If or no other reason, avoid Mobil 1 for this.....

incase you are not familiar with the Exxon Valdez oil spill..... http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/spotlight/spotlight.html

Exxon/Mobile is #2 business in the world (second to wal-mart) fiscal year ending 12/31/01, with yearly sales of $212.9 billion . They are responsible for the spill of 11 million gallons of oil into the biologically rich waters of Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989. They have done very little to help the clean-up. Take a look at the pictures. http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/photos/exxon/exxon.html

use amsoil. :)

-jack

Okay. I'm not an Amsoil Dealer, so no bias there. Regarding which is better, empirically, Amsoil better in all of the ways you can analytically measure an oil (TBN, VI, Flash Point, etc.). Will any of this make a difference? Who knows, it probably depends on how long you intend to maintain your car in a serviceable condition.

Extended drain intervals aside, the Amsoil isn't really that much more if you become a Preferred Customer. For $20 per year, the Preferred Customer program entitles you to purchase their products at wholesale (dealer) cost. Really, it's just a scheme to get you to become a dealer. But the savings are significant, and if you are changing the oil on a couple vehicles every 10K or so, then even with the $20 entrance fee, pricing is still very competitive to M1. For example, their 10W-30 oil is only about $4.50/quart under the Preferred Customer program vs. $5.70. Further, it gets you cheaper access to their other super premium products such as gear oil, 2-stroke oil, grease, oil filters, ATF, etc. I service a boat, a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and my S70, so for me, it’s definitely worth it.

Just a plug for the extended drain intervals… I’ve used them on my Jeep since new. Now at a 105000 miles, the motor still runs like brand new. Does not burn any detectable oil. In fact, the only time I have to add oil is when I change the oil filter (every six months) to top up. Nothing added in between the filter changes, which is about 9,000-11,000 miles or six months. The cool thing is that the proof is in the oil analysis that you can do at the end of the year when you change the oil. I think they are a great time saver. Once I can get some miles logged on by T5, I’ll implement an extended schedule with analysis. Not really sure how far I should go yet since turbos tend to chew up all oil pretty quickly. Anyways, good luck.
--
1999 S70 T5

Hello,

I have one lifter, possibly #4 intake, that's making noise occasionally. One afternoon it was pretty loud (with the hood up) but the next time I started the car it was quiet. Saturday I changed the oil from whatever was in there to Mobil 1 10W/30 and will monitor usage and condition. I didn't expect any miracle fix with the synthetic, I just did it for the turbo's sake really, and it was my first oil change since buying the car last week. BTW, the lifter still occasionally tics.

I take it the seals mentioned in this thread are the lifter seals. I know what it takes to get the camshafts out and am ok with doing that as I've been working on DOHC motorcycle engines for around 20 years. Once I have the lifters in hand, what tools are required to replace the seals?

Thanks,
Erwin in Memphis

Thanks for all the info the regular oil that the dealer put in at 73,600 will be changed back to mobil1 synthetic 10w30 at either 75,000 miles or 76,000 i'm not sure yet.I live in south florida and it gets very hot and humid .The details of the repair i had done at the dealer is as follows:sealing rings #8642559&8642560-0, o-ring#30637867-0,chemical gasket #1161059-9, brake bath #ca2409, oil filter,gasket & 6.2 qts. castrol gtx
This seems to have gotten rid of the lifter noise.
I appreciate all comments and feedback.

As you found out, synthetic oil is not a mechanic in a can, and doesn't replace missing metal or gasket/seal material.
By all means, stick with synthetic. Benefits far outweigh the small extra cost.

Another biased opinion--AMSOIL is better than Mobil 1. If you use the extended drain interval, your cost per mile/hour of operation will be less with AMSOIL (in a sound engine).

Since you say you had some sludge in the pan, you might consider having an oil sample taken after a thousand-fifteen hundred miles. If you have a slight headgasket leak, that can cause sludging of the oil and the lab test will detect any coolant.

The problem repaired by your dealer had nothing to do with useage of synthetic oil and the oil sump and pan o-rings are now becoming a fairly common issue, more so with the newer type engines that use the POS canister type filter and have 8 o-rings that need replacing when they fail and cause lower oil pressure and lifter noise.

I'd go back to synthetic oil if I were you as it wasn't the cause of your o-ring problems. Those o-rings fail no matter what but oddly its not happening to all older "white engines" either.

As for which sythetic oil? I use Amsoil but I'm having problems justifying the cost compared to Mobil 1. I'm not totally convinced that my cars engines know the difference in Amsoil vs Mobil 1 and the cost difference is considerable.

Not sure what exactly they did to eliminate the ticking, but somehow it probably had to do with volume of oil delivery to the top end.

I think you made a wise choice switch to synthetic. I guarantee you will not get that sludge build up with a good synthetic oil.

As an Amsoil dealer I will tell you indeed the basestock synthetic and the additives in Amsoil are better than Mobil1. Is there anything "wrong" with Mobil1 for normal oil change intervals? NO! But it is not recommended (Mobil) to extend the oil change interval - because the additive package and basestock oil is not designed for the long haul. Amsoil Series 2000 0W-30 can and easily goes 35,000 miles (10K in turbos). (Of course change the normal filter and top the oil up at normal intervals). I change my NA 850 oil (Amsoil 5W-30) at 15K intervals, because of time elapsed, not miles - and I get the oil analyzed and it's essentially perfect. The 245ti with 225,000 miles I have gone 10K intervals since 150,000 miles and the oil analyzer says to continue using the oil!

So how more $ do you think Amsoil is?

Here's my 2 cents on an issue:

I have been using Mobil One Synthetic motor oil since 1989 ( 10-30 weight here in Texas) without incident on all family vehicles.

Last year I flushed the transmission on my 1995 850 turbo with Mobil 1 synthetic ATF fluid and have been pleased. Did the same on my Totoya Previa minivan and got great results with it as well.

Mobil 1 is easily available at the local auto parts stores, Target, Kmart, Walmart, etc.

Amsoil is probably just as good but is not as easily available- I think you have to get it thru an Amsoil dealer. It's a little more expensive.

There are "Amsoilites" here on this board that will want to strongly suggest that Amsoil is a superior synthetic lubricant - just remember, most of them are dealers and thus probably biased.