Grumpy Bear

I've been sick for about two weeks now so catching up on my reading. Boy am I depressed. The amount of conflicting information is hideous. If you don't want the public to know what the what what is, then put tons of crap on the floor until even the experts can't tell where the floor is. That is were we are. So what can I lean on? The things that don't and can not change. Up is still up. 3.2.32 fps is still the acceleration of gravity. Earth revolves around the sun and base oils are Newtonian. At least to a degree than matters. Like solves like. And greed is everywhere.

How many motors have you seen with 7.5K OCI's with a timing chest that clean using any oil one can source at Walmart? I'm not implying it. I saying it straight away. Or at least the oil recommended isn't up to the job. The race is on to the bottom of the barrel. Less viscosity. Less anti-wear. How far do you think that can go before failure is certain? You will find the answer in the history of Gibbs Racing and their oils. This isn't new. It's been rinse and repeat for about a hundred years. GM has a history with advancing a chemistry that is destructive BEFORE the/a mechanical solution is affirmed. DEXRON without whale oil ring a bell? Chrysler ditto. Late 50's darn near ended them. We are past the stage where the focus is on IMPROVEMENT. We are in the profit and surrendered stage. Find yourself a oil that hasn't surrendered it's chemistry. You can even find a few at Walmart if you look hard enough. Sometimes that answer isn't in the oil but in the oil that is specified. Protect the machine, not the warranty. Not the legacy. Not loyalty.

146K miles to destruction. So a few questions. 1.) How many of those miles was that rocker "ticking"? (had to be awhile as the axle was half gone). 2.) At that number of miles is this still a "defective part" that slipped through manufacturing/assembly final QC? 3.) Are the prematurely wiped out bores, baked rings, worn on rocker axle etc. due to an oil that was doing its job? While you ponder this remind yourself that the oil was changed often enough to prevent ALL rocker and timing cover deposits so it wasn't getting extended changes. It wasn't even getting 7.5K changes and stay that clean.

Pass ASTM “D7320 Sequence IIIG Engine Oil Test” on the left. Fail on the right. So what would you call the screen shot above? Some oils prevent, Some oils restore. Most oils do neither.

My take? Routine maintenance is preventative maintenance. Routine maintenance is more frequent than the book "Normal" maintenance. In fact, IMO, there is no such thing as normal. All service is severe so use the "Severe" schedule and if you book hasn't such a table halve the normal schedule. Now that said.... You won't find in that book a replacement time or miles for most hard parts. Yes there are a few, like plugs. But water pumps, brakes, etc. have lives dependent on service/use and environment. As Dave mentioned, Inspect and replace what needs replacing, service what does not and as diyer2 mentions, don't forget the fluids we don't routinely look at or change. (Brake fluid power flush, coolant ever 5 years and so on.)

Oh if we loose the Giant's Only six perfect records left. Ram's should have won that game. Sad.

Friction package is being restored Keep going.

DEXOS Oil that was thermally oxidative resistive enough to keep the timing cover and valve area clean.... Failed to do so in the hottest area of the motor! This didn't happen in the last ten minutes of it's life.

I belong to another car site for one of my other marks who has a large Canadian population. I see allot of these fellas actually have a spring/fall switchover maintenance routine that includes a change in oil grade. Temperature swings in your area seem to make it necessary.

Belle Tire tested my battery after 10 years and it tested okay. The tech told me what it needed was a good long drive. I took that advice. About a 400 mile trip and it took most of that distance to see the volt meter drop to 12.4 volts. On the retest by the same tech, it tested near new. Running partial discharge for months or years on end is hard on a battery and yet that is very common. Our drives are to short. To many starts per day. We don't use a maintainer (I do). Fact is I have "Battery Tenders" hard wired into most of my vehicles and they all get silly long battery lives. My opinion is then take it for a looooooooooooooog drive or let it sit on a "Tender" for a few days, like three or four. Then have it tested.

Yep, I'll run right out and get me one.

I have 10 years plus on mine and still holds a full charge at over 95% capacity. I love GM Smart Charging systems. Should be standard on every vehicle. Live over by Rockford Illinois. I do carry a Halo Charger. Present from the wifey.

My wife does this . Serves up Impossible burger scenarios . I don't often see a situation where a 0W* oil would on my horizon. https://www.advlubrication.com/collections/automotive-lubricants/products/euro-passenger-car-engine-oil?variant=40941311688897 This stuff has a pour point of -60C/-76 F and a HTHS of 3.5 cSt. Impossible cost money.

This is a good choice. Better than 99% of shelf oils for HTHS.

I missed on yesterday. $2.91 to $3.39. Marathon in the next town west is off it's rocker.

Don't confuse Euro Spec oil with Euro Manufacture oil In Europe they just call it oil. WE call it Euro Spec because the oil conforms to one of many European specifications. Mainly it draws your attention toward the higher HTHS. But not all Euro Spec oils have that as a limit. They also have 2.9 cSt oils that meet certain specs. Maybe we need to back up a bit and ask what it is you are looking for SPECIFICALLY. (not shouting, emphasizing) What is the project goal?

There ya go. Didn't know that.

$2.91 - $3.19 for regular around here.

Where you live getting a supply for this brand might not be doable. That is as long as price remains a high priority. I expect AMSOIL wouldn't be much better on that front. Sort of why I mentioned the Mobil and Castrol Euro 40 weights. A good hedge on viscosity and likely a much better price point. The the line in bold quoted above: Cold weather performance is a major asset for PAO based oils. I don't know the Canadian market so no idea what you have available that doesn't suffer the tariff taxes. I mention this as there are some European suppliers with some sold PAO offerings as well. Ravenol and Motul. All of these suppliers have a rainbow of chemistries available. Red Line for instance has a "Professional Series" which is on par in chemistry with Mobil 1. AMSOIL has the OE Series also a Walmart type Group III backbone product. So when you are considering look up the data sheets and make sure that what you are getting is what you are expecting.

