Select Costco Wholesale Locations has their
2-Pack 5-Quart Kirkland Signature Full Synthetic Motor Oil Bottles (SAE OW-20, 5W-20, or 5W-30) on sale for
$29.99 (
price taken off at register) valid for
in-warehouse purchase only.
Thanks to community member
HomerSaidDoh for finding this deal
Note, product availability/pricing may vary by location. Please check your local warehouse location for details.
Available Product(s)
- 2-Pack 5-Quart Kirkland Signature Full Synthetic Motor Oil Bottles (SAE OW-20) $29.99
- 2-Pack 5-Quart Kirkland Signature Full Synthetic Motor Oil Bottles (SAE 5W-20) $29.99
- 2-Pack 5-Quart Kirkland Signature Full Synthetic Motor Oil Bottles (SAE 5W-30) $29.99
Top Comments
A traditional premium synthetic has a high performance additive package that meets usually ACEA and Euro OEM specs and uses a better VM that burns cleaner. They also tend to use a better Group III and and/or PAO (Group IV).
You have to understand how these products are made, the Kirkland (Costco), Amazon Basics, and Supertech (Walmart) cheapy syns are all based on a bid in this case Warren won the bid with the lowest cost product. Hence you get just the bare minimum in engine oil, so a skimpy conventional additive packages (8-9% treat) and cheap and dirty VM (OCP). The goal with formulating these products is to make it as absolutely cheap as possible or you don't get the bid.
When premium brands formulate their synthetics (Mobil 1, EDGE, Platinum, Liqui Moly) their goal is to differentiate so when you see 10x better wear protection or sludge prevention it is in comparison to exactly these market general cheapy products as those meet the bare minimum specs. Your premium syns will use a higher end additive pack (13-16% treat) and a clean burning, shear stable star polymer. They also tend to use some higher end base oils like GTL, PAO, esters along with GIII. These also tend to meet ACEA and a lot of the harder Euro specs like Mercedes, VW, etc. This is why you don't see a Kirkland 5W-40 for a VW or Porsche as those products can't meet the tougher specs.
The reason people seem to think they are all the same is they never take apart their engines to see the difference. The higher performance oil will keep your engine running closer to new for longer where the cheap products leave more deposits, sludge, and cause more wear. Your engine will still run, but it will burn more oil and have less hp (clogged piston rings) and likely shorten turbo life as those bearings hate deposits.
Here is a little more proof, most of the big lubricant marketers have introduced their own cheapy syns for fighting grade synthetics to compete with kirkland/amazon/supertech. Mobil has Mobil Synthetic (no 1 in that name) for example. Look up the specs and it's just API SP/dexos1 and is likely a market general cheap formulation just like the others. Mobil 1 however is a different beast and is self formulated by ExxonMobil and still has a nice slug of PAO in the products.
Now if you get into higher variants, I'd agree HM, EP, SUV etc the variance there is much smaller. They might have a little booster or be a smidge thicker but very similar to each other.
My suggestion is to compare specs. If they only meet SP/dexos1 then they are basics. If they meet Porche, VW 50x, MB 229.x, BMW, ACEA specs then they are high tier with robust additive packages.
SWRI Seq IV wear test [swri.org]
UOA is useful but doesn't give you the full picture, for example darker oil doesn't mean it's bad as higher end oils have almost double the dispersant which means they solubilize more contaminants, crappy oils will leave more behind in your engine and sumps.
BTW I used to make these types of products and run all OEM/API/ACEA testing to get them approved.
I don't think I'll convince people like you who think cheaper is better, but the truth is they are different products. A McDonalds hamburger isn't the same as one from Shake Shack, the ingredients are just different and your engine is just like your body, the bad stuff leads to deposits, clogs, wear etc, but it happens slowly over time.
As an ex formulator it pains me deeply when people say "oil is oil" it's like telling a chef that soup is soup because they all use water...
The Shell GTL "oil" for instance has proven to improve deposits on a Sequence IIIG test with the same additive pack over the regular Yubase Group III.
172 Comments
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I always used Mobil 1 - this time I could not find M1 deals anymore!
15w-40 will work fine. I use to run 15w-40 in my riding mower but run 10w-30 HM now as I rarely use 15w-40 in my shop.
Most newer small motors call for 10w-30.
As long as it has oil I have never seen any issues for most smaller engines. Some oil, any type, is better than no oil.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4Ch98S
Kirkland v Super Tec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9il_pi
Anyway, the oil is fine. Made by Warren, who makes a lot of other oils. That's not to say it's the exact same as the other oils, but it's not some no-name manufacturer that has no experience.
And my anecdote? I change oil in my vehicles when the OBDC dictates, which is usually 9-10k miles. I use this oil and a Purolator filter. The whole oil change is like $25. Driven multiple vehicles to near 200k before selling them.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank Archimedes001
A traditional premium synthetic has a high performance additive package that meets usually ACEA and Euro OEM specs and uses a better VM that burns cleaner. They also tend to use a better Group III and and/or PAO (Group IV).
You have to understand how these products are made, the Kirkland (Costco), Amazon Basics, and Supertech (Walmart) cheapy syns are all based on a bid in this case Warren won the bid with the lowest cost product. Hence you get just the bare minimum in engine oil, so a skimpy conventional additive packages (8-9% treat) and cheap and dirty VM (OCP). The goal with formulating these products is to make it as absolutely cheap as possible or you don't get the bid.
When premium brands formulate their synthetics (Mobil 1, EDGE, Platinum, Liqui Moly) their goal is to differentiate so when you see 10x better wear protection or sludge prevention it is in comparison to exactly these market general cheapy products as those meet the bare minimum specs. Your premium syns will use a higher end additive pack (13-16% treat) and a clean burning, shear stable star polymer. They also tend to use some higher end base oils like GTL, PAO, esters along with GIII. These also tend to meet ACEA and a lot of the harder Euro specs like Mercedes, VW, etc. This is why you don't see a Kirkland 5W-40 for a VW or Porsche as those products can't meet the tougher specs.
The reason people seem to think they are all the same is they never take apart their engines to see the difference. The higher performance oil will keep your engine running closer to new for longer where the cheap products leave more deposits, sludge, and cause more wear. Your engine will still run, but it will burn more oil and have less hp (clogged piston rings) and likely shorten turbo life as those bearings hate deposits.
Here is a little more proof, most of the big lubricant marketers have introduced their own cheapy syns for fighting grade synthetics to compete with kirkland/amazon/supertech. Mobil has Mobil Synthetic (no 1 in that name) for example. Look up the specs and it's just API SP/dexos1 and is likely a market general cheap formulation just like the others. Mobil 1 however is a different beast and is self formulated by ExxonMobil and still has a nice slug of PAO in the products.
Now if you get into higher variants, I'd agree HM, EP, SUV etc the variance there is much smaller. They might have a little booster or be a smidge thicker but very similar to each other.
My suggestion is to compare specs. If they only meet SP/dexos1 then they are basics. If they meet Porche, VW 50x, MB 229.x, BMW, ACEA specs then they are high tier with robust additive packages.
I'm guessing you have a VW, BMW or something? You'll need a 505 01, BMW LL, or similar rated engine oil.
These usually meet what you need
Mobil 1
Liqui Moly
Castrol EDGE
Pennzoil Platinum
As an interesting alternative I learned from another SDer that FCP Euro [fcpeuro.com] does this thing where you buy your first and second oil change (oil/filter/gaskets) and then they let you return the used oil for a credit so you end up getting a lifetime of free oil changes for the cost of shipping and they sell good stuff like Liqui Moly. Haven't tried it yet myself but I'm tempted to if I ever run out of the oil I made for myself haha.
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It's a volume thing. Costco is not Advance Auto parts. They are banking on selling a lot of a limited number of SKUs. Costco only has around 4k SKUs at any given time whereas your avg supermarket will have like 30k. That means simpler logistics, better buying in bulk, etc, but it also means you don't sell 15 kinds of mayonnaise. You pick maybe 1 or 2 that most customers will want and go with it. Here they probably know their customer demographics and predicted what grades of oil they're apt to need.