We all have our preference for what we feel is the best for our engine. Some are hardcore full synthetic users, some synthetic blend and others feel that the regular oil is fully up to the task. So cast you vote and give us the benefit of your knowledge.

I usually use a full synthetic. Right now I'm using what ever the dealer puts in there until 12k miles and then I will switch. I once went about 25k miles on one change of amsoil. Car was no worse for the wear either. I probably won't do it again, but don't let anyone tell ya it can't be done!

I usually use a full synthetic. Right now I'm using what ever the dealer puts in there until 12k miles and then I will switch. I once went about 25k miles on one change of amsoil. Car was no worse for the wear either. I probably won't do it again, but don't let anyone tell ya it can't be done!

I would have like to had seen an oil analysis done on that oil. Did you change the oil filter during any of those 25k miles or did it go the distance to?

I would have like to had seen an oil analysis done on that oil. Did you change the oil filter during any of those 25k miles or did it go the distance to?

Oh no, that was the same oil filter as well. It was a amsoil filter though. I doubt it was a great thing for the car, but I really never had any trouble with it before or after that event. Never burned any oil or anything really.

you crazy man oil is very imporant for a car thas like blood in ya vains

you crazy man oil is very imporant for a car thas like blood in ya vains

I have read several reports where someone went over 9000 miles before an oil change. The debris in the oil is always elevated but expected and the TBN was was depleted. I usually change my oil and filter around 5000 and that is with full synthetic.

Royal purple user for the first time, going to get an oil analysis done when I change it. :smileup:

To clarify, I did this cause I didn't really care about the car. I would never had done it if I cared, nor would I ever do it on this one. But talk about a bulletproof engine/tranny. I did my best to mistreat it and it never let me down.

I almost forgot...I had a bad wheel bearing for at least 40000 miles and that never completed failed either. Noisy as all heck at times, but still drove.

Those where the days...

I go 5000 miles on a synthetic blend. The blended/synthetic oils were initially advertised as having a longer life, thus justifying the added cost. The cost has come down making those oils more popular, which is why I believe they now say chage at 3K miles. I haven't had any problems changing at 5K.

I go 5000 miles on a synthetic blend. The blended/synthetic oils were initially advertised as having a longer life, thus justifying the added cost. The cost has come down making those oils more popular, which is why I believe they now say chage at 3K miles. I haven't had any problems changing at 5K.

I would think, synthetic or not, unless your consistently hard driving or racing to extreme rpms, one could probably change the oil every 6k miles.

I'm near 4500 miles right now...still no sight of the oil change indicator. If it comes on before 6k, then I'll change it. If not, then I'll change at 6k. Something tells me I won't see the indicator however..

Dodge recommends 5W20 for the 2.4l and 2.7l while the 3.5l is 10W30. At Wal-Mart you can but Mobil 1 in a 5 Qt container for $20.00 in both viscosities. My preference would be the 5W30 over the 10W30. This averages to about $4.00 a Qt. Mobil 1 is very good oil at that price.

I'm thinking I might become a Amsoil dealer. Maybe can get a group buy going or something. Would have to wait till after the holidays for me though. Too much going on and too much cash going out! lol

Dodge recommends 5W20 for the 2.4l and 2.7l while the 3.5l is 10W30. At Wal-Mart you can but Mobil 1 in a 5 Qt container for $20.00 in both viscosities. My preference would be the 5W30 over the 10W30. This averages to about $4.00 a Qt. Mobil 1 is very good oil at that price.
When i got my car serviced at the dealer last week they put 5w-30 in.

When i got my car serviced at the dealer last week they put 5w-30 in.

Your dealer is putting an oil that will flow better at start-up in the cold weather I know you have up there. Most engine wear occurs at start-up and the 5W30 will flow faster with less effort on your engine's oil pump. On the 6.1 Hemi an 0W40 is recommended while the 5.7 Hemi gets 5W20 due to the MDS.

Yeah, even though we don't have weather like they do in Canada, we still get frigid weather.

Does anyone really know the difference between Full synthetic, and Synthetic blend?

I gotta be honest guys. It is whatever the dealership has. Being a employee I get a discount and I get it done while I am at work.

I had mine done.. got 5w30 from the dealer as well

Does anyone really know the difference between Full synthetic, and Synthetic blend?

Full Synthetic - A group III,IV, or V base oil

Synthectic Blend - Oil that is mostly group II base with III,IV, or V added to it.

This is a very basic answer. If you would like me to go in a lot more in detail I will. I like talking about oil

Well I guess my understanding is that the full synthetic is thiner than the blend...??

Well I guess my understanding is that the full synthetic is thiner than the blend...??

A full synthetic will most likely have a lower pour point and higher flash point when compared to a blend or regular oil in the same viscosity. Its just better quality oil. Is it needed for normal usage most likely not.

