Oil Change

[Yogi]

I got four free oil changes through the dealer, but I used them all up. Many of you may not know that we have a small garage and mechanic here in the park, you know for the workers and in case any tourists break down while enjoying the park. Gotta keep the tourists happy so they bring back more tourist type goodies!

Anywho, the mechanic at the garage, Mack, said he's a dealer for this stuff called Amsoil and can hook me up. Claims I can go longer on my oil changes and get better gas mileage too. Is that true?

Seeing as I haven't owned a car before, I'm not sure whether I should trust Mack or not. Seems like it would make sense even with it costing a little more.

 

[ahtoxa]

The oil has to meet the Dexos requirement. If it does, you can use it and follow manufacturer's oil change intervals or your oil life monitor.

 

[Gsrdude]

I got four free oil changes through the dealer, but I used them all up. Many of you may not know that we have a small garage and mechanic here in the park, you know for the workers and in case any tourists break down while enjoying the park. Gotta keep the tourists happy so they bring back more tourist type goodies!

Anywho, the mechanic at the garage, Mack, said he's a dealer for this stuff called Amsoil and can hook me up. Claims I can go longer on my oil changes and get better gas mileage too. Is that true?

Seeing as I haven't owned a car before, I'm not sure whether I should trust Mack or not. Seems like it would make sense even with it costing a little more.

SPAMSOIL strikes again

 

[ahtoxa]

Is that what it's known as? I've never used or even researched much about Amsoil. opcorn:

 

[Gsrdude]

Is that what it's known as? I've never used or even researched much about Amsoil. opcorn:

They make a good product or so the UOA's I've seen show (I refuse to use their products any longer, hell they couldn't even give them to me free). Their business model is what is BS, same BS sales pitch I've seen for the past 20 years

"We have the best and by not using them you are doing you Car, Bike, ATV, lawnmower, etc... a disservice"

Like their oil is refined by the ****ing hand of God himself. Gets quite annoying after years and years of the same BS. Then you have what I like to call sheep who cannot think for themselves read and believe all their BS and get herded in.



Now they pack their products full of ZDDP and think this is the end all be all of wear protection. Where a modern engine could give 2 ****s about those super high Zinc/Phos levels, this isnt a 1970s flat tappet V8, not to mention these super high concentrations are not very catalyst friendly.


Amsoil makes a good product sure, but I will and have burned the **** in a fire pit before I'd use it in anything I'd ever own again

 

[ahtoxa]

In all fairness, high ZDDP oils are necessary for some configurations of the Chysler's 4.0 inline 6 motor, which was used specifically in '05 and '06 Jeep Wranglers. During those years, lack of proper ZDDP caused extreme wear on the oil pump drive's gear, which is driven by the cam gear. My Jeep was affected and in 45k miles there was rather severe scalloped wear on the oil pump drive's gear. All Jeeps with that motor for those two years are affected, however the degree of the problem varies greatly. Some have blown their motors due to oil pump's failure due to gear wear within 30k miles and others have gone over 100k without an issue; most end up replacing the OPDA occasionally.

There are a few other examples of engines that require ZDDP as well, which are fairly modern examples.

You are correct about potential catalyst issues.

 

[Gsrdude]

In all fairness, high ZDDP oils are necessary for some configurations of the Chysler's 4.0 inline 6 motor, which was used specifically in '05 and '06 Jeep Wranglers. During those years, lack of proper ZDDP caused extreme wear on the oil pump drive's gear, which is driven by the cam gear. My Jeep was affected and in 45k miles there was rather severe scalloped wear on the oil pump drive's gear. All Jeeps with that motor for those two years are affected, however the degree of the problem varies greatly. Some have blown their motors due to oil pump's failure due to gear wear within 30k miles and others have gone over 100k without an issue; most end up replacing the OPDA occasionally.

There are a few other examples of engines that require ZDDP as well, which are fairly modern examples.

You are correct about potential catalyst issues.

Yes some level of ZDDP is needed for wear protection but depending on your flavor of Amsoil you're looking at 1500-2500ppm.


For reference Std M1 was dumbed down between 700-800ppm IIRC for each Zinc and Phos.

I'm all for what works for an application but not a fan of SHAMSOIL's business model. That is all.

 

[sx sonic]

I Thought ZDDP was removed from the major O.E.M.s fluid recommendations a few years ago because of possible catalyst degradation with repeated use?