Sorry this took so long. I've been sick...so....what have we got? Bold line first. Euro Spec C3 oils have a higher HTHS value which is pro wear but anti MPG and as the motor is 'qualified' for the EPA with a 2.9 cSt HTHS oil the 3.5 cSt HTHS oil doesn't fit the DEXOS spec. Stupid! Two ways to skin this cat. 1.) Use a *W30 C3 qualified Euro oil if you feel saying in book grade is important for some reason. OR 2.) Use a *W40 oil whose actual HTHS spec minimum is 3.5 cSt. Red Line next. Yes. The oil I use has an HTHS value of 4.4 cSt. Red Line HP Euro Spec 5W40. I could use the 5W30 and did for quite some time (3.6 cSt). Both oils are LSPI friendly and run ridiculously clean. In another post I suggested Castrol or Mobil 1 Euro Spec offerings of there 0W or 5W40. Both have HTHS values right at 3.6/3.7 cSt. But there's a catch and why I say the *W40 and not the *W30. They do not use a 0-5 SSI polymer like Red Line so shear down quicker. They are SAE30 in a few hundred miles then say put for awhile. Depends on your OCI. Lots of moving parts. High shear polymers got popular for two reasons. Made a 5W30 look like a 0W20 in EPA economy testing AND they are dirt cheap. VM additives are the weakest link in the chain. A full grade in an OCI. Why I HATE Dexos 0W20. That and it isn't as clean as the claim at the OCI they call out. Shell game. It's all I got for ya Chuck. Happy motoring

You can't. Agreed. I even use it sometimes to sort large batches of information. Like any tool. It has a use and like any tool there is no shortage of those willing to misuse it. It's why we have to be the final filter and not just a sponge soaking up dirty water. First thing I ask my wife when she shares something she 'Read on the Internet" that sounds fishy. "What/Who was the source?" Is corroborated by a second and even third trusted source. When she shares something that sounds normal, I ask the same questions. I don't know the answers but I'm capable of finding the truth. I search for it and yes....sometimes on the Internet...from trusted sources. I don't gauge truth based on what I "Like" or what I "Need" or what wins me "Likes". I don't look for it to support my current understanding. I just LOOK for it and accept it when I find it. Gravity was an easy one for me. ( I slept on the top bunk)

Access is of course crucial. And when we don't have access then we do better with what we do have access to. Vis up is a perfect example and counter to GDI. Do you have access at whatever your version of Walmart is around you to Mobil 1 or Castrol 0W40 or 5W40 EURO spec? Don't believe Kirkland yet sells a Euro spec oil. In bold above I came to the same result.

Viscosity, Lubricity, Solvency, Thermal Conductivity/Capacity. This short list are made on the base oil. A few can be mimicked with additives. Issues of heat rejection cured by the use of PAO's cannot be mimicked by any Group III/III+. Solvency can only be solved with a co-base with superior aniline point. Esters are primary, Polyol Esters exemplary, some AN's workable and these without giving away something important. Additions of Group I or Group II fluids assist solvency but give away oxidation resistance. Stuff enough ZDDP and acid neutralizers in it and you can mimic solvency...for a while. The government is pushing lower viscosity damn the wear. Removing ZDDP and Calcium damn the wear and even giants in the industry are bending to that will....Even Mobil. Mobil is using the lightest Group III fluids it can with an VII polymer that has significant temporary shear losses. It hasn't any real 'natural dispersity' (solvency) and runs the minimum ZDDP/ZDTP and acid neutral packages. The get some features back with Borated Esters, moly, titanium and so on but they are sacrificial and heat sensitive. In other words the things that make for a great oil are deemed either to expensive or unnecessary 'upgrades'. Mobil, a Walmart shelf oil likes a profit. A big fat profit driven by big fat margins. That said...its sill workable if you can pinpoint a safe OCI length in the service you plan to give it. 3K sounds like a starting point. A generous one but a starting point nonetheless. Trust, but verify. Labs and reasonable condemnation limits. They will try to talk you into giving up on the oil only if the TBN hits 1. Try 50-60% of new. Not the publish spec but the VOA you will run as your baseline. The published number is a different test, with a different acid.

https://www.slashgear.com/1307998/best-motor-oil-brands-ranked/ Red Line taps in a 15 of this list of 18 oil. One rug lower than Supertech and one rug higher than....wait for it....AMSOIL! The winning oil in the April 2025 posting was the media Queen Mobil 1. Okay....got al that out of your system Now go inside this article and read the "WHY" Red Line HP is ranked so low. Oh go ahead, read the reason for AMSOIL doing worse. You know ya what to. [Quote) Since 1979, Red Line has produced some of the best motor oils, automotive fluids, and lubricants that the racing industry has to offer. While these products are priced appropriately, it's hard to recommend Red Line products for everyday use. While they are high quality motor oils, made from some of the most heat resistant bases available, they are simply an unnecessary upgrade for daily driving. So, while Red Line Synthetic Oil is great for racing applications, it's tough to rank it too highly on our list because of its specialized nature. [Close quote] I'm going to flat say these two guys have totally whiffed the purpose of this base oil package. I'm not posting this to promote an oil brand but to warn of a modern day danger of letting AI and OS algorithm do your thinking for you. This is about the most blatant example I could find of someone with very nice income not earning his money. Worse, this algorithm will now push two very good lubricants to the bottom that 6.5 million hit search list Joe Average relies on to make some fairly important discissions. This is true of more than motor oil. That remark about AMSOIL not having enough products? Really?