grahaco said:
Hello folks. I just had a quick oil change question. What is the best oil I should be using in my 2001 Cadillac Deville w/ 4.6 Northstar V8? Also, what do yall think about adding SLICK 50? When I say best oil, I mean not only grade, but brand. Thanks a million!
COREY
Well there's a can of worms if I ever saw one! :hide:
Well, grahaco, you'll probably get about 2 bajillion replies with different information here, but my advice is to use the oil grade that is recommended in the manual, which is probably 10W-30. Slick-50 is useless stuff. They've been sued by the FTC several times for making false claims. There are no "magic" additives for your engine. Prolong, Duralube, Slick 50, Z-Max, you name it and it probably does absolutely nothing but separate you from your money. Save your cash for something useful like retirement or your kid's education or a worthy charity. Don't buy any additives. The people who make PTFE (Teflon), the stuff in Slick50, tell you on their web site that Teflon has no business in an engine. It won't really hurt anything, but it won't do any good at all either and is just a waste of money.
Synthetic oil is technically superior to conventional oils for several purposes, but you will probably never see the benefits. The engine was tested and proven with conventional oil. Synthetic is not required or recommended, but it won't hurt anything but your wallet. Do your engine a favor and use a good quality oil filter. Stay away from the Fram. Spend a couple extra dollars and get an AC-Delco, Purolator PureONE, Wix, Napa Gold, or Mobil1 oil filter. I've also heard that the Motorcraft filters are decent. As far as what brand of oil to use, look at the back of the bottle. In the "starburst" seal, it will tell you the ratings and certifications of the oil. The latest standard is SM, and your car probably requires SL or higher, so SM works just fine. Look for an oil with the "Energy Conserving" label in the starburst to save a few dollars on gas. I think you'll find that most any modern motor oil will work very well. Engines and engine oil aren't what they used to be. They're far, far better than ever before. There isn't really much difference anymore with the latest ratings and certifications. Pennzoil, Mobil, Valvoline and Havoline are supposed to have good quality 10W-30 conventional motor oils. Go with a synthetic if you want, but I think it's just a waste of money.
As far as when to change it next time, there is an oil life monitor that tells you where you are in the oil's lifetime. Reset it when you change your oil by pressing the INFO button until you see xx% OIL LIFE REMAINING and then hold down the INFO RESET button for about 10 seconds until it says 100% OIL LIFE REMAINING. Change the oil when it gets near 0% remaining and you'll save money, dump less toxic waste into the environment, and your engine will last you a long time. Nobody has ever shown that it's necessary to change oil at 3000 miles, and I think that's the old way of thinking. New technology in engines and oils makes that a thing of the past. The latest engines and oil ratings are good to 12,500 miles. You will probably find that the oil life monitor on your car gets you somewhere between 6000 and 7500 miles between oil changes. That's normal, it's perfectly safe, and there are thousands and thousands of Cadillacs on the road that have very high miles on them that have had their oil changed by following the oil life monitor. This is probably all way more than you expected to get back.
If you want to know more about Teflon in engines, read this:
http://www.msgroup.org/TIP043.html
