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This thread has been all over the place so I thought I would add one more twist.

I remember hearing a while back that BMW was seeing some problems from people using the wrong oil in cars with the oil life meters. The thought was people (or dealers) were not using oil that met the 'BMW LONGLIFE OIL 01' standard and this was what the oil life calculation was based on. Of course this would be an issue for the people that do as little maintenance as possible and run the oil until there was no life left or beyond.

I don't know how true the BMW tale is but if I had any car with an oil life indicator and I was going to use it to schedule oil changes, I would be sure that any oil I used met any standards the manufacture required.

 
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Ah, but take a look under the hood of any of BMW or M-B's volume selling cars and upscale from that (so, 3-series and up / C-Class and up). None of them retain physical dipsticks. I repeat -- no dipsticks. You can't even self-monitor the oil level! And even if you use the dash warning, you wouldn't know how much to put in! I think this is a one-stone/two-birds solution to insuring the correct oil is in there -- it has to be serviced by a shop, who will then swap with OEM-spec to the correct level (hopefully).

Notice that other manus including Honda (Acura) offer similar options, but retain the choice of checking your own fluid levels, namely two that are crucial to avoiding severe damage (oil and coolant). I would NEVER own a car I couldn't check my own oil level in with a metal stick (esp as dodgy as German electrical components can still be). Insanity.

 
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Hey HEY HEY I cut my teeth on cars like that.
Those were the $100 cars when I was a teenager.


/lawn, off

 
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besides the muscle car era was the late sixties...67-68 Camaro, Challenger, Charger, Nova, Fairlane....the only early/pre sixties that come to mind would be a 55/56 Chev maybe 56 Corvette but even that I wouldn't really consider a muscle car.

 
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'62 Dart (Max Wedge) was definitely a musclecar, as was the '64 T-Bolt, and '64 GTO. The late Sixties musclecars were only the iconic ones; they were the logical end to the movement started in the early '60s, factory drag racers.

Crap -- back on topic. Yes they had yawning-huge clearances compared to today's CNC-machined Terminator factories (esp 426 Hemis, which were loose as 50K street engines right off the showroom floor to reduce friction losses), but then again dino oil is quite good at not leaking. Sludging, sure. Coking, definitely. But there were clearances (and tons of emissions flying out of them) large enough to withstand or mitigate neglect and abuse.

A 460 Ford van I used to drive for work in the mid-'90s ended up going 20 miles with heavy throttle... I noticed a weird rattling, so pulled over and checked oil -- none visible on the dipstick; the crew the previous night hadn't topped it off. Had to buy three quarts just to get it between the lines, and it drove great thereafter. Graceful degradation like that isn't possible with anything from the modern era, save *maybe* a truck drivetrain. And even that's going away as emissions continue to strangle every ounce of margin from engines.

 
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Haha, I love that era! I just meant that is when he got started but hasn't really kept up since he made the switch to DOD.

 
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OK, my head is spinning after reading all this. So, simple answer, yes or no. Add 1 qt of RT-6 5W-40 at the next oil change or two.

Also, is $23 a good price for a 5-qt jug of RT-6? VatoZone has it on sale right now, $5 off.

 
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Sorry, crx, mah bad. :P

Answer: no. I'd run a half-quart to test, with the rest a good 5W20. I did both, and found a half-quart gave back better mpg with little to no diff in improvement. The additive package in the RT6 is waaaay better than a car oil will have (more for lubrication, visc protection, acid buffers and sludge buildup in a dirty-**** diesel motor that has semi-level change intervals). So you don't need a ton to get those ring-sticking deposits to loosen. Even better results if you (like I did) run a normal dosage of Regane in one tank of gas at the same time (it boosts octane, so you can get away with just regular 87 for a tank, cheaper).

Yes, $23 is fine for that 5-qt jug, but you may save some cash just getting a single quart, since you only need half of one for the cleaning for the next 3500 - 7500 mi. If you plan like me to run a maint dosage, buying the 5 qts makes more sense.

 
Rep Power: 161

Well, in the 5W-40 weight, they only sell 5-qt bottles. I'll look for one quart elsewhere.

And I only use genuine Honda oil and filters in my car.