What Oil To Use For The 392?

[Speedy 286]

My daily beater test car is a 99' Honda Accord. Currently has 185,000 on the clock.

[BayouTiger 100]

OK, now what about an additive like Slick50. In the only car I ever added a quart of it every 50,000 or so, I would tell people when asked that I did not see that it mattered but I was going to run it in that one car just to see. In that car (an 87 Dodge Lancer 2.5L not the 2.2turbo) I had to tear the engine down at 185,000 miles as it started burning a ton of oil suddenly. When I tore it down, there was virtually no wear any where except the rings which were completely shot. I re-ringed it and kept everything else original and drove it another 50,000 miles. At that point someone stole it!!! (I got book for it!!!). It was only 2.5 years old, but had incredible miles on it (yes I used to drive 100K a year!). Made me think that maybe the additive helped (but I've never used it since)

[Speedy 286]

I personally wouldn't put anything like that in the oil. The additive packages "could" react to one another with bad results. You would have probably had the same results without the slick50.

[BayouTiger 100]

Bear in mind that that was 20+ years ago.

[HemiSam 195]

I don't have a strong opinion but I don't think you need more than a good quality oil in the engine myself, Chuck. I don't think the Slick50 got you that mileage on the car. I think you treated it well and it was built well, but I'm prognosticating

HemiSam

[rdrdr90 40]

OK, now what about an additive like Slick50. In the only car I ever added a quart of it every 50,000 or so, I would tell people when asked that I did not see that it mattered but I was going to run it in that one car just to see. In that car (an 87 Dodge Lancer 2.5L not the 2.2turbo) I had to tear the engine down at 185,000 miles as it started burning a ton of oil suddenly. When I tore it down, there was virtually no wear any where except the rings which were completely shot. I re-ringed it and kept everything else original and drove it another 50,000 miles. At that point someone stole it!!! (I got book for it!!!). It was only 2.5 years old, but had incredible miles on it (yes I used to drive 100K a year!). Made me think that maybe the additive helped (but I've never used it since)

I ran Slick 50 in 4 cars up until my 2000 Durango. I used it, after 20k and every 50k miles after that, in my 1984 Chrysler Laser Turbo. Had that car for 12 years, put 215k miles on it, changed the oil every 4k (Pennzoil 10-40) and it never burned a drop of oil. Drove that little bastard HARD too. Ran it in an 82 Ramcharger, 80 Dodge pick-up, and two Jeep Cherokees. All went well over 100k miles. Started making a little more money and switched to Mobil 1 with the Durango. It also helped that I knew the CEO of Petrolon (who distributed Slick 50).

[BayouTiger 100]

I don't have a strong opinion but I don't think you need more than a good quality oil in the engine myself, Chuck. I don't think the Slick50 got you that mileage on the car. I think you treated it well and it was built well, but I'm prognosticating

HemiSam

Treated it well! It was my work car and drug several hundred pounds of tools all over the gulf south! I was 27 at the time and beat the piss out of it! But true, the little Mopar 4 banger was absolutely bulletproof! It had technology taken from the Mitsu 2.6L and I had three of them that I beat to hell including the turbo in my Conquest and I drove the hell out of all of them considering the times when 145HP was "big power". Wow the 80's really sucked car wise!!!!

[robertway 0]

And to think, all I asked was 0w40 or 5w40. While it adds probably no value whatsoever to the conversation, the 13 year old 3.2L 98 Dodge Intrepid I just traded in on the 392 had 172k miles on it. I changed the oil abut every 12,500 miles on average with the absolute cheapest 10w30 dino oil I could find. I beat the living piss out of that car every time I drove it for the most part and it still only burned about 1/4 to 1/2 quart of oil between changes and was getting almost 30mpg still when I finally traded it in. Makes me wonder why I worry so much about the 392....

[Hemi57 221]

No additives needed if you use a good quality oil.

Speedy do you have a Blackstone labs report on a 10k oil change?

[rdrdr90 40]

The oil life indicator doesn't "sniff" the oil per se', but it does take driving habits in to account.

It is a rev counter with a slight algorhythm.

[Hemi57 221]

It is a rev counter with a slight algorhythm.

Sean, I think it is a bit more sophisticated that that.

[rdrdr90 40]

Sean, I think it is a bit more sophisticated that that.

Here it is...

• Ambient temperature – extended periods of low temperature operation
  
• Average vehicle speed – stop and go driving
  
• Engine run time – prolonged idling
  
• Trip length and coolant temperatures – short trips
  
• Engine speed and load – trailer tow usage
  

[Speedy 286]

yeah I've got a few 10K oil change reports.....I'll try to post some up later.

[Pat McCrotch 6]

Here it is...

• Ambient temperature – extended periods of low temperature operation
  
• Average vehicle speed – stop and go driving
  
• Engine run time – prolonged idling
  
• Trip length and coolant temperatures – short trips
  
• Engine speed and load – trailer tow usage
  

I would have thought so also had I not purchased mine in Phoenix and drove it to N.Y. in two days. Not a one of your listed conditions existed yet the change indicator arrived at 3K ish at a week old. Tough to be any easier on oil than 99% 6th gear for 2,400 miles in my eyes. In fact the 3rd trigger came at < 10K. Since that first 2,400 I'd venture to guess my avg on/off cycle is < 25 miles, she gets a good dose of WOT horseplay, run it very cool at 178-185 now and it still holds to slightly over the 3k ish OCI mark. Weird to me...whatever it is it is.

[BayouTiger 100]

Some cars just have a reminder light who's interval is set and reset with a switch manually. Some others have some algorithm for determining it.

[rdrdr90 40]

My Jeep Commander, I set it to whatever I wanted up to 7.5k. The Aspen and Challenger have the "magical" formula. Aspen goes right as rain to about 3k miles. 90% city driving trips less than 5 miles. The Challenger has had it kick on 3 times in 6.6k miles...70% hwy miles on it. Bottom line, it is math, not chemistry that the indicator light depends on.

[BayouTigress 91]

And to think, all I asked was 0w40 or 5w40. While it adds probably no value whatsoever to the conversation, the 13 year old 3.2L 98 Dodge Intrepid I just traded in on the 392 had 172k miles on it. I changed the oil abut every 12,500 miles on average with the absolute cheapest 10w30 dino oil I could find. I beat the living piss out of that car every time I drove it for the most part and it still only burned about 1/4 to 1/2 quart of oil between changes and was getting almost 30mpg still when I finally traded it in. Makes me wonder why I worry so much about the 392....

Yep be careful what you ask. I do not think anyone on this site can give a simple yes/no or one word answer. But that is good because the rest of us learn a lot.