I just want to know what everyone thinks and what kind of oil and oil filters work best for the j32a2?! I have to admit that I previously didn't care what type of oil I used and would just throw whatever $15 dollar special I could find into my engine and call it a day. Now I am more concerned about what kind of oil I use. Lately I've been using the Castrol magnetech full synthetic (only the 5-20 weight is full synthetic) and a k&n oil filter. I'm happy with this set up, but Im curious if I might be better off going with mobile 1 or royal purple? I can get 5 quarts and a filter for about $28. So I guess my main question is, is it worth the money to get a different synthetic oil for what it would cost? Also let's hear where all of your oil alliances are?

 

Mobil 1 EP simply because is the best bang for the buck...
I also use K&N HP-1004 oil filter. This setup is a whole year round protection.

 

You only change it once a year!? I know the mobile 1 ep says up to 15,000 miles but damn! I guess I'm not that trusting. And even if the oil lasts that long I have no idea how long that filter is supposed to last? 6000 miles? 10,000 miles tops? I'm pretty comfortable with my 5,000 mile oil changes

 

Wrong thredlad

 

You are wasting money Ive done nothing but 15 - 20K intervals, (M1 EP or Penz ultra Plat) and my car idles all day while working if its not being driven. Ill swap the filter out about half way and top off any oil lost from the filter change. The motor i pulled out when i built my 3.7 had over 400k miles on it and the internals/bearings looked like new yet. If you are concerned with it get a sample kit from Blackstone labs and when you change your oil get a sample and have your oil tested. It will tell you how well its holding up and aprox how much life is left (pay the 20 bucks for the TBN report). Even the factory recommendation was 7500 for regular Dino oil

 

Yeah I change oil every December and I rarely clocked more than 12K on a single oil change.. Even then I didn't said that I do change the filter half way through the year and top off, So its 5q every year and 2 filters.

5000 miles on Synthetic is wasting money, as fatty said even dino oil is supposed to last 7500 miles. I would not push regular Mobil 1 Syn (Silver Cap) like I do with the EP (Golden Cap) though, EP has twice the additives and that help it push the change interval to the double.

 

I know the bottle says that it can last that long (gold cap) along with amzoil and I'm sure some kind of royal purple. But I think we are just gonna have to agree to disagree here, lol. And it might be just the synthetic that I use isn't as good but I feel like at 5000 the oil just looks darker (probably from heat) and every time I get fresh oil in there I feel like my car runs 10× better. But for the price I get I don't mind doing it so often. It's basically the same price as conventional when on sale.

Also this is the right thread. Oil is just as much a part of performance as anything else on here, If not more so.

 

Yeah sadly color doesn't tell you anything about oil life.. I have sent dark as hell samples to Blackstone labs and they pass with flying colors.. It's all a placebo effect when you add new oil it looks nice to have fresh golden oil in there but I can assure you that even after +10K on the EP there is at least enough life on it to go another 10K.. There is no performance gain after you are already using synthetic vs new fresh change of the same oil.. I have been using that setup for years now and notice no change every time I replace the oil.

 

Like i said, get a sample kit and have your oil analysed from blackstone labs, it will tell you how your oil is doing, how your bearings/motor are doing. Thinking that your car runs 10x better is nothing more than in your head. And like skirmich said, color doesnt mean its bad. If it didnt change color id be concerned as the oil isnt doing its job collecting the contaminants.