Royal Purple VS Mobil 1 VS the rest

[Infinitiguy19]

I was a Advance Autoparts recently looking for Collinite 845 (No luck). I saw Mobil 1 Automatic Transmission Fluid for $8/qt, Royal Purple $13/qt. Thats a little much for fluid especially a quart at least for me. After all if you change the fluid often it doesn't really matter for street (Grandma style) driving.

Is Royal Purple better when it comes to ATF. Engine oil and filters?

I read that Mobil 1 ATF can reduce transmission temperature by 10*F which is great because every degree counts towards transmission life. So what can Royal Purple do for me towards reducing transmission temperature?

Is Royal Purple a fully synthetic oil like Mobil 1 0W-40? I don't know what those oil groups are all about.

[NightRiderQ45]

Group III aka "fake" synthetic and Group IV-full real synthetic. Most syn otc oils with the exception of 0w-40 M1 are G-III oils. Once the new SN rated oil hits the market everwhere, most coventionals will darn near be able to protect like a G-III oil. Group III will protect your engine as well as a Group IV imo, but obviously Group IV is better. Based off of UOA's (used oil analysis) on Royal Purple of BITOG, it is over priced for the protection you are getting. I wouldn't dare spend $13qt for RP atf. I was using M1 atf in my car with full mechanical exchange replacement, but I've turned to Super Tech Dex-VI atf and do a simple drain & fill every 15k now. The additive package is all the same thru all Dex-VI brands (producer has a strong hold on the license) so I went for the cheapest. It's been working great in my transmission, but hey I take care of mine.

[qship96]

Group III aka "fake" synthetic and Group IV-full real synthetic. Most syn otc oils with the exception of 0w-40 M1 are G-III oils. Once the new SN rated oil hits the market everwhere, most coventionals will darn near be able to protect like a G-III oil. Group III will protect your engine as well as a Group IV imo, but obviously Group IV is better. Based off of UOA's (used oil analysis) on Royal Purple of BITOG, it is over priced for the protection you are getting. I wouldn't dare spend $13qt for RP atf. I was using M1 atf in my car with full mechanical exchange replacement, but I've turned to Super Tech Dex-VI atf and do a simple drain & fill every 15k now. The additive package is all the same thru all Dex-VI brands (producer has a strong hold on the license) so I went for the cheapest. It's been working great in my transmission, but hey I take care of mine.

Dont get me started on the group 3 processed MINERAL OIL VS TRUE synthetic group 4/5 synthetic basestocks.....it got me kicked ogg BITOG for questioning why everyone there was so pumped up about the release of pennzoil Ultra{ a group 3 fake synthetic}.....people were swearing by it before anybody even ran it 1 time!!!!!!!!

For the record, I use Redline D4 ATF, and at 252,000 miles, my original transmission is operating like brand new.

[NightRiderQ45]

WTF? They kicked you off of that site!?! For a second they were tag teaming both of us because we were stating FACTS about GIII vs GIV!

[elwesso]

I can appreciate the synthetics for what they offer, but still isnt it cheaper and offers the same amount of protection to just change your oil using a good conventional and a good filter?

Reason being, if I spend $25 4 times a year to change my oil with good conventional, and you guys spend $50 to do it twice a year, whats the difference? I mean i guess the convenience factor, but I dont mind drinking a 6 pack and changing the oil on my Q (and doing other misc maintenance too)

[Infinitiguy19]

Group III aka "fake" synthetic and Group IV-full real synthetic. Most syn otc oils with the exception of 0w-40 M1 are G-III oils. Once the new SN rated oil hits the market everwhere, most coventionals will darn near be able to protect like a G-III oil. Group III will protect your engine as well as a Group IV imo, but obviously Group IV is better. Based off of UOA's (used oil analysis) on Royal Purple of BITOG, it is over priced for the protection you are getting. I wouldn't dare spend $13qt for RP atf. I was using M1 atf in my car with full mechanical exchange replacement, but I've turned to Super Tech Dex-VI atf and do a simple drain & fill every 15k now. The additive package is all the same thru all Dex-VI brands (producer has a strong hold on the license) so I went for the cheapest. It's been working great in my transmission, but hey I take care of mine.

