synthetic oil

FOURTEEN · Oct 9, 2004

“” Easier cold starts, less wear, long drain intervals. “”

Yes! Yes! No!!
/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gifFor the small amount of oil used, and the small amount of money saved, longer drain intervals can NOT be justified for a small hard working air cooled engine!! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

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FOURTEEN · Oct 9, 2004

I use Amsoil Synthetic throughout! Motor Oil, Hydraulic Oil, and Grease!!

No problems so far!!
However, it's like Daytime Running Lights. If you have them, and you haven't had a head on collision, how do you prove that the reason is the DRL?? Maybe you wouldn’t have had a collision without them anyway! And, