Poll: Synthetic or Conventional oil?

[Soybomb]

Forgive me for not quoting but I'm feeling lazy Sometime in the winter (it doesnt have to be too cold, I live right in the center of the country near st louis) when it a bit below freezing, anytime when it could be snowing, etc and open a bottle of conventional 10w-30 and a bottle of mobil 1 10w-30. The mobil one will seem like water in comparison. If my overhead cam and lifters are bathed in oil 20 seconds soon that could save a whole lot of work, not to mention getting all the bearings oiled quicker too. To me thats worth it since you know cold starts even when its not that cold, cause a lot of wear.

Actually I wasn't refering to it not mixing in the axles while driving, but instead that it will settle when you stop so that it can easily be cleaned out if you have no replacement fluid available. With conventional juice you just have an emulsion and the whole thing is wasted. So instead of just having low fluid you have no fluid I will admit I haven't seen a whole lot of newer vehicles on the trails suck in water, but some of the older ones.... My 80 CJ5 I'm sure wouldnt handle a water crossing well right now. It just depends on how old the seals are. Dont forget that not only is there a pressure difference, but some metals like aluminum change size in really neat ways when its hot and dunked in cold water. It can be just enough to make a good seal, not seal for a couple seconds!

Never underestimate how many turbo cars there are in this country, ChryCo put out a TON of them in the 80s and it looks like they're getting more popular again. In Europe they've always been pretty popular (like 5 speeds.....lucky europeans). I was just using my car as an extreme example, but I still feel any car that doesn't use oil can benifit from it. Although its not important enough to miss any meals for I'll admit

 

[thedarkwolf]

"They aren't going to last 2-300k miles
anyway no matter what oil you put in them. I hate to say this, but for the most part it's true. I know everyone probably knows someone with a
1995 Ford or Chevy with 200k miles, but you don't see very many. "

Hey we have 3 currently in my family right now.
96 T-Bird 205k 4.6L
93 Taurus 185k 3.8L
67 Galaxie 220k when I rebuilt it 390
81 Plymouth horizan 191k but thats on a vw engine its also the worse running one engine wise, the trans in the taurus is dying.
All on conventional.

 

[Tominator]

perry
I'm talking within 10,000 miles.

Don't take my word for it, ask any Manfacturers Representative. Using a synthetic when new will prevent proper breakin. I'm refering to the startup oil btw.

If you dig up a little info on the breakin process you'll understand why.

You are correct in that the engines of today are much 'tighter' as the tolerances are closer, but the effect of metal against metal contact and the process of breaking in is the same.

First, DO NOT change the oil in a new car at the 3000 mile interval. You should run the oil for 10,000. Then switch.

 

[Soybomb]

<< First, DO NOT change the oil in a new car at the 3000 mile interval. You should run the oil for 10,000. Then >>


What? Dude never never never do that, if anything you change it sooner! The newer the engine is the more metal particles are going to be in the oil, as well as contaminants that got in during building. All of my rebuilt engines get an oil change at 30-50 miles, 1000 miles, 3000k, then every 3000.

 

[Pacfanweb]

<<Hey we have 3 currently in my family right now.
96 T-Bird 205k 4.6L
93 Taurus 185k 3.8L
67 Galaxie 220k when I rebuilt it 390
81 Plymouth horizan 191k but thats on a vw engine its also the worse running one engine wise, the trans in the taurus is dying.
All on conventional.>>

Like I said, everyone has a story about a few cars that last, but as a whole, this is not the case, at least not without major bucks being spent.

 

[Pacfanweb]

<<First, DO NOT change the oil in a new car at the 3000 mile interval. You should run the oil for 10,000. Then switch. >>

???? Surely you don't mean that. Leave the original oil in a car for 10k miles and you will have sludge by 10,000 miles. If you do decide to use synthetic, the procedure for the average car would be to use regular oil for at least the first couple of oil changes, THEN switch to synthetic.
The break-in process is overblown. Most engines are comletely seated in during the first 100-200 miles.

 

[Soybomb]

/me points to Pacfanweb
What he said

 

[PG]

Amsoil is the best. Pure synthetic and you can go up to 35K without an oil change. Do some web searches and see for yourselves. No, I am not a dealer. I did use it for my last car. I used the slightly cheaper 25K oil and didn't change it for 25K. It was very slippery when I changed it and it wasn't very dirty. One more thing, if you use Amsoil oil filters you can change the oil filter just every 12,500 miles. Otherwise they recommend changing your filter at the normal intervals, which doesn't end up saving you as much time or money.

PG

 

[PG]

I forgot to mention Amsoil says max 1 year between oil changes or the mileage number. Don't go past 1 year.

PG

 

[Chris A]

<< Amsoil is the best. Pure synthetic >>




I bet they buy from Mobil and put their name on it. Castrol Syntec blend does that. Or did at first.

