motor oil cost

oil shot up with the gas price. It has not come back down. Any deals out there?

I run Amsoil. High quality synthetic and acutally pricey per quart but with 17/35k city/hwy miles between changes it is actually cheaper. Sounds scary but it is good oil.

Challenge the retailer on price. I'll certainly agree that point of sale prices havent given much but wholesale priced dropped, a lot. Oil actually did just have a 9-12 pct wholesale increase this week but that was the last one since June, and prices were down about 30 pct wholesale.

What I've noticed is the smaller the package the faster the price went up and the slower it comes down. By the drum, I got Conocco 15W40, before this price increase, for under 6.00 a gallon.

I'm still getting Rotella T 15-40 for $.50/qt. Works for me. Especially with 10 engines around here.

My problem is that with a mixture of older and newer equipment and vehicles I have seem to need too many different kinds of oil to buy in quantity. For instance I just changed oil on the ATV and the book said use SE or SF.  I had SM, SJ, and other designations.  I called the Honda dealer and they said if you use the newer grade oils it can damage the seals in the transmission (which is lubricated by the engine oil) and cause the automatic clutch to slip.  Of course they will be happy to sell me the proper oil for 6 or 8 dollars a quart. Walmart has something called 4 cycle motorcycle engine oil for around 7 dollars a quart but they were out of it (too high anyway).  Just bought a new car that uses 5W20 for better gas mileage and some kind of GSFL? rating.  I'm sure the dealer will have a good price for me for the correct oil!!.  Do you just give up and go to the farm store and buy 5 gal. cans of 10W40 and put whatever is on the shelf in the older and newer tractors and vehicles?  Not to mention the newer oils that aren't oil and cost double or triple. I can just see me using them in the 30 to 50 year old tractors. And then there is the different gear oils and hydraulic oils. I have a shed full of different oils and never the right grade the manuals suggest?

Don't believe the dealer when he gives you that new oil ruining seals crap.

Show us all where you're getting Shell Rotella T for 50 cents a quart. I've read a lot of BS on here but this is about the best one yet. Try about $2.50 a quart when it's on sale.

davpal, look around some more for best BS yet. A friend hauls oil bulk for regional Shell dist. When he gets home he drains off remainder so that when he goes for next load there is no residue. In the winter it is quite a lot. He sells it to people like me who come and pick up and bring an empty bucket. He doesn't have a lot of selection but he gets a lot of their 15-40. He may even sell to you if you come over!

pennzoil 15w40 $3.89 a qt and the cheap mobil stuff $2.79 qt at your friendly overseas Military exchange.. Wasn't but about 10 years ago the mobil was 45 cents and the pennzoil was 1.20.

Dave

Gotta keep the speculators making buku big bucks.
I once knew an Old machinest who drove a 1950 chevrolet and he had asthma really bad. Watched him go to the lathe oil bin and scoop out a quart, dump it in the old chevy. One could see him comming and going for miles. He always stopped at the filling station and ask the pump jocky" $1.00 worth of gas and check my sludge"His nephew said the engine was so loose the pistons were swapping holes. The old guy said the fumes helped his asthma. He's gone now. NO WONDER.
Use to be oil was just oil, Not any more. Way to much B.S. on what to use.
LOU

Remember a Quaker State station when I was a kid that had a pump alongside the building that you could buy re-refined oil......

True on seals.. but.. he does need to watch for the right oil for clutches on motorcycles and such. there IS a difference for them.