Greetings fellow J30 lovers...
It's been awhile, but business and moving have taken up my time. It's time for an oil change and for the past year I've owned my '96 J, I've used Castrol GTX with 4-8 ounces of Lucas(My Hyundai dealer did it for $20 and included a wash in Kingman). That with my K&N and I get 24-25 MPG with AC. She's sitting at 79,900 miles and I found a shop here in Prescott that has an incredible deal. 5 quarts of synthetic blend (Texaco), filter, 30 point inspection and rotation for $13.95!
Anyway, I'd like to hear pros/cons about moving from dino to a syn/dino blend. Also, should I continue the use of Lucas?
They also have a Mobil1 special for $34.95. The guy gave up on dino oil 10 years ago.
I really want her to last as long as my Sentra- 248k miles before I sold it, like a dummy.
TIA!
Switching Oil????
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steverinaz
- Posts: 97
- Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:17 pm
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2213 - Location: Prescott Valley, AZ
Re: Switching Oil????
Steve: That sounds like an excellent price for the service. I would ask them to go with the factory recommended 10w 30 weight oil -- and it is just a 4.5qt fill with an oil filter (to the top of the range). In a wet sump motor too much oil can cause crank shaft whipping which creates air intrapment/foam and can cause damage up to catastrophic engine failure.
I retired from Chevron and Chevron bought Texaco in the early 2000s. They have maintained several of those brands due to brand loyalty, and the base oils and additive packages are of very high quality, mostly exceeding API standards.
On the Lucas additive: I had a friend who was the head chemical physicist of our oil additives depatment within our reasearch company. He was adamant about oil additives: they are a profit maker for the company that sells them, and he could factually back that up as Chevron tests every additive and oil on the market for patent infringement -- most major oil companies do the same. Modern API certified oils do not need extra additives and in worst case they can impeed the components of the ad-pack built into the oil.
Synthetic blends are better than a straight dino oil, but the blend isn't 50/50, so it's a profit maker too. If/when you change your own oil you are better off making your own blend of like weight oils: syn and dino, choose your ratio. Read up on this and other blending options on a web site: Bob Is The oil Guy. Lots of very qualified folks over there and some real world test results.
The syn/dino blend oil change is still a great deal so I personally would go for it for this change...
But... I'd dump the K&N air filter as soon as you can. An oil impregnated, gauze media filter may be good for track use but will probably shorten the life of your MAF (or require cleaning) and there is no magic here: more flow = bigger holes in the media = less restriction = bigger particles passing through = shorter engine life. Take yours out and hold it up to the sunlight before you dump it in the trash. Unless you run a filter skin over it, which negates the airflow increase potential, it filters far worse than a paper filter and you don't need it for anything producing power within normally asperated ranges of the J's motor capabilities. Even K&N sponsored off-road racers will only run skins if they plan on completing races.
Hope I've helped you more than just upset the folks on this forum...
I retired from Chevron and Chevron bought Texaco in the early 2000s. They have maintained several of those brands due to brand loyalty, and the base oils and additive packages are of very high quality, mostly exceeding API standards.
On the Lucas additive: I had a friend who was the head chemical physicist of our oil additives depatment within our reasearch company. He was adamant about oil additives: they are a profit maker for the company that sells them, and he could factually back that up as Chevron tests every additive and oil on the market for patent infringement -- most major oil companies do the same. Modern API certified oils do not need extra additives and in worst case they can impeed the components of the ad-pack built into the oil.
Synthetic blends are better than a straight dino oil, but the blend isn't 50/50, so it's a profit maker too. If/when you change your own oil you are better off making your own blend of like weight oils: syn and dino, choose your ratio. Read up on this and other blending options on a web site: Bob Is The oil Guy. Lots of very qualified folks over there and some real world test results.
The syn/dino blend oil change is still a great deal so I personally would go for it for this change...
But... I'd dump the K&N air filter as soon as you can. An oil impregnated, gauze media filter may be good for track use but will probably shorten the life of your MAF (or require cleaning) and there is no magic here: more flow = bigger holes in the media = less restriction = bigger particles passing through = shorter engine life. Take yours out and hold it up to the sunlight before you dump it in the trash. Unless you run a filter skin over it, which negates the airflow increase potential, it filters far worse than a paper filter and you don't need it for anything producing power within normally asperated ranges of the J's motor capabilities. Even K&N sponsored off-road racers will only run skins if they plan on completing races.
