Whats the best engine oil- Round II :)

[525iBoy]

There's a lotta myth, hype and general "BS" surrounding engine oil so IMHO it's time to debunk them!! fact 1 - the "best" engine oil for you car is the one the manufacturer recommends for the given road conditon OR a higher grade . Ie if BMW recommendeds a 10-30 to 10-50 SG, then PLEASE use that grade or higher.fact 2 - oils CAN last for 15,000 and even 30,000 Kms!! or more. it depends on what kind of oil you use, how you use it, conditions etc. eg. I'v seen ordinary 45RM/gallon mineral oil used in a Wira driven daily thru KL traffic and after 10,000kms alll key measurements of oil quality were tested in a Caltex oil laboratory and easily met sepecifications. even at 13,000kms the same oil met specs. but at 15000kms there was some deterioration but could still be considered within specs. .. thats mineral oil friends!! fact 3: there is a DiFFERENCE between a perf oil and a long drain oil. most people do not realize these are mutually exclusive terms. ie, a oil can be performance but not long drain and vice-versa. long drain oils can be used often for 40,000+Kms/. We often confuse the 2, bec high perf (syn) oil is of a higher quality and so takes much longer to break down. as such it can be used for longer.fact 4: because oil is black does not mean it needs to be changed. on the converse just because it is NOT black does not mean it "OK". in otherwords color has nothing to do with the oils condition but is merely an indicative symptom of the oil detergents working.fact 5: Nasa, Eneos etc type of oil are rebranded oils. ie: they buy oil from the major oils companies shell, caltex, etc and repackage them. This means the oil may be "OK" and most probably is , BUT quality control will almost certainly not be as stringent as the top oil companies. to make life simple remember to 1) use what BMW recommends - or higher. No you Don't know better than the factory!! 2) change mineral oil at 5-7000kms 3) change semi-syn at 10-12,000kms 4) change full syn at 15-20,000kms. 5) change oild at higher mileage recommendations if you drive highway a lot OR lower recommendations if drive mostly city.... chances are your engine will run v. well for 100 of 1000s of kms if you do the above.. . Or at least my cars have... I got 300,000kms on my toyota with mineral oil at every 6000kms and my GF volvo has 450,000kms using a similar oil change scheduel!!!.. and neither burnt any oil or needed rebuilding.personally I change use 10-40 SF grade Caltex semi-syn oil in my BMW, and former alfa and porsche and change 2xs a year or every 10,000kms . I change my oil more often bec oil is cheap but engine rebuilds are not and I like the "feel" of the car with fresh oil.

 

[ALBundy]

Well said dude. A lot of it is due marketing and etc. Recently had some full synthetic oil from a reputable company to try out. Didnt feel anything different compared to the cheapo mineral oil I have been using for the past one year. Engine performance and fuel consumption remain similar. Yes, there are some websites that claimed better engine performance and fuel consumption with synthetic oil which I find it hard to believe. And now, most mineral oils are actually synthetic in some ways (its molecular structure is modified...Castrol GTX especially)....try reading how engine oil is made.