What is the best brand of conventional oil?

[silver ep]

So in your expirences what have you found to be the best brand of conventional oil. (and please dont tell me synthetics are better, I already know :D)

[Hondatech]

Castrol GTX is my choice for Dino Juice.

[HondaMan]

Castrol GTX

[SarahVTEC]

Mobil 1 baby! I found Castrol leaves black gunk/deposits in the engine. However, I use Redline Synthetic oil.

[HondaMan]

Originally posted by SarahVTEC
Mobil 1 baby! I found Castrol leaves black gunk/deposits in the engine. However, I use Redline Synthetic oil.

His asking about conventional oil not synthetic oil.

[SpeedRacer]

what is the diffrnce between mobil 1 and red line?

[JSIR]

I would rank Castrol GTX, Penzoil, and Quaker State as the top regular oils that I would use. I myself am using the Castrol Semi-Synthetic Syntec Blend, its the best of both worlds at a good price. I'm using 5w-30 weight oil with Honda oil filter and changing every 3000-4000 miles. For the first 6000 miles I used Castrol GTX 5w-30 regular oil. I hope to take some samples of my oil and have them anaylzed in the near future as soon as I get some more miles on my oil.

Check out www.bobistheoilguy.com , tons of information on that site regarding motor oil. Check out the forums, most of the guys on the site are very biased towards synthetic oil though, but still lots of info to be found.

[SarahVTEC]

Originally posted by HondaMan


His asking about conventional oil not synthetic oil.

Yes, that's why I said Mobil 1. I used Mobil 1 conventional oil during the break-in period for my Si. After 3K, I switched to synthetic. I tried Motul and Redline. however, I lprefer Redline since it is a tad cheaper and easier to come by. Sorry if I wasn't clearer.

[chunky]

Personally I like pennzoil & valvoline the best out of the conventional oils. They are proven to leave the fewest deposits and offer excellent protection as well.

Castrol offers great protection, but tends to leave heavy deposits behind, as does mobil (btw, mobil 1 refers only to the synthetic oils, there is no such thing as a conventional mobil 1 oil, the conventional oils are just plain mobil [/end anal rant])

anyhow, IMO synthetic blends are a crock of shit, there is no proof that they provide any benefits over a conventional oil, and they certainly do not come close to providing the protection of a full synthetic like mobil 1 or redline.

[SarahVTEC]

I stand corrected. "Mobil" is the conventional oil name and "Mobil 1" is synthetic. :D

[silver ep]

so is there any real proof of Castrol GTX leaving deposits?

[JSIR]

Originally posted by silver ep
so is there any real proof of Castrol GTX leaving deposits?

there isn't much proof of anything in the oil industry unless you personally use a brand and have it analyzed and see if it really works for you or not. As for deposits, I've never had any on my Hondas using Castrol GTX, and I've torn them apart a few times. But I change my oil religously. I would say if you change your oil regularly deposits shouldn't be a concern with any of the major oil brands. If you leave oil in the engine beyond its life then sludge will form. I do find Castrol to be a darker oil in general, but I have never found it to affect the engine parts.

[HondaMan]

Originally posted by JSIR


there isn't much proof of anything in the oil industry unless you personally use a brand and have it analyzed and see if it really works for you or not. As for deposits, I've never had any on my Hondas using Castrol GTX, and I've torn them apart a few times. But I change my oil religously. I would say if you change your oil regularly deposits shouldn't be a concern with any of the major oil brands. If you leave oil in the engine beyond its life then sludge will form. I do find Castrol to be a darker oil in general, but I have never found it to affect the engine parts.

I agree, my experience is pretty much the same.

[chunky]

Originally posted by JSIR


there isn't much proof of anything in the oil industry unless you personally use a brand and have it analyzed and see if it really works for you or not. As for deposits, I've never had any on my Hondas using Castrol GTX, and I've torn them apart a few times. But I change my oil religously. I would say if you change your oil regularly deposits shouldn't be a concern with any of the major oil brands. If you leave oil in the engine beyond its life then sludge will form. I do find Castrol to be a darker oil in general, but I have never found it to affect the engine parts.

I am basing my comments on an oil pan comparison that some magazine did - they took new oil pans and identical motors, and then ran a variety of oils in them for like 10 oil change cycles or someshit, then removed the oil pans to examine the deposits left. They also wiped down the oil pans to distinguish sludge from real hard deposits. The castrol was one of the worst offenders as far as leaving hard deposits went.

I know it's just an oil pan analysis, but it gives some insight into how the oil behaves around metal & heat.

[JSIR]

I just downloaded a great spreadsheet which lists quite a few oil analysis comparisons, lots of information, synthetic and conventional oils tested in different vehicles. I would say Castrol GTX and Penzoil conventional oils performed really well compared to some of the more expensive synthetics, I was quite surprised. Its not a very scientific comparison, but interesting nonetheless.

You can download the spreadsheet at http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?s&threadid=100060

it's a zipped file, so just use winzip to unzip it so you can view its contents. It is mostly Nissan Maximas (hence the website), but there are a couple Hondas listed too. There are about 5 or 6 different pages on the spreadsheet file for different years of cars and makes. interesting reading if you like that sort of stuff.

[silver ep]

Sounds like Penzoil or Valvoline are the way to go, Thanks everyone!