Thanks Zonestar. It is pretty interesting stuff. As you can tell I am not very technical. But I do like learning things like this.

I have posted about different groups of oil bases a few times so I will give a better explanation below of the bases.

Lubricant base stocks are categorized into five groups by the API.

Group I base stocks are composed of fractionally distilled (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_distillation) petroleum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum) which is further refined with solvent extraction processes to improve certain properties such as oxidation resistance and to remove wax.

Group II base stocks are composed of fractionally distilled (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_distillation) petroleum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum) that has been hydrocracked (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrocracking) to further refine and purify it.

Group III base stocks have similar characteristics to Group II base stocks, except that Group III base stocks have higher viscosity indexes. Group III base stocks are produced by further hydrocracking of Group II base stocks, or of hydroisomerized slack wax, (a byproduct of the dewaxing process).

Group IV base stock are polyalphaolefins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyalphaolefin) (PAOs). A synthetic.

Group V is a catch all group for any other synthetic and mineral base stocks. Examples of group V base stocks include polyol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyol) esters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ester), polyalkylene glycols (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polyalkylene_glycol&action=edit) (PAG oils), and perfluoropolyalkylethers (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Perfluoropolyalkylether&action=edit) (PFPAEs).

Groups I, II, and III are sometimes referred to as mineral oils (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral_oil) and groups IV and V as synthetic oils (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_oil). However, most manufacturers have labeled their group III based oils as synthetic in the US for reasons of economy and marketing.
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thanks again Zonestar

Cool info there zonestar! :)

I have posted about different groups of oil bases a few times so I will give a better explanation below of the bases.

Lubricant base stocks are categorized into five groups by the API.

Group I base stocks are composed of fractionally distilled (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_distillation) petroleum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum) which is further refined with solvent extraction processes to improve certain properties such as oxidation resistance and to remove wax.

Group II base stocks are composed of fractionally distilled (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_distillation) petroleum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum) that has been hydrocracked (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrocracking) to further refine and purify it.

Group III base stocks have similar characteristics to Group II base stocks, except that Group III base stocks have higher viscosity indexes. Group III base stocks are produced by further hydrocracking of Group II base stocks, or of hydroisomerized slack wax, (a byproduct of the dewaxing process).

Group IV base stock are polyalphaolefins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyalphaolefin) (PAOs). A synthetic.

Group V is a catch all group for any other synthetic and mineral base stocks. Examples of group V base stocks include polyol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyol) esters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ester), polyalkylene glycols (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polyalkylene_glycol&action=edit) (PAG oils), and perfluoropolyalkylethers (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Perfluoropolyalkylether&action=edit) (PFPAEs).

Groups I, II, and III are sometimes referred to as mineral oils (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral_oil) and groups IV and V as synthetic oils (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_oil). However, most manufacturers have labeled their group III based oils as synthetic in the US for reasons of economy and marketing.
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That is what I was looking for! Thanks! :smiley_thumbs_up:
More rep for you!! ;)

Great info. Zonestar. Thanks

Several companies are now manufacturing a biodegradable motor oil. The engines that have been using them are turning in very good oil analysis reports. I will be reading up on them and post some details soon.

Several companies are now manufacturing a biodegradable motor oil. The engines that have been using them are turning in very good oil analysis reports. I will be reading up on them and post some details soon.

Cool! Be interested to see if they do better or worse in testing versus conventional oils.

i use lucus oil at i think its the best get it at pep boys

Until my car is out of warranty I am just going to stick with going to the dealer and having them change my oil so they can track all my service work.

i use lucus oil at i think its the best get it at pep boys

Why do you think its the best?

I use Quaker State Full Synthetic. One of my friend Dads owned a mechanic shop and has worked on many many types of cars. Over the years he has seen it all. And he was asked on day. What is better Synthetic or Regular oil.

Note: I live in a small town. with many small towns around.

We he was unsure of the question because he has seen mixed results from the cars he worked on. When he looked at peoples oil 99% of the time he was unsure of the brand. So this person made him think what is better? So he decided to start his own control tests.

As I was not around him for the tests I am unsure of what control tests he did. At the time I never gave a crap about that kind of stuff. But what I do know is the results.

Regular/ Semi Synthetic / Full synthetic

Pennzoil
Quaker State
Mobil
and two other name brands not sure what they were off hand,

Now the result dumb founded him as he was a committed to using Pennzoil

For the most part Regular oil is the worst to use regardless of the brand but some are better than others still. Next was Semi Synthetic and Full Synthetic is the Best to use.

Rated from worst to best.

Regular
Pennzoil came in at the bottom on Regular. It left the most harmful deposits inside and caused the most amount of friction.
Next were the two other brands (Sorry don’t remember the brand)
Quaker State was next in amount of deposits and friction.
Mobile came out on top with the least amount of deposits and friction.

