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After 250,000 Miles - Only ONE Oil Brand Survived (I Tested 5)
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- Published on Apr 15, 2026
- After 250,000 Miles - Only ONE Oil Brand Survived (I Tested 5)
Most drivers assume all engine oil brands protect your engine the same - until internal wear starts adding up.
In this long-term investigation, we ran 5 popular engine oil brands across 150,000 miles of real-world driving. Cold starts, highway miles, stop-and-go traffic, heat cycles, extended oil change intervals, and daily commuting - no lab tricks, just real engines over time.
What we found was surprising.
Several well-known, trusted oil brands began to break down far earlier than expected. Sludge buildup, varnish formation, loss of viscosity stability, and reduced cleanliness appeared quietly - long before most drivers would ever suspect a problem.
Only one oil brand remained consistently clean, stable, and protective throughout the entire test window.
If you care about engine longevity, internal cleanliness, oil breakdown, wear protection, and avoiding expensive repairs, this video may permanently change how you choose engine oil.
#EngineOil #CarMaintenance #AutoCare
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How can you judge the oil performance when the car has done 250, 000 m on the same engine? Yes the oil testing is revealing but the condition of the pistons, bores and bearings is affected by 5 different oils.
Exactly
I'm a Pennzoil Platinum 5w-20 kind of guy and I stay with the best oil brand, and it is made from natural gas not crude oil from the ground.
1. Where the hell do you get off leaving out Amsoil- Royal Purple, just to name two 'uniformly recognized "contenders"? I'm a big fan of non-petro based "synthetics" Pennzoil Plat being Natural Gas based, finished with a superlative additive package, seems "bang for buck" the best I'm aware of. Takes more than one guy, testing one oil at a time, through the same engine to convince me to change, given the widely available test results provided by so many other experts...
My 1982 diesel has over 1 million mile , changed oil and filter every 5000 mi, used conventional 20-50w,
If you change oil regularly your engine should be fine ,
My dad had a 1972 Chevrolet he change oil twice a year , but it was on the highway a lot , he was using the oil that was made back then , no problems
Anyone using a 0w grade is destroying their engine... Its proven to lose it's viscosity quicker than 5w by 2X... depending on driving conditions and climate a regular oil change is just as important as oil viscosity.
why is 0W worse than 5W? isnt that just the temp rating?
@jimmyjam5453 0W is the viscosity to begin with... therefore its low in friction protection but flows easily via the oil pump. However the film of oil on bearing surfaces isn't providing any friction protection for the 4 seconds (on average) it takes for oil pressure to be optimal range. Majority of engine wear is first 90 seconds of a cold start... 0w oil would be awesome if the engine was never cold, but detrimental in the majority of circumstances.
Amsoil signature series didn't make the cut?
Didn't want to embarrassing the others
Napa oil is blended by Valvoline. Read the label.
Clean oil is best oil. I’ve been changing oil and filters in my vehicles for over fifty eight years. When I begin to not see my dip stick oil level lines through the oil it’s time to change the oil and filter. Never had an engine problem. Again clean oil is best oil. After fifty eight years doing it this way Hey what do I know 😁
Thanks for sharing
What about Amsoil ?
Supertech is best every 5,000 miles
Old school is every three thousand miles. Clean oil is best oil. I change my oil and filter when i begin to not see my oil dipstick level lines through my oil. Fifty eight years doing it this way and never had an engine problem. When I sold the vehicles some people would comment it’s the best engine they have seen and heard. I’m seventy four now so what do I know. 😁
Full synthetic otherwise 3000 miles maximum
Supertech full synthetic every 5 to 7 K miles. And I will buy whatever syn. that Menards or tractor supply puts on sale on Black friday.. I'll also buy Syn at garage and estate sales for $ 1 a quart.I'll mix one 0 in with 4 5ws
If you only took the engine apart at the end there's no way of telling which oil did what. And oil isn't bad because it goes dark, it's supposed to get dark if it's doing a good job holding on to contaminations (and some might just darken more). And every form of engine and use will dictate what CHEMISTRY works best, the brand has nothing to do with it.
With all the different images of things I take it was AI generated, which also can be misleading.
Is it 250‚000 miles or 150‚000?
Why did you give the Blackstone test results after only the first of 4 oil changes for each brand? The narrative pointed out that the first test can be abnormally dirty if the previous oil left extra contaminants for the new oil to clean up.
When raving about the first test of the Moly oil, at 127‚500 miles of the test, the narrative raved about an engine with 127‚500 miles looking so good. This suggests the Castrol was used on a brand new engine. The break-in process produces an abnormally high amount of wear metals as moving parts wear to fit each other.
Opening image has a fault. I am not even listening to the most likely AI video due to the image. How can you show a clean piston with one oil and say it ran 250K miles and the other from an obviously neglected engine with the competitor's oil image and say that oil is bad. I have used and had no problems with the Super Tec oil. I have run it for over 100K miles and no issue when as with all modern oils that are changed on time.
Amsoil
New piston on left burnt piston on right side don't be fooled by 😭😱😭😱😭😱😭😱😭😱😭😱😭😱😭😱😲🤯😲🤯😲🥵🤯🥵
I'm cheap, buy cheap beaters, namely with a Toyota or Honda nameplate, and buy the cheapest oil I can find....and that usually the Wally world brand, Supertech. Never had engine issues using Supertech. Had a 95 Corolla, which made it to 350,000 miles before I sold it. I see it every now n then cruising thru town. Never used anything but Supertech in it. And as a bonus, I use exclusively Fram oil filters, gasp, I know... that engine is going to grenade any moment now.
