“Best” oil for my car threads.
- Thread starter Mr Boochie
- Start date
IMO it is best to use the manufactures "Severe Use" maintenance schedule, which if you read it thoroughly it is the way most people drive- for our Dodge Chargers the severe schedule says 3K oil changes and 60,000 mile trans fluid change. The 10 yr anti freeze goes down to 6 years.
Some of the diesel circles noticed that the advertised maintenance schedules increased for no logical reason a few years ago. Nobody was pointing out engine or oil technology changes that would justify this for that particular discussion. If I recall, it was a jump from 5k to 10k for engine oil.
Seems that for many cars, the "warranty" is only valid for class-action suits. Often the dealer's response to individuals is "owner neglect, warranty voided. "
I like this idea. Found this for the Powerstroke 6.7. I would reduce the fuel filter interval to 10K personally.
Especially if you have one of the Hyundai's with the grenade motors... guy at the gym has been fighting with them for 8 months to get a new engine. Chevy, Toyota, Nissan, and even a few Honda models are having to replace engines in new vehicles. I blame it on the super thin engine oil needed for fuel economy standards.
I do transmission service every 50k-60k miles. I have never had a transmission failure and have driven several vehicles to 200k miles.
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First on my current truck was done by me when I got it at 140K and it did not look great. I changed it a second time next oil change to get it back to a proper red color.
My S10 exploded the sun shell around 125K backing out of my driveway which forced a rebuild. The early 4L60E had problems with those. When I sold it at 200k it was still working perfectly.
the AOD in the Towncar was a used unit that had a some clutch material in it when I got it, and it was leaky. That used transmission was installed to replace the original that died when I caught the car on fire. I did the first service on the original at 125K and the fluid was black. It was working up to the point of the fire, apparently it got hot enough to stick stuff in the valve body. Possibly could have fixed it if I'd known a little more but a friend had a used one from a wrecked car for $200 that worked, so I did that. Dropped it off to be re-sealed and diag a funny shifting issue, guy told me it had enough clutch material inside the pan (I had cleaned it out completely less than 10K miles previous) that he wasn't confident that it was going to last very long, but he happened to have an AOD that someone had given a deposit on and abandoned a couple years earlier. He was tired of looking at it and couldn't get ahold of the guy, so basically for the same cost to re-seal my questionable one, he'd install the rebuilt one. That cost me $400, a good bottle of vodka, and 2 gallons of ATF. It still works beautifully.
Original trans in my Mark VII was rebuilt by Ford around 65K, its still in there with 240K on it. It had regular service by the previous owner. I had the pan off to swap the valve body and its still clean in there. One of the check balls in the VB had shrunk and jammed in the separator plate, causing problems with releasing the forward clutch. I had another valve body around so it went in. I found the check ball problem when I dissected the original to try and figure out what ailed it. That valve body is now just sitting in a core transmission that I can rebuild for either the VII or the Towncar as needed. I figure one of these days one will die and I'll have an excuse to learn how to overhaul a transmission but I'm not awful motivated to rebuild it just for grins.
My S10 exploded the sun shell around 125K backing out of my driveway which forced a rebuild. The early 4L60E had problems with those. When I sold it at 200k it was still working perfectly.
the AOD in the Towncar was a used unit that had a some clutch material in it when I got it, and it was leaky. That used transmission was installed to replace the original that died when I caught the car on fire. I did the first service on the original at 125K and the fluid was black. It was working up to the point of the fire, apparently it got hot enough to stick stuff in the valve body. Possibly could have fixed it if I'd known a little more but a friend had a used one from a wrecked car for $200 that worked, so I did that. Dropped it off to be re-sealed and diag a funny shifting issue, guy told me it had enough clutch material inside the pan (I had cleaned it out completely less than 10K miles previous) that he wasn't confident that it was going to last very long, but he happened to have an AOD that someone had given a deposit on and abandoned a couple years earlier. He was tired of looking at it and couldn't get ahold of the guy, so basically for the same cost to re-seal my questionable one, he'd install the rebuilt one. That cost me $400, a good bottle of vodka, and 2 gallons of ATF. It still works beautifully.
Original trans in my Mark VII was rebuilt by Ford around 65K, its still in there with 240K on it. It had regular service by the previous owner. I had the pan off to swap the valve body and its still clean in there. One of the check balls in the VB had shrunk and jammed in the separator plate, causing problems with releasing the forward clutch. I had another valve body around so it went in. I found the check ball problem when I dissected the original to try and figure out what ailed it. That valve body is now just sitting in a core transmission that I can rebuild for either the VII or the Towncar as needed. I figure one of these days one will die and I'll have an excuse to learn how to overhaul a transmission but I'm not awful motivated to rebuild it just for grins.
YY1
Addicted Member
OK, here goes.....
I've been a 5K mile guy since the 1980's.
Never had any reason to change that until my 2015 Ferrari designed 1.4 turbo engine.
At first I had to buy 9 dollar a quart (in 2017) "Ferrari spec" oil, but that is no longer sold in the USA, so I had to downgrade to BMW/Porsche spec oil.
On the good side, the car (Jeep Renegade) is equipped with a sensor system that tells you when to change the oil based on drive cycles, run time, oil temp, etc.
The manual says "not to exceed 10K miles"...and the sensor agrees, telling me about every 8K to 9.5K, that it's time to change.
I've put 95K on that car (total mileage 128,500) and it's still with us.
I also have a 2000 Dodge Dakota, a 1973 Plymouth Satellite, and 2012 Yamaha Zuma.
All those get the same 5 or 10W 30 Valvoline synthetic blend or the same viscosity Motorcraft syn blend, which ever is cheaper at the time.
