Best oil for the 5.3

[Grumpy Bear]

2 hours ago, flyingfool said:

yes the old Yellow bottle is all I used in my 1990 Suburban, had it for 24 years, that old pig never failed me, over 280K miles on old technology. never touched the motor , and sold it in fine running condition. 

 

all my current GM products all use the RedLine 5-30w synthetic stuff for obvious reasons.

 

Look at the dates of the post you are in reply to. 

[MaverickZ71]

17 minutes ago, Grumpy Bear said:

 

Look at the dates of the post you are in reply to. 

Hey Grump, whatever happened to ol Cliff aka Cowpie?

[txab]

iirc, he was tired of all the arguing/bickering over the issues of oils. May not be the whole reason he hasn't been here in 9 months, but it was part of it, at least, imo.

 

Will say I could be all wrong and he just grew board of the site. Maybe he got the Covid. Whatever the reason he lasted posted Jan. 26

Edited December 10, 2020 by txab

[Grumpy Bear]

2 hours ago, MaverickZ71 said:

Hey Grump, whatever happened to ol Cliff aka Cowpie?

I expect what txab said. 

[Texas Daddy]

Rotella Gas Truck is better than M1 if you believe you tube. I like this guy's experiments...

 

[SWOYER]

On 12/19/2020 at 8:51 PM, Texas Daddy said:

Rotella Gas Truck is better than M1 if you believe you tube. I like this guy's experiments...

 

Advanced auto had shell gas truck on clearance for 2/qt a while back, I bought enough to change the oil for the rest of the trucks life. Previously used Mobil one, i'm sure either is fine for a daily driver. 

[Colossus]

Mobil 1 quieted down the piston slap in my previous 5.3s and 4.8s.  I've not tried Shell in awhile but until I have a reason to, I think I'll stick with M1.  It's served me well. 

[Grumpy Bear]

I haven't tossed a stick of TNT in an oil thread in awhile.

 

What do you expect your oil to do?

  

#1 How about not burn/degrade at the expected operating temperature?

 

Limits:

Group 1 200 F

Group 2 225 F

Group 3 250 F

PAO 270 F

POE 300 F

 

Every 10 C / 18 F over cuts life in half. 

Bearing temperatures run 75 F hotter than pan temps. Turbo bearings higher yet.

Pick the right base oil for the expected temperature. 

 

#2 Not to go below 10 cSt to prevent metal to metal contact.

 

Oil Temperature  has a huge impact on viscosity and viscosity a huge impact on film thickness. 

 

(Source Elephant Racing)

 

A few decades ago when power density was .7 hp per CID pan temperatures ran about 10 F cooler than the water temperature under average loading at legal road speed. Now over 1.1 hp + per CID they are running 10/20 F over water temperature. A good deal more over water temperature when towing. 

 

Interesting note here is all the motors in the Porsche 911 from 1971 to date all use 10/15W40 or 15W50. So much for better machining it 'todays motors' allowing less viscous oils. They also suggest a pan temperature in the 180F to 210F range WITH FULLY SYNTHETIC OIL

(Must be remembering bearing temps are part of the process) 

 

Wouldn't a pan temp gauge be handy?

 

 

Then decide if you need a cooler. What base oil to run. What SAE grade to run.

Instead of worrying about what BRAND oil to use.

Edited December 29, 2020 by Grumpy Bear

[Colossus]

Like gasoline, oils are all unique based upon the additives and detergents put in by the various manufacturers.  Some will do better than others, so thus, brand can pay a very important role. 

Edited December 30, 2020 by Colossus

[mookdoc6]

Been mixing the Green jugs with the Red jugs and topping off with the black jugs!  It's sputtering up around 130k...but drinking far less she is!

[Grumpy Bear]

10 hours ago, Colossus said:

Like gasoline, oils are all unique based upon the additives and detergents put in by the various manufacturers.  Some will do better than others, so thus, brand can pay a very important role. 

This is an interesting idea!! Additives are important by all means. BUT additives in a can of water or honey will not make a great lubricant so what can be said with less argument is that selecting the right base oil for the service AND a good add package are important AND do vary from manufacture to manufacture. I think that will satisfy the need for PC.  

