Coast to coast was a workout back in those days. In the very early 60s a 2000 mile oil change was the norm. I remember the Wolf's Head sign stating it was "the 2000 mile motor oil." It was only recent back then to switch from 1000 miles to 2000 miles.  A coast to coast run in today's cars is child's play.  With 7,500 mile changes you can go coast to coast and back on a single change and maybe use a half a quart of oil. Some European cars are rated for 15,000 mile changes when used with the rated motor oils.

 

Today you have to rely on the ASTM tests, which compare apples to apples.

 

 

The farm hasn't blown up an engine using a different oil since 1980.

 

But more importantly, the farm hasn't "NOT" blown up an engine because of using those.  So like most people, I have a farm, with experience, that feeds opinion.  I don't have a lab.  So if you don't want to read lab reports, that's what you get!

Some oil companies actually publish their ASTM test results. AMSOIL does. They publish them all.  Some companies publish some of the ASTM tests they run. Some publish none. I look at the cold weather flowability, but I live in the north where the high predicted for today will be a whopping +7 degrees. I also look at the results for the ASTM 4-ball wear test. This test is brutal.  They heat the oil to 100C (212F) and apply pressure to 4 balls while turning a disk. After a specified amount of time the wear on the disk is measured. AMSOIL does the best of all oil companies in this test. Their cold weather flowability is the best of any company too, but all synthetics perform well with cold weather flowability.  When Castrol (which I otherwise do consider to be a good oil) puts forth a neat commercial, I consider it nothing more than marketing schlock.  Ditto for the print ads.  Glossy print and verbiage invented by their marketing company tell me nothing. Dig down deep and look for the spec sheet of your oil. Some will tell you a lot and some will tell you almost nothing. I can't even find the spec sheet for some oils. I don't do things just because I've seen it on tv or because my neighbor does it.

 

Dougs, ya caught my attention with the four ball test.what numbers are considered to be a good range for reference.

Lower is better.  The AMSOIL 5W-30 4-ball test is .35 and I've not seen a better one. My car uses 0W-20 and that oil tests out at .40.  I've seen one in their comparisons that was .60. This was a name brand oil, BTW.  It's been a couple of years since I last looked, so don't ask me for specifics.  One company stated that the 4-ball doesn't matter since it isn't run in an actual engine. I disagree since it does indicate film strength and it does somewhat indicate how the oil will protect metal to metal, such as flat tappet cam wear.

 

Once again I'll say that all major oils are good and I doubt you'll notice a significant difference in engine life between any good oil if you change the oil at recommended intervals.

 

 

BINGO........ the viscosity is more important than the Brand Name on the can.. Older gas motors can use 10 w 30... diesels 15 w 40 .......... newer cars require a thinner oil like 5 w 20 ............ Too thick of oil in the winter will cause EXCESSIVE wear. I never use a straight weight oil.

I'll go with what steve(ill) says for older tractors and older diesels.

 

 

Every barrel of oil was marked with the specs it met (as are all oil containers). I guess my point on this is that the recommendations have gone from high priced synthetics to everything imaginable.

 

But here is the agency that has the biggest snow fighting fleet in North America (possibly the world) using recycled oil and having negligible engine failures.

 

The other thing is that some people will not use "Wal Mart" or, or only use "FORD" or "GM" oil........... news flash... Wal Mart, FORD and GM  do NOT make oil... The oil comes from one of the large manufacturers and is branded with the NAME..... For many years "Wal Mart" oil was made by Mobil....... not sure who does it now.

 

Last I knew, CONOCO was making oil for Motocraft (FORD).

Good filters.  Ditto AMSOIL and Purolator Pure 1 filters. I use AMSOIL filters but I use them because they trap finer particles, not because the extended life.

 

I hear so many here saying they use Rotella.  Which Rotella?  Rotella is the name Shell has attached to their motor oils. I checked their web page and they have several different versions of Rotella.

 

As for filter, some are better than others. I've seen them disassembled. Some have much more media than others. Some have better anti-drainback valves.  I prefer the coil spring types of pressure relief. I just think they'd be more reliable. Some filter to 40 microns. Some filter down to 10 microns. The three I mentioned above filter down to 10 microns. I guess if "meets OEM specs" is good enough for you, then it's a good enough filter for you.

 

Edit add: As far as oil additives are concerned, the synthetic oil manufacturers I've looked at all warn somewhat sternly to "not ad any additives."  If you are going to use a synthetic with zinc, buy a synthetic with zinc already in the additive package.

 

 

 

I'd like to see the 4-ball test done on something like T4 with zinc and compared to T6 without zinc. For older engines that would give me some indication of tappet wear.  I bet the T6 would perform well.

 

 

BTW, synthetic blend with 10% synthetic and 90% mineral oil does not impress me in the least.  Usually that's the ratio.  It's marketing schlock.