Haven't changed to oil in my 2011 HD Sportster, as I've only put about 1500 miles on it (doesn't even have 5K yet). Not sure what I'll use in that.
Motorcycle specific oil ain't cheap.
For transmissions, Chrysler actually endorses my personal belief- if it ain't broke, don't F with it.
I've had more bad luck changing fluid than not.
The Dakota has it's original trans, never rebuilt and never opened.
I tow other classic cars, sometimes across the state with it.
It's still with us, too. 177,000 miles.
I've been a 5K mile guy since the 1980's.
Never had any reason to change that until my 2015 Ferrari designed 1.4 turbo engine.
At first I had to buy 9 dollar a quart (in 2017) "Ferrari spec" oil, but that is no longer sold in the USA, so I had to downgrade to BMW/Porsche spec oil.
On the good side, the car (Jeep Renegade) is equipped with a sensor system that tells you when to change the oil based on drive cycles, run time, oil temp, etc.
The manual says "not to exceed 10K miles"...and the sensor agrees, telling me about every 8K to 9.5K, that it's time to change.
I've put 95K on that car (total mileage 128,500) and it's still with us.
I also have a 2000 Dodge Dakota, a 1973 Plymouth Satellite, and 2012 Yamaha Zuma.
All those get the same 5 or 10W 30 Valvoline synthetic blend or the same viscosity Motorcraft syn blend, which ever is cheaper at the time.
Haven't changed to oil in my 2011 HD Sportster, as I've only put about 1500 miles on it (doesn't even have 5K yet). Not sure what I'll use in that.
Motorcycle specific oil ain't cheap.
For transmissions, Chrysler actually endorses my personal belief- if it ain't broke, don't F with it.
I've had more bad luck changing fluid than not.
The Dakota has it's original trans, never rebuilt and never opened.
I tow other classic cars, sometimes across the state with it.
It's still with us, too. 177,000 miles.
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whoaru99
Epic Member
Jeep says the transmission fluid in our 2021 Grand Cherokee is "lifetime" but that's not what ZF says (who actually makes the transmission).
I changed it at 80k miles. Very persnickety startup/refill process. The fluid was darker than new fluid but still quite translucent and had no off smell, the stinky nature of the ZF fluid notwithstanding.
I changed it at 80k miles. Very persnickety startup/refill process. The fluid was darker than new fluid but still quite translucent and had no off smell, the stinky nature of the ZF fluid notwithstanding.
ZF says you should not go longer than 75K miles, but it is better to change at 60K... once again it is the lifetime of the warranty, not the lifetime of the transmission that they care about.
I changed all the fluids in my 2016 Charger at 20K (it was new to me at the time) and I did the same with my wifes Charger at 60K. Now that it is close to 100K, I've got to get ready to change it again- and it is a PIA !
I changed all the fluids in my 2016 Charger at 20K (it was new to me at the time) and I did the same with my wifes Charger at 60K. Now that it is close to 100K, I've got to get ready to change it again- and it is a PIA !
The idea of never change the fluid just seems incredibly wrong to me from everything I know about lubricants, additives, and contamination. Heck, I've even replaced power steering fluid in things and that doesn't usually have a service interval. I just figure that if I check it and find its brown, but it comes out of the bottle red, something has changed and probably not for the better.
I agree that generally using the OEM is increasingly the best option modern cars. The engine management systems are getting more and more complex and precise, and there can be subtle differences between aftermarket filters that "fit" a car versus the OEM filter speced for the car that the engine was designed around. Especially for the (rare) cases where there is an upside down filter with no antidrain built in (the filter needs to prevent draining). It seems like a really stupid design to have the filter upside down working against gravity, but several cars have it.
I didn't know some Subaru engines had this vulnerability. I knew some cars have upside down, but built anti-drain into the oil system itself rather than relying on the oil filter to do it. I did some AI on that Subaru engine and it doesn't sound like there is an oil filter for it that has an internal standpipe (which is safer than a valve for leakdown when the car is parked for long periods of time). AI did point to this contraption to add anti-drain to the system -- I don't know anything about it but at a glance it doesn't seem like a bad idea (A Must-Have Oil Upgrade for Subaru FA & FB Engine Longevity).
IF YOUR CAR HAS EVER RUN HOT FOR SUSTAINED PERIODS OF TIME: One very subtle thing to look out for is if you ever have a sustained circumstance of the car running hot, many cars have the transmission cooler built into a section of the radiator, so the transmission fluid (which apparently generally degrades around 220F/104C) will be cooked as a result of running high temps.
My brother learned this the hard way with his Toyota pickup (I think mid 2000's). He was pulling his boat and the engine was running hot. He'd let it cool down, but it was running at high temps (not boiling over) and was able to nurse it home.
He told his friend, and he said "be sure to change the transmission fluid, because it will be overheated too". My brother knows a LOT about mechanics and has rebuilt engines, but didn't really pay too much mind to his friend's statement. A few weeks later, his transmission failed. Many cars have combined transmission coolers in the radiators, so it's good to replace transmission fluid if you've run high coolant temps.
My brother learned this the hard way with his Toyota pickup (I think mid 2000's). He was pulling his boat and the engine was running hot. He'd let it cool down, but it was running at high temps (not boiling over) and was able to nurse it home.
He told his friend, and he said "be sure to change the transmission fluid, because it will be overheated too". My brother knows a LOT about mechanics and has rebuilt engines, but didn't really pay too much mind to his friend's statement. A few weeks later, his transmission failed. Many cars have combined transmission coolers in the radiators, so it's good to replace transmission fluid if you've run high coolant temps.
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