Mods, if this slips into debate, feel free to move.
I have a new car and I will be changing the oil every 5K miles with synthoil. I was thinking of using Pennzoil Platinum but Valvoline apparently gives less wear and better sludge cleaning. PP has its own set of advantages over Valvoline so which is better? And of course I could just go with Amsoil. But it started me thinking, if I’m using any decent synthetic oil and changing it out every 5000 miles, does it really make a difference which one I use: Pennzoil, Amsoil, Castrol, Mobil1, Valvoline, Royal Purple, etc.? Do those differences only show up if I leave it in for 7500 - 10,000 miles? If not, what are the most important factors to consider?
And feel free to give your opinion on what oil I should use. 2023 Highlander Hybrid using 0W-16.
I remember hearing a long time ago that pretty much any oil that has that “American Petroleum Institute Certified for Gasoline Engines” seal on it will be perfectly fine.
As long as the oil is for a gasoline engine and it meets whatever your vehicle’s manufacturer recommended API standards and weight, you’ll be fine. You can run name brand or store brand and not see an issue.
The biggest difference maker is conventional vs semi-synthetic / blended vs full synthetic oils.
At 5000 mile changes, you’re doing fine with conventionals and even better with a blend. When I was in the rental industry, we ran cars out to 7000 miles on a conventional oil without any issue.
Where the synthetic makes a difference is at the 0w end, I’m not even sure you can make a 0w straight conventional oil. Manufacturers are moving to very light oils as it helps them meet fuel economy requirements and synthetics hold up much better in those conditions.
Full synthetics (like Mobil 1) are interesting creatures. When I was working in the industry in the 90’s, we were still advertising Mobil 1 as a 25000 mile oil. However, the smaller print required filter changes every 5000 miles or at the recommended oil change interval of the vehicle manufacturer. (At the time, Mobil 1 was about 3-4 times the price of a conventional oil, so long run you were saving money on oil despite the higher up front cost.) After having consumer complaints where folks had ruined engines by driving 25k miles without changing the filter, the recommendation was changed back to intervals that follow the manufacturer’s schedule.
I have been using nothing but Mobil 1 since the early 90’s. The only engine issue I have had was a blown head gasket in a 2006 Chevy Equinox, this was a known issue with them and was not lubrication related. I was given 5 quarts of Royal Purple once and put that in my wife’s car, it didn’t use a drop of oil for the 6,000 or so miles it was in. I just have a hard time with the cost. In a couple weeks my wife and I are pulling our travel trailer from Washington to Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and Oregon for a 6 week trip. I paid a bit more for the Mobil 1 Extended Performance oil that I will install before we leave. I also have every other fluid in my truck changed last week so I don’t anticipate any problems.
As long as you use the oils that meet the specs for your particular vehicle, chances are your engine will outlast the rest of the car. Which not incidentally, is probably somewhere north of 200,000 miles these days.
That said, if you go onto enthusiast websites like the “Bobistheoilguy.com” forums, you’ll find a wealth of information about the minutiae of individual oils- basestocks, additives, HTHS values, and so forth, which those folks use to try to divine which oils are better than others. Those wonks go so far as to have the industrial-style oil analysis done for their vehicles, so they can try and divine which oil works better. But even there, it’s often inconclusive because often poor engine designs cause more issues on the analyses than the different types of oil do.
I maintain that even if you did actually find one that was noticeably better, you’re only going to see it in the edge cases- extreme performance driving, extreme mileage, extreme environmental conditions (like N. Dakota winters). And even then, it’ll be extremely hard to attribute any longevity to any specific oil. You’d have to somehow tease out what was oil, what was things like engine build quality, and so on, and you’d also have to keep the same oil the entire run of the vehicle- as many as 40 or more oil changes.
I think it ultimately doesn’t really matter for the vast majority of drivers in the vast majority of driving situations. Using super-duper Pennzoil Platinum isn’t going to be noticeably better or worse than using SuperTech from Wal-Mart in the normal life of an ordinary car driven like most people do. Maybe if you’re a race car driver, or you do something like driving off-road it might make a difference, but even then, how would you know?
Why change your oil every 5,000 miles? Does the manufacturer recommend that interval? Most manufacturers recommend a 10,000 mile change interval for synthetic oil. Dealers will recommend a much shorter interval, 3,000-5,000 miles. Why the difference? Because they want you to come in for service at their dealership…$$$.
Last three cars I’ve owned (about 80k - 100k mileage on each), only changed oil at the 10k mark, and never had a problem with any of them.
I suspect that the OP will not be convinced that frequent oil changes are not needed. I have a neighbour who has a three-year-old car (diesel-powered) and insists on changing his oil every 3,000 miles. He swears that it will prolong the life of the engine because that was what his first-ever diesel needed.
OR maybe it’s because 5000 miles is also 6 months for me and my understanding is that oil, even if under miles, should be changed if 6 months old. I just choose to measure by mileage instead.
