synthetic oil

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
Yes, this topic is common here. $20 is a lot of money to poor folks.

For my in warranty Jeep's Hemi, I follow Jeep's recommendations for oil and OCI.

For my long out of warranty but very low mileage 1995 Taurus, which I inherited when my Dad quit driving, I use synthetic.

I have no doubt, that when the head gaskets went on my Taurus 3.8L and I drove it many times and many miles with the temp gauge pegged while trying to figure out what was wrong, it was the Mobil 1 synthetic oil that I put in when I changed it that saved the engine.

It presently has Pennzoil Platinum in it because there was no Mobil 1 to be found in my area anywhere when I last changed the oil.

On a particular oil change, the price difference should be $10-$15 (depending on the $2-$3/qt difference in price). If you can't afford $10-$15 for better oil, how are you paying $1,500+ for gas for the miles you put on the car that make you need an oil change in the first place?

Further, poor folks are more likely to be trying to wring every last bit of mileage out of the older / high mileage cars they typically drive, which means that synthetic makes more sense.

Another point though is that a lot of other things will typically fail in a car before the motor goes, so long as you're following a decent OCI. A lot of automatic transmissions are just not built well enough to last very far past the 100-150k range without needing a rebuild, but then again a lot of people ignore or forget to chance their tranny fluid.

 

[LTC8K6]

I'm not poor.

And I already said if it's out of warranty, I don't care if you pee in the crankcase.

Poor folks are most likely to buy the cheapest oil they see and leave it in way too long, actually.

Speaking of transmissions, the auto tranny in my Taurus is one of the most fragile you will find. Just talking about it can cause it to break. The factory built in 1-2 shudder is like an old friend.

 

[Arkaign]

Well, my Focus calls for 5w-20 Ford Synthetic Blend oil, but after 2k miles, I dumped it and have been using Mobil Supersyn 5w-20 from that point on, with 5k OCI. I'm under warranty, but I'd rather the car use synthetic for it's entire usable life. I did notice the motor runs a little quieter when I changed, perhaps that's in my mind, but when I'm out of the car, there's kind of a tickety/clickity noise that is no longer there after the first oil change to syn. Maybe it had to do with the break-in period, IDK. I drive the car like I stole it half the time, and it runs like a top. I also average over 40mpg on the highway, and the only other change I've made is a Steeda SRI and ECU flash.

LOL about the Taurus auto, I know what you mean, a buddy had a '96 Taurus w/auto, and indeed it was clunk/clunk. Btw, I know a lot of people think of anything with the 'Slick' label to be snake oil, but after he put the High Mileage Auto Transmission treatment in there, the clunking was gone. The stuff is really thick, takes about 20 minutes to put in. I had previously used it on an old Civic that I bought used, also with a clunking/slow-to-shift auto, and the results were incredible. It's not that expensive, and it's been 2 for 2 in my personal experience, might want to give it a go. I have no comment on any other Slick 50 products, as I've only tried the auto treatment for cars with rough shifting problems.

 

[LTC8K6]

I may actually go to synthetic in the Hemi on it's second oil change, although it takes 7 quarts.

No, the shudder on the 1-2 upshift is actually normal for this Ford transaxle as far as I know.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
I know a lot of people think of anything with the 'Slick' label to be snake oil, but after he put the High Mileage Auto Transmission treatment in there, the clunking was gone. The stuff is really thick, takes about 20 minutes to put in. I had previously used it on an old Civic that I bought used, also with a clunking/slow-to-shift auto, and the results were incredible. It's not that expensive, and it's been 2 for 2 in my personal experience, might want to give it a go. I have no comment on any other Slick 50 products, as I've only tried the auto treatment for cars with rough shifting problems.

It's like switching to straight 50-weight oil to "fix" excessive oil consumption in an engine designed for 5w20. You'll get rid of the symptoms, but the mechanical problem ain't going anywhere.

ZV

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: Arkaign
I know a lot of people think of anything with the 'Slick' label to be snake oil, but after he put the High Mileage Auto Transmission treatment in there, the clunking was gone. The stuff is really thick, takes about 20 minutes to put in. I had previously used it on an old Civic that I bought used, also with a clunking/slow-to-shift auto, and the results were incredible. It's not that expensive, and it's been 2 for 2 in my personal experience, might want to give it a go. I have no comment on any other Slick 50 products, as I've only tried the auto treatment for cars with rough shifting problems.

It's like switching to straight 50-weight oil to "fix" excessive oil consumption in an engine designed for 5w20. You'll get rid of the symptoms, but the mechanical problem ain't going anywhere.

ZV

Yep, obviously the best fix would be to get the tranny rebuilt/replaced, but in my limited but direct experience with the stuff, it fixed the symptoms, and in both cases the cars are still on the road today.

