$3.29 orange fram filter from wal-mart and 5-20w castrol oil every 6k like the owners manual says. I drove my Camry 225k miles and my Prelude 190k on the same stuff.

 

The third time I changed my oil, at the 12000 mile mark, I descided to bite the bullet and spring for the good stuff.(or so I thought)
I bought Royal Purple 5w-20 and a Purolator Gold filter.
After the oil change I kept hearing a slight ticking sound for the first couple of seconds at start up.
As the weather got colder, it (the ticking) got worse.(louder and lasting longer.)
At 14000 miles or so I got paranoid about engine damage so I changed it again.
The oil was black and really sunk.(Like a non synthetic oil after 4000 miles or so)
I was surprised at that.
I don't run the jeep very hard, and I drive it 45 minutes at a time to work and back when I drive it.
After reading quite a few threads on this forum about oil, I went with Mobil 1 synthetic 5w20 and went back to a Mopar oil filter.

Guess what...no more ticking.
I don't know what to think about it.
Was it was the oil that was the problem or the filter?

I just hope that I did not do any serious damage by letting it go for 2000 miles.

 

I run Royal Purple 5w20 and the Napa gold filter change it every 3,000 MAX. I change diffs every 9,000, and tranny at 15,000. It was said in this forum that milage is a horrible way to tell when to change the oil. I agree, certain Jeeps see more idle time, more low range time, etc. Over maintenance never hurt anyone.

*Edit*
Also, on the back of a Royal Purple bottle it says its not for engines during their break in period.