Wasted the majority of my Saturday on what should have been two hours of work.

"Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo" (thetomselleck) 07/19/2020 at 11:45 • Filed to: Longbed 2020

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It was t ime for an oil change on these two, so I thought yesterday was the perfect opportunity to bang out that task with the usual ease. Had I known what was in store for me, I would have grabbed beer and stayed in.

First thing’s first: I’ve been changing the oil on my wife’s car since we bought it five years ago. I always use a WIX filter and Castrol GTX 5w-30 conventional. Apparently I’m behind the times, because it appears 5w-30 conventional is being phased out? O’Reilly’s had none — in any brand, let alone Castrol. Just synthetic blend. They said they don’t have any and won’t have more.

Go to AutoZone, same story. They have none and they don’t have any on order.

Go to a different and bigger O’Reilly’s... They were carrying 5w-30 in their generic brand, but it was sold out. All the quarts were picked clean. The manager interrupted the friendly clerk and told me, “no, there’s right there.” “It says in big letters ‘synthetic blend.’ “ “Well they’re all going that way. It’s the same oil, it just has better additives.” “It’s not the same oil I’ve been using for five years.” “But it’s the same.” “Notice how you have 10w-30 synthetic blend next next to that 10w-30 conventional. Those are not the same.” “Well, well, additives blah blah blah—” Dude I’m halfway out the door and you’re trying to sell me oil I don’t want...

Call NAPA. “Do you have 5w-30 conventional?” “Let me look — yeah, plenty.” “Castrol?” “Yep, Castrol 5w-30!” “... Conventional?” “Yeah, synthetic blend.” [Facepalm] “No, I need conventional... Like how your 10w-30 Castrol just says ‘motor oil’ in the bottom right, no ‘synthetic blend.’ “ “Ohhhhhhh! Oh we got ahhhhh.... ... Wow, apparently we don’t carry anymore. At all. Of any brand.” “Dang, thanks anyway.”

Call Advanced Auto. Good news. “Sure do!” “I’m on my way.” Get there. All 5w-30 conventional c leaned out. When did this become a hot commodity? Even the quarts are cleaned out. Sigh... Wait! One jug of tucked in the wrong isle, can it be?

Actual dino juice for my car! I check out. “Got any more in the back?” “A few.” “I’ll take them, too!”

Okay that was a 2 hour adventure for what is usually 10 minutes... drive around the two vehicles, get them warmed up and complete the oil change. All good — except the longboi springs a coolant leak, as I posted yesterday.

The leak is coming from the lower hose. Unfortunately, it’s completely inaccessible from the top and bottom. The head for the clamp is *under* the clamp for the line going to heater core! Completely blocked. There’s very little working room around the fan. Lordy. So I detached and inspect the radiator while I’m in there. Looks good. Detached the shroud for more working room, which you can’t remove with the fan in place but you can kind of slide it over.

Time to inspect the hose. Separate from the bl ock Coolant everywhere. Raining down like an environmental disaster. Left shoe soaked through entirely. Take a break to wash my foot. Go back to work barefoot. I gotta get the damn hose off where it connects to the radiator. But of course, each clamp (10mm with Philips head) is rusted AND stripped! They won’t budge. Bleeping bleeping bleeping bleeders! Also the shroud is basically a giant razorblade 1/8" from my hand as I try to get any amount of leverage on these ruined clamps.

Three hours later, the hose is off. Passes my so-called inspection. Clean up the clamps and reset so they’re angled to where you can actually access them next time. And there will be a next time.

Next inconvenience: I tested the coolant last winter and it was good. But it is some years old. More concerning is that my pickup is caked with oil, dirt, grease, etc. underneath. So all the coolant that poured everywhere seemed to drag in quite the collection of debris:

I don’t know how much that photo shows, but there was some seriously chunks of whatever in there. I don’t consider myself mechanically inclined, but I think I remember something like how small things can block and ruin the small paths of the radiator or something like that. Anyway, I didn’t wanna risk putting it back in , or try to strain it. So back to the auto parts store. At this point, it’s past 8pm. Also, it’s almost 15 bucks a gallon for the generic green (non-Dexcool) premix, so that was neat. I seem to remember coolant being much cheaper? Maybe I’m just getting old.

Also add more time for cleaning up the splattered coolant, putting away tools, and going on another test drive to see whether or not the leak has stopped, and if we’re overheating or not. I drove my wife to the beach, and we watched the sunset while waited for the engine to cool off so I could add more coolant (thermostat was getting a litttttle high... Like really ). So much air in the system I could barely add half a gallon to the radiator the first time...

So that was my boring, frustrating Saturday. Seems like every weekend I’m stuck under the hood of something. But for some reason I kind of enjoy it.

Thanks for reading.

dogisbadob > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/19/2020 at 11:52

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“conventional” has actually been a synthetic blend for a few years now., so you’ve already been using s ynthetic blend. You just didn’t know it. Modern oil standards have gotten so tough that even the cheapest SN “dino” has a little synthetic in it. There is nothing wrong with using the synthetic blend or even full synthetic, which Napa has on sale for under $4/qt right now. The Napa Synthetic oil (Valvoline) and a Napa Platinum filter (Wix XP) is $23 this month.

vondon302 > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/19/2020 at 11:53

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Yay car work!

So straight conventional oil is a rarity now?

BeaterGT > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/19/2020 at 12:00

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Good work! TIL about 5w-30.