If it had ZDDP and a few other excellent high pressure lubricant modifiers (which were "bad" for emissions/catalyst), it did not qualify for GMs and likely other manufacturers guidelines, as in the pre dexos1. I'm almost positive that is true.

I certainly recall some excellent oils that had the highest anti wear properties and could actually make more power over typical full synthetics (s couple hp on a built high RPM engine) and did not
meet o.e.m. specs........ Although superior to most oils in terms of anything that matters for a lubricant they did not have GL5 or whatever was the current manufacturer oil certifications at the time.




Anyway to the OP, the only thing that can be said with certainty is using an oil that meets o.e.m. specs (dexos1 in our case) and CHANGING IT NO LATTER THAN RECOMMENDED will ensure your engines lubricated components live a long life, barring any unpredictable issues.

Quality full synthetics usually allow for longer oil change intervals/OCI....... But unless you're basing your OCI's on the results of oil analysis never exceed the recommended intervals.


TL;DR, put in a quality and complaint Full synthetic oil (Mobile 1, Amsoil, Pennzoil Platinum, etc) and don't exceed the oil life display.

What's the best oil? There's a few different, educated answers and a ton of factless answers.......... But what is almost impossible to counter with any logic is the following "using a quality name brand oil and changing at the recommended intervals will protect your engine".

 

[sx sonic]

Edit *some high pressure lubricants and other additives were severely cut down on their PPM recently*, removed entirely was a bit of a blanket statement in my last post.

 

[Yogi]

Very interesting discussion guys! Still unsure what to do, but I may just go with it because he is convenient.

 

[423]

The oil has to meet the Dexos requirement. If it does, you can use it and follow manufacturer's oil change intervals or your oil life monitor.

^^^^^^^^^ THIS...exactly! ^^^^^^^^^^

423

 

[Yogi]

^^^^^^^^^ THIS...exactly! ^^^^^^^^^^

423

Thanks! Best as I can tell, it is Dexos certified.

I'm not scared, are you?

 

[ahtoxa]

Dexos requirement should be clearly listed on the packaging. There should be no ambiguity on that.

 

[ColonelPanic]

Dexos requirement should be clearly listed on the packaging. There should be no ambiguity on that.

This. The oil companies are forced to pay GM large sums of money in license fees/royalties/whatever else to have their product officially dexos licensed. So they seem to make it quite obvious that it is an approved product.

Other brands have oil that "meets" the specs, but have not caved in and paid the fees. I'm sure it would work just fine, however when it comes to warranty personally I want that dexos logo.

 

[davecerv]

Hey guys, I was suppose to do an oil change on my Sonic at 20% ..im right at that percentage right now but, I can't change it until Friday afternoon or Saturday. By then ill probably be under 20%. Is it bad that Im gonna do the change at hmm say 18%?? This will be my Sonic's second oil change btw. Just wondering.

 

[ahtoxa]

I highly doubt that this will have a long-term effect on reliability. The manual takes into account a specific margin of 'safety' when they recommend changing at 20%. That means that the performance of the oil may not be as good as new but it certainly doesn't suddenly turn into wet sand circulating through the engine. If you don't push the margins and don't make it a habit, you'll be just fine.

The margin is there specifically for cases like these and worse, where people ignore, forget or don't have the time to get the oil changed for a few hundred miles past the recommended 20% remaining life. It's in place to protect the manufacturer again warranty excessive warranty claims.

 

[Chevrolet Customer Care]

davecerv,

That is highly unlikely. It is still an estimate.

Erica Tiffany
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[davecerv]

Thanks for replying! I'm not as worried now. It wasn't my intention to wait until under 20% I knew I shouldve just done it last weekend haha. Won't be a habit at all though.

 

[davecerv]

So I did the oil change last night and I check the stick and its not even close to max...I checked this morning when I parked at work and still not close to max line. Strange. I didn't put the whole 5quarts like last time. There's still about one quart left on the mobil 1 container. I guess ill dump in the remaining oil when I get home. I remember when I did the first oil change it got up to max with about a quart left in the container.

 

[PlayCrackTheSky]

Well for the 1.8L...4 quarts is not enough and checking your oil level immediately after driving/starting the car is not accurate at all. You have to give the oil time to get back down. That being said...I would add another half quart (if you only added 4)...give it a few minutes to settle on flat ground and check again (while the engine is cool and hasn't been running recently).

For future reference...4.8qts is the capacity for the 1.8.