used in heavier vehicles like trucks. Third Try to stay away from multi viscosity oils that claim to have a range of 30 or more like 5W40 since to achieve this the additive package is very biased to get the the range and shorts the additives you want for a good oil.

I use 15w40 full synthetic then augment the zinc with a pint of STP.

Have fun

[dlhoovler]

Like Mike Self's '69, my family 2002 has run Pennzoil since new, so I've kept up the habit simply since it seems wrong to break the run. Usually 20w50, though I would use 10w40 in cold weather back when it regularly saw late fall/early spring driving.

And I've used mostly Purolator filters for the 10 years I've owned it; no issues there.

-Dave

[MrSharky]

Maybe controversial here, but has anyone got insight on the cheap-o stuff you can get at Walmart? You can get a 5 quart jug of "Supertech" 20W50 for like 19 bucks. A search a while back led me to believe that it was probably made by Quaker State (I believe it was QS, could have been Pennzoil). My thought was that there probably aren't too many places actually producing motor oil, and that this stuff was just bottled in bulk and sold off to WalMart, as they quest to dominate the world. Anyway, at that price you can change it every 300 miles.

Thoughts??

Matt

[GreenSwede]

Maybe controversial here, but has anyone got insight on the cheap-o stuff you can get at Walmart? You can get a 5 quart jug of "Supertech" 20W50 for like 19 bucks. A search a while back led me to believe that it was probably made by Quaker State (I believe it was QS, could have been Pennzoil). My thought was that there probably aren't too many places actually producing motor oil, and that this stuff was just bottled in bulk and sold off to WalMart, as they quest to dominate the world. Anyway, at that price you can change it every 300 miles.

Thoughts??

Matt

I don´t know for sure, but personally I would not pour Pennzoil or Quaker State in my car. Got a bad feeling and heard to much bad about them.

But, I have no facts. Just hints and hunches.

The Taiga now, since rebuild, runs on Valvoline VR1 10w-60, which I believe has an even higher level of ZDDP than the VR1 20w-50. And is synthetic fortified.

(I sell Valvoline at work, and was recommended the 10w-60 by a trusted technician of theirs. Especially if I was going to "let it run". And if it´s ok for the 1000 bhp Koenigsegg, it´s good enough for my taiga=)

http://valvoline.se/images/products/VR1-Racing-10W-60_025-07b.pdf

[hnichols]

If you live in a snow state and you properly store your car every winter, you're probably already changing your oil frequently enough to eliminate the main advantage of the synthetic. And since you're not driving in really cold weather, you can go with a heavier oil like 20W-50.

As for using one of the high zinc content brands like Brad Penn or Amsoil, one argument is that even if you spend $5-$6 more per quart, it's only about $20 more per oil change which is not much (compare that with the 10 or so quarts for an old Porsche) -- even if the difference in engine life is only on paper.