Opening A Can Of Worms

[LUV2XCLR8]

I Know This Will Be A Huge Debate, I Bought A Nearly Complete 1972
Blazer Project From A Member In Cali, Motor Is Pushing In Between
425-450 Horsepower On A Sb 350, It Has Less Than 50 Miles On It &
It Won't Be Long After I Get It That I Will Change The Oil, He Told
Me He Was Planning On Running Synthetic, My Thoughts Exactly, I
Want Opinions, Hopefully From Actual Users On What I Should Use.
Feel Free To Give Actual Testimonies / Complaints / Etc...., Thanks.

[cdowns]

you should really run the motor for 1500-2000 miles on regular oil b-4 changing to synthetic so the rings seat properly

[71chevydude]

i run castrol syntec in mine...10w-30....but im wanting to try out some of that royal purple

[smitty62]

Yes, you are no doubt starting a long thread/debate with this subject. I just want to say that regular oil does NOT wear out--it becomes contaminated--------and so does synthetic oil. Therefore, what advantage does synthetic have for our usage? Beats me. Yes, it will handle somewhat higher temperature--so what? I run a 190 degree thermostat and normal oil handles that just fine. Supposedly you can use synthetic for greater mileage between oil changes--why? Does it become less contaminated with gasoline by-products, water, carbon, dirty air? Noooo?
Has it been proven to lubricate bearing surfaces better? No? How about the asinine idea that you only change the filter and one quart of synthetic oil when you change it? Now there's a winner! What kind of warped justification is there for that philosophy? The fact that it is 'way overpriced perhaps? I could go on & on and I'm sure that I'll be flamed by those that delight in spending $6 a qt. for this stuff. After all, if it costs more it's got to be better, right?

[Orange70chevy]

I agree with you smitty62. I think it is just over priced and well marketed. I've been using regular oil in my trucks for years and no problems.

[71-longbed]

i couldn't of said it better smitty.... valvoline has never done me wrong .. why mess with it ... it's impossible to argue with people that want to empty where wallets quicker than you

[LUV2XCLR8]

SMITTY, YOU DO MAKE SOME GOOD POINTS, IT IS MORE MONEY, IS IT
WORTH IT, I GUESS THAT DEPENDS ON IF YOU WANT TO SPEND MORE,
MOST OF THE TEST'S I HAVE HEARD ABOUT ON THE PERFORMANCE AND
RELIABLITY SHOW THAT IT DOES HAVE SOME EFFECT, HOW MUCH,

[lock]

I run Mobil 1 oil in my cars. Never seen anyting bad about it. Always gets great reviews. Even started tossing it in a 100k mile car. It now has 145k and no problems. People often state it will cause leaks... it seems to be BS.

Im sure the other like Royal Purple and Redline are good but you can buy Mobil 1 anywhere and that makes it easy.

[jorgensensc]

Personally i like using Mobil 1 trysynthetic in newer closer tolerance engines. it seams to work better and get to more areas and generally 'stick' to the metal internals more than regular oil.
However with that said, i run Valvoline in my older vehicles and older engines.Maybe my logic is warped some or I've given in to the hype, butthat's my opinion.
If you do choose to run regular oil in it, stick with regular valvoline. It doesn't have as much parafinn (wax) in it, so it doesn't gum up the engine as much as most other brands. Always use a Wix (Napa, carquest) filter as they are hands down the best filters on the market.
They are now saying that you only need to change your oil on a newer car (regular oil) every 6000 miles. Older engines still tend to contaminate the oil with exhaust gas blowby more though, So I say stick to 3000 miles with older engines.
.02
Shawn

[boraxman]

Im w/ the dino oil crowd. I did use Redline gear oil In another Toyota truck I had in the manual trans. Did make it shift smoother.

[1974ChevyC10]

ive always used castrol gtx myself-my dad recommended it when i got my first truck-he has used it for years.ive never had a problem with it.as far as synthetics go if you wanna use it thats fine with me its your money and your motor but i cant see spending 4-6 bucks a quart for oil.

