Best Oil for Car? Car Battery Life? (Phoenix: buy, landlord)

[yukon]

I've looked at the owners manual for my model, it's a bit vague but does give multiple choices based on driving conditions/temperatures. Going by temps alone, it looks like I can use 10W-30. What do most of you use - regular or synthetic, and why? Does one work better than the other in the upcoming summer months?

Also, about how long can I expect a battery to last out here? I know in FL you were good to get about 3 years off a battery, due to heat and humidity. Obviously there's no humidity here to speak of, just the heat. What has been your experience with car battery life?

[lewdog_5]

You're never going to get anyone to agree on oil for cars. It's like investment advice, everyone has some but you never know who's right.

If your car is a fairly newer model, just go by the recommendations, even for here in Phoenix. You don't really want to choose different oil weights from recommendations unless you do unconventional or extreme driving. If conventional oil, change every 3-5k (I lean to the later of 5k). If synthetic, you can push out to 10-12k if you choose. Depends on driving conditions though and I'd never want even a synthetic oil to be in a car more than 1 year, so if you don't drive much I'd just use conventional. Biggest thing with oil is to just have it regularly changed along with the filter EVERY time. Conventional oil today is miles ahead of what it used to be decades ago. It still offers great protection for engines. I run conventional in our daily drivers but put full synthetic in my Mustang GT.

I also recommend changing the engine air filter every year. It's cheap and anyone can do it. Too much dust around here to let that go more than a year IMO. I change all ours at the start of every summer.

Batteries about 3 years an average. I've had a few only last 2 years here though. These two batteries had 3 year warranties and were replaced for free. You can even get that warranty if you buy the battery at O-Reily's and install yourself.

[ColoGuy]

Car manufacturers recommend low viscosity oils because that helps them with their MPG claims. They will, of course, also help you with MPG. However...........thicker oils such as a 10W-30 will protect your engine better.

I'd go with thicker oils, like 10W-30, for a hard working engine. Say a truck that pulls heavy loads. Or any engine that I wanted to use for a long time....like 250,000 miles.

I believe in synthetics but that is an opinion and "everyone has one".

Arizona is a hot climate and that lowers battery life. One might get six years in Montana and four years in Arizona. Five years is, I think, average.

Oil and air filters also make a big difference in protecting your engine.

I have read of common scams in the oil change business. Good argument for doing it yourself. I once watched a mechanic put black oil in my engine that literally had lumps. I had just turned 16 and knew almost nothing at that time.

[Potential_Landlord]

Originally Posted by ColoGuy

Car manufacturers recommend low viscosity oils because that helps them with their MPG claims. They will, of course, also help you with MPG. However...........thicker oils such as a 10W-30 will protect your engine better.

I'd go with thicker oils, like 10W-30, for a hard working engine. Say a truck that pulls heavy loads. Or any engine that I wanted to use for a long time....like 250,000 miles.

I believe in synthetics but that is an opinion and "everyone has one".

Arizona is a hot climate and that lowers battery life. One might get six years in Montana and four years in Arizona. Five years is, I think, average.

Oil and air filters also make a big difference in protecting your engine.

I have read of common scams in the oil change business. Good argument for doing it yourself. I once watched a mechanic put black oil in my engine that literally had lumps. I had just turned 16 and knew almost nothing at that time.

Thanks for your post and clarification. It seems to me too that car manufacturers (as encouraged / forced by CAFE standards) recommend too thin oils, particularly for hot and dusty Arizona. I would go with slightly thicker oils too because they create a thicker film that protects better and can better accommodate dust and other particles causing wear and tear floating through pistons, valves etc. Sadly, another story where government and corporations only look out to their own reputation and goals while leaving you with the damage -premature wear and engine failure. Particularly in our local desert climate. Sad!

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by Potential_Landlord

Thanks for your post and clarification. It seems to me too that car manufacturers (as encouraged / forced by CAFE standards) recommend too thin oils, particularly for hot and dusty Arizona. I would go with slightly thicker oils too because they create a thicker film that protects better and can better accommodate dust and other particles causing wear and tear floating through pistons, valves etc. Sadly, another story where government and corporations only look out to their own reputation and goals while leaving you with the damage -premature wear and engine failure. Particularly in our local desert climate. Sad!

