synthetic oil?

[67chevemall]

What are your thoughts!
Is it just a money grab?
Is it better?
Why?

[Joe67]

I run Mobil 1 in my 2000 GMC with 116K on the clock

I believe it adds to engine longevitiy and is well worth the extra $$ on a vehicle you plan to have for a while.

[n737nc]

I run ONLY Synergyn Racing oil. It is by far the best oil that I have ever used. I run it in every car that I have.
I typically see 10-20 degrees lower temp. Better engine wear and more HP.

This is the same oil that a lot of Nascar and NHRA team use.


Nick

[junkyardjohn]

I USE DINO OIL (QUAKER STATE OR ??) IN THE ENGINE OF MY TRUCKS. THE MAIN PROBLEM THAT I HAVE IS NOT THE OIL WEARING OUT, BUT BECOMING CONTAMINATED WITH GAS & CARBON, SO I JUST USE REGULAR OLD DINO OIL, & CHANGE IT EVERY 2500 OR 3000 MILES.
NOW FOR TRANSMISSIONS OR REARENDS, I LIKE TO USE RED-LINE SYNTHETIC ATF & GEAR LUBE, CAUSE I ONLY CHANGE IT EVERY 25000 MILES, & IT DOESN'T GET CONTAMINATED AS MUCH. JOHN

[binford]

I argree with junkyardjohn. Use dino oil and change it offen. If you live where its very cold, the synthetics do help when starting your truck. If I was racing I would use synthetic. Synthetic is far better, but do you have the extra $$ to change it every 3000 miles. Dino is better when changed every 3000 miles then synthetic changed every 15,000 miles.

[cdowns]

i use Mobil1 and feel the extra mpg that i get more than offsets the cost of changing it 3X a year

[Longhorn Man]

Originally Posted by binford

I argree with junkyardjohn. Use dino oil and change it offen. If you live where its very cold, the synthetics do help when starting your truck. If I was racing I would use synthetic. Synthetic is far better, but do you have the extra $$ to change it every 3000 miles. Dino is better when changed every 3000 miles then synthetic changed every 15,000 miles.

You don't need to drain synthetic oil very often at all. If you do it every 3000 miles, then you are throwing your money away.
I believe in lab results. The independent labs don't lie. Our lab did tests on this to prove the fact to many of there customers.
They took a late 80's/early 90's Caprice Classic witha 305 and a little over 100K on the clock. Car was in great shape, properly maintained it's who;e life, regular oil chainges, new filter every time...ect.
They drained the dyno oil and did a lab sample on it.
They then filled it with mobile one and ran the sucker for 10,000 miles. Nothing was done differently. Same driver, same conditions, same style driving. At 10K miles, they drained the oil, did a lab test on that, and it came back in better shape than the dyno oil at 3000 miles.
I run it in every vehicle I own with fuel injection, (onless it is a big leaker) and I intend on doing it from here on out. I even have 5 quarts of it in my 180K Lincon Town car now. In a carb'd engine, you wouldn't be able to run the oil quite 10,000 miles, the fuel blow by does contaminate it...but you can run it for 5K and be plenty safe. Mobile One's claim of "Engines run on Mobile One technology show virtually no wear after 200,000 miles" IS true.
The stories of synthetic making engines leak, or making them burn oil or what ever negitave thing you have heard are all bull.
I have also witnessed the fact that my MPG has increased, the engines start easier, and oil consumption is nill, even after 10,000 miles.

As far as your synthetic oils go, Mobile One is not the best one one the market, but for most ppl it is more than fine. Pretty much the best value for the dollar.

Not to mention you don't have to get all nasty draining the oil out of your engine, and if you are a bit of a tree hugger, synthetic is better for the envinronment, both in the making of it, and in the fact that you use 1/2 as much or even less.