[smitty62]

"Personally i like using Mobil 1 trysynthetic in newer closer tolerance engines."
Jorgensens: Not sure I agree with that statement. You can only reduce tolerances so far with either oil. There has to be room for the oil to flow between bearing surfaces regardless and I think that these parameters were established many years ago. You can't just reduce bearing clearance to say---.0002"--no oil will flow properly. Do newer engines have closer tolerances in regards to gasket surfaces and mating surfaces? Absolutely. But I'm not sure how much a rod bearing's tolerances, for example, can be reduced and still maintain efficient oiling? If I were persuaded of all other synthetic's advantages (which I'm not), I would still maintain that it gets dirty just as fast and therefore needs changing just as often.
I don't know this for a fact, but I suspect that auto mfgr's have increased there oil change intervals due to improved oil and air filtering as much as any reason.

[sigurd]

What do you guys think of Ammsoil? I just started using it in my brand new motor. After I broke it in of course, 3K miles to seat the rings. i was told by the dealer I dont have to change my oil untill every 20K miles.

[cdowns]

when i switched to MOBIL1 i get about 25more miles to a tank of gas at about 20tankfulls between oilchanges to me that's a real world real money savings

[nu2-72]

Here's my other opinion. Seem to get blasted for them but here goes.
Conventional oil gets contaminated, true. What really happens however is that the "additives" break down. Not the oil. Recycled oil has been cleaned and additives re-added.
Yes synthetic is slick. Tests prove it. Try to break in your new engine on it and you will know. New Corvettes are broken in on conventional oil and switched to synthetic before shipment.
The comparison looks like this.
5 quarts of conventional $1.95 per quart $9.75 per change
1 filter Frams on sale 2 for $5.00 $2.50 each
$12.25 every 3000 miles 24,000 miles is 8 changes $98.00 total

5 quarts synthetic $5.95 per quart $29.75 for the first change
1 filter 2-$5.00 $2.50 each
$32.25 for the first change total
The following 7 changes require 1 filter and 1 quart. $8.45 each x 7 = $59.15
$32.25 + $59.15 = $91.40

Guess it is your choice and prices are different around the country.
I work with a guy that has a Toyota pickup. 200,000 + miles and has never had an oil change. Just adds some when it needs it. Guess there is a story for every side.

[smitty62]

Ya know, back in the early 50's in the midwest, (YES, I was there!) they came out with Royal Triton oil--it was purple--EVERYBODY (including me and my '39 Chevy coupe) had to have that purple oil because it was better. How was it better? Nobody knew, but it had to be---it was PURPLE and it cost more! After a few years, everyone decided it was just another oil with a purple dye and it went out of business..
I will say this though...I NEVER fell for the STP craze! Some still swear by it even though it's been well documented it was worthless...well, maybe not worthless, look what it did for Andy Granatelli and Richard Petty!

[HOTFUN]

This is why I changed over to buying higher priced synthetic. One of our 350 Chevy irrigation motors gets started on day one with new oil and filter. End of day two(48 hours) we have to shut engine down to check oil and add 1.5 quarts. Start back up and run through day three and its down another 1.5 so we would change it since it was at 72 hours and we change at 100 hours with filter. The Amzoil dealer who happens to be our John Deere mechanic told us to try the premium Amzoil 0-30 and see what we thought. We changed the oil, ran it 48 hours and shut it down as ususal to check oil. Not only was the oil still yellow but not a drop off full line. Run it through day 4 at near 100 hours and the oil was half a quart off full. We now run the oil 200 hours and a total of 1 quart use in 200 hours. The oil just does not break down under the heat and we still throw a new premium filter on it each 100 hours.
It's convinced us enough to change all our engines over to it as sometimes mileage slips away when you get to it in the busy season. Sure is nice running my vehicles 3 to 5 thousand miles without worrying about adding or checking oil every 500 or so miles. My VW TDI comes new sith Syntec 5-40 and VW recommends only this oil and 10k interval changes. Trust me as hard as it is to change oil in these thngs with a belly pan cover and a filter cartrige to service and change, you don't like doing this any more than you have too.

[LUV2XCLR8]

NU2-72, I DON'T UNDERSTAND THE ONE QT. / ONE FILTER THING, IS THAT ON
THE CORVETTES, I DON'T GET IT, WOULD YOU STILL NOT CHANGE IT ALL.