Semi Synthetic
Pennzoil again at the bottom.
Mobile Next
The other two brands
Quaker State was on top.

Full Synthetic
Pennzoil again
Other two brands
Mobil
Quaker State on top again.

Final conclusion was Full Synthetic from Quaker State was by far the best out of the five use.

He has sold Pennzoil for the last 20 year at that time as the main oil in the cars he worked on. Needless to say after the tests he never bought it again. Used what he had and then started to use Mobil and Quaker State.

In his shop he has the print outs and caps (Not sure what they really were) to show the residue that was left by the oil.

Now this guy has been working on cars since he was young so I would say at that time 40 some years under his belt. and 25 of them owning his own shop. I would take pics of the results but he sold his shop and retired about 6 years ago. But the facts were all there.

Yes I know others will still argue that fine we are all entitled to our opinions I am just going by fact from what I know.

But even after these test he wanted to put it into hard core tests.

Now every year in our town we hold a demolition derby (drive around in an arena and smash each others cars until they don’t move winner is last one running)

Every year they would enter 3 cars (Only one per household good thing for Sons that were married) He switched the regular oil out for Quaker State oil in the cars. and Dang it made a difference. Less engine heat than normal. (Ran twice as long before over heating) Also not if but when, the oil pan would get a hole in it. Normally after a short time the engine would quit and at times catch fire. But since the change of oil he got longer running time out of the cars.

And since then between him and his sons and other family members they win most of the time. Needles to say the town loves them as out-of-town folks that come, lost there butts off. LOL.

Still to this day they run Full synthetic in there cars, but other have come to know this and also us it now. Now have a fair fight in the arena.

My mom used it in her OLD 1974 Lincoln Continental. The car got over 400,000 miles on it before she sold it for better full economy. Never having any major problems. WOW. that’s a lot of miles. We say it was because of the oil.

So since I have found this out I have used nothing but Full synthetic. I have went in my Durango over 70,000 miles with out changing it (Oooppsss. I was young and dumb) needless to say I did not add oil or changing it. When I did change it it was still some what clear And the filter (K&N always) was still fine. The place I brought it to said I did not need to change it yet, and was wondering why I was bring it in as it looked like I has it done only months before.

Well needless to say with everything I have read and seen and experienced I will NEVER USE ANTHING BUT QUAKER STATE FULL SYNTHETIC.

Well that is enough rambling for me SORRY GUYS. I just wanted you to know what I have read, seen, and experienced.

FYI: I change my oil every 25,000 miles now! And still have clean oil when I do. I am going to change it again this weekend. And it still looks clean. But fell I still should.

That was an interesting post of yours almulder. What kind of test did he perform on the motor oils to draw his conclusion. Pennzoil Platinum which is a full synthetic has constantly proven itself to be a motor oil that protects and cleans the engine better then the other leading Group III motor oils in oil analysis reports. Pennzoil regular and Castrol GTX have both shown impressive results with oci of 5000 miles. Mobil 1 went through a major reformulation between 2004/2005 that its not as good but it cost less to make.

I am not sure of what test he ran. I only remember the results. Sorry! I know the tests he ran would provide a better understanding of how the got the results and why.

P.S. Sorry forgot to mention this test was done about 8 years ago. I would ask the guy but can't get in contact with him as my friend and his dad are not on speaking terms.

I will say this much. My friend was good to me this weekend. He lives in Utah and I live in CA now. And never having done any mechanic work on a car he helped me over the phone to replace my master cyl and reservoir, bleed the brakes and install new pads. Took me 8 hours but for my first time it don't think it was to bad. I learned ALOT.

And yes this was on my 2008 avenger. I accidentally drilled a hole into the reservoir. I was drilling above it and the drill slipped. OOOpppppppssssss..

Thank goodness for friends. Would have cost a fortune at the dealership.

I normally use the regular, also I'm a firm believer in changing the oil every 3000 miles. The longer you leave the oil in there the more it breaks down, the more it breaks down the better chance you have of gumming up your engine, I've seen it too many times. As far as synthetic I wouldn't use it cause when I worked at Penske Auto Center I went to a seminar/training class and talked to a representative from castrol and he said that the synthetic does not have as many cleaning agents and additives in it as the regular. Of course this was about 12 years ago and they may have come a long way since then.

Oh yeah, and as far as Quaker State oil, does it still leave a milky white build up inside of the engine? I had a car one time and the previous owner used Quaker State in it religiously and I almost had to do a complete tear down on the engine to clean it out. Thank God for motor flush. I only use Valvoline myself.