We use Mobil gear oil in our machinery at work at $3.95 per lb and $3,000 per oil change we test our oil every month. We have installed extra filters on the machines to keep it clean if the oil tests bad we put in a series of 5 micron filters to get it clean and retest it. The Mobil lab we send our tests too has only once recomended we change our oil in 2 years.

 

[Fiddy]

Amsoil has a super bypass oil filter system that will increase your oil capacity. They say with this installed you can go 100,000 miles on the same oil, just change out the filters on a regular basis. Anyone tried this out on there vehicle?

 

[Tominator]

I guess you guys never read the owners manuals. Again, do not take my word for it. I won't go into all my automotive experience....but a hint..I was using Mobil 1 , the first synthetic oil, since it came out on the market.

I used it in several racing engines under the supervision of Mobil technicians. After each run, a sample was taken....it never wore out as conventional oil did. It DID become contaminated after a while.

Soybomb

If you have metal particles in your oil, the filter is not doing it's job!

Today's conventional oils are quite capable of going up to 15,000 miles in a well tuned engine. There are several brands of 'cheap' test kits available. Test the oil yourself. When Mobil 1 came out, Mobil claimed a 50,000 mile oil life. It was never followed because of warranty concerns...

The oil companies do not want you to test or stretch out your intervals as this would eat into profit. I've been told that by several engineers I used to know. They are told NEVER to make longevity claims...

I'll bet that the oil we through away today at 3000 miles has better lubricity than new oil was 10 years ago.

 

[Eli]

Synthetic oil is far superior to normal oil. Hell, I don't even own a car, and I know this.

Don't put it in your engine if it's not broken in, though. If you do, it'll break in VERY, VERY slowly, and you'll foul your plugs.. and go through a lot of oil.

Soybomb- Please provide some links for that info. Not only because I'm interested if it is true, I don't think it is true, at all. Teflon is one of the slipperyest substances known to man.. Why would it be bad in your engine?

DOH! Didn't see Tom's post. But he's 100% correct about the breaking in. It doesen't matter the specs that the engine is built too, all new engines need to be broken in.


Tom, What the hell are you talking about? You said it yourself, if you know the break in process, you should understand why synthetic oil would prevent it. Then you also know that the oil used for breakin is the dirtiest it will ever be. You need to change your oil very often while breaking in!

Heh.. you might have a point about the oil filter thing. I would never let burned-in oil stay in my car engine for 10,000 miles!

 

[Wolfie]

Senthetic Oil is actualy better for Newer cars then older cars. If you put senthetic oil in a old car. It will lossen all the dirt and grime that is blocking the oil from leaking out of your motor. Have you ever heard of ppl changing trany fluid on a burnt trany? What happens? If they are lucky.... it won't do anything. If they are like anyone else I know or the cars that I have worked on it will either leak like a siv... or it will slip. Same thing goes with changing oil. Oil is good for any motor... if you look at your owners manual.... it will say it needs to be &quot;This&quot; type of oil. It's called standerds. They all have to meet to that standerd. No matter what. Now, When the new standerd comes out. It is better. So when you go to buy oil. The chances are that the new oil you buy for your motor is a higher standerd of oil. I know ppl that have changed oil at 2000 miles and have problems.... and I know some ppl that are so lazy that they change the oil every 15,000 miles. And they never had any advers effects on the motor.

imho

Wolf

 

[lowtech1]

Here are the links to Teflon/Snake Oil.

http://www.vtr.org/maintain/oil-additives.html

http://www.anokaautocare.com/snakeoil.htm

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/2195/snakeoil.html

http://www.uneaqdesigns.com/civic/others/snakeoil.html

 

[brassmonkey7]

i have a 74 charger with a 400 bigblock
when i started using synthetic oil my engine was a lot cleaner between the oil changes, i use synthetic oil in all of my cars now

 

[XL]

Valvoline Durablend. I change the oil every 3000 to 5000 miles.

 

[thebestMAX]

Here is the best rule of all.

The best thing you can do for your car is change the oil and filter regularly. Have had several cars go over 150K that were Company cars and brand or type of oil/filter diddnt matter. Not all highway miles either so forget that although they are easier. Ive kept several personal cars 8-10 years nad never had an engine get to the oil using stage. Lived in -35 degree and plus 110 degree places with the same car and with the same results.

Synthetic blends give you the benifits of syns on cold starts. Since syns are fully compatible with all quality oils, I dont see a problem with 2q syn to 3 qt reg but also dont see a need. Trust the oil company chemists to do a better job than guessing ratios.

IN THEORY, syns will last forever if yoy can keep them clean but how.
ANYBODY remember the toilet paper filters. Ill bet TOM does.

All Ill say is change oil regularly 3 mo/3000 mi or even 6 mo/6000 but do it. Use mfgs recommended weight/viscosity and DONT USE 10-40 unless you like sludge or in a very old, oil using engine.

Also be careful in switching to syns in an older engine unless it it well maintained. Never had a problem myself.

PS. Dont use any additives either, save your money unless a real old car/engine. Anybody remember Marvel Mystery oil?