Motor Oil Brand vs Consumption?

[2006Tahoe2WD]

I was just thinking, compared to the motor oil available when I started changing my own oil 45 years ago..... I suspect that all full synthetic motor oils available today exceed by leaps and bounds, the conventional oil we used to rely upon. (Which makes me wonder if even today's conventional oil has been improved over what we used to have.)

My experience has been that all of the brands have worked equally well, as far as none causing any oil consumption issues for me. What would be of interest to me, is if anyone brand has been established as creating less engine wear over say 100,000 miles? Has nobody ran an independent test to this effect? Or has GM determined this with their ACDelco oil, which is rebranded Phillips 66? Maybe based on such tests? It would seem if such data was actually published, we would all definitely be using the same oil..... Instead of relying on oil samples from individuals, which each have different parameters for the engine they're testing regarding mileage, age, oil change interval, etc.

Or .... Is it possible they're all damn good oils, the minor differences in specs are irrelevant? Is less engine wear the priority, or is low oil consumption the priority? Not only are those two different things, in many cases one might work counter to the other. (In a 300,000 mile engine using a quart every 2,000 miles, wouldn't you rather keep adding the quart if you knew for sure the oil you're using will preserve the engine longer, then switching to an oil that stops the consumption but may in fact accelerate the wear? (Like running a 50 weight to slow down consumption, which might help with loose rings but negatively affect bearings)

All things to ponder I suppose... And I wonder if the real answer is simply changing the oil every 4500 miles with whatever full synthetic do you believe in

At this point I think most agree that, in general, the full or 100% synthetic oils are better than conventional.

I agree with your last sentence. Do the research on oil you have time for and select the best you can get regardless of cost and change every 5000 miles and you will probably be 99% doing all you can regarding oil. If you are "hard" running as Blackstone calls it, then a bit sooner might be called for. Filters is another subject.. right now I use the Purolator Boss.

 

[j91z28d1]

I personally wouldn't be surprised if you kept oil Temps low and changed often, say the old every 3000 miles. conventional oil would come back with a good sample reading. the better oil probably shows it's usefulness the further away from normal operation you get. like high oil Temps and high tq at low rpm type of thing.


at work we still use conventional in all diesels and up till about 6 months to a year ago the gas stuff too. but as they are rolling in more of these new ford's with little turbo engines, we are finally going to synthetic. the engines basically last the life of the eq. I've seen maybe 3 engine fail in the last 20 years. and I wouldn't blame oil for any of those. one was even carbon knock from a leaky carb accelerator pump diaphragm and not real rod knock we through it was. one old Ford v10 spun a rod back in the early 2000s but they are known to do that pretty often in the real world. and recently a 100h Cummings x15 slung a rod under full power. but they are still investigating that one since it's out warranty calendar wise but such low hours. company is trying to avoid a new $100k engine lol. had to be some kinda manufacture defect.

 

[rdezs]

That had to be a defect from Cummins. We've got about thirty X15s in 2025 Peterbilts.... Our shop changes the oil every 25,000 miles. If I remember correctly I think Cummins suggested 45,000 miles. But our shop is still rather old school. The only issue we've had is one that lost an injector. We also run extended weights, 105,500 lb with a lot of mountainous terrain.

 

[j91z28d1]

That had to be a defect from Cummins. We've got about thirty X15s in 2025 Peterbilts.... Our shop changes the oil every 25,000 miles. If I remember correctly I think Cummins suggested 45,000 miles. But our shop is still rather old school. The only issue we've had is one that lost an injector. We also run extended weights, 105,500 lb with a lot of mountainous terrain.

we only have 2 here. one already lost a turbo then other windowed the block. they get a oil change once a year or 500h which ever comes first. this one had 4 oil changes in like 104hours of run time over that time.

the old Detroit powered one it replaced ran like brand new and it was pushing 30 years. everything new is awful lol.

 

[rdezs]

I always liked the old Series 60 Detroit from the 1990s. Better than anything made today, due to these insane emission requirements.

 

[donjetman]

I always liked the old Series 60 Detroit from the 1990s. Better than anything made today, due to these insane emission requirements.

Here's my 96 12.7L series 60 in my Prevost MH. Great engine.

 

[j91z28d1]

I always liked the old Series 60 Detroit from the 1990s. Better than anything made today, due to these insane emission requirements.

we had a series 60, great engine, new enough to make good power, old enough to be reliable. I was thinking of our old V12 2 stroke Detroit. 2 superchargers, 2 turbos and 8 car batteries to fire it up. bearly made it enough power but it always ran when needed.

 

[rdezs]

I grew up around the old 8-92s.... If you fired up one of those things in California these days they throw you in jail, lol