Conventional oil hard to find?

My VW came with dire warnings not to put anything but the recommended dealer oil in. But it's new enough not to leak down, so not a worry for a while.

Conventional and synthetic oils both start with the same raw dino juice though. The only difference is in the refining. Both have a range of different molecular weight oils, but the synthetic has a much tighter range.

If it meets the required API spec, it's good enough for me.

Except for the synthetics that use natural gas - and even vegetable oil - for their feed stock. Or oven is some cases - like in South Africa - COAL. Most true synthetic engine oils have NO petroleum base - they are totally manufactured PAO base stocks.

PAO fluids are classified as a Group IV base oil and are made by a two-step reaction process using linear alpha-olefins like 1-decene. The first step is the synthesis of oligomers (polymers with few repeating monomer units) from the linear alpha-olefin. The second step is the hydrogenation of the remaining double bonds (unsaturation) in the oligomer and subsequent distillation to separate the unreacted monomer and light-viscosity grade PAO. Low-viscosity PAO fluids are used in automotive applications, such as engine oil and gear lubricants. High-viscosity PAO fluids have also become popular in industrial fluids and greases. Since PAO fluids are synthetic hydrocarbons, they are compatible with and often combined with mineral-based oils.

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Stores here have lots of dino oil. However, with full syn at $3 per qt and dino at $2.50 per qt I always get full syn.

with Castrol Edge and Kirkland Signature synthetics. Walmart still carries Valvoline conventional motor oil up here. as well as Shell SuperTech and PenzoilYellow and Castrol GTX (which is also listed on the American site)

Home Despot carries the Penzoil Yellow conventional oil as well - Then there are the numerous "synthetic blend"oils which have a conventional base "enhanced" with synthetic components.

Rural King still had it the last time I was there and it is cheaper than all of those places. .

Synthetics are superior to conventional oils. I've witnessed testing and the difference is amazing. The test i saw showed a small engine seizing on conventional oil at 5000 rpm but would run forever on synthetic at 8000 rpm.

Still easy to find conventional oil in the middle of Minnesota. Personally I've been a synthetic fan for years though.

I really think people obsess about oil. Cars are scrapped for a dozen other reason long before they fail from a failure related to the oil. If you are using any genuine API rated oil suitable for your engine and change it occasionally your engine will outlast the car at least as much as the oil would affect.

I think you're probably right about that. I'm more concerned about the transmissions that are now sealed for life. They never leak? If they do, what happens? I guess you'd notice it on the garage floor so you could fix it before disaster. But if it's a vehicle parked outside? AFAIK there is no sensor to warn of low fluid either. Funny, the BMW has a sensor to warn if the 8 qt engine is running low, but AFAIK, nothing to warn if the tranny is running dry.

Then there are the fanatics that change synthetic oil every 5K miles or less, that change the tranny, differential fluid and antifreeze every 20K miles and only use the official dealer fluid.

I have a friend who drives older vehicles.

Every time he changes his oil, he also pulls the plug on the coolant and the transmission fluid. He doesn't drop the pan or make an effort to get all the fluids out, but he replaces the amount that did drain, and figures about every third times he's replaced it.

It seems to work for him, he gets a lot out of older vehicles.

Scotty Kilmer is fond of saying, "Oil is cheap, engines are expensive. Change your oil frequently."

You figure out when an automatic is low right away, It won't shift right and if it gets low enough it won't go at all. Manual trans, not so much. You just have to see the oil spot where you park. Back when it was 90w, you could smell it. Now they use ATF.

Did you check your local Costco?

They showed me the green screen of their inventory. All the Costco wearhouses around me long ago discontinued dino juice.

Maybe it's just Costco that stopped selling bulk dino juice?

There are other stores in this world besides Costco.

--scott

Do those other stores match Costco sale prices?

What matters for motor oil that is frequently changed is only three things (1) price (2) API quality (but it's really hard to find poor quality oil anyways) (3) Viscosity range (which itself only matters most in the extremes)

Conventional SN has to be about half the price to compete with SP synthetic (because synthetic lasts about twice as long and is a bit slipperier too).

I bought the one case of API SP fully synthetic 5W30 because I needed it but I generally buy a few cases when Costco gasoline motor oil goes on sale.

If we assume Costco sale pricing will perhaps be around $2 per quart for full synthetic API SP motor oil (of varying viscosity ranges) then the comparison price for the API SN dino juice has to be about $1 per quart.

At anything more than about $1 per quart the dino juice won't be worth it. It does't matter what store.

All that matters for motor oil that is frequently changed is price & API quality & viscosity range - and not the store from which you bought it.

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote in news:7uri5gpbuoslil3j35vpo568bouc5jpbhn@

dealer oil in. But it's new enough not to leak down, so not a worry for a while.

juice though. The only difference is in the refining. Both have a range of different molecular weight oils, but the synthetic has a much tighter range.

I don't go to Costco.

Rural King kicks their ass.