Buggyman

Alankp makes the best point.... the CAP says use Mobil 1. It is on the cap for a reason!

DevilDog II

Synthetic is without a doubt more durable than regular motor oil. As far as the brand, it's kind of like car wax. We all have our favorites.

blacksedan87

Today's engines (by that I mean the LSx family) are all assembled with much tighter tolerances than the Chevy Small-block of old. The aluminum motors are designed to run hotter and much of this is in the interest of lower emissions.

The oil that you choose must be able to effectively flow at all ambient temperatures from about -20F to about 120F, and the old dino type fuel simply doesn't have the ability to stand up to +400 degree internal engine temperatures. That's why the engineers go to the trouble of establishing an oil specification for these cars - as mentioned it is GM4718M.

Interestingly enough - GM has changed it's specification for the 2011 models, they now spec their own oil which is a synthetic blend. It's called DEXOS....click here for an interesting short article.

Also - this new blend is backwards compatible meaning that they can consolidate all of the various standards under the one single spec.

Another interesting point is that the newer oils are even lower viscosity - like 0W-20. The auto manufacturers are willing to try all sorts of solutions like this in the interest of meeting the new CAFE standards coming down the pipeline....

dbaker

Full syn! Lot's of good oils....some are better than others.

Buy the best OIL & FILTER that you can afford and change it as often as you can afford.

It's true that oils are much better than they were 10 yrs ago,but the demands of High HP engines,turbos,Supercharging and extended drains are tougher on oil.

I've done my own oil tests with one of my own cars (not the Vette) and compared the UOA's of 4 diff oils.I use the oil that gave me the best overall results.

IMO.....Oil is cheap,engines are not.I don't mind spending $7 qt for oil that goes into a $40k+car.

\db2
carolina

MCVetteLs6

synthetic!!!!!!! thats what are engines are built for! if you want to put some regular oil in that engine, fill up with deisel next time as well!

let me know how that goes!

STALION

I use oil from crushed magic beans I bought on the way to the farm...the salesman told me they were the best!

baxsom

yes and the reason is Mobil paid chevrolet to put it there.

navyseal3

True.They call it a "Promotional fee".Same deal as seeing a Pepsi in a movie scene.It's not there by accident!

Another good example is Pennzoil & Ferrari.
ns3

justanotherdoe

The 'remaining oil life' calculation is based on the chemical properites of Mobil1 synth. Different oil with different properties invalidate the calculation.

baxsom

If that were the case, GM would require that only mobil1 be put in the car and the Magneson Moss Act would then say that GM would have to provide you with that product. GM says that you need an oil that meets a specific standard. Now if you would have told me that the oil life calculator is based on an oil meeting that standard then I might buy into that theory. For this one I really need to you to cite your work. This is simple marketing and the Pennzoil/Ferrarri example is perfect. This is the same reason my wifes 07 mustang has the BP logo on the gas cap. BP paid them to put it there.

SCM_Crash

Look, the LS1 will take any type of oil. The F-bodies got crude oil and ran fine on them.

I don't know where I heard this from, but someone told me that the reason the Corvettes got Mobil1 is due to the batwing oil pan. I don't believe that at all. The Corvette holds more oil.

OK, this is not for the squeamish:

LSx motors are cheaply thrown-together motors! Yes, they're great engines. But compared to other motors like Nissan VG motors and BMW M motors, the LSx is not that tightly spec'd. You can put other oils in besides synthetic. Aside from the difference in material and displacement, it's the same motor they put in trucks, F-bodies, the G8, Corvettes, Cadillacs, etc. And in all of these cars they got different oils put in. It's not specific.

However, there's some truth to the oil life monitor. Even in late 4th gen F-bodies, there was an oil life monitor that was setup for crude oil. Depending on what the car came with, that's what the oil life monitor was setup for.

But I think baxsom is correct, and the oil life monitor is not BRAND specific; it's standard specific.

RetiredSFC 97

from that website that was inserted it said synthetics are better on your engine at start up and it also helps in the MPG. So it should help them run longer with less engine wear. And especially for those who take their car to the limit regurlarly.

I've used 10-30 Valvoline in every car I've ever had until the FRC. I'll use Synthetic in it but I'm not going to worry about brand so much.

SCM_Crash

No argument here. This is true.

My point was that you CAN run whatever oil you want as long as the weights are correct.

UM Rebel

Synthetic - Mobil 1 is my preference. Oil change guy once talked me into Royal Purple and I had to add a quart between changes. Only time that's ever happened in 65k miles. I also noticed he used some off brand filter. Since then I've done my own oil change.

SCM_Crash

That's ironic. Royal Purple is exactly the same thing as M1.

ztheusa

Except lower quality and higher price!

SCM_Crash

M1's original oil (before moving to crude base stock) was Royal Purple's exact formula (before THEY moved to a crude base stock). When M1 switched to a crude base, Royal Purple started using the original full synthetic formula. Later, when RP found it was too expensive to keep up, they went to a crude base stock as well, but left the price where it is.

So essentially, RP is the same quality as M1, except more expensive.

justanotherdoe

We agree - I write in shorthand. Cheers

RetiredSFC 97

I kinda always thought that but never stated it in fear I would be taken to the woodshed.

Dominic Toretto

(facepalm)....... seriously!?

-Alex