Pio

My car has 1,200 miles on it, but with over 30 dyno pulls , a hard break in and since the first 1000 miles are so hard on a new engine, I took it to get an oil change yesterday. They put in Penzoil Synthetic 5 w 30.

Any idea how it compares to Mobil 1, Red Line, Amsoil or Royal Purple? I believe all the 100% synthetics meet the same standards for quality, but have you found one to be better than another?

BTW- I usually do the oil change myself and will in about another couple thousand miles, but I was tight for time with the holidays, etc.

Short-Throw

This was done at a dealership?

mdcruiser

I've done lots of research on this, and am convinced of the superiority of Red Line Oil, which is truly synthetic. Very expensive, but shop around on the web and bargains can be found!

Pio

No, the dealer would only use Mobil 1.


I hear Red Line is the absolute best and you pay for it. I will probably do Red Line 5/30 with a K&N oil filter next time around.

Superstar555

Last time I checked, Pennzoil was crap. They use an lower grade sythetic base, and some of thier "synth" oils are actually blends.

Stick with Mobil 1. I've used it in every car and bike I've had since 1983 without a hiccup. I ran a Ford Escort GT (hard) to 142,000 miles on Mobil 1. I had to pull the head to retrieve a socket that fell in while I was changing the plugs (don't ask) and that sucker looked new. Sold it @ 156K miles still running like a champ.

clem zahrobsky

make sure any oil you use meets GM 4718M spec.it will be on the bottle. racing oil has a lot of hi pressure additives and these cause oil to oxidize fast than oil with out these additives. racing oil is OK if you change all the time but oil like mobil 1 is better if you only change once a year like i do. i just put in a new filter every 4000 mile because the filter will cause problems before the mobil 1. i would go by the "GM oil minder" if you use mobil 1 because it is just a waste of oil and money if you change before that. i have a 88 chevy PU truck with 110,000+ miles with only mobil 1 changed once a year and to this day the engine uses less that a quart in 4000 miles when i change the filter. oil does not wear out and these new engines do not dilute the oil with gasoline like in the carb days.

twolayz

dealer told me any other oil but mobil 1 voids warranty

S22C6

We had a presentation by an Amsoil dealer last month at our club.

One thing he said startled me. -
A while back Mobil sued another maker of oil (and I think it was Pennzoil) because the other oil was labeled as synthetic but wasn't 100% synthetic. The other oil maker won the case because enough of the oil was synthetic to be so labeled.
After losing the court case Mobil 1 then started making their oil the same as the other maker since it is cheaper. So Mobil 1 is not 100% synthetic.
Amsoil is 100% synthetic.

Obviously the Amsoil dealer was trying to sell us on switching to Amsoil but he claimed that Amsoil have never been successfully sued over their claims.

Vette_DD

Page 5-16 of the owner's manual says you may use any oil that meets GM Standard GM4718M. Oils meeting this standard may be identified as synthetic. However, not all synthetic oils will meet this GM standard.

The book also says you may ADD oil when low that does not meet that standard, but when you change oil you must use oil that meets that standard.

toolking

According to my golfer friend who is the Mobil1 Rep for the NW their formula did not change and they remain the only truly synthetic oil on the market.

C8-Vette

More dealer bullcrap!!!

jackcasa

The Owner's Manual strongly recommends only Mobil 1 Super Syn.

Another Yellow

Amsoil

Pio

What I used "exceeds GM4718M" - I think I'll be OK for the next couple thousand miles.

What about Castrol Syntec? My old M5 used Castrol synthetic 10W60 (yes 10/60 no typo) and it was like $15/bottle. The BMW dealer told me it was a marketing thing and Mobil 1 or any synthetic oil was fine. First I was skeptical, then later that year a TSB came out from BMW that said that Castrol 5W30 was fine to use. Go figure.

Convert14

mdcruiser:

Where can I get onformation on the Red Line synthetic? Don't want to seem trite about the cost, but nothing is to good for my baby.

Thanks in advance.

ByByBMW

Hi, I may be new to Corvettes but having two BMW's in the house, which I want to last, I have done a lot of researching about oils.

First recommendation, and this is for the whole forum, is to go the this site;

www.bobistheoilguy.com

There is evough info there that you may find yourself spending almost as much time at their site as this one.

Secondly, Mobil1, Amsoil, Redline are all pure synthetic oils. All 3 are pretty good but Mobi1 and Amsoil consistely post good UOA's (used oil analysis). If your car likes a slightly thicker oil, then the Amsoil 5W-30 seems the better choice, if your car likes it slightly thinner, then Mobil1. Amsoil is not rated, on the bottle, for the GM4718M spec but it does exceed the reqts.

Hope this helps.

jimman

Do you have any idea how much research is done in selecting an oil, why would anyone in their right mind switch to an unkown. One example if Red Line is so good and has been out so long, where the hell is it?

clem zahrobsky

before the advent of racing engine oil we used a dow corning fluid to prevent engine oil foaming in our race engines. it was suppled to us by gulf research labs in pittsburgh pa. i bet they are using the same stuff today to prevent foaming. i used to wait till i got to the track to put it in the engine with a graduated syringe,so many CC per quart. i had the other race teams wondering what the hell was going on. racer are monkey see monkey do so i would make sure to hide what it said on the dow corning can and since we were the car to beat most of the time it was fun to see the other teams come by our pits and stretch their necks to see what it said on the can

shafman1

I figure if the oil was good enough for the people that designed the car, than it's good enough for me.

Pio

I agree, Mobil 1 is great, used it for years. It is a great marketing strategy by Exxon/Mobil, teaming up with Corvette, Viper, MB, Porsche and others. Very smart marketing.