Changing to Mobil1 Synthetic today.

Good day .I found that i did not need to put the car up on ramps or even jacking it up .This car was the very easy to do the change .Just stick your head under the car by the passenger wheel look up find the drain and the filter and get to work . I switched to mobile 1 5w30 at the 1,000 mile mark and i am happy with it .

 

Sorry to hear about your misadventure with the oil running down the driveway. In your situation I would strongly recommend a vacuum extractor. They typically hold 2-3 gallons of product. You shove the hose down the dipstick tube, give the handle a few pumps to create a vacuum, and wait for it to slurp the oil out

I don't recall your post about 0W-20. I'll be the first to admit I don't have a lot of time to scan every new post, usually somebody from this forum will send me an email about something interesting they spotted, then I join the discussion

I've been running Mobil 1 0W-20 year round in my Prius, this is the second year now. Started using it as a "winter" oil back in 2005. As my used oil analysis was so good with this oil, I went to it year round, up to 16,000 km before changing

I think the fuel economy improvement will be minor and possibly unnoticed in summer. In my case, comparing Mobil 1 0W-30 to Mobil 1 0W-20, no difference in summer. I did have some leftover Esso XD-3 15W-40 from the hobby farm tractor I tried in 2005, in summer at highway speeds there was a consistent 2 mpg loss

I'm sure in your use the 0W-20 will work fine. Won't hurt to do a used oil analysis, some have reported fuel dilution.

 

Yes, but Larry mentioned that his driveway slants... putting his Prius on ramps gave him the level playing surface he needs to change the oil.

 

What bummer about the oil. That's almost enough to make you want to pay someone else to deal with the potential mess. I no longer drain from the pan, I use an oil extractor that pull from the dip stick. No mess whatsoever. Well worth the purchase. I of course need to put a pan under the oil filter when I change that out but it still better than dealing with 3.5 quarts dirty oil spilling.

I switched over to Mobils 0W-30 at 1,000 on the odo. I'm getting about a 2mpg improvement. I think I'll switch over to Penzoil Platinum 5W-30 as it is thinner than Mobil 0W-30 at at cold temps and operating temps.

For winter use, I may go over 0W-20 but not sure yet. If you do a search, a few people here have used Mobils 0W-20 (with oil analysis too).

 

im not down with m1 anymore, why use American oils in a Japaneses engine??!?!

enos for life! #1 brand in japan! although pricey i managed to pick up 53 bucks for 4 liters (0w-20) at a independent garage, penzoil was like 9 bucks a liter so I felt the difference was worth it.

Never touching m1 or penzzoil ever again, I just don't trust the American oil companies anymore.

 

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Personally, I wouldn't go the dipstick route, there may be some heavier stuff at the bottom of the pan that would otherwise stay there...

 

If the oil quality is so poor that there are "chunks" at the bottom of the pan, you have FAR more to worry about. Most likely, the crown land and ring land have heavy deposits. A good oil, especially a synthetic, will have enough detergents to keep the trash in suspension

I've used my Mityvac on my FJ and my Prius. Perhaps 100 ml remained in the Prius when I took out the drain plug. My FJ oil pan isn't flat, it has a very pronounced bottom. When I use the Mityvac on my FJ, a few drops will come out when I take off the plug

The vacuum extraction method is being used by quite a few Eurocar dealers, especially BMW and Range Rover. I have no reason to use it on my FJ, but on my Prius it saves having to monkey around with a small drain pan that easily spills over

Another great use for the Mityvac is on an automatic transmission that doesn't have a drain plug in the pan. I've had the hot shower of ATF often enough to gladly use the vacuum extraction method on an auto trans

 

I agree the lame API/ILSAC "standard" isn't worth much, as it allows an oil to "pass" if the motor has: crown land deposits, ring land deposits, cold sludge, gellation, etc.

However, the better oils are ok. I have no experience with Pensoil but the Mobil 1 line are ok. They all meet, at a minimum, the European spec ACEA A1/B1

The best Mobil 1 oil is their "European Car Formula" 0W-40. It meets very demanding Mercedes, BMW, and GM/Opel longlife service standards, in addition to ACEA A3, B3/B4

I've run Mobil 1 0W-20 to 16,000 km in my Prius with very good used oil analysis. The 0W-30 is also very good.

ANother great oil is Castrol Syntec 0W-30. I avoid the rest of the Syntec lineup, but the 0W-30 is made in Germany and meets ACEA A3, B3/B4

A great conventional HD oil, and a bargain too, is the made in Canada Esso XD-3 lineup. They have synthetic 0W-30 and 0W-40, regular 10W-30 and 5W-30, and HD 15W-40, in addition to monogrades

Avoid Mobil Drive Clean 5000, it's garbage and has high sodium and sulfur

 

in school i learned that FULL synthetic only means that the oil has equal molecules, and that not 100% of the oil is man made. (my teacher says the ratio was like 85% base distrilled oil and 15% additives). How equal molecues help engine compartments can be visualized with a piece of glass, if all the molecules are not equal size (like regular oil not synthetic) and the glass is set on top and then put a load on it , then it will shatter, however, put that same piece of glass on all equal molecules and it will now able to support an X amount of load before shattering.

due to current engine designs where clearances are much more tight and percise, synthetic could be a game changer for the engine, however, older engine designs with huge clearances and many pathways for oil to flow having equal molecules does nothing but lubricate less rather than more.

