oregonloyale Posted January 15, 2004 Share Posted January 15, 2004 I recently started a thread asking who made the Walmart (supertech) brand oil. The response I got was that it was made by Penzoil/Quaker State and thought , all right Ill give it a shot. My 90 Legacy wagon 2.2l auto has 141k and never any problems or leaks and has been getting penzoil oil from the previous owners. I prefer Castrol as this what I have ran in all my small engines, especially VW's, my other hobby. I added the SuperTech Sythetic blend 10w30 to my car and wited for the next morning , as a cold start would give me a real view on the sythetic cold start advantage. Morning...... ICK! Car started just find but a little rough until the oil reached the cylinders , I didnt like that. Then car seemed to run a little noisyer (sp) than usual , no clanking or anything , jsut noisy. After about 50 miles of the Sythetic blend , I opted to remove it from my engine as fresh oil is cheaper than a new engine. Holy smokes when that oil came out is was almost the consistency of hot water , I didnt like that either. I then put Castrol GTX 10w30 in waited for the morning start. Beauty...... Normal start and operation. All in all , I think synthetics are fine for engines that are newer , especially the high grade oils, but STAY AWAY from the Supertech Sythetics, you get what you pay for and ............ oil is alot cheaper than an engine replacement or rebuild, just my 2cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonOfScio Posted January 15, 2004 Share Posted January 15, 2004 yeah. my fiance is learning that of course, cheap oils equals cheap engine life. She has a '93 tercel, and I think the piston rings are going out. Does it help she always buys the really cheap oil? When you start to notice your car eats oil, DON'T PUT IN JUNK OIL! If it looks like water when you pour it, it probably is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duane b Posted January 16, 2004 Share Posted January 16, 2004 Just my $0.02 (which is probably worth $0.01!) I saw an ad in a car magazine a couple of years ago for Mobile-1 synth oil. You guys might remember it. It showed about five or six oil pans from engines that had been run for a few thousand miles with different brand name dino-oils in them. Typical Penzoil, Castrol, Valvoline, a couple of others, and Mobile-1. Of course the Mobile 1 was the cleanest because that's who the ad was for. But the one that caught my eye was the Valvoline dino-oil pan was almost as clean as the Mobile-1! So I've used that since. It's a heck of a lot cheaper than synth oil. I used to use Castrol in all of my Japanese cars and I still think it's a good oil but I use Valvoline now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meep Posted January 16, 2004 Share Posted January 16, 2004 Regular valvoline is comparable to mobile 1 in most oil tests. They vary in a couple of categories, especially cold start resistance, but the important ones are very close. "Blend" oils are a joke from my experience. Tried a blend ATF in our truck-- No benefits seen until I replaced with a full synth. I recall reading that "blend" often meant basically dino oil with a synthetic additive package. While our mileage vehicles get M1 every 10,000, the lower mileage car gets good-ole valvoline. mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiataPaul Posted January 16, 2004 Share Posted January 16, 2004 My understanding is that the full synthetic it is made by Havaloine (sp?) and is not modified from the normal Hav. forumla. Many folks I have spoken to like Havaloine as second best avalilabe (in stores) next to Mobil One (big step above SynTec). I have never had any problems with it and it is now avalible in 10W30 "formula for older cars" that I am going to try in my Subie after my next oil change. I think any of the "blends" are a waste of money as you do not get all the benifits of syntheic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meep Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 oh oh careful, Valvoline rated next to mobile 1. Havoline is on the other end of the scale. :-( Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 people have noticed ill effects from using synthetics in high mileage engines. If you have 100,000 miles on a BMW engine its weak spot is rattling cam chain tensioners. If you add a synthetic to an old one the guys say the cam chain noise gets far worse. I am a believer in syns for a low mileage engine, my BMW has 27,000 miles and gets the BMW syn. This will be the first car I try to run syn in for its whole life. My 100,000 mile Subie gets the finest dino and fairly frequent oil changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reason01 Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 I just recently used Castrol syntech blend, can I go back to dino oil? should I even bother with the blend? or just go full synthetic? I have a 97 Legacy GT engine has a little over 76,000 miles on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99obw Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 I would avoid castrol syntec or syntec blends. They aren't real synthetics at all, but group III imposters. Don't get me wrong, they are good oils, but not synthetics. I don't think there is much benefit to running a synthetic blend. I either run a good dino (I like pennzoil), or a real synthetic (group IV or better) like Mobil 1 or Amsoil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howards11 Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 Any comments about Valvolene synth ? The REAL 100% synth not their blend. ~Howard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subiemech85 Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 just run jd +50, the best oil or rotella t or delo 400, about the same AND A GOOD FILTER! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoahDL88 Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 Arn't those oils for diesels? those would be too thick for a gas engine, and cause oil starving on startup, where most of the wear occurs in an engine anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subiemech85 Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 15W40 works fine in winter, ea82 carquest "diesel" oil used to run mystik 15W50 "diesel" will run 15w40 jd +50 in everything jd +50 also available as 0W40 delo 400 syn available as 0w30 or 15w40 delo 15w40 is available at walmart in 1 gal rotella t is also available at wal mart in 15w40 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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