[crazy longhorn]

I run synthetic in the trans & diff, but still run the old dino stuff in the eng. My preference is 20/50 Penz, or 20/50 Castrol(I run the Castrol in the longhorn, & dump it erey 1500- 2000 miles!) I am a beleiver in run em hard.....but DO NOT put them away "wet" I have seen very good results with synthetics in the eng.....but break it in 1st. the symthetics are too slippery to seat the rings in. ....crazyL

[LUV2XCLR8]

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s....php3?t=113054

[n737nc]

Not to ruffle any feathers here but...

Why not spend the extra $ for a quality product? It's cheap insurance.
If you don't care about the money that you have invested in your motor, then use the cheap stuff.

Synthetics are proven to reduce friction. And friction is your worst enemy in a motor.


Just my $0.02

Nick

[mocwon]

Been running nothing but 10W40 Amsoil and Amsoil filters in my vehicles for the past 12 years. I change the oil and filter at 12,500 miles. First vehicle I traded at 187,000 ('87 Isuzu Pup), second at 186,000 ('90 S15 Jimmy) and I currently have one with 188,000 ('94 Mazda B2300) and one with 105,000 ('99 S10 Blazer). All ran great and didn't burn any oil. If you do the math it costs about same as changing conventional oil every 3,000 - 3,500 miles and it's less work since fewer oil changes are involved. I'm a believer but I also believe the auto manufacturers are building engines better that they ever have before.

[Rusty Rider]

The only real advantage is that syn oil dosen't loose its viscousioty as quick as non syn oil. Oil is a suspention of by poroducts produced by a running moter ( wearing bearing matteral, blown by gas, ring & cyclinderwall, ect) as well as a lubercant that dose a good job at helping out rings get a better seal and bearings from touching the other moving parts rotating and pushing around in our motors. Using syn oil will alow you to safly use a oil longer with out the breakdown of viscousity without the ass that is commonly the major contributer of slug. less slug, cleaner oil passages but I would spin on a new filter every 3k anyways.

[da-burb]

I have a 2001 LT Burb. I purchased it with 95,000 miles on the clock 7 months ago. I was told it was using a quart every 2500 to 3000 miles. That didn't bother me since it is time to change every 3m miles anyway. I did the first change with Valvoline and it did need a quart when you got to 2500 miles. The next change I went to Mobil 1. The oil consumption went away. I have 6,000 miles on the Mobil 1 and it hasn't used anything measurable. I am planning to change every 6-7000 miles and use synthetic from this point on.

[neonlarry]

I see a lot of you talking about 150K plus miles on your vehicles with synthetics.
I have been running synthetic since it first came on the market (Mobil 1). First car I ran it in was a Br**co changed oil every 25K it was still going strong when I saw the light (sold it). The car in my sig is going on 325K and I have another @ 280K both syn from day one. But those I change every 8-10K. I wouldn't run anything else in anything I wanted to keep.

[68w/sbc406]

i know some people that run 4 quarts of conventional oil and a quart of full synthetic. does this help or should you not mix conventional and synthetic?

[mocwon]

Originally Posted by 68w/sbc406

i know some people that run 4 quarts of conventional oil and a quart of full synthetic. does this help or should you not mix conventional and synthetic?

You can mix them but, as you might expect, you won't get the same results as with straight synthetic and you will still need to change the oil at 3,000-3,500 miles.

[68w/sbc406]

Originally Posted by mocwon

You can mix them but, as you might expect, you won't get the same results as with straight synthetic and you will still need to change the oil at 3,000-3,500 miles.

thanks for the info. would one quart make that big of a difference?

[mocwon]

Originally Posted by 68w/sbc406

thanks for the info. would one quart make that big of a difference?

I wouldn't bother unless going all the way with synthetic.

[gonebad2]

I have run synthetic oil in my 2500 HD since it was new (17,000 miles on the clock now). I know I can go longer than 3000 miles between changes but, it is changed every 3000 miles. I guess it just drives me nuts when the "change oil" light pops up on the information screen on the instrument panel. Oil changes are easy on that truck. I drop it off at Chevy bs with the mechanic while he does it. Been friends with him for years and even he tells me I can go longer between changes. It costs a little more but I don't mind.

