Engine oil

[Peacock]

That's one advantage.. However, VERY few people take advantage of extended OCI's. What's the other advantages other than extreme cold temp flow and high temps well above than what Dino will protect at? Any lab that performs UOA's will confirm that wear rates are the same. Blackstones website for example.

That's the fault of the people who don't utilize the advantage of longer oci's. The manufactures pec the stuff for that reason, among others.

Other advantages include:
Better shear stability
Better lubrication at extreme temps
Less burn off and ash production
Don't think they normally contain detergents
Less loss to evaporation
Generally available in a larger weight spread.

 

[Soundguy]

Me, I can't make up my mind. Dino in some, syn in some, blend in some. Just playing the field. Haha

Actually, I use syn unless the engine consumes oil using syn. Then I try blend. If tolerable I stay with blend. Some engines like my Caddy Deville Northstar will only take Dino unless I top off the oil at every fuel stop. So I stay with dino on that one. I have a Briggs BCS 8 HP IC rototiller engine that is the same way.

On that blend.. i think I'd skip it. it costs usually nearer to syn than dino.. and how do you know how much blend percentage? If I thought I needed blend.. I'd go full syn.. but that is just me. ( mind you I have also tried the store brand syn oils as a compromise too. ) at least in some gas engines. I have some lawn equipment and an antique gasser tractor on wal-syn I believe a few air compressor sumps I have are also running wal-syn.

 

[Soundguy]

i'd have used straight sae 50.. it should have actually had similar pour point with a 85 gear lube. Many old ford steering boxes spec'd an 80w gear lube OR a 50w engine oil.

When I was a kid I got a generic riding mower at the dump. The guy dropping it off said it would burn oil almost as fast as gas. Since it was better than the push mower I took it home. I found that 85w gear oil worked great in the 12hp Briggs. It would pop and snap when you shut it off but it ran for years without an oil change. Never burnt a drop of oil. I eventually gave it away filling in the new owner. I don't know how long it ran for but it always amazed me. Granted the Briggs has splash lubrication and I never mowed in the dead of winter when it was -30 out.

 

[Thomabear]

Scroll down to frequent asked questions 28&29 of the attached link. I would think labs performing thousands of UOA's for a living would know a little about oil. At least more than your average high school dropout using the internet rather than holding a tribology degree. No offense with that statement just stating the facts as I see them. Bottom line is you can buy into the hype or you can save a little money and experience the same end result. To each his own. All my engines outlast my vehicles by a large margin and that works for me. From a common sense standpoint I see no reason to waste my $$ on synthetic. Like I said, see you guys at 300 to 400k. If you're short on change I'll buy you a beer. :drink:

Blackstone Labs

 

[Soundguy]

In my 187K mile Audi, the Mobil 5w-40 I was using disappeared faster than the Mobil 10w-40 High Mileage stuff.. So I used that in summer, and the 5w in winter.

I hear ya. I have a 2000 yukon that drinks oil.. I do not use the gm reccomended energy saving oil ( whatever it is.. 5w30.. etc. ) that runs thru like water. i have to use 10w40 now. that seems to hold it for 1000m at a time.

 

[Peacock]

Scroll down to questions 28&29. I would think labs performing thousands of UOA's for a living would know a little about oil. At least more than your average high school dropout using the internet rather than holding a tribology degree. No offense with that statement just stating the facts as I see them. Bottom line is you can buy into the hype or you can save a little money and experience the same end result. To each his own. All my engines outlast my vehicles by a large margin and that works for me. From a common sense standpoint I see no reason to waste my $$ on synthetic. Like I said, see you guys at 300 to 400k. If you're short on change I'll buy you a beer. :drink: Blackstone Labs

Wow!!

 

[Diamondpilot]

When I was a kid I got a generic riding mower at the dump. The guy dropping it off said it would burn oil almost as fast as gas. Since it was better than the push mower I took it home. I found that 85w gear oil worked great in the 12hp Briggs. It would pop and snap when you shut it off but it ran for years without an oil change. Never burnt a drop of oil. I eventually gave it away filling in the new owner. I don't know how long it ran for but it always amazed me. Granted the Briggs has splash lubrication and I never mowed in the dead of winter when it was -30 out.

85 gear oil is about the same viscosity as 30 motor oil. It's the additives that make it "thicker", or sticky if you will.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

Not true at all. Many vehicles come with synthetic oil these days. Nearly all Euro cars, most every performance domestic and even most current Hondas.

True. Two of my three vehicles came with synthetic from the factory. These are 2007 and 2008 vehicles.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

The advantages to synthetic are many.

The biggest is the ability to run much longer oil change intervals.

And now days the cost difference is negligible. I just bought enough oil to do 50 oil changes. On average the synthetic was only $25 with a quality filter. The conventional was $18 with a so so filter.

Synthetic is a cost savings in my eyes being able to safely run twice the miles between changes.

Chris

 

[Midniteoyl]

I hear ya. I have a 2000 yukon that drinks oil.. I do not use the gm reccomended energy saving oil ( whatever it is.. 5w30.. etc. ) that runs thru like water. i have to use 10w40 now. that seems to hold it for 1000m at a time.

Audi actually recommends the 0w-40 now instead of the 5w-40 and the 5w-40 moved into the 'diesel turbo truck' area, but I used it anyways as the zinc was still there.. And the 0w-50 would disappear so much faster I thought I was driving a flat head

 

[Midniteoyl]

And now days the cost difference is negligible. I just bought enough oil to do 50 oil changes. On average the synthetic was only $25 with a quality filter. The conventional was $18 with a so so filter.

Synthetic is a cost savings in my eyes being able to safely run twice the miles between changes.

Chris

To me, whether the run dino or synth is pretty moot and totally up to you, but, what you SHOULD be worried about is a quality filter and changing it often. Even if I get the 'oil change specials' I always upgrade the filter and that brings the costs difference that much closer.

 

[Thomabear]

To me, whether the run dino or synth is pretty moot and totally up to you, but, what you SHOULD be worried about is a quality filter and changing it often. Even if I get the 'oil change specials' I always upgrade the filter and that brings the costs difference that much closer.

Definitely true! I guess we found something we can agree on.:thumbsup:

 

[kenmac]

I understood exactly what you were saying.
What I do not understand is that you synthetic guys seem to think your vehicles will last xxxx miles longer if you throw unnecessary dollars at them. I guarantee this ain't so... It basically reminds me of the kind of mentality that if you put 200 year bricks on a 100 year house the whole house will last 200 years. How dumb is that? In my life of 54 years I have NEVER had a vehicle outlast an engine. Had I wasted my money on synthetic oil during their use it would have been just that.... Wasted money.... In fact the famous 1 million mile Dodge and 750K 7.3 power stroke ran nothing but conventional oil. Hmmm, how is that? This has to be impossible, right?
FWIW, I'm not gullible enough to believe synthetic oil is needed to carry my vehicles through their useful life and I certainly don't believe in paying an unnecessary premium for a warm fuzzy feeling.

Actually it's quite simple.... You believe and do what you will and I'll do the same. Oil debates aren't worth the argument IMO. See ya at 300K.

Dino is old school. Even vehicle manufactures realize this and, are starting to put synthetic oil in their vehicles straight off the assy. line. I guess you know more than these automotive engineers about what works best in their auto. Some time, it's hard to teach old dogs new tricks. I'm an exception to the rule. I'm 55 and still learning new tricks. Stick with your dino, I'll stick with my synthetic

 

[DarkBlack]

He didn't say he knows more about auto designs than auto engineers. He said in his last post, and the 2 or 3 previous posts he made, that the vehicle "parts ways" from it's owner for every reason in the book, but not because of the lack of synthetic oil. Be it rust, transmission, accident, or trade in, I think he's 100% correct.
Obsessing over engine crankcase oil seems to be a common irrational behavior oddity for some males, on internet sites. If common sense was truly "common", then one would be more worried about posting of bad weather or, bumps in the road- both are more apt to impact the longevity, and devaluation of your vehicle.

 

[kenmac]

He didn't say he knows more about auto designs than auto engineers. He said in his last post, and the 2 or 3 previous posts he made, that the vehicle "parts ways" from it's owner for every reason in the book, but not because of the lack of synthetic oil. Be it rust, transmission, accident, or trade in, I think he's 100% correct.
Obsessing over engine crankcase oil seems to be a common irrational behavior oddity for some males, on internet sites. If common sense was truly "common", then one would be more worried about posting of bad weather or, bumps in the road- both are more apt to impact the longevity, and devaluation of your vehicle.

I understand what he's trying to say. I just don't believe what he's saying in post # 56 "oil is oil" I've got some property I'd love to sell you if you believe this

 

[kenmac]

if everyone was the same.. we'd all be robots and that would be so much less fun...

That's what I tell my wife:laughing:

 

[Diamondpilot]

I run synthetics in my autos because they are high utilization items.

My boats, generators, mowers, tractor, etc get dino. I just sleep better at night changing the oil in each of these items at 75 hours or once per year. There is no gain in my eyes to using synthetics in a low utilization item since I will change the oil way before it's worn out.

Chris

 

[Raw Dodge]

Try 188k on an '06 Sierra 4.8L...

Still going strong at 225k running Mobil 1 5W30 syn

That's not a big deal for a GM LS engine,my brother sold his 01 5.3 with 340k miles ,never ran synthetic,just regular 5w30 and the guy he sold it to is still running it 2 yrs later...he just took an 05 chevy 1500 w5.3 on trade that had 5 oil changes in 185k miles,and it runs like new no noises and good oil pressure...I'd expect 400k out of that engine easily...

 

[Peacock]

Nearly all GM vehicles use synthetic now that the Dexos requirement is in place.