What kind of oil was factory fill on my 04. I would imagine synthetic but after talking to a buddy he seems it might not have been. I have always been a fan of castrol, but run mobil 1 in my vette. The cap says 5W30, is that what I should run? Also any brand of oil fitler. On my GM's I have always ran AC DELCO.

Thanks,
Craig

 

Fram, Delco, etc... dosnt matter really. The oil you will want will depend on where you are at. 5-30 will probably do it where ever you are, but just goto any parts store and they will tell you what you need.

 

Synthetics are always going to be better, but cost more. As long as you do regular oil changes it probably doesn't matter, but the synthetic is better for higher performance engines.

 

This topic is right up there with religion and politics. Most everyone has their own opinion, and they'll be damned if anyone can sway them from it, even though an objective comparison to provide any REAL measure of longevity of one kind of oil/filter brand compared to another doesn't exist. Too many variables.

Many folks have cut apart a Fram filter and compared it to one of the high quality offering from the likes of a Napa or Carquest. Their conclusion is that the higher quality filters have lots more places to store the "crap", and base their oil filter "religion" on that idea. My opinion on the whole subject is that if you're someone who NEVER does maintenance on your vehicles, then a Napa Gold or similar filter and synthetic oil is probably the way to go.

I personally change the oil in my vehicles every 3-4k miles, so my opinion is that it doesn't make much difference in my case, although I like the service I get from Napa and Carquest, so I normally go with them and don't use synthetic. Unfortunately, you'll probably never seen an objective breakdown of engine type vs. oil filter type vs. oil vs maintenance schedule vs. driving conditions vs. .....you get my drift.

My point - pick one you like and stick with it - the maintenance schedule is probably more important than anything else. Just use the oil recommended in your service manual for your given "typical" temperature ranges. Again, just my opinion, which is worth exactly what you paid for it.

 

I 100% agree. I am the person who runs MOBIL 1 sythetic 15k mile formula in my vette and still change it 3-4k miles. I was just wondering as far as switching over from synthetic or back to synthetic if it hans't had synthetic for a while. I agree as long as I do regular changes this shoudlnt be a problem. What kinds of theries are out there about going from synthetic to convential and vice versa?

Thanks,
Craig

 

You've probably already heard of this one, but you asked....

One theory I've heard is that if you buy the vehicle new and use synthetic from day 1, that it doesn't allow the pistons to break in properly. I've HEARD that you should use non-synthetic for the first 10,000 miles or so to break everything in properly, and then its OK to use synthetic from then on. That's just hearsay though, I've not seen any evidence out there to back it up, and I'm just recalling from memory, which isn't even that great.

I've never owned a vehicle with less than 10 years or 100,000 miles on it yet, so its a moot point for me (I can't say for sure, but highly unlikely that synthetic was used its entire life by that point), but I never use synthetic simply because it's far more expensive, and I personally don't see the value added, given my routine maintenance schedule.