mobil 1 full syn. 5w-30, but now just hit the 70,000 mile marker so ill switch to 10-30.had no problem(knockonwood) till a water pump afew thousand ago.have you ever used Restore?

 

I use the Quaker State Q Horsepower synthetic 5w-30 (or whatever other synthetic is on sale for the best deal), and either the AC delco PF-52 filter or the Mobil 1 M-201 filter.

Have you guys running Royal Purple ever seen the inside of your engine? As in pulled the LIM and seen the lifter valley, or pulled the oil pan and seen the bottom of the crankcase?

-Riggs.

 

This is mine with running royal purple for 15xxx miles



Why do you ask?

 

A buddy of mine that does engine work fairly often (as a side job, and only works on W-bodies) mentioned that my engine was incredibly spotless (it was when we pulled the LIM to do the Gen 5 blower swap), and asked what kind of oil I used.
I have been using either Mobil 1 or Quaker State Q-horsepower for the past 12k (changed every 3k). The P.O. used Pennzoil regular.

He showed me some pics of people that had used Royal Purple from early on, and they were pretty disgusting. Even more sludge than yours is showing.
Two of the pic sets were from two different people that ran Royal Purple since day one (one bought brand new, and had 40k miles) that had ejected a piston right through the side of the block.

Just curious if anyone else has seen those issues.

-Riggs.

 

thanks for the good discussion from all. good info about filters. i noticed that one member was unhappy about a fram oil filter being used one their car. is there something more to that or just personal preference.

 

its a personal prefrence but i was happy with fram and now i just prefur to use k&n

 

i have just always used ac delco ones, i don't *really* care but i just like to stick with the same thing because i know i like them. not anything bad about fram.

 

i haven't change the oil yet on my monte, 2006 LT 3.9, 46,000 miles what would you people recommend, i live in pittsburgh, pa and we have some pretty harsh winters around here, help would be greatfully appreciated, thanks, let me know

chris #3 FOREVER

 

I've got to dig up the website about the difference in oil filters.....

I don't remember all of the details, but I do know that when Honeywell bought the Fram name they switched to a cheap paper filter and are now an inferior filter that is just riding on Fram's quality from 20 years ago.

Some of the various brands are all actually made by the same company, but are just different colors/stickers on the filter and have a different box.

I think there were actually three companies that actually manufacture the filters for Mobil 1, K&N, ACdelco, Supertech, Wix, Purolator, Bosch, NAPA, and some other smaller brands.
I don't remember which brands equal which, but this site basically gives you the info on how to tell which filter is exactly which.
Essentially, some of the $10-$12 filters are exactly the same as the $4 filters. If you know what you're looking for, you can make sure that you get a really high quality filter for a great price.

The ACDelco filters are good. They are what GM uses for the stock filter, and they are what the Goodwrench service departments use. Occasionally, some of the big name auto-parts chains will have decent specials where you get 5 quarts of a name brand synthetic and a name brand filter for really cheap. Kinda nice when you can get 5 qts of Mobil 1 and a Mobil 1 filter for under $30, or 5 qts of Syntec and a K&N filter for the same price.

I'll look around for the link where they cut apart the oil filters and researched the manufacturing facilities.
For now, here is a pretty good link that has more information about oil than I could ever care to know.....
bobistheoilguy.com

-Riggs.

 

I bought my 06 LT 3.5L V6 brand new, and have changed my own oil using Mobil 1 5w-30, or that advanced fuel economy 0w-30 (which ever I can find) since day one (also, just to note, I see NO difference in fuel economy, not that I truly expected to). Just hit 70K today actually...when you look inside the oil filler cap of my engine with a falsh light, you see nothing but golden oil and a surface that represents a shinny nickel. Thats changing it when the oil change light comes on...usually every 8-9K (almost all highway miles)...I truly believe that synthetics make a huge difference. For both pertection, and cleanliness.

As for oil filters, I personally use either K&N or Mobil 1 filters (which ever is cheapest of the two)...

As for Fram filters, the orange can one has the cheapest filter media, and is capped with CARDBOARD end caps. (you will never see one of these on my car) The Fram Tough Gaurd is actually a decent filter, but still has CARDBOARD end caps, so I still would not use it. The Fram Xtra Gaurd 7,000 mile oil filter is actually really good, and has metal end caps like it should, I would use this filter.

As far as I know, Fram and Pennzoil oil filters are the only ones that have CARDBOARD end caps...there may be some other brands that quick lube places use, but as for filters you can buy off the shelf, I think those are the only two with the cardboard end caps, others all have metal endcaps.