 

[bruceb]

I run synthetic on my car, either Castrol or Mobil1 depending on which is on sale. They are both excellent in my opinion. As to filters, I have always run a Fram or AC Delco filter. I know some folks despise Fram, but they have been fine on all my GM and Mazda cars. If you really want to spend extra, buy the K&N Oil filter. They run somewhere in the $6 range

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: PM650
I'm curious if anyone here has ever opened up an engine after ~100k+ on regular oil - it ain't a pretty sight sometimes. Thats why I run synthetic. Also it smells nice when you run it in an old oil-burning car

I have opened up more then 100 motors and the only time the engine was lsudged was due to not changung the oil. And I mean like 25k+ never changing. My own car I opened it up with 125k on it with reg oil at 4-5k changes and it was very clean.


For most cars Syn oil is not worth it.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Btw, all this stuff about the 'expense' of using synthetic oil is a little silly. Let's use some average baseline numbers :

$2/gallon gasoline
25mpg average mixed fuel economy
5,000 mile oil change schedule
$3/qt Conventional Oil
$6/qt Synthetic Oil (The regular stuff that you see at Wal-Mart, Autozone, etc)
$10/qt Royal Purple (or other premium paraffin oils such as Schaeffers, etc)
$6 oil filter
5gts per oil change

Okay, now that we've got some good averages (you can easily modify the figures to reflect your personal fuel economy, oil change schedule, and local prices for oil, but the principle will remain the same obviously) .. let's get some results :

These costs include the pure consumption costs (fuel, oil, oil filter) for driving a car 20,000 miles with the rules/prices above, this includes NO other maintenance such as air filter replacement, brakes, gear oil, etc, etc.

Cost to drive 20,000 miles with Conventional oil : $1684
Cost to drive 20,000 miles with Synthetic oil $1744
Cost to drive 20,000 miles with Royal Purple $1824

So tell me, where's the big expense with using Synthetic oil? Compared to the overall cost of operating a car, it's a minute difference. If you change your own oil, the cost difference should only be about $15 to use Synthetic instead of Conventional. I've had cars that lasted into the 400k mile range, and I've always put Synthetic oil in them. I'm not saying it's for everyone, and I'm not saying Synthetic oil is going to magically make your car run awesome, but it's not a lot of price difference in the big picture. For anyone planning on keeping their car for a long time, I think Synthetic makes sense. For those that just jump from car to car every year or two, nah.

eh, waste is waste to me. I only get piece of mind when I'm pushing the engine hard, and that's a risk in itself of shortening lifespan. I'll likely run into other mechanical problems before the engine goes kaput. but I digress, this is basically a religious debate for the most part =)

 

[PM650]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: PM650
I'm curious if anyone here has ever opened up an engine after ~100k+ on regular oil - it ain't a pretty sight sometimes. Thats why I run synthetic. Also it smells nice when you run it in an old oil-burning car

I have opened up more then 100 motors and the only time the engine was lsudged was due to not changung the oil. And I mean like 25k+ never changing. My own car I opened it up with 125k on it with reg oil at 4-5k changes and it was very clean.


For most cars Syn oil is not worth it.

All I can say is that every bit of empirical evidence I have observed is directly contrary, especially the particular case of my neighbor's lexus v6 that has been serviced by the dealer since day 1.

If spending an extra $15/year on potentially the 2nd most expensive item you own sounds like a bad idea to you, then to each his own..this debate is indeed religious in nature.

 

[LTC8K6]

That V6 is known to be sludge prone though, isn't it?

I think we have left out that category of engine. Some are known to have sludge problems. In those synthetic is prob a good idea or more frequent changes with conventional.

 

[PM650]

Probably so, but my preference is to just run synthetic in everything & not have to worry about it, really. That was my point with the cost being comparatively trivial to the other expenses involved with owning a car.

 

[DVad3r]

My engine is prone to sludge, 01 Lexus ES 300. Regular oil interval from the manual is 5 k miles. Amsoil says it can be extended to 7.5 k miles with their oil. Good enough for me.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: PM650

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: PM650
I'm curious if anyone here has ever opened up an engine after ~100k+ on regular oil - it ain't a pretty sight sometimes. Thats why I run synthetic. Also it smells nice when you run it in an old oil-burning car

I have opened up more then 100 motors and the only time the engine was lsudged was due to not changung the oil. And I mean like 25k+ never changing. My own car I opened it up with 125k on it with reg oil at 4-5k changes and it was very clean.


For most cars Syn oil is not worth it.

All I can say is that every bit of empirical evidence I have observed is directly contrary, especially the particular case of my neighbor's lexus v6 that has been serviced by the dealer since day 1.

If spending an extra $15/year on potentially the 2nd most expensive item you own sounds like a bad idea to you, then to each his own..this debate is indeed religious in nature.

If you keep up with Auto trade information you would know that the Toyota motors at that time had sludge issues. That had little to nothing to do with the oil but was an engine design, or should I say fault.

Some dodge/jeep motors also had issues with sludge around that time frame.