Let's Talk about Engine Oil

[thecritic]

Anyone have any question about engine oil? I'm bored right now, and am trying to do something with this knowledge I obtained from bobistheoilguy.com

 

[Kalvin00]

Will engine oil make a good masturbation lubricant?

 

[Mutilator]

Lets say I have a crappy van with 140K+ miles on it... is it a bad idea to switch to Mobil 1 oil this late in its life? I don't want it to spring leaks and shart itself down the road every day.

 

[freebee]

I use Shell Rotella in my motorcycle. You should too.

 

[thecritic]

Originally posted by: Mutilator
Lets say I have a crappy van with 140K+ miles on it... is it a bad idea to switch to Mobil 1 oil this late in its life? I don't want it to spring leaks and shart itself down the road every day.

First of all, what are the operating conditions? How long are the trips generally? How many miles per year? What oil/filter did you generally use in the past, changed at what intervals? What is the overall condition of the engine right now, how much oil consumption is there? Are there any leaks?

Second, what are you trying to accomplish? Longer drains? Racing? (LOL I don't think so in a van) BTW, one can achieve 5-7K drains quite easily on a good $1-$1.50/qt conventional with a decent filter, verified by oil analysis, provided that the engine is free of buildup. (which I doubt). Lube Control helps lots in extended drains.

Generally, if you'd want to switch to synthetic at such a high mileage, your best bet is to run two treatments of Auto-RX, with a conventional oil prior to switching. I recently ran two cycles of Auto-RX in a VW Diesel with had 170K on it before switching over to Rotella T 5w-40 GrpIII syn; currently has zero consumption or leaks. There have been MANY positive results with Auto-RX on Bobistheoilguy, verified by before/after photos, before/after oil analysis results, and before/after compression tests. Unlike other adds, its an Ester based product so it doesn't contain anything nasty (i.e. PTFE) that Slick 50 does.

 

[thecritic]

Speaking of engine oil, where the heck is Eli? We need to finish off our Syntec 5w-50 debate from a few months ago....I forgot to respond to his response.

 

[Pepsi90919]

lol. lube control and auto-rx. you really are a BITOG sheep.

 

[tcsenter]

Everything you need to know about engine oil

"For 22 months [4.5 million miles driven], we tested the performance of 20 popular motor oils. Each of those oils met the industry's latest standards, as certified by a starburst symbol on the container. We also tested Slick 50 Engine Treatment and STP Engine and Oil Treatments.

"We put identical rebuilt engines with precisely measured parts into the cabs at the beginning of the test, and we changed their oil every 6,000 miles. That's about twice as long as the automakers recommend for the severe service that taxicabs see, but we chose that interval to accelerate the test results and provide worst-case conditions. After 60,000 miles, we disassembled each engine and checked for wear and harmful deposits."

"After each engine ran about 60,000 miles (and through 10 months of seasonal changes), we disassembled it and measured the wear on the camshaft, valve lifters, and connecting-rod bearings. We used a tool precise to within 0.00001 inch to measure wear on the key surfaces of the camshaft, and a tool precise to within 0.0001 inch on the valve lifters. The combined wear for both parts averaged only 0.0026 inch, about the thickness of this magazine page. Generally, we noted as much variation between engines using the same oil as between those using different oils. Even the engines with the most wear didn't reach a level where we could detect operational problems."

 

[Ornery]

I'd like to know why people even bother changing their oil at all, when they buy the cars new, and only keep 'em a few years?

 

[Agnostos Insania]

Originally posted by: Kalvin00
Will engine oil make a good masturbation lubricant?

Auto-eroticism, hohohoho.