Synthetic or regular oil?
- Thread starter ckylesworld
- Start date
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Upon my first change over from regular to synthetic (Mobile 1), my oil life indicator ran down pretty quick...It suggested I do the change around 4k, which I did and the oil was pretty dark, however the second one was still at 30 something % when I changed it at 5.5k miles. So your first run may be a little quicker due to some of the crap getting out of the system. Just a thought....
felixgun
Full Access Member
@nick- good to know it'll run longer after the initial switch over. Thanks!
OklabyGodhoma
Full Access Member
I completely stopped paying attention to the DIC. It's only going on run time and speeds and not on the conditions the engine has run under. As smart as computers are today and the sensors that are available wouldn't it be nice if "Government Motors" wised up and gave us a true oil monitor. High quality test equipment for oil cost is in the $2200.00 range and that is for a stand alone unit. I'll stick with what has served me for 15 years now......10K between changes of Mobil 1.
I dunno enough about the GM's but I was reading on Bob's the oil guy website that most OLI systems use an algorithm to calculate the oil life, and tests of oil using the OLI as a guide shows its pretty accurate in terms of how dirty the oil is, and how much wear it has had. Does anyone know anything with regard to this?
Ryan Willson
TYF Newbie
i used synthetic mobil 1 Truck and SUV 5w30 in my 97 Yukon sence I bought it with 72,000 miles on her..... I have 225,000. on her now and I Plow and tow a 25 ft Sea Ray...... GO Synthetic ... Plus you get about 6000 miles befor changing it.... They say you can get more...
oil
I currently own a 99 Yukon and have switched to Mobil1 full .
Just wanted to mention that I had a 94 Astro and used regular Quaker state in it . When I let it go it had 397,000 on it and it started and ran like new.
Didn't use or burn any oil either. Not a sound from anywhere in the engine.
I used 10w30 instead of the recommended 5w30 and added a bottle of STP at each change. (Every 6 months).
I guess time will tell if the fully synthetic is better or not.
I currently own a 99 Yukon and have switched to Mobil1 full .
Just wanted to mention that I had a 94 Astro and used regular Quaker state in it . When I let it go it had 397,000 on it and it started and ran like new.
Didn't use or burn any oil either. Not a sound from anywhere in the engine.
I used 10w30 instead of the recommended 5w30 and added a bottle of STP at each change. (Every 6 months).
I guess time will tell if the fully synthetic is better or not.
ChrisAU
Full Access Member
That is very interesting indeed and to me shows that the detergent quality of the synthetic is much better.
Z15
Full Access Member
The oil life monitor (OLM) does not monitor the oil, it monitors the operation conditions of the vehicle and counts down to zero based on the assigned values in the computer program. The OLM has no idea if petrolatum or synthetic oil is in the engine so that has no bearing on when the OLM will signal time for a change.
Note-Engines that come factory filled with synthetic oil have the counter in the OLM set to a higher number than those with petroleum oil.
Note-Engines that come factory filled with synthetic oil have the counter in the OLM set to a higher number than those with petroleum oil.
ezdaar
Chat Troll
damn! Wish mine would go that long. My oil indicator goes to 20% in like a month with less than 1k miles!
But I also beat on my denali pretty hard. It see's 6k+ many many times a day.
had a 94 grand am 340k drove it on the scrap truck. got 01 impala 280k
use pennzoil 10w30 fram oil filter every 5k to 7k
08 tahoe with 110k 5w30
thought about Synthetic but i think that thicker oil would give me more oil psi
what do u guys think?
use pennzoil 10w30 fram oil filter every 5k to 7k
08 tahoe with 110k 5w30
thought about Synthetic but i think that thicker oil would give me more oil psi
what do u guys think?
felixgun
Full Access Member
Definitely time to go full Synthetic. I used Mobil 1 synthetic oil in my 08 tahoe and it lasted foreverrrrr. I'd run it to about 10-15% too before I would change it. Cost twice as much but lasts twice as long!
Kman
Full Access Member
There seems to be a ton of bad information in here regarding oil. You guys should head over to Bob Is The Oil Guy (BITOG) forums and read up.
www.BobIsTheOilGuy.com
One of the biggest myths in this thread is oil is bad if it is dark in color, or good if it is still clear. If the oil is dark in color is can still be excellent, doing its job keeping the internals clean, with a medium to high TNB content. The only way to see how an oil is doing is having an oil analysis done by a lab.