Hope I've helped you more than just upset the folks on this forum...
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steverinaz
- Posts: 97
- Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:17 pm
- Car: Hello!
2213 - Location: Prescott Valley, AZ
Re: Switching Oil????
Cool J- Thanks for the wealth of information. A lot to absorb. I'll just stay with the blend and ditch the K&N. Thanks again!!!
Steve
Steve
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driverdriver
- Posts: 3397
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Re: Switching Oil????
My car ran on conventional Castrol till 1999 and OEM Nissan oil filters till I made the switch to Mobil1 full synthetic and NAPA Gold (produced by Wix) oil filters. I noticed a slight increase in fuel mileage and a quieter engine.
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steverinaz
- Posts: 97
- Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:17 pm
- Car: Hello!
2213 - Location: Prescott Valley, AZ
Re: Switching Oil????
DD:
With that being said, what kind of mileage routine are you on? At the price I'm getting, I believe I'll stay on the 3k mile LOF. The shop owner runs Mobil1 in all his vehicles, changes oil at 10 k and filters every 5k miles. The OM in my J says 5k miles severe and 7500 routine IIRC.
Steve
With that being said, what kind of mileage routine are you on? At the price I'm getting, I believe I'll stay on the 3k mile LOF. The shop owner runs Mobil1 in all his vehicles, changes oil at 10 k and filters every 5k miles. The OM in my J says 5k miles severe and 7500 routine IIRC.
Steve
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driverdriver
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Re: Switching Oil????
When the J was a daily driver, I use to change Mobil1 full synthetic approximatly every 8000 kms which would translate into approximatly 5000 miles. I could have stretched it a bit, but then again where I live, we have extremely cold winters and some very hot summers. I preferred to stay on the safe side.
You live in Arizona right? I think you could safely stretch your change intervals out a bit. Extreme cold makes even synthetic oil a bit thick.
You live in Arizona right? I think you could safely stretch your change intervals out a bit. Extreme cold makes even synthetic oil a bit thick.
Re: Switching Oil????
Synthetic/synthetic blend oil feels more slippery between the fingers and adding just half a quart of synthetic quickly quieted what had been a very noisy sticky lifter in my J30 that had been parked a while awaiting a new water pump/timing belt/etc.
Went a few thousand miles longer between oil changes a while back on one of our other vehicles; one equipped with a cartridge type filter. Noticed a sizable hole in the old filter, something that couldn't be seen if it had been a spin-on type oil filter.
Changing oil filters at recommended intervals might be more important that changing the oil.
Went a few thousand miles longer between oil changes a while back on one of our other vehicles; one equipped with a cartridge type filter. Noticed a sizable hole in the old filter, something that couldn't be seen if it had been a spin-on type oil filter.
Changing oil filters at recommended intervals might be more important that changing the oil.
Re: Switching Oil????
GerryO: That was one defective oil filter you had there!
A number of manufacturers (ours included) go the opposite way and allow a filter change every other oil change (driving dependent). I think most filters are overkill capacity-wise (ability to capture particulate matter before lifting the bypass), and if your engine is generating a lot of tiny bits and pieces... Well let's just say you won't be worrying about the oil, oil filter or much else for long...
If I've got a good motor and a good oil filter, I'll tend to skip a filter change now and then, I'll usually shorten up the OCI tho as well. I'm thinking I'll do this on the J next time, since it was so fun to get the oil filter out this time
I put in a Mobil 1 filter and a 2qt syn to 2.5 qt dino blend and will probably stay in that 50/50 range for the oil...
Ditto what's been said on syn doing a good job cleaning up a dirty motor too.
A number of manufacturers (ours included) go the opposite way and allow a filter change every other oil change (driving dependent). I think most filters are overkill capacity-wise (ability to capture particulate matter before lifting the bypass), and if your engine is generating a lot of tiny bits and pieces... Well let's just say you won't be worrying about the oil, oil filter or much else for long...
If I've got a good motor and a good oil filter, I'll tend to skip a filter change now and then, I'll usually shorten up the OCI tho as well. I'm thinking I'll do this on the J next time, since it was so fun to get the oil filter out this time
I put in a Mobil 1 filter and a 2qt syn to 2.5 qt dino blend and will probably stay in that 50/50 range for the oil...Ditto what's been said on syn doing a good job cleaning up a dirty motor too.