I'm not seeing any evidence of oil-related "premature failure" in our local desert climate? Craigslist here is stuffed with cars that are old enough to vote that still don't knock or smoke at well over 200,000 miles. I think the only oil related failure that's common here (and everywhere) is allowing it to run low & not changing it. Having paid the warranty claims for a small manufacturer for a few years, I know we didn't care a bit what brand or weight of oil was used, just that there was any evidence at all that it had been changed in the past 10-15 thousand miles. If you start cracking open dead or "defective" engines, the common denominator is that there's no evidence that the oil has been changed or even checked in the past 10,000 miles & they all showed a failure at the rod bearing furthest from the oil pump (oil starvation).

If the mode of failure was a "bad bearing", there would have been evidence of wear on all or random bearings, not just the one furthest from the oil pump. On our engines, over a couple of years - I saw the #5 rod bearing fail every single time - and every time there weren't any receipts for at least 10,000 miles. We paid most of those claims under warranty, but from an engineering perspective- on an engine that uses the same identical rods & bearings for all cylinders, at least once you would expect to find a "bad bearing" installed in a position other than the #5 cylinder. The only "oil related" failure you are likely to see in the valley is that there isn't enough oil, or that it isn't changed. If you keep even the cheapest non-synthetic oil full (and don't bother to change it), you're still likely to run 30-50 thousand miles before the sludge in the pan starts plugging things up & killing an engine "prematurely".

I've personally seen fleet vehicles with 80,000+ miles on the original non-synthetic oil & factory filter (documented) that still ran like a watch. Careful flushing of the sludge in the crankcase delayed failure to over 130,000 miles.

[Potential_Landlord]

Originally Posted by Zippyman

I'm not seeing any evidence of oil-related "premature failure" in our local desert climate? Craigslist here is stuffed with cars that are old enough to vote that still don't knock or smoke at well over 200,000 miles. I think the only oil related failure that's common here (and everywhere) is allowing it to run low & not changing it. Having paid the warranty claims for a small manufacturer for a few years, I know we didn't care a bit what brand or weight of oil was used, just that there was any evidence at all that it had been changed in the past 10-15 thousand miles. If you start cracking open dead or "defective" engines, the common denominator is that there's no evidence that the oil has been changed or even checked in the past 10,000 miles & they all showed a failure at the rod bearing furthest from the oil pump (oil starvation).

If the mode of failure was a "bad bearing", there would have been evidence of wear on all or random bearings, not just the one furthest from the oil pump. On our engines, over a couple of years - I saw the #5 rod bearing fail every single time - and every time there weren't any receipts for at least 10,000 miles. We paid most of those claims under warranty, but from an engineering perspective- on an engine that uses the same identical rods & bearings for all cylinders, at least once you would expect to find a "bad bearing" installed in a position other than the #5 cylinder. The only "oil related" failure you are likely to see in the valley is that there isn't enough oil, or that it isn't changed. If you keep even the cheapest non-synthetic oil full (and don't bother to change it), you're still likely to run 30-50 thousand miles before the sludge in the pan starts plugging things up & killing an engine "prematurely".

I've personally seen fleet vehicles with 80,000+ miles on the original non-synthetic oil & factory filter (documented) that still ran like a watch. Careful flushing of the sludge in the crankcase delayed failure to over 130,000 miles.

OK, thanks! That means hopefully if I don't over-stress my engine with unusual loads etc., I'll be fine.

[KurtAZ]

I have use 10W-30 for years...but I am a creature of habit. Never had a problem. Batteries on the other hand...figure about 2-3 years. We get the Duralast from Autozone w/ the 3 year warranty.

[hikernut]

Originally Posted by yukon

Also, about how long can I expect a battery to last out here? I know in FL you were good to get about 3 years off a battery, due to heat and humidity. Obviously there's no humidity here to speak of, just the heat. What has been your experience with car battery life?

I put new battery in our cars every two years. No doubt there are people who go a bit longer, but for me it's not worth risking getting stranded simply because of a dead battery.

I buy our batteries at Costco, which has a very generous warranty program.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by hikernut

I put new battery in our cars every two years. No doubt there are people who go a bit longer, but for me it's not worth risking getting stranded simply because of a dead battery.

I buy our batteries at Costco, which has a very generous warranty program.

Same here. They never seem to go slowly.

[hikernut]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Same here. They never seem to go slowly.

Isn't that the truth? I nearly got stranded once, just in town, but still a headache and expense.

I wonder if a battery tester would give any hint? Just the simple siphon one with the little balls of different densities. I don't even own one today.