Oil Change

[Oldgator73]

Can anyone tell me what people think about Valvoline oil. I received a Valvoline coupon over the weekend but am wondering if I should use it? Because I don't know if their oil is good or not. Everyone help me

I use Valvoline in my passenger van. Seems to be okay. I drive about 1000-1500 miles a month and it has about 120,000 miles on it. I also like them because I don’t have to get out of the car. I also get $10 off because I’m military.

 

[Ray-IN]

Look at the letter after the "S". The higher letters are better. Different brands mean nothing, IMO. Use whatever looks like a better deal for the type of oil recommended for your vehicle. Forget about what brand it is.

-Don- Reno, NV

I agree; if the container states it meets or exceeds the Ford V10 oil requirements.

 

[strugglebus]

Good luck spending only $35 on a MH oil change. $80-100 is more likely these days. 7 qts of oil will run you at least $50. Just did mine and the oil was very dark at 5800 miles. I’ve always had a toad behind me.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

$35 oil changes can be done but it takes a bit of premeditation. If you buy premium brand oils "off the shelf"/retail then yeah, you'll pay $25-$30 for a 5 quart jug plus $10-$12 for a filter. I'm a NAPA frequent flyer so whenever they have an oil special for their house brand I snap up half a dozen jugs of various weights at a shot, usually around $15ea. I buy the house brand filters too - I don't care who makes them, typically $5 a shot a half dozen at a time. I've been running my vehicles for decades and hundreds of thousands of miles on generic oil and cheap filters, so you'd have a hard time convincing me that premium brands of these items make any practical difference. Consistent change intervals is the primary benefit, anything else is 2nd or 3rd order and that's too far out to be concerned about.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I'm with Mark on oil choice - regular changes overshadows everything else as long as the oil is the recommended viscosity and meets or exceeds the engine manufacturer's API spec. I'm less sanguine about the filters, though. There is no reliable standard or grading of filters, so there can be substantial performance differences. I prefer to spend a few extra dollars for recognised good performer (not necessarily a brand name). Even then, regular & frequent changes makes a difference.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

There is no doubt a "better" filter can remove finer particles and maybe for longer periods. But how much does it matter? The spec I've never seen is for the engine - what size contaminants begin to impact service life? Making up numbers here, but let's say a given engine will have a "good" service life with 10 micron particles in the oil. What difference would it make then if the filter was able to remove sub micron sized ones? Certainly it's "better" and who knows, maybe the engine would last significantly longer - but what I see is rather than an intention of increased engine service life, the lubrication improvement margin is used to extend replacement interval. Seems then it becomes a fine line of balancing engine life with maintenance cost but a lot of factors beyond just that would be considered. I go with the practical result, even if the engine doesn't crap out the rest of the car certainly will so there's a point of diminishing return once you hit about a quarter million miles. It's been a long time - decades - since engines wore out from lubrication issues. Even a "poor" filter catches the bigger chunks, after that I'm not sure it really matters. The elephant in the room (in my opinion) is viscosity breakdown (heat, close tolerances) and mitigation of contaminants by additives, so keep the oil fresh and you keep the engine fresh.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[DonTom]

I buy the house brand filters too - I don't care who makes them, t

There is a big difference in the quality of oil filters, unlike the oil of the same "S" rating. And some of the big-name oil filters are junk. And some oil filter companies make decent as well as junk filters.

For an example, Fram a lot of people say are junk but it's only their PH & EG filters that are junk, but the TG's are decent. Yeah, their most expensive filter, the EG, is junk.

There used to be a website where several brands of oil filters were taken apart and examined for their quality. All of the oil filters with the Napa name were high quality. But several others with a famous name, such as the Pennzoil oil filters, were junky.

I cannot find the website these days, perhaps no longer exists, but I believe their info was good. Each filter showed its sections and explained what make it a decent or junky oil filter.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

An old pal of mine is a mechanical engineer and worked for Purolator until he retired, doing quality control & competitive analysis. His opinion is consistent with DonTom's. But I'll also agree with Mark that IF you change filters frequently & regularly, it probably makes little difference. However, if you are the type to stretch out change intervals, maybe using synthetics to do so, I think you would be smart to choose better quality filters. Figuring out which brand & model qualifies is easy, though. NAPA branded filters typically come from top tier manufacturers like Donaldson or Wix, so that's often a solid bet.

 

[DonTom]

However, if you are the type to stretch out change intervals, maybe using synthetics to do so,

Some filters are supposed to be designed more for synthetic. In fact, K&N often has two filters listed for the same vehicle, one for dino oil and a different one for synthetic oil.

I mostly use K&N filters. I recently purchased a KN-303C. The "C" means designed for synthetic oil. For dino oil, I go with the plain KN-303. No "C".

FWIW, I only use synthetic oils in my vehicles where the owner's manual says ONLY use synthetic. Some of my motorcycles and my 2022 RV.

I believe it is a waste of money to use to use synthetic engine oils in other engines. Has no advantage at all, and even says so in most owner's manuals, such as in my Y2K RV manual. It says ONLY consider using synthetic when below 0° F.

Edit: I think I have my oil filters confused! The "C" is for Chrome with the K&N. IIRC, the oil filters for synthetic oils have a "-1" after the number, IIRC.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[phil-t]

I believe WIX (part of the MANN + HUMMEL brand of innovative filtration technology, housing 11 facilities in eight countries and manufactures more than 210 million filters annually for customers spanning 80 countries. Jan 30, 2019) makes NAPA's filters. Been using them for many years on all my vehicles and equipment.

 

[Octodad]

Not too long ago A friend bought a 5qt jug of oil to find out someone used the oil and somehow put their old oil back in it without breaking the seal. When he returned it the store mgr went with him and they found 2 more like it on the shelf.

A friend bought a vacuum cleaner at Walmart. Got the box home and inside was someone's old used vacuum. They had bought the new one, taken it home, put the old one in the box and returned it for a refund. WM didn't check and just put it back out on the shelf. This has been several years ago and I think that most WM stores now require ID for a refund to try and minimize theft and stuff like this.

 

[Octodad]

My mechanic is a friend from church. He works on dozens of members' cars and does high quality work. He works on all of my vehicles doing everything from oil changes and tires to major engine repair. My parents used a similar guy in their hometown for decades.

If you can find someone like that, use them. You won't have to worry about the Camping Worlds and others not doing everything that needs to be done (and you paid for). It might cost a little more, but not much (he's a businessman and has to be competitive with his prices). He does usually require a week's notice or so to get booked because he is so busy, but will oftentimes work me in if it is an emergency.

 

[DonTom]

Got the box home and inside was someone's old used vacuum.

Remember Grand Auto? That happened to me with new brake shoes. Fortunately, I opened the sealed box in the store and found all broken brake shoes. Like somebody took a sledgehammer to them. But other than that, they looked like new! So I have no idea how that happened.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[viceprice]

It has been a few years since I looked at all the the research I could find on oil and filters. My conclusion was Valvoline full synthetic was the best oil (and oils vary by the additive package) and Mobil 1 filters were the best filters. K&N and Wix are good. Baldwin filters are also very good but you will not typically find them on the shelf.

I am okay spending $15 on the oil filter vs the $3.50 and more money for the oil that can extend your change intervals (though I would stay with the 5000 mile change plan for the V10-the motor is working very hard in your motor home as is any gas motor in or pulling an RV). This is clearly a case of "you get what you pay for" and seems like cheap preventative maintenance for vehicles that are very expensive.