HammerheadFistpunch > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/19/2020 at 12:11

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I really hate that wire clamp toyota uses on their coolant hoses. It’s like it was made to create leaks. Try these

My advice my friend on the old front is to move to synthetic and stop worrying. I’ m running full synth in the cruiser and have been for 80,000 miles and even at 5k intervals I burn no oil. I t’ s a little more money but moving to a 5k interval offsets that, plus it’ s easy to remember when things are do. I s the odo at 5 or o in the thousands place? O il change time.

Urambo Tauro > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/19/2020 at 12:12

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I recently noticed that many Valvoline containers that I used to recognize as conventional are now labeled “s ynthetic blend” . Dunno how long it’s been like that, but a pparently I’ve gotten way too comfortable with color-coded packaging. I’m so used to white=conventional, red=synblend, and silver=synthetic. It’s not that simple anymore.

66P1800inpieces > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/19/2020 at 12:14

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What are the downsides to switching to Synthetic? Walmart usually has the full Synthetic Castrol 5w-30 for about $24 . They have equivalent high mileage versions if you are trying to keep older seals from leaking. Synthetic doesn’t cause the potential leaks like many claimed long ago but the seal was already worn a bit and synthetic flows so much better an cold temperatures.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > dogisbadob 07/19/2020 at 12:15

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Napa synth and Napa platinum filter is almost always the best option for DIY.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > vondon302 07/19/2020 at 12:19

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Who knows. Maybe I need to stock up on 10w-30 for the pickup...

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > HammerheadFistpunch 07/19/2020 at 12:22

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Points of concern:

The Vibe is slowly leaking  from the timing chain tensioner and weeping from the oil pan gasket. I’m worried the “thinness” of the synthetic equivalent will lead to a higher rate of leakage.

The Vibe had oil consumption problems from 2003-2005, partially brought on my excessively long oil change intervals. I don’t burn one drop of oil so I don’t like changing things that are working.

The longbed leaks from everything. I’m worried it will be like the Exxon Valdez if it’s loaded with synthetic.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > 66P1800inpieces 07/19/2020 at 12:24

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It's not dollars and cents; it's changing something that's been working. It appears I won't have a choice soon.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/19/2020 at 12:43

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I’ve been using synthetic on my cars for the last 10 years, I’ll buy mobile 1 on sale and have had zero issues. It actually does last longer by not degrading as fast as conventional. I did a conventional oil change in my Mazda last fall and it was very done at 3,000 miles and usually I can go 6,000 with synthetic in the Mazda.   

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/19/2020 at 12:46

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I just made a mess of draining the coolant in my Vette coz water pump is leaking....yay for coolant leaks

HammerheadFistpunch > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/19/2020 at 12:58

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The cruiser leaks, but never a drop to the ground. Oil won't change that. It really won't

vondon302 > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/19/2020 at 13:06

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Odd been getting most of my oil online lately but I’m going to look next time I run to the parts store.

The never ending oil debate takes a new twist. 

This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja: > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/19/2020 at 13:07

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Got a project for next weekend lined up for you...

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/19/2020 at 13:27

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Buy Mobil 1 at Walmart in a five-quart jug. The 5W30 is the blue one.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/19/2020 at 13:28

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Walmart would have their house brand in those conventional flavors. In that old Toyota truck engine I’d be inclined to go 10W40.

66P1800inpieces > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/19/2020 at 13:48

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It’s just great stuff, especially in cold climates. And it can often take more heat abuse as well. Youtube might have a neat video explaining it but starting with a more uniform base stock (all hydrocarbons more similar in size) allows for a better product.

Even with full synthetic there are different groups. Group III is just conventional crude that has been processed differently (heat and pressure) to make the base more uniform. Then there are the fancy true synthetics in Group IV. I think most consumer synthetics (haven’t verified in a while) are a mix of III and IV.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > HammerheadFistpunch 07/19/2020 at 13:57

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Inter dasting... 

bison78 > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/19/2020 at 14:05

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I’m worried the “thinness” of the synthetic equivalent will lead to a higher rate of leakage.

I run full synthetic in my ‘57 MGA. It leaks, but no more than normal for this type of car.

I believe that I have read somewhere that early synthetics did not have the chemicals to cause the seals to swell and seal, hence people experienced higher leakage with synthetics, but that is an old problem, long fixed.

Synthetics should have more consistent viscosity, so they should cause less leakage, not more.

MM54 > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/19/2020 at 18:09

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If it’s any consolation (and being just one data point it oughtn’t be much) I switched to synthetic in the 4runner (~1 05 k miles) and the weepy valve cover gaskets did not change their leakage at all. They still need done, but they’re no worse like a handful of people tried to tell me it would be after I put in synthetic.

MM54 > Urambo Tauro 07/19/2020 at 18:11

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It really threw me for a loop when Pennzoil switched from silver jugs to the same yellow jugs but silver label on their Platinum. I still have to double-take that I grabbed the right bottle

Dogsatemypants > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/20/2020 at 16:11

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can' t modify the conventional base to meet the newest api standards without diluting it to the point where it qualifies as a blend. That said if you want old skool dino juice, most of the parts places in bellevue have it. Rich people love to put it in their new european cars, because synthetic is bad according to their uncle who once popped the hood on a car.

Dogsatemypants > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/20/2020 at 16:12

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A blend would be more in line with what Toyota spec'd it to run with. Going back to that bit about tiny passages....

Dogsatemypants > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/20/2020 at 16:21

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I would try a high mileage type synthetic, it has gasket conditioner that may help to slow the seep.