The title says it all. Right now I'm running Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 5w-20(good? bad? doesn't really matter?) mainly because I got sucked into the whole "cleans the sludge out of your engine!" deal, but I was just wondering if this is just a pile o' crap and there's something better out there.

 

I've been running it in my Mach I since I overhauled the engine but I just use the Motorcraft 5-20 I buy at Walmart for my truck. I change the oil in the car once a year. I'm thinking I'm going to go 6 months on the truck starting this year. I don't drive either one a whole lot. Truck sees maybe 8 thousand a year and my car only get driven 2 or 3 thousand. Mostly I drive the Van..

 

The Ultra is pretty much the same formulation as the Platinum except the Ultra has a splash more Boron which is an anti-wear, anti-friction agent. I ran the Platinum thru my girls Focus and while it didn't show anything bad, it didn't do anything that Pennzoil Yellow Bottle or Motorcraft wouldn't do. The reports just about read the same. Is it worth the price? None of the so called synthetics are worth the asking price versus any conventional oil wearing the Ford spec on the bottle. There's a lot of fleet cars out there using bulk oil that are getting 250,000 miles with no issues. Even Walmarts conventional will stay with most of the "synthetics" now. Most of the synthetics on the market today are a Gp III dino oil anyway so you're talking about the difference being pretty much the viscosity index. But if it makes you feel better using it, then stay with it. But make mine Motorcraft Blend please. There's a lot of value in the bottle for the buck.

 

Yeah thats what I was gonna get at also, the price. I've always been a sucker when it comes to marketing ploys and big name companies when I can get the same results and save a few bucks.

 

Motorcraft 5-20 blend

 

use what's specced for the engine. for your (and my) truck, that's any oil meeting the ford WSS-M2C930-A. i use motorcraft oil as it's cheap, readily available at wal-mart and most of the big chain parts stores, and meets the spec. as long as the oil you use meets the spec though, brand doesn't matter.

like labnerd said, fleet cars go thousands of miles with whatever oil comes out of the bulk hose. i see cars come in every day that go 10-12k miles on bulk valvoline and are 2-3 quarts low and the cars have 150k+ miles on them.

the whole synthetic vs. dino thing has gotten blown way out of proportion if you ask me. lots of armchair engineers decide for whatever reason that one product is better than another and it becomes internet fact. dino oils have come a long way since the 70s and 80s and even since the 90s. the expensive synthetic oils aren't going to protect your engine any better than a dino as long as you change your oil on a regular basis. i see guys here buying $7/quart synthetic and changing it every 3k miles cause they think it's somehow better than the dino right next to it on the shelf for $3.49. put that stuff in a clean container and ship it to me! i'll run it in my truck another 6-7k miles!

now if an engine calls for synthetic, then you're gonna want to use it in that particular application. my mom's SL500 gets nothing but Mobil1 0w-40.

 

I use the blend as well. Getting close to 300,000 miles, I'd say it's pretty good oil

 

I swicthed to full syn a couple of years ago, (Penzoil 5-20) the main reason is so I could go a couple of more thousand miles before a change because I drive alot of miles and it seems like all I doo is change the oil.

I think its more personal prference. The key is make sure you change the oil.

I have a 160 k on mine and its still hard to see the oil on the dipstick, even after driving 1500 miles after a change.

 

Full synthetic - and don't change it at 5,000 miles like some morons do - it's a waste of resources and money. Just my $.02

 

X2 i change mine every 10k, full syn

 

"100% Synthetic" is almost always a Group III petroleum base oil like Labnerd tried to tell us. About the only synthetic is Amzoil (PAO)or Redline (ester). Maybe Royal Purple.

 

well IMO if you want to know if your engine has a leak, run the synthetic. it is like water, if it can find a way out it will. conventional oil is better cause the molecules actually"plug" holes to a certain extent. if you have a brand new car, then synthetic is the way to go cause it can extend oil change intervals and with the close tolerances nowadays it can increase power(not much) across the board.

i run regular conventional oil in my 50, just because i prefer the real thing, especially when i'm pulling, racing or any other wild ideas i have that make my wife mad lol. now in my 99 escort i drive over 300 miles a week in it and i run the motorcraft 5w20 blend from walmart and have no problems. so to each their own i guess

 

Synthetics don't leak like they used to. 25 years ago, that definitely was an issue.

 

I've run Mobil 1 since mine were new. I change it every 6000 miles which is probably excessive.

 

Nope, try again.

You can go up to 7500 on Motorcraft 5w20 or much more with full synthetics.
If you are going to change your oil at 5K or less save your money and just use the Motorcraft 5w20. It is a great oil.