---------- Post added at 02:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:26 AM ----------
Royal Purple doesn't have their oil certified by different agencies and car manufactures like Mobil1 (M1) does and other big oil brand oil manufactures like Pennzoil, etc. This speaks volumes in the oil community world (go check out Bob Is The Oil Guy).
In the United States, synthetic oils are classified as synthetic if they use III base stocks or higher. In Europe, for a synthetic oil to be considered synthetic it has to be a IV base stock.
With that said, I run M1 0w-40 in my 2001 Tahoe. It's the only M1 oil that uses IV base stocks in it's oil (true synthetic). All the other Mobil1 synthetic oils in the United States use III base stocks. M1's 0w-40 also carries the most oil certifications and is backed by more car manufactures than any other oil on the planet. It is also the most tested oil in the world when it comes to meeting these special certifications.
Take it for what it is, but certifications, testing, and manufacture support speaks way more volume to me than seeing a nice marketing campaign like Royal Purple uses.
I know M1 0w-40 is expensive and hard to find, that's why I buy it when it is on sale. I picked up 36 quarts when it was on sale at Kragen a few months back for $4.99 a quart. Over a $1 cheaper per quart than Wal-Mart at the time.
Keep in mind, M1 5w-30 is the factory fill for most, if not all GM vehicles coming off the line. With that being said, you can be assured all of GM's motor testing, hours of R&D, etc. was done with M1 5w-30. Since this is the case, a lot of people, including myself, see no point in running a different oil since the new GM vehicles are rolling off the line with this exact oil.
And a lot of people think oil filters are all built the same. That is not the case at all. The general consensus on BITOG is K&N, PureONE, Mobil1, Napa Gold, WIX, and Fram Extended Guard are the best. The worst oil filters would be any Fram that is not the Extended Guard model (Extended Guard is the only one with metal end caps inside the filter).
www.BobIsTheOilGuy.com
One of the biggest myths in this thread is oil is bad if it is dark in color, or good if it is still clear. If the oil is dark in color is can still be excellent, doing its job keeping the internals clean, with a medium to high TNB content. The only way to see how an oil is doing is having an oil analysis done by a lab.
---------- Post added at 02:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:26 AM ----------
Royal Purple doesn't have their oil certified by different agencies and car manufactures like Mobil1 (M1) does and other big oil brand oil manufactures like Pennzoil, etc. This speaks volumes in the oil community world (go check out Bob Is The Oil Guy).
In the United States, synthetic oils are classified as synthetic if they use III base stocks or higher. In Europe, for a synthetic oil to be considered synthetic it has to be a IV base stock.
With that said, I run M1 0w-40 in my 2001 Tahoe. It's the only M1 oil that uses IV base stocks in it's oil (true synthetic). All the other Mobil1 synthetic oils in the United States use III base stocks. M1's 0w-40 also carries the most oil certifications and is backed by more car manufactures than any other oil on the planet. It is also the most tested oil in the world when it comes to meeting these special certifications.
Take it for what it is, but certifications, testing, and manufacture support speaks way more volume to me than seeing a nice marketing campaign like Royal Purple uses.
I know M1 0w-40 is expensive and hard to find, that's why I buy it when it is on sale. I picked up 36 quarts when it was on sale at Kragen a few months back for $4.99 a quart. Over a $1 cheaper per quart than Wal-Mart at the time.
Keep in mind, M1 5w-30 is the factory fill for most, if not all GM vehicles coming off the line. With that being said, you can be assured all of GM's motor testing, hours of R&D, etc. was done with M1 5w-30. Since this is the case, a lot of people, including myself, see no point in running a different oil since the new GM vehicles are rolling off the line with this exact oil.
And a lot of people think oil filters are all built the same. That is not the case at all. The general consensus on BITOG is K&N, PureONE, Mobil1, Napa Gold, WIX, and Fram Extended Guard are the best. The worst oil filters would be any Fram that is not the Extended Guard model (Extended Guard is the only one with metal end caps inside the filter).
Last edited:
Tony
Full Access Member
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Back in the 1990's and the early 2000's, totoyas were always known for having the most trouble free engines, and they never came with synthetic oil.. I'm not sure what you can take away from that. From what I've always read over the years, sythentic oil just flows better in extremely cold tempatures and thats about it.. They say conventional oils are more than you need today.. I use sythentic in my denali, only because thats what the previous owner used to use. In my other cars i have always used regular oil and never have had a problem.
Kman
Full Access Member
Mobil1 is synthetic. Mobil is regular. Run whatever it says in the manual.
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