Dont get me started on the group 3 processed MINERAL OIL VS TRUE synthetic group 4/5 synthetic basestocks.....it got me kicked ogg BITOG for questioning why everyone there was so pumped up about the release of pennzoil Ultra{ a group 3 fake synthetic}.....people were swearing by it before anybody even ran it 1 time!!!!!!!!

For the record, I use Redline D4 ATF, and at 252,000 miles, my original transmission is operating like brand new.

Redline ATF is up there price wise as well I see.

I am going to guess "BITOG" is Bob Is The Oil Guy forum?

I think I will stick with Mobil one 0W-40 and a Mobil 1 oil filter for $37 from Auto zone (Special ends May 31'st).

Valvoline also has 12 Qts for FIVE DOLLARS WITH SHIPPING ($5 for the case): post5614346.html#p5614346.

I think I will stick to drain and refills...

[NightRiderQ45]

If you do use M1 oil, please don't tell me you are draining that oil at 3750 miles. No that would be a waste of great oil because at that mileage, you are not even close to breaking into the TBN. Also, that is the site we were speaking about.

[ShortSeason]

If you don't want to hear about anyone dumping M1 at 3750... your not gonna like that I dump my M1 at 3000, and at the same time pull the plug on the trans and dump 4qts of M1 ATF every time.

[NightRiderQ45]

If you don't want to hear about anyone dumping M1 at 3750... your not gonna like that I dump my M1 at 3000, and at the same time pull the plug on the trans and dump 4qts of M1 ATF every time.

So you are doing this every 3k on both oil and transmission? Wow....

[qship96]

If you don't want to hear about anyone dumping M1 at 3750... your not gonna like that I dump my M1 at 3000, and at the same time pull the plug on the trans and dump 4qts of M1 ATF every time.

Why not pony up the $32 cost of an oil analysis and see just how good of condition that 3000 mile old oil you are replacing still is?????? I periodically send a sample to Blackstone Labs to keep tabs on my engine condition and oil change frequencies.........last change was 7605 miles with Redline oil and report came back great-, oil was clean and free of contaminants with low wear numbers- this time it will be aprox 8100 miles when changed on June 2nd and I will send another sample, but I am expecting similar results to last time.Keep in mind 90% of my aprox 2000-2500 miles driven per month are highway at speeds of 80-95mph.

[ShortSeason]

If I was putting 25k miles on a year it would make sense to increase the interval... but this Q is not a daily driver. So a couple of changes per year is no big deal $.
I was pissed today, I had to drive her in the rain.

[BadQ45t]

I have used Royal Purple, Mobile 1, Redline, and Amsoil in nearly all my Nissans over the last 15 years. My 1984 300ZX which I bought brand new ran a steady diet of Castrol GTX from the old days and switched to Mobile 1 when it became more available and then eventually Redline and now Amsoil. This is the only car where I can tell you a big difference and that is in the way the car starts up. With anything but Amsoil my lifters tap when I start it up after a few days of non-use. The cars started to do this (very common issue for the VG engine) from about 1993 and now. Only Amsoil made it go away.....

Overall I use Amsoil now and I believe that they have the best product, but I wouldn't say anything bad about Redline or Royal. Mobil 1 unless you buy the 0-40 is for sure not the same but again it isn't a "bad" product but it not 100% syth. I used Royal Purple and people that bash them should take a step back. They make a very high quality product that ran very well in my cars, but at the end of the day I now have a source for Amoil locally for $9.95 per quart and a their oil filers that claim you can leave it in for 25,000 miles. The Royal was a little more then that.....Now I have 3 cars that I own and drive and right now I don't commute, so I don't put alot of miles on any of them. I mostly I change oil very 6 months or so on all 3 cars although the X-Terra gets the most miles so it gets fresh oil a little more often. I am a total convert to Amsoil, I found a local guy that charges $20 per year to be in their "club", which I know many people who claim is some kind of pyramid scam, but if you pay that it lowers the price by $3 per quart for oil. But they essentially have been in the synthetic oil business forever and I love the way my cars run on it. My 05' X-Terra really idles quiet with it, my Q seems to have just a tad more rev to it, and my 300ZX starts up without tapping lifters which every single other product I've tried (Redline, Royal Purple, Castrol Syntec, Valvoline Synth & regular, Mobile 1 0-40 and 20-50) all produced that brief tapping noise. That is not anything scientific, these are all good products, but at 9.95 per quarter, taking the $20 annual fee and putting that out over the 32+ quarts that I have to buy every year that only adds a .75 on top of that, not to mention all the transmission, rear end/tranfer case and brake/power steering fluids I bought from him. Hard to find Redline or Purple at that price anywhere else and he's a local guy making a living versus some big chain.

