Oil changes

zulustyle · Jan 3, 2004

When I purchased my AV in November the dealership gave free life time oil changes as a buying incentive. I would have bought it any way but that was just more icing on the cake. I recently found out that the oil the dealership uses is plain jane Quaker State oil. I remember growing up my dad ABSOLUTELY rufused to use QS because in his opinon it was crappy oil. I know that many of his peers were of the same opinon. Is there any truth to this? I figure that if changed every 3000 miles religously it should be fine. I welcome any suggestions or views on this topic. I was comptemplating going to a synthetic but with the 2500 AV that can get pretty expensive. I live in Georgia so our winters are mild at best currently it is 68 degrees and the sun is'nt even out!!

sperry · Jan 3, 2004

Most dealers have Mobile 1 for the Corvettes; just pay them the difference. If they're fair about it and that's what you want. Normal Quaker State isn't bad oil (I never had a problem with it); just respect his opinion. I would for those who like Valvoline, that I wouldn't even put in a lawnmower! :9:

Victory Red · Jan 3, 2004

Hey zulustyle, I'm in Alpharetta, what part of Atl are you in? What does your Av look like so I can spot you in a crowd?

On the oil, I think QS is just fine. I used to be a Castrol or no oil guy, but I've since learned that most modern oils are almost identical. It's the grade letter that tells if it's any good and all major oils meet the latest standards.

ygmn · Jan 3, 2004

I am of school that says oil is oil as long as it has API grade on bottle....

Good luck

quapaw2002 · Jan 3, 2004

With any product people chose their favorite and the rest are junk.
When it comes to motor oil... Oil is Oil. It is the additives that make the oils different. If you can find an oil company that will tell you what they add to the oil they sell then you can better decide but I will say good luck getting the whole story.
I do know that some of the brands used to add parafin to the oil to help meet the standards, for a long time there was a big deal about detergent vs. nondetergent because of this.( the detergent oils met the standards without coating the inside of your engine with wax)
Now we are shifting to synthetic vs. real oil and actually coating the inside of your engine with different chemicals to limit wear.So are we going in a viscious circle? I don't know. In your case I'd say that if the dealer is going to do the oil change with QS and they have to support your warranty then it must be ok with GM. Also as long as you are going to be diligent about getting it changed per the manual than oil is oil...

I myself use Castrol and have not had any engine problems, as I know that you can find the same thing for every brand of oil offered and vice versa.

Good driving and good modding.

Dean_Machine · Jan 3, 2004

zulustyle said:
When I purchased my AV in November the dealership gave free life time oil changes as a buying incentive. I would have bought it any way but that was just more icing on the cake. I recently found out that the oil the dealership uses is plain jane Quaker State oil. I remember growing up my dad ABSOLUTELY rufused to use QS because in his opinon it was crappy oil. I know that many of his peers were of the same opinon. Is there any truth to this? I figure that if changed every 3000 miles religously it should be fine. I welcome any suggestions or views on this topic. I was comptemplating going to a synthetic but with the 2500 AV that can get pretty expensive. I live in Georgia so our winters are mild at best currently it is 68 degrees and the sun is'nt even out!!

The reason Quaker State and Penzoil BOTH have a bad rep, and coincidentally are the oils of choice by mass production oil change chains, is because it is obtained from wells in the Pennsylvania region of the US. Crude oil from this region contains a high amount of wax. I believe it is called parafin. This leads to a build up of wax in engines that use it. I have seen this in older engines but did not know what it was. I read an article comparing motor oils, some years ago, and it explained this phenominon. I now use synthetic, although I believe valvoline is not from the penn region. I believe that QS and Pennzoil deserve their rep because they SUCK !

Just the fact that lube n' tunes use it is enough for me !

KingVolcano · Jan 3, 2004

I have made up my mind...with the help of some of the good people at this site.

RedLine Synthetic Oil with a Wix filter.

Change the filter every 3K miles, change oil every 12K even though RedLine says every 15K.

sperry · Jan 4, 2004

When I was racing my '70 Chevelle 454, I had solid lifters and had to keep them in adjustment like usual. The '66 396 chevelle previous to it had hydro lifters and I only had the rocker covers off a few times. All of those times, all was clean inside, both engines, until one time I had a lot of sludge in the 454 covers; it was almost due for an oil change ( I was a bit wasteful @ 1500 to 2000Mi but I was racing them and all were non-detergent) The last oil I had in it was Valvoline. I showed it to some racing friends and they (2) stated "yep, a lot of ash in that oil". 'Never used it again, not even in a lawnmower! BUT I don't "hate" other oils and like only one. Just this experience and one other with a 2-stroke oil (Bel-Ray synthetic?) that kept shorting plugs with some unknown crap.
I'll keep away from them even though formula and technology today is understandably improved. (Modern dinosaurs? :2:

)

LP2500 · Jan 4, 2004

ygmn said:
I am of school that says oil is oil as long as it has API grade on bottle....

Just about all oils have the API Service Symbol on the bottle. But only the best oils have in addition to the service symbol a API Certification Mark also on the bottle.

The API Certification Mark "Starburst" is designed to identify engine oils recommended for a specific application (such as gasoline service). An oil may be licenced to display the Starburst only if the oil satisfies the most current requirements of the International Lubricant Standardization and Approval Committee (ILSAC) minimum performance standard for this application (currently GF-3 for passenger cars). Heres a link to see how you oil rates.

http://eolcs.api.org/

As you can see only some oils from each manufacturer is certified.

WCFields · Jan 4, 2004

sperry said:
Most dealers have Mobile 1 for the Corvettes; just pay them the difference. If they're fair about it and that's what you want. Normal Quaker State isn't bad oil (I never had a problem with it); just respect his opinion. I would for those who like Valvoline, that I wouldn't even put in a lawnmower!

Hey Sperry,

More confirmation we are from the same school.

I've read as far as TunaSlayer and won't get to follow this thread until next Saturday. Keep them honest!!

WC

UPSGuy · Jan 5, 2004

My father always used Quacker State. I can't remember him ever having a problem with the engine due to using it. I always thought it was a good oil but I use Castrol if I have a choice. Just what I prefer.

danlwil · Jan 5, 2004

Provide your own oil.... Buy what you want and take it in.... they'll put it in for you.... Free for life will still be a good deal

Oil changes

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