Is O'Reilly Auto Parts Brand Motor Oil Any Good, And Who Makes It?
If you regularly perform DIY projects on your vehicles, you may have visited O'Reilly Auto Parts for the necessary tools and supplies. O'Reilly has, after all, become one of the nation's go-to brands for purchasing and even borrowing automotive parts, tools, and accessories since the company's first store opened in 1957. And yes, O'Reilly Auto Parts has been stocking in-house brands bearing the company logo alongside more recognizable names for a few years. O'Reilly's list of in-house products now includes a line of synthetic and conventional motor oils, which directly compete with the big names in the motor oil game, like Mobil 1 and Valvoline.
Such competition, of course, inspires questions of whether O'Reilly's in-house motor oil is any good. The answer to that query appears to be a resounding "yes," with O'Reilly branded motor oils earning glowing marks from most customers who've posted reviews through the company's online storefront. O'Reilly motor oils also cover virtually every viscosity you might need, including standard oils like SAE 5W-20 and 5W-30, as well as SAE 10W-30 and 10W-40, among others.
It turns out that O'Reilly motor oils are priced cheaper than their big-name competitors, too, which is an added bonus for frugal consumers. So, if you're taking regular care of your vehicle's engine, O'Reilly oils should work as well as any on the market, though it should be noted that they may not be ideal for use with vehicles running a diesel engine, or some high-performance sports cars.
O'Reilly appears to use an outside company to manufacture their motor oil
Given the branding of O'Reilly motor oil, it should go without saying that the auto store chain is the primary retailer of its motor oils. It would seem, however, that O'Reilly does not manufacture their in-house brand of motor oil themselves, and even after investigating, we couldn't confirm who makes it these days.
That mystery is partially due to Ozark Automotive being listed as a distributor on bottles of O'Reilly Auto Parts motor oil. The problem is that a little sleuthing confirmed that, though Ozark was once a sub-organization of O'Reilly, both the company's website and storefronts have apparently shuttered. Searching "Ozark Automotive" on Google Maps, however, turns up several O'Reilly stores, so it's worth wondering if Ozark wasn't merely folded into the greater O'Reilly empire. Whatever the case, a little more digging also turned up a 12-year-old YouTube video from Omni Industrial, Inc., which makes clear that, at least at one point, they were, in fact, the company tasked with manufacturing and packaging motor oils for O'Reilly Auto Parts.
It's uncertain whether Omni still makes or packages O'Reilly oil, with several posters in the comments section of that video claiming that Mobil 1 makes O'Reilly oil these days. However, we couldn't find any concrete evidence supporting the claims. Ultimately, it's still unclear who makes O'Reilly branded motor oil. But if you don't mind using a motor oil with unknown origins, you can clearly do a lot worse than the O'Reilly brand. Given its price point, you can save a few bucks using it, too.