I have also switch my transmission's to syn, I have 2 manuals and the Q obviously is a slush box. The Z and X-Terras are noticably better with Amsoil or Redline transmission fluid in them. In fact the Nissan dealership did my X-Terra with Dyno juice in the transmission as I bought the wrong Amsoil product from another guy before i found this great Amsoil dealer with a showroom on San Carlos, CA and he really knows his S#$@. Anyhow, the modern 6 speed transmission sucked with dyno juice, it was totally sticky when cold and was just not smooth. I took it back to the stealership (I have the 100k warranty and a coupon for $100 off the service and they used my fluids so that is why I used the dealership) and they put in Synth at no cost and it was MUCH better. I assume that it was Nissan Syth which is what they put into 350 and 370 Z cars. The old 84' Z with an old transmission (rebuid in 1994) is much smoother with Redline (I will use Amsoil next time), and my Q loves the Redline (also will move to Amsoil soon).

I believe that if you "waste" money on changing fluids for piece of mind for cars you don't want major repairs on and plan to keep for a long time it is a great investment. I do the Q flush every 18 months if it needs it or not, and I do all the oil on all cars every 6-9 months even thoug the Q and Z are only getting 1,500 to 2k on the crankcase in that time. Why, because 99.9999% of 1984 300ZX's are trashed and I don't want to rebuild the engine...and my Q wouldn't even be worth an engine rebuild so I'd have to replace it with a 50k M56 which I'm not ready to buy (but I want it). Not to mention that even a transmission rebuild would force me to send me Q to the scrape heap and it is cherry with only 92k on it and setup just the way I want it.

Bottom line, there are lots of good products out there, fresh fluids are by far better then old fluid that started life as the most expensive one on the market. For me I will waste some money for the chance of saving a bunch of money later.

[Infinitiguy19]

Well today I was going to do TWO BG engine Quick Cleans but I only got around to doing one barely. I put in BG MOA and Quick clean in the original oil. Ran at ~2000 RPMs for no more than 15 min. Drained the oil within 45 seconds and all was fine till now. I found I had no oil filter tool to unscrew the oil filter with and no 10MM socket to get the OEM air box out. I Let the oil drain for some time (30 min?) and finally gave up or trying to use the tools at hand to remove the OEM air box and called someone to run me the tools down. Got the right tools but struggled with the oil filter for a little bit then got it off and put the Mobil 1 on. I reinstalled the drain plug with a new OEM crush washer I got for free from a Nissan dealer (I am as weirded out as you). Was confused on how to get the one crush washer out so I called Mike. It stated to rain during the conversation with Mike. I still had to put the air box back in along with the MAF sensor. so I did that in the rain and eventually the rain let up. I also found out I only brought 5 qts of oil instead of six. I went to a local store and try to buy some but my card was not accepted there and I had no other cash. So no oil and my freinds were to busy to bring me some oil down. So I drove like a grandma all the way home.

Lessons learned:

I feel like Nala from the General Chat.

Never EVER EVER EVER change the oil from the top on the Q unless you like PAIN.

Make a list of things needed for the oil change, Bring EVERYTHING on that list with you.

I will ALWAYS from now on bring it to my new found Tech to change the oil!

What a nightmare.

I hope if anything else can come out from this, its the oil light never staying on after start up even for a 1/100th of a second.

[NightRiderQ45]

I always change from the top but I think this was already discussed before. I also don't have to disconnect my MAF to do it either. My gen and yours are completely different. I honestly don't think our engines need a quick clean at all if you are changing the oil like you suppose to, especially if using synthetic.

[Infinitiguy19]

Yeah I hear your but this time the Q had it out for me for doing it from the top.

So next time I will go to the shop I know and have the guy do a oil pressure test, install the rear subframe spacers, fix the rust spots and apply under coating and test the 4 transmission connectors for correct resistance and voltage... Poor guy had to completely rest over the engine bay to remove the wiper motor.

And at least this oil (Mobil 1 0W-40) will last me till the winter if not more because I don't drive too much.

[goody90q45]

.......Yeah I hear your but this time the Q had it out for me for doing it from the top........

