I have/will always use Castrol GTX in all of my cars. I have never tried synthetic before so I cant really comment on it.

 

HUUUSSSTTTLLLLEEEERRRRRRRR!!!! UOA ever pan out? Im torn between Rotella and RP this weekend for the 1k (little over) mile oil change. That oil test link really made me like the RP, but like you said, no idea wether it was a GV or GIII.

 

Rotella won't be bad and it's cheap. I like the valvoline synthetic i've been running a while as well.

 

Not yet. I'll click over 4000 miles on this car the next time I drive it (wow, that's lots of mileage for a toy car 4 months). After a minimum of 5k miles, I'll get a UOA to get a baseline with Rotella Synth. Right now the oil is black as hell, probably from the assembly lube. Aside from that it stays put at 210-220* without any oil cooler hooked up (not even the stock one). I'm going to put the 24-row on soon with the heat-exchanger ducting and get a shake-down scheduled this month. Then I'll know what weight oil to run because I'm concerned that I'm too thick right now.

I'm most worried about fuel contamination with the 11.5:1AFR, so I may end up sticking with Rotella Synth anticipating that UOA's will suggest shorter OCI's. I'll make an oil thread / Saga when that time comes.

As for the Rotella vs. Royal ****... BITOG and their UOA results suggest that Rotella dino is superior in every way to RP, and the Rotella Synth is $6 more per gallon an light-years ahead of the RP considering shear resistance (most important for turbo guys), detergent quality, anti-wear package (ZDDP), avand maintaining viscosity at temp (2nd most imortant) with a simple hydro-cracked group III base stock.

I also run Rotella dino in my daily and if someone wants to sponsor / bankroll UAO's in that car, paypal the cash and I'll track both.

disclaimer: I'm a Rotella nutswinger for one reason: massive oil burn with GTX and Rotella dino stopped it completely in my daily. I run the synth in my turbo car because its cheap and UOA's suggest the best results for reasonably priced oil. I'll step up to group IV if the fuel contamination doesn't cause drama for my momma.



Closing comment: I recommend you ***** the UOA's on bitog, then go with rotella synth and a 7-8000 mile change interval backed up by a UOA at 3k, 5k, and then the change at 8k. It will last. Penzoil Platinum may be a good option too, but i believe the Valvoline synth resists shear a bit better...let the UOA's back that up for you.

 

this is a phenomenal read for people who are just starting to learn about engine oil.
What's In Your Motor Oil

and an interesting article on UOA's for when you demand results and not marketting:
Used Oil Analysis (UOAs) - and the results

 

I run amsoil i got from soflarick nice deal on a few cases a few yrs back. It works the best out of all i have tried, ie Kendal, Q, Royal purple, Mobil synth etc. Royal purple is close to amsoil but not quite as good and the others fall by the wayside with Q being better than Mobil and kendal being equal. This is in reference to oil life and overall hp loss per mile.

 

I'm using Castrol HD 30 weight. When I hit 15k on the new engine I will switch to Red Line.

 

You never changed out your first start up fluid???

 

omg did hustlers paranoia epically fail???

 

Only hustler could build a $20K car, spend 9000 posts obsessing about it, and put off -the break in- oil change.

EDIT: Nm, he knows what he's doing.

 

Of course I did, silly. I put 100 miles on the first batch of oil, then about 4k miles on rotella dino. Both times I checked for metal and opened the oil filter to check for drama. I changed oil, not a flush.

 

I guess I will give the Rotella a shot. Only experiance I have with it is in heavy equipment, and in those cases I wasnt too worried about wear or lifespan of the oil. It kept the stuff running and it got changed every now and then. Though I do recall it always looked pretty good coming out.

 

Royal Purple.....

 

You can't estimate the condition of the oil by looking at the color. If anything, darker oil means the detergent inhibitor pack "worked." If the oil is black, then it means some foreign compound or chemical is processed or secured by the oil. If you took the detergent and dispersants out of the oil, and it came out clear you'd probably think it was in great shape, rather than let contaminants and free metals float around.

 

Well lets just say it wasnt thin like water and jet black like some other oils used on the same equipment. Wether or not that is actually good I dont know. At least it makes me feel better about it.

 

well do a UOA and know for sure. I'm going 7000 miles on dino oil in my daily miata...and it sees 6500rpm a few dozen times per day. (will I be like that when I'm 40?)

 

Mobil 1 synthetic every 4500 miles. I use the old oil in our lawn mower and generator.

 

I wonder that myself. Sometimes you just cant resist. And Im not even turbo yet, so I can only imagine how hard it will be to hold back.

 

Rotella T Heavy Duty 15W-40 gallon, $10. I was going to go with the Rotella T Synth but it was 5W-40 and sounded like water in a jug, which bothered me, so I went with the only slightly thicker Rotella they had in stock.

I also just noticed the smell. Nothing like most gasoline engine oils Ive smelled. I guess its in the additives or stock.

 

Amsoil makes an oil you can drive 35,000 miles on, but for most of our applications I wouldnt recomend going that far on it. some guy even went over 400,000 miles on one oil change with the diesel oil, and the oil sample said it was still within speck of lubrication propertys for a mack.