I have the exact same experience 😊. Supertech synthetic on all five vehicles. Still have my 2001 Ranger
AI slop
My car has 563,000 miles on it using almost all conventional oils origional engine still in there
What motor?
The Toyota 5 sfe 4 cylinder engine.
Bogus teat unless it can be done using the same oils but used in 5 different orders. Also consistent 5000 or less oil changes are more important than the brand of oil if they all come from a reputable oil maker. IMO
Who is 'we' (and where did you do anything?)?; and who/what is 'Auto Care Lab' - other than a (AI web scraping BS) garbage scam? Still 127 tick-ups so far; people are so gullible ffs.
😂AI bullshit
What a bunch of crap.
Evidence? References? (or) AI fake scam clickbait BS? Obviously, the latter? Colour of oil is irrelevant and/or can actual mean it's doing its job well.
Of the oils mentioned here, Pennzoil Ultra Platinum AND Valvoline Advanced are THE best! PERIOD. Btw, I change my oil every 5,000k, religiously.
Liqui Moly is the best of this group, Penzoil Uktra is a fantastic oil as well though.
BS mobile 1 and super tech is made by the same company. HA HA you lie!
Ingredients are not the same. I discovered that when researching tire brands.
Your testing and evaluation procedures are, at least in my mind, a bit flawed.
I think it would've been best to do a thorough tear-down and cleaning at each change, along with measurements. The cleaning is especially important, because you want all traces of the previous oil eliminated. Yes, it's expensive, but you'll get better answers. With that said, the findings you had with Pennzoil's natural-gas based oils seems pretty consistent with what others have observed.
I also find the use of weird random stock-footage garbage and computer-generated narration annoying. What are you hiding behind if you don't want to personally narrate your own video, or, if need be, find professional voice talent to actually do it? Many voice-over people will work very reasonably with much more authentic results...because it is authentic.
Your testing makes no sense and is not scientific. How could you test 5 different oils in the same engine? I'm a retired mechanical ICE engineer. Your test is a farce. There are too many variables to make your test procedure even minimally viable. Hey, I have a Trump I'll sell you or your viewers.
Starts off talking about and showing 0W 20, then later it's 5W 30/40 etc... so which is it ffs; or just totally made up BS clickbait AI garbage with no references whatsoever?
This is AI crap
I am submitting the results of two of my oil-analysis tests (showing they beat all five of your tests, including your LiquiMoly) taken from my 2016 Toyota Camry at an oil-change interval of 7,233 miles using Amsoil “100% Synthetic” Signature Series
0W-20 Motor Oil and my 2013 Subaru Tribeca at an interval of 7,660 miles using Amsoil “100% Synthetic” Signature Series 5W-30 Motor Oil. Of the three metals mentioned in your tests, my Toyota had 7 ppm of Iron, 3 ppm of Aluminum and 0 ppm of Chromium and my Subaru had 7 ppm of Iron, 2 ppm of Aluminum and 1 ppm of Chromium, while LiquiMoly in your Honda had 8 ppm of Iron, 4 ppm of Aluminum and 1 ppm of Chromium. Therefore both of my vehicles had 10 ppm of these three wear-metals using Amsoil, in contrast to your Honda had a total of 13 ppm using LiquiMoly or a 30% increase in these particular wear metals over the Amsoil!
What you fail to mention is that there are 6 additional wear metals (besides the aforementioned 3 wear metals) that are normally included in an oil-analysis test, including the following 6 wear metals: Nickel; Titanium; Manganese; Lead; Tin; and Copper! I cannot believe in your testing of the 5 different oil brands, they each had “0” levels of these 6 aforesaid wear metals? My Toyota had 1 ppm of Tin (for a total sum of 11 ppm of all 9 wear metals) and my Subaru had 1 ppm of Nickel, 1 ppm of Copper and 1 ppm of Manganese (for a total sum of 13 ppm of all 9 wear metals).
My Toyota achieved 1.52 ppm in wear metals per 1,000 miles and my Subaru had achieved 1.69 ppm in wear metals per 1,000 miles. The Motor Oil Geek (Lake Speed, Jr) said that any oil that can achieve less than 5 ppm of wear metals per 1,000 miles was a “really, really good oil!” Lake even tested Amsoil “Synthetic Blend.” 5W-20 Motor Oil over the course of 5,000 miles, where it had 12 ppm of total wear metals (with 2.4 ppm of wear metals per 1,000 miles)! That "Synthetic Blend" Motor Oil (the lowest priced motor oil for automotive gas engines) consists of over 50% synthetic oil (including Esters) and the rest Petroleum.
Yes, you probably guessed I am an Independent Amsoil Dealer with my ID number 1420935 (also used as my Referral Code). All dealers of Amsoil are Independent Contractors, as opposed to actual employees of Amsoil. If consumers wish to buy the Amsoil products as a Preferred Customer (PC), they will get the oil at a 25% discount, plus free shipping when they spend $100 (plus receiving a $5 coupon for every $100 you spend). It only costs $10 for a 6 month PC membership (or $20 a year) and there is no requirement to purchase (as there is with so many companies offering a membership for a preferred customer program, where there is an automatic shipment involved).
I invite you (along with other viewers) to visit the official website of Amsoil and apply to become my Preferred Customer, by kindly utilizing my Referral Number of 1420935 in the box where they ask “Have a Referral Number? Enter it below:” If you can write down my referral number, before you eventually decide to exit this webpage, it will be appreciated (so that it will be at your fingertips when you get on the official Amsoil website). Thanks for the consideration!
Thanks for sharing such thorough oil analysis data and your personal experience with different wear metals; it's definitely valuable for our community to see.
More AI generated garbage