Oil to use

what is a good 5w30 oil to use?

mobil 1, castrol, quaker state, valvoline...there are so many.
are any better for our trucks?

there all the same pick one

whats everyones opinion, conventional vs. synthetic?

unless you like paying the premium stay with conventional.....

unless you are driving a new vehicle with LOW miles, stick with conventional. Switching to synt. on an old high mileage engine has a lot more chance of causing oil leaks and oil burning.

Tough question. Good..... but, tough!!!!

There are good points for regular (dino) oil and synthetic.

Personally, I'd rather change dino oil more often than synthetic with its extended change intervals. I don't want crud in my engine. Who knows if a little gas isn't being burned and slipping past the rings; diluting the oil. Who knows if the filter is grabbing all the crud. I do know that by changing my dino oil every 3,000 to 4,000 miles there isn't time for my oil to be diluted, loaded up with crud, lose its additive properties, etc.

If you live in an area that becomes bitterly cold in the winter I'd consider Mobile 1 synthetic for those super cold months. However, a quality 5W-30 dino oil will allow you to handle a moderate winter chill with no problems. Also, there's always heaters for the block, the oil, the coolant, etc.

The debate about which brand of oil is best has never been settled. After researching the matter i decided the Havoline 5W-30 would work well for me. I'm sure that Castrol, Pennzoil, etc. would do just as well. I went with Havoline since it has the required additives and the firm has been around a long time and appears to want to produce a good product to maintain there good reputation.

There are "designer" oils that get a premium price but I have not been convinced they are any better than a standard oil. The designer oils are AMSoil, Royal Purple, etc.

Oil filters are also important and, again, there is a lot of debate about which filter is best. There are several sites where oil filter tests have been performed. Of course, those tests are already outdated and only a few brands and applications were tested.

I chose AC/Delco filters for their apparent quality and consistency in that quality.

Whatever route you choose...... regular oil and filter changes are the key. Some say that 3,000 miles is overkill. Some folks go much further before changing. Personally, I don't want to go past 4,000 miles. Compared to the cost of a rebuild oil is cheap. And, while under the truck changing the oil I can inspect the components down there and grease the fittings if needed.

Remember, changing those other fluids is also important. Opinions vary but I'm going to flush the brake system after 2 years, change the tranny fluid and filter every 25,000 miles, coolant after a couple years, the differential fluids after 25,000 etc.

obbop -- well said.