For the past 5 years I've changed my filter from the top (20 filter changes?) and have never had an issue with the MAF or the connector on any of my Q's. Bringing along the right tools helps a lot also ( ). You just have to remember that the connector is delicate and take your time when removing it. It got a lot easier when I cut (hacksawed) the top of the unused bracket off (red square in the pics) and was then able to get the filter wrench in and actually rotate it for removal and hand-tighten the new filter without getting bloodied from scraping this bracket.

I unbolted the two piece bracket from the frame, clamped it in a vise, cut off the unused ear, filed down the sharp edges, and then reinstalled it. Easy stuff. If you've got an active suspension the welded nut is used for tubing so your stuck working from the underside.

[Infinitiguy19]

Well I feel pretty stupid for doing it half cocked but lesson learned. I am going to replace the foam on the intake tomorrow so I will see if I can cut the bracket.

Mike how did you solve the issue of all the oil spilling out when the filter is removed?
I used cardboard but I was hoping you would have a more scientific solution.

What also sucks is that when I started the car up the oil light stays one for a 1/2 a second still. And the drivers (right?) HLA(s?) still ticks so I am going to sneak in some Marvel Mystery Oil (Dad hates, long story) and see what that does. So far BG Quick clean has yielded no help with HLA's. And I am fairly sure there is no sludge in there but we will see, I need a fiber scope to confirm.

[goody90q45]

.....Mike how did you solve the issue of all the oil spilling out when the filter is removed?
I used cardboard but I was hoping you would have a more scientific solution........

Loosen the filter only about a turn with the filter wrench ((oring is still sealing with no drippage) and do the remainder by hand, quickly. Be ready to turn the filter's open end up as soon as it comes loose and you'll minimize the drippage to just a couple of ounces. I place an absorbant pad on the ground just in case and wipe off any drippage with a rag when I put the drain plug back in. With the unused leg of the bracket cut short it's easy to pull the filter up through the top. Without cutting the bracket you've got to tip the filter sideways to get it topside and it makes a mess.

[Infinitiguy19]

Well if thats the case then I may come out "Over the top" retirement. I have to admit it does feel great to do something yourself like a oil change. I would say its simple but nothing is on the Q Except for the fuel and air filter replacement.

[NightRiderQ45]

.......Yeah I hear your but this time the Q had it out for me for doing it from the top........

For the past 5 years I've changed my filter from the top (20 filter changes?) and have never had an issue with the MAF or the connector on any of my Q's.

The only thing this thread is missing is Maxnix coming to the rescue with, "Study the FSM. Don't change from the top due to constant unplugging of MAF . Continue if you want to spend $400 on a new oem MAF, (cheaper from Joe who is your friend ). Like my idol Q45Tech states, Member standards vary.....

LOL

[Infinitiguy19]

Well I have been a NICO member long enough to know to be very very gentle with the car. Hell honestly I sometimes think I treat the car better than myself. Plus if we use synthetic then we can change the oil less.

[BadQ45t]

I have to say that I have a great deal with my mechanic. I drive in with my own oil and filter, he does the change on a lift and charges me $20 bucks for the trouble. They started to make cars a Royal PITA starting in 1984 when I bought my 300ZX which required you either burn the crap out of your forearm or buy a $200 oil filter tool from Nissan. Now my 1977 Celica with the 2.2 liter 4 banger, the oil filter stuck out there like a sore thumb.

The 97' Q he gets to the filter by removing a major obstacle from the bottom, he's got it wired now after doing the car for the last 5 years......$20 bucks very well spent

[qship96]

Same here, bring my oil/filter and my tech charges me $15 to replace, and we both examine underside from bumper to bumper for worn/wearing parts needing attention....always find something and I order necessary parts from IOS to be replaced at next oil change.....I consider it a quarterly physical for the Q.

[NightRiderQ45]

I look up under my car every 5k when the tires are rotated for parts that needs to be replaced. Other than that, I'm changing my oil from the top without paying someone else to do something so simple.

[Infinitiguy19]

There ya go thats simple and cost effective enough, NightRider.

If the Q and I feel up to it I may keep changing the oil from the top then take it to Town Fair Tire to have them rotate the tires for free. But if I change my mind I can always ask the guy that changed out the wiper motor how much he charges, if I bring my own oil.