[1972C10]

I run white bottle valvoline 10-W40 and have never had any problems engines stay clean and free of sludge Its all i have run the past 7 years

[72C203503ONTHETREE]

Castrol GTX is my choice of normal oil, as well as Valvoline. I worked on a guys engine that had 300,000 miles on it and ran nothing but Castrol 20W50 and a bottle of Lucas additive. This was in a 80's ranger with the German V6. He replaced the timing set since he thought it was time due to miles. Tore it apart and the gears were still in great shape, gears werent worn at all, engine still looked brand new inside, no sludge at all. Tore apart an Oldsmobile V8 that rtan on nothing but Quaker stae with 3000 mile changes and the area between the intake ans the lifters was literally packed solid with carbon, the only holes were where the pushrods were moving up and down in, even had a perfect inpring of the intake bottom on top of it all, lol. I have never seen any sythetic oil do that, but the regualr Castrol seems to never do it either. I use Mobil 1 in my cars and Castrol/Valvoline I dont use synthetic in. Never checked to see if mileage was any better with eithe rone or went to a dyno. I do use Mobil 1 in any car that I am going to store for long periods of time, synthetics dont break down over time like regular oil can. Synthetic oil is better for high heat conditions, that is proven, but normal oil probably will do as well if its changed often enough.

[1972C10]

I belive qauker state and penzoil leave alot of sludge

[TsgtE662]

In my '92 GMC 1500 2WD which I bought new in Mar '93, I have always used Havoline 10 W40. Friday I turned 294,000 miles on it. It still runs great.

Everybody has there own preferrences for there own reasons, same as what type of vehicles they choose to drive. I personally can't see paying more money for something that probably won't make any difference over another brand. Especially if you're still gonna have to change it just as often.
But to each his/her own. I don't fault anyone for what they choose to use or do. Its not that big of a deal to me.
A mechanic friend of mine who has built lots of engines over the years and even performance engines, told me that after the 500 mile break in time, drive it how you want it to run and don't worry about it. If its gonna break it'll do it no matter what you do. Take care of it what you can, but drive it.

[PanelDeland]

I would say the lubrication properties are probably pretty close.If they weren't the auto makers would deny warranty for using synthetic.The additives are what break down in oil but that shouldn't matter if the oil changes are regular.I think contamination would be the main factor.Given that heat is also a factor I think a regular filter with an added remote filter and an oil cooler would give better protection than the difference between a dino based and a synthetic.The two things that make me believe this are that the cooler would help lower oil temp and the added capacity would lower the contamination ratio.These seem to be the two main items that are at issue with either type oil so they would be the things I looked to improve.
JMTOTS

[RON WOODGEARD]

If Blow By goes into Oil, Which we all know, ( or should) that is what happens to Oil. Then it's going to go into Genuine or synthetic.. And that is what contaminates Oil in the crankcase. Does synthetic have a way to break down what the gas and fumes put into it ? They claim it does...

A Crankshaft "Floats" in the journal, The Oil pressure Theoretically puts a protective coating of oil around the bearing between the bearing surface and the Crank Journal.. If the Oil Has less friction, I didn't say thinner, so don't misunderstand this as using a thin oil,,, I said less friction.... Which is what the synthetic is supposed to do. Then that oil will do a better job of allowing the Journal to do it's floating job.


I have never agreed in using Synthetic JUST BECAUSE,,,,,, I have seen and read testing done on adding Synthetic to The engine, rear end and trannies.. It has given quite an increase in fuel economy which is read as less friction...

One of the Car Mags did a study a few years ago, ( maybe 10 or so) They did the Synthetic changeover to a good running, no leaks car. ( A Monte if I remember right) The engine heat went down, the same happened to the Tranny and rearend. Along with this the Fuel Mileage increased I believe almost 2 miles per gallon..
If this happens to all vehicles in todays fuel prices, This would be a very good move to help our wallets..

As far as regular oil goes, I use Castrol GTX. I have seen other oils break down and gum up engines like stated above. A Porsche Mechanic in Germany,( back in 72 or 73) showed me a couple of torn down engines ( Porsche of course) that were ran on the Auto Bahn. Others, using different oils were in different stages of being "Gummed" up. The engines running Castrol were extremely clean and the blocks were in very re-usable condition.

[Alvin]

I just switched over to Mobil 1 synthetic in my 2002 S-10. It was the 15,000 mile oil change and I decided to give it a try. I can honestly say my engine runs smoother (and quieter!), the temp gauge rests a couple degrees lower, and I get at least one more mile per gallon (stupid lead-footed driving). I used to fill up after getting 265 miles out of a tank, now I easily get 280 or more. I did the complete oil change with filter for around $23 from Wal-mart. So far I am impressed. Can't wait see what this oil looks like at 18,000 miles.. that will be the true test.