Full synthetic every 2900 to 3000 miles. Expensive but I believe its well worth it. I have never had an issues with any of the cars I have ever owned. A friend bought a 93 Beretta (wifes car) off of me and it had 98,000 and he followed the same maintenance and the car now has 212,000 and the only thing he replaced was the battery and it's still running strong.

My Avenger has only done 4500km (2700miles if i worked it right), but after a overheat due to dropping a heater hose i want to change the oil so any ideas as to what i use would be taken on board.
I am thinking of using MOBIL 1 10/30 full syn.?? Motor is 2.7ltr

My Avenger has only done 4500km (2700miles if i worked it right), but after a overheat due to dropping a heater hose i want to change the oil so any ideas as to what i use would be taken on board.
I am thinking of using MOBIL 1 10/30 full syn.?? Motor is 2.7ltr

I use the 5/30 Royal Purple Fully synthetic on mine. I like it, i used it on my old car.

Dont think I can buy Royal Purple, never seen it on oil shelf here in Australia, thanks for the input!

My Avenger has only done 4500km (2700miles if i worked it right), but after a overheat due to dropping a heater hose i want to change the oil so any ideas as to what i use would be taken on board.
I am thinking of using MOBIL 1 10/30 full syn.?? Motor is 2.7ltr

I worked the convertion table wrong 4500km that makes 7200miles I think?:smiledown:

Dont think I can buy Royal Purple, never seen it on oil shelf here in Australia, thanks for the input!

I guess they only sell it in the USA, but you can probably buy it online.

The first 6000 miles I ran conventional oil for break in, after that it's been 5W-20 Mobil1.

I spoke to the dealer workshop several times too clarify and they are using 10/30w even my oil cap states 5/20w, can someone enlighten me why my dealership is putting 10/30w in?
I have used 5/30 Castrol Edge Race formula with genuine Mopar filter!

I don't know why dealers would do that but I can tell you the 2005 Neon oil cap specifies 5W-20 and prior years specified 10W-30. This was done strickly to help with the fuel economy.

With the Avenger Chrysler figures the 3.5L R/T engine is going to be abused so they suggest 10W-30 and 5W-20 is specified for the other gas engines for fuel economy.

I'm curious what oil is specified for the Charger/300/Magnum using the 2.7L and 3.5L engines.

I don't know why dealers would do that but I can tell you the 2005 Neon oil cap specifies 5W-20 and prior years specified 10W-30. This was done strickly to help with the fuel economy.

With the Avenger Chrysler figures the 3.5L R/T engine is going to be abused so they suggest 10W-30 and 5W-20 is specified for the other gas engines for fuel economy.

I'm curious what oil is specified for the Charger/300/Magnum using the 2.7L and 3.5L engines.

2.4L 5W20
2.4L Turbo 0W40
2.7L 5W20
3.5L 10W30
5.7L HEMI 5W20
6.1L HEMI 0W40

Chrysler recommends the same motor oil for each engine regardless what platform its placed on.


The reasons dealers put 10W30 motor oil in your vehicle is because they can buy it at the lowest price in bulk.

2.4L 5W20
2.4L Turbo 0W40
2.7L 5W20
3.5L 10W30
5.7L HEMI 5W20
6.1L HEMI 0W40

Chrysler recommends the same motor oil for each engine regardless what platform its placed on.


The reasons dealers put 10W30 motor oil in your vehicle is because they can buy it at the lowest price in bulk.

I wish they would use what is specified, but I look at it this way as long as the powertrain warranty is honored they can put in what they want. After all they are going to pay the repair bill not me. All my oil changes will be done through the dealer to avoid any well you didnt maintain your vehicle problems down the road.

My fuel usage is getting better and better, I believe its coming out of its braking in period.

Castrol GTX full synthetic, never had an issue so far. engine is still quite as ever with over 100k

If you change your own oil, will it in any way mess with your warranty?

I worked the convertion table wrong 4500km that makes 7200miles I think?:smiledown:

1 m = 1.6 km therefore 4500 km = 2812.5 miles

I only run Mobil 1 synthetic

i run AMSOIL in my Charger and as soon as i get to 8000 miles on the Avenger i will be switching it over to that as well, might do it sooner though

I have always used full Synthetic. Im have used Valvoline Platinum the last three changes. I change every 5000 miles. I put 5W20 in my 2008 3.5L V6 R/T.

I have run exclusively Amsoil in my last two trucks (both Dodge 4.7L) and always ran 20,000 mile oil changes. My old Ram had 120K when I traded it in, and I still see it around town. My current Dakota has 95K on it and I am only on my 5th synthetic change.

I usually put on 1K, change it with basic oil just to get any break in crap out of there, then run it another 1 or 2 K before converting to Amsoil. Works great. With my impending Avenger purchase I will probably only run 8-10K between oil changes (and use the Amsoil XL) since Amsoil does not make a cartridge filter for the 3.6L (yet).