 

So here's what ya got. You have literally dozens of Group III synthetics with a wide range of additive concentrations and various selections. This includes Group II+ and GTL's. Then you have a few, very few, PAO/Ester oils that have very different requirements for additives. 

 

Case in point. PAO's do not use pour point suppressants. And even the best additive package in a Group III can not replicate or even come close in performance. You would know that if they published the entire vis/temp curves. (Chevron/Phillips tech data) There is a video on YouTube I've posted before showing Syntech Full Synthetic at low temperature. Lard at -35 F. Royal Purple gets no awards for low temp pour either and yet both "pass" SAE requirements. Just not common sense ones. 

 

 

PAO's use a fraction of the Oxidation inhibitors. Less than half when even used. Their highly branched isoparaffinic structures just don't have open sites lending to thermal oxidation. Sometimes used in ultra high applications like Jet Turbine oils to reach 500 F but to prevent thermal 'cracking'. 

 

POA's don't use VI improvers as a general rule and they have a very high natural index. Why does that matter? Because index improvers are both heat and shear sensitive and break down over time/miles where the isoparaffins do not.

 

POA's naturally high VI means lower viscosity at low temperatures and higher HTST viscosity while maintaining the same 40/100 C viscosity relationships at mineral oils for SAE grade specification. And as a result lower wear naturally.  It also means they  have a  naturally higher  resistance to to volatility. Improved NOACK.

 

POA alone or paired with POE or Diesters have a higher thermal heat capacity thus they routinely run cooler oil temperatures thus again resisting thermal oxidation. 10 to 20 F lower. 

 

POA paired with POE has a vastly lower coefficient of friction under boundary AND mixed film conditions. 

 

POA and POE or PAG has superior polarity to a Group III + whatever which is important in holding the add package to begin with.

 

POA/POE/PAG/DIESTER formulations use less than half the volume of additives and carriers Group III's do. 

 

Fact is about the only way a Group III has any advantage is in cost.

 

Mobil 1 is considered by allot of people to be one of the best of those Group III Full Synthetics and they also have one of the lowest add package does loadings in the business. So.....when comparing this class....what is your indicator of better or worse?   And how would you compare a Group III with a POA/POE as they have totally different add package requirements. If, as most believe, more is better then Mobil is making a pot load of money in exchange of nearly nothing. 

 

Just say'n.   

[Grumpy Bear]

This is my  list of PAO/Ester motor oils. 

First three in order of initial cost. Most expensive to least. 

 

MPT Thirty K

Red Line HP

AMSOIL SS

 

Penrite has but two North American sources

SYNLUBE has but one

Penrite available in *W50 and *W60

SYNLUBE in 0W20 and 5 or 10 W50

 

PENRITE 

SYNLUBE 

 

These guys are loud and proud. Pretty much tell you anything you'd like to know. No hiding. 

 

https://mptindustries.com/product-category/thirty-k-full-synthetic-high-performance-motor-oils/

 

 

 

[don67]

Here's my review of the Kirkland 0w20 Dexos oil, finally available in Canada.

• It's dirt cheap... we're talkin' 30-50% cheaper than sale-priced Mobil, Castrol, etc.  
• It meets all OEM specs, and makes my truck go vrrrrm vrrrrm!

 

 

 

 

 

[Grumpy Bear]

18 minutes ago, don67 said:

Here's my review of the Kirkland 0w20 Dexos oil, finally available in Canada.

• It's dirt cheap... we're talkin' 30-50% cheaper than sale-priced Mobil, Castrol, etc.  
• It meets all OEM specs, and makes my truck go vrrrrm vrrrrm!

Been using the 5W30 in the wife's Terrain. About $2.40 a quart. Cheaper than Pennzoil Conventional and I change it about the same. Every 2,500 miles. 

[jaimeastin]

I use Shell Gas Truck.  I bought so much of it over the past year.  For whatever reason, 0w20 was sold at $2-5 for 5qts.  It has done very well in my 2018. 

 

I put 20k miles on my truck over the summer with road trips.  I put 30k in 2020 alone.  I have my oil sent to Blackstone for analysis.  My truck is going well.  

Edited January 13, 2021 by jaimeastin