What I was really wanting to know, is that I can take it to the dealer and have them do it all, and have confidence in the product that they're using. I'd prefer to have a dealer-generated paper trail for all of the anal maintenance that I have done (way before it's due), and I just wanted to make sure that I was getting my money's worth.
When I first bought my 2012 SRT8 392, I did so knowing that I would keep the car as part of my collection in perpetuity. As with all the horses in my stable, my general rule of thumb is to perform all the maintenance myself, and do so well in advance of the manufacturer's recommendation.
I had my car built to order on June 7th, 2011, the very first day that the order banks were open for 2012 Challengers. It was delivered to me on August 19th, right in the middle of Chrysler's transition in engine oil specification for the 392. My car's oil filler cap read 5w40 as did the owner's manual.
As per my aforementioned vehicle maintenance habits, I decided to drain the factory fill at 1000 miles, so as to get any break-in metal fragments out of the oil system nice and early. I decided to use Amsoil's 5w40 along with one of their high performance filters for the first change. I had used both in the past on other vehicles, and found them to be of extremely high quality, a sentiment which has been backed up by virtually every major independent oil comparison test I've come across that Amsoil was included in. I put the car up on my pair of Race Ramps in my garage and performed the oil change without fanfare.
Since my SRT is not my daily car, but rather a Sunday driver (as are all of my collection cars) it wasn't until the weekend after I performed the oil change that the wife and I hopped in the car and drove out to Malibu to have a nice dinner. And that's when I noticed it. A subtle but distinct change in the sound of the engine. When we got to the restaurant, I pulled into the parking lot and decided to quickly pop the hood before going in for dinner. My ears had not deceived me. There was A LOT of lifter noise present where there was none during the first 1000 miles I put on the car with the factory fill. The noise wasn't unusual or alarming, but I was perplexed as to why I was hearing what I was hearing. A call to Amsoil yielded an answer that put any anxiety I had to bed. I can't remember exactly what the Amsoil technician's explanation was now, but at the time I was assuaged by what he had to say and continued to run the Amsoil in the car.
Flash forward six months, and roughly 1500 miles on the odometer (I told you it was a Sunday driver!) to my next oil change window. Before doing anything, I decided to call Chrysler to see what kind of oil was used for the factory fill, figuring that I would revert back to that and see if there was a change in the lifter noise. To my surprise, I was told by the Chrysler rep that not only had Chrysler switched from (as best as I can recall) Mobil 1 that my car had been filled with when it was built to Pennzoil, but that THE OIL SPEC ITSELF HAD CHANGED, and that Chrysler was now recommending 0w40 weight instead of 5w40 for all SRT vehicles. I found this to be unusual, as I had never heard of a manufacturer changing an oil spec when no changes had been made to an engine.
Prompted to find out more, I did some reading on Pennzoil's website and around the web, and learned that Pennzoil had apparently worked with a team of SRT engineers to formulate the 0w40 that was now the suggested oil for the 392, and had in fact collaborated so closely that the SRT logo was actually featured on the bottles. There were extensive quotes by SRT engineers on the Pennzoil website regarding all this, but it still seemed kind of odd to me, so I decided to dig further here on CT and on some other Mopar specific sites and blogs. In contrast to all the talk from SRT and Pennzoil, the enthusiasts' consensus was that this was all marketing hype, and had more to do with Fiat, which has always had a close relationship with Shell (which owns Pennzoil), having bought Chrysler.
After doing all of this reading, I decided to give the Pennzoil a try, as I figured even if this was all marketing BS, Chrysler certainly wouldn't approve of and recommend a bad oil, or one that didn't exceed their own spec. I was actually fairly enthusiastic to try it out, as I am a major Formula 1 racing nut, and Shell has been the supplier to my favorite team, Ferrari, for decades. I favor Shell gas for the same reason, as well as the fact that their gas is not only Top Tier, but also contains three times the detergents that they are required to add to their fuel.
After a somewhat difficult search to find seven quarts of the Pennzoil 0w40 SRT oil (Chrysler dealers had actually yet to start receiving it, and Autozone, O'Reilly's, etc. didn't have stock yet) I bought a case off of the Pennzoil website, and purchased Mopar's new SRT filter (the now ubiquitous white filter with the SRT logo) as well.
Up on the race ramps my girl went, and I performed the change. This time, I went for a drive right after I finished the change. Right away I noticed that the lifter chatter was GONE. The engine also felt very smooth and the power delivery was somewhat more "velvety." I was immediately impressed.
Now in no way am I disparaging Amsoil, but I find the combination of P'zoil 0w40 and the Mopar SRT filter to be a winning combination for 392 equipped cars. I am VERY satisfied with its performance. I also find a small bit of security in knowing that if anything were to ever happen to my engine (forces of the universe please ignore that I said that) Chrysler couldn't try to deny warranty repair based on incorrect fluid/maintenance practices, as I am using exactly what their engineers specified. Oh, and then there is that Ferrari Formula 1 connection... :clap:
- Rob
P.S. Here's a link to Pennzoil's 0w40 SRT oil webpage:
New Pennzoil UltraTM 0W-40 Designed For All SRT Vehicles
