Motor Oil

[sths0609]

My truck is coming up due for an oil change, and I was thinking about using a different oil this time. I was leaning towards Mobil 1. My Mom uses it in her Mercedes, and I figured it might be good for the engine, as well as extend my interval. Is this a good idea, or is it just a waste of money?

[Dschinghis Kahn]

What is this truck, how many miles, what's your oil change interval, etc. We need much more info.

In addition, you may want to search around the "Bob is the Oil Guy" forums.

[sths0609]

Originally Posted by Dschinghis Kahn

What is this truck, how many miles, what's your oil change interval, etc. We need much more info.

In addition, you may want to search around the "Bob is the Oil Guy" forums.

Sorry, I copied and pasted this from the Explorer forum I'm apart of, so not as much info was needed.

'95 Ford Explorer XLT 4.0L OHV. It's coming up on 125k, and I've only had it 5 months and put 6k miles on it since I've taken ownership. I'm trying to do whatever I can to get this truck to last at least 200-230k miles, and figured better oil would be a good place to start. It's my beater/daily driver.

[Dschinghis Kahn]

That's pretty much been a topic of debate since forever.

Going off what I've read and seen personally, as long as you are changing it at a reasonable interval, oil doesn't matter much. There's plenty of info out there of people who've opened up their engines after thousands and thousands of miles running the cheapest oil they can find and it's mint.

The key seems to be changing it. That's where most people fail. A basic dino oil, should probably go no longer than 6 or 7k. Mobil 1 and the synthetics can do longer intervals. How long? Probably not a question I'm qualified to answer.

I'm a bit of a skeptic though. If I owned a high-revving sports car, I'd almost certainly go super premium synthetic oil.

For an old Explorer with a engine largely designed in the late 60's? Probably overkill. If you want to play it safe, Motorcraft oil and filter would likely be more than fine.

Just my $0.02.

[sths0609]

Ok, thanks!

[Markcuda]

My wifes 2003 Neon lasted 375,000 miles on plain old dino oil.
The death of it was not oil related.

[sousa632]

I wouldnt bother with ANY synthetic at this point. Run regular dino and change at 3-4K mile, 4-5month intervals and you will be fine. Mobil1 is good when you use it when it drives off the lot with 0 miles on it, not with a truck that has 125K on it. But that's my opinion and you know what opinions are like........

[JW657]

I buy the cheapest oil I can find.

[Simon182]

Mobil 1 synthetic the the best, in the long run you will be glad you use it. Me and parents use it and cars go on forever without problems

[JIMMER]

Pretty much any name brand oil will do just fine as long as it is changed by 5K miles. The high end synthetics will let you go longer between changes, like Amsoil, Royal Purple and Mobil 1. Their formulations also allow them to coat a little better, but dino oil will do just fine. It's all about keeping up with the maintenance schedule.