i see that the oil filter thread got a lot of replies and a lot of back and forth !! always good to see everyones oppinion!

anyay i see some people are talking about FULL synthetic oil in there truck and some arent , so in my 04 hemi what type of oild should i run ? a full sythetic or just some 10w30 ? i also just picked up a wix oil filter for that and my 04 camry ill try those ! at my next oil change , i have been doing my own for years now and it always saves me $$$ seeing as the oil spots want 30 dollars each time , so let me know what you guys think i shoud run !

 

If you are just using it as a DD then 5w30 dino oil should be fine. As long as you change at the regular intervals.....ie 3K miles. IMO using synthetic for your DD is just a waste of money. You could change the oil/filter twice as often if you wanted. I do believe that there are times that syn oil is appropriate, but I don't think a DD is.


Stuart

 

What's a DD?
People have good results with both dino and synthetic. I drive lot's of miles. About a hundred a day. I use synthetic in my truck and change every 8K miles. I wouldn't do that with dino. Usually use M1, but have also used Penzoil platinum, and Royal Purple.
Engine felt very smooth with Royal Purple. But I'll only get it if there's a good sale.

 

DD means daily driver...I have worked for an oil company for the last 11 years. I use conventional oil with a Napa Gold (Wix) filter in my 96 318. Whatever oil you choose will be fine...the synthetic will broaden your range of protection vs the conventional, but as long as you change it properly either is going to be fine. Also consider a good synthetic blend engine oil too, like Valvoline DuarBlend...

 

DD = Daily Driver.

I haven't touched a conventional oil in probably close to two decades. Too many pluses in synthetics. I have probably used four or five different synthetics in the truck, some more than others. Probably the one I've used the most is Valvoline, but I've also used RP (caught it on a hell of a sale), Castrol Edge, Mobil 1 might have snuck another in there one time, can't remember.

Personally, I wouldn't run dino oil much over 3k and I'd not run a synthetic more than 6k unless I sent it in to be tested with that much use on it. I've seen my oil come out pretty damn dirty looking after being used in the dead of summer on the hot, dusty clay dirt roads in south Georgia. Better since I put a pre-filter on my CAI, but still.

I had the Valvoline tested once after 6k and they came back and recommended I could run it another 3k and suggested I have it tested again after that. I didn't and wouldn't do it, but it's good to know that my oil when I change it at 6k miles is still in real good shape.

 

Thanks that all sounds good the truck is a dd for the wifey ! I also drive about 60 miles to and from work and the hemi is a killer on gas so i am stuck with the camry ! Lol but if i do run synthetic i could get more miles inbetween oil changes it sounds like so for the price its about the same by the time you do 2 oil changes or just the one with synthetic , also thanks again hammer i ran out and got a wix filter and am going to try them out on both vehicles , what about the camry ? Reg or synthetic ? Its got 125 k on it and its drove a lot ! The truck only has 65k

 

If I were you, I would run Valvoline Maxlife in the Camry...you can get it in either a full synthetic or a synthetic blend...high mileage engine oils have a more robust additive package to protect high mileage engines...

 

A high mileage oil is never a bad idea in a high mileage engine. My rule of thumb is if I'm going to start putting synthetic in an engine that's over about 60k miles that has run conventional all it's life is I'll do a synthetic blend the first time, then switch to a full synthetic.
I've never read anything on doing this, so there is no data on it, just something I do.

My reasoning is, conventional oil is more prone to sludging and leaving deposits and a good synthetic has a lot of detergents in the additive mix to clean sludge and deposits. Synthetic oil molecules are also a lot smaller than conventional oil molecules, so it also can get into places the conventional couldn't. This is why some people report leaks when they go to full synthetic when they had none with conventional. The synthetic doesn't cause leaks, but the smaller molecules can get through small leaks that the conventional couldn't, so it simply exposes leaks that were already there.
You can have an issue if you have a lot of sludge and it gets kicked loose all at once, especially clogging the screen and sending unit. There could be a lot of sludge if the vehicle was owned by someone else before you and you never know how far they left dino oil in the crankcase.
I'd rather have those deposits cleansed a little more gradually than all at once. You can gauge what to use the second time based on how bad the oil looks after the synthetic blend. If it's real dirty, maybe hit it with the blend the second time too.

Again, I've never seen any articles to suggest doing this, but to me, there is logic in it. Plus, you can't hurt anything by going from a conventional to a synthetic blend for a change or two even if my theory is all wet...

 

Agreed. Oil gets dirty at the same rate. I use Pennzoil Hi-Mileage 5W-30 in my Ram (108K) and my daughter's Camry (127K), regular Pennzoil 5W-20 in my C and 5W-30 Pennzoil Platinum in my Mazda (my DD turbo).

 

Whoops, double-post.