From: Julian Burke (julian@knology.net)
Date: Wed Jan 07 2004 - 19:14:21 PST
This oil thing like many other subjects always comes up ever so often
and it is discussed in great detail but the same question always comes up
and is persistent!! Soap box time here:
Here it is: The gov't doesn't always use "name" brands of oils. They
buy in train car loads and as always, the lowest price available with
limited certain specs. That's the way it is and the way it will always be.
Your vehicle most likely ran on the cheapest oil available and it still runs
fine. Today, like many other products oil shares the same technology as
most, comes from the same places and even running the cheapest oil you can
find, will do no harm to your vehicle. I do however stay away from
domestic brands such as Quaker State as it does have a high parafin content
and will leave parafin residues in engines but the engine will still run
fine and you will never ever tell the difference in performance.
For diesels you will always run 10-40W and NEVER straight weights such
as 30 or 40W. You run (first choice) Rotella, Chevron and Castrol. You can
run these 10-40W weights in ALL vehicles ALL year around-PERIOD. If you
want to spend more money you may want to run synthetics in colder climates.
This is ALL you need to know about oils!!!
I have never seen any engine fail with cheap oils except in the case of
not changing your oil or just plain mechanical failure of the oiling system.
You folks who worry about what oil to use in your jeeps or larger rigs
really have nothing to worry about at all and seem to be in fear of known
name brand oils. Straight weights have their uses but if you stick to a
10W40 of the aforementioned brands, you will never have an engine failure
due to oil. To me, worrying about what oil to use in a four cylinder jeep
has all of the warmth and charm of an unflushed toilet. The gov't used
everything in them and they all still run fine!! The multiweights are great
and you want the engine to oil properly esp in colder climates. For the
most part, what brand to use is negligible.
The "finest" oils used as little as 20 years ago would not even compete
with todays cheap oils. How about the oils of 50-60 years ago?? What
benefits did they all have and yet the engines still survived nicely. Back
then oil filters were rather poor and were an option and these cars still
ran fine without the filter. I was in a dealership of exotic cars one day
and just hearing of what the owner was saying to the ticket writer was
absolutely just sickening to me as to what oil he wanted and how he wanted
it done. What a LOAD of ignorance/snobbery he was, *and* his $200 oil
change that did absolutely nothing more than what 5 quarts of Quaker State
would do. I just want to say, "Get a Life" but some (this was some pansy
doctor who thought he knew everything and trying to show off in front of the
writer) think the more they spend, the better the product. Sams Wholesale
sells name brands in quanity and they are ALL just fine FOR ALL
APPLICATIONS!
So to the fellow who wants to know what oil to use in his duece, use
10-40W preferably Rotella/Chevron and that's ALL you need to know!!!
Your MV nut, Julian Burke
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