Also those star seals mean a lot! Don't ignore those abbriveations, they do mean something!!

vescosity many people think that its the thickness, but really it is actually resisitance to flow.

edit: I only bought penzoil because the label said "for hybrid vehicles!" but i just changed my oil and needless to say my metal scapings were far less than when I had it with the m1 and m1 filter, needless to say i'm still debating if I had such a bad experience with m1 oil was because of my driving style with 0-20 oil (in the summer too...) or was it the oil (m1) and its filter (also m1, when i should have sticked with toyo's)

at least the penzoil 0-20 held its game at 6000 km, very tiny scapings and my teacher said it was normal, i was suppose to cut up the oil filter so i kno which pieces has been filtered but i got lazy so i'm hoping with the ENOS oil those scapings should be near zero! i better not find one grr! but yes cutting up the oil filter really tells you a story because it traps all the pieces that fell!

 

I suppose you're talking about the API/ILSAC licensing seal, the "starburst." Even the current SM/GF-4 spec still allows ring land deposits, crown land deposits, cold black sludge, and gellation.

I tend to pay more attention to ACEA, if the oil even has it. The basic A1/B1 is the minimum standard in Europe, far exceeds API. A5/B5 is meant for extended oil changes. A3/B3/B4 is pretty specific in that it covers very severe operating service, and extended oil changes

Do you mean visible metal flakes in the drained oil, or inspection of the oil filter after it has been cut open?

I will cut open an oil filter - using a special oil filter cutting tool - every 2nd or 3rd oil/filter change. I have *never* found visible shavings in my filter media, although the Toyota filter is very convoluted so perhaps difficult to determine

I do pass a strong magnet over the media and have never had more than a few tiny flecks. I drain the oil into a clear container and have never observed visible metal

I regularly perform used oil analysis and the results with M1 0W-20 were very good. Very low iron, low nitration, good TBN, etc.

 

hm jayman i've thought about taking the oil for analysis but before i realized it I already contaimined the oil, but dipping my hands into the oil and then raised my hands you can clearly see tiny scaps of metal, when I did it this time a few days ago with the penzoil, the metal was barely visable, however, running a magnet proves tiny scaps that's normal as so my teacher says.

then again i think i ran the oil pretty agressively under 30 degrees C conditions with 0-20 oil, it was 6 months before i changed it i think (before spring started, and changed it before winter started), i absolutely don't remember the mileage at all but i do remembering going at 140 km/h on the highway a couple of times for prolong period of time.

 

With industtrial machinery, I've noticed such flecks/shavings, but usually that was at the time of a catastrophic failure

I've never noticed any hint of debris in my drain pan or my Mityvac extractor. After I empty the Mityvac tube, there is zero residue left behind

Probably everything is ok, but a used oil analysis wouldn't hurt. I use Caterpillar heavy equipment dealers, they sell you a test kit with prepaid postage back to their lab in Mississauga, Ontario

 

I hope this is the appropriate place for this post since everyone here is committed to synthetics. Why use them? The car, it seems, will run forever on regular oil, perhaps longer than I will want to keep it. My current Toyota, a 1992 Lexus 400 is still going strong at 160K with dino oil. Extra mpg's? I haven't seen any significant change reported. So why do it? This is not a challenge, I just want to know. I will be buying my 2008 Touring within the next couple of months.
Thanks

 

For me it is a feel-good measure, a further, though meaninglessly small, reduction in the use of petroleum product (fossil carbon). As you suspect the performance improvement in this lightly used engine is insignificant.

 

Not on the new BMWs - they don't come with dip sticks.

 

When I was breaking in my Touring ed., I dumped the OEM fill at ~2,000 miles. Just before the 2,000 mile mark, I ran a test circuit and then took the car in for the oil & filter change, which was for Mobil 1 (both synthetic oil and the Mobil 1 filter). I then filled up the gas tank and ran an exact duplicate of my previous test circuit and filled up using the same pump as before to eliminate as many variables as possible. Since I ran the test back-to-back, I minimized any gains from the engine continuing to break itself in. Net, net, I remember something like a 3 mpg improvement after the switch to Mobil 1. With gas prices were they are, the added mpgs basically paid for the difference in oil cost.

 

That's what I've heard for the newest BMW's. Sensors keep track of oil level and scary warnings appear if the oil gets low. Apparently it's a giant PITA to even add oil if the car needs it, requires a trip to the dealership.

Another reason to avoid a BMW I suppose

 

There is no problem to add oil - the filler cap is right on top of the valve cover. The challenge is in keeping the oil level 'topped' off, like could be done with the dipstick-equipped engines. The new engines have sensors that tell you if you have overfilled, need to add oil (1 qt), or need to add oil immediately (lower than the add 1 qt level). The real risk is if the sensors fail and there is no replacement available. When the E9X (current gen 3 series) cars were first released in 2006, there was a nation-wide shortage of sensors because of failures. BMWs response to the topping off issue is that they warrant the car for 4 years/50K miles.... But what about after that???? If you want to keep the car for an extended period of time, it would be prudent to keep a quart of engine oil in the car, because when the sensor says add a quart, you have to do it right away. To add injury to insult, there is an extensive data-logging ability on the car that records when you were warned to add oil and whether you in fact added oil in response to the warning.... Didn't add the oil in time? Say bye, bye to the warranty (abuse clause)....