[Longhorn Man]

putting one quart of synthetic would pretty much be a waste of synthetic oil.
The oils advertised as part synthetic is only like 15% - 25% synthetic...just enough to make ppl think it is worth the money. It isn't.

[sam's 72]

I agree with Andy. I posted once about this subject before, I will pass this along again.

I work for a major oil company, BP/Amoco, I am in operation department. here about three years ago they sent us to a class on oil, different types and grades. This is how the instructor explained it to us, the differance between dino oil and synthetic. If you were to take a bunch of different size balls and put them out on the ground, all different sizes, from golf ball size to basketball size. Then place a sheet of ply wood on top of these balls. Then try and move the ply wood from point a to point b. It will move with ease, but it will be very very bumpy, the ply wood would move up and down, won't be smooth at all, due to the different size balls under it, but the balls never ever let it contact the ground, so you will be able to move it. Also some of the balls will never ever come in contact with the plywood, due to the bigger balls holding it up off of some of the smaller balls, this makeing the bigger balls do most of the work. This would wear out the bigger balls, and some of the smaller ones will be like new. Cause they never had any contact on them. This would be example of dino oil.

Now place a bunch of balls on the ground that are all the same excact size and diameter. Say all bowling balls or all base balls, place the ply wood on top and roll it from point a to point b. It will roll very very smooth, due to all the balls are the same exact size. This is an example of synthetic oil.
All the molecules in synthetic oil is the same exact size, the molecules in dino oil is all different sizes, some of the smaller molecule in dino oil never come in contact with moveing parts, due to being in between the bigger molecules in dino oil. The oil gets contaminated quicker, due to not useing every single molecule in the dino oil. When useing sythetic oil, all the molecules come in contact with moveing parts, which in return, make the oil last longer, cause all the molecules are comming in contact with the parts that are moving. This is why synthetic oil is superior over dino oil. This is how the instructor explained it to us.It made since to me, and kind of stuck with me.

He also said it is a waste of money to use a synthetic blend, that all this is, is a marketing hype. Cause as long as you have the dino oil in the engine with the synthetic, the synthetic is not being used to it's full abilities. So it is not worth the money to buy a blended oil ( dino and synthetic ) and it is not worth the effort to blend it your self. Out here in the plant we have a lot of different rotating equipment, pumps, rotorie compressiors, centrifuges, gear boxes, plantitary gears, ect. in every piece of rotateing equipment out here, we use fully synthetic oils. Mobli one. Are reliabilty on this equipement has gone way up since they changed everything over to synthetic.

I personally am going to use synthetic oil in my new 383 once I get it broke in and the rings seated. I am going to go with royal purple. I can get that at a good discount from a friend of mine. Sorry for the long post, but wanted to pass this info on to others.
Sam

[68w/sbc406]

that makes sense. even if you throw more golf balls in to the mix, you still have the basketballs that are bigger. Is there that big of a difference in synthetics, i have always used castrol GTX oil in my truck, but would be willing to change if i was given a good enough reason. Thanks for the posts

[Longhorn Man]

There is a big difference, however, the one draw back to going synthetic in a carb'd engine is the blowby is worse and does contaminate the oil, so you can't really go 10,000 miles between drains, but 5,000 or 6,000 would probably be good with a well tuned carb.
Even if you drained it at 3000 miles, the oil is just better for the engine. It just gets expensive @ $5 a quart if you drain it after 3000 miles.

[68w/sbc406]

you could change it at 6000 miles and change your filter at 3000

[Longhorn Man]

Originally Posted by 68w/sbc406

you could change it at 6000 miles and change your filter at 3000

Kinda yes...kinda no.
The oil filters are made mostly for removing solid particles from the oil....it doesn't do much in the way of removing fuel and/or the acid the mixture creates.
But yes, you can extend the life of the synthetic a little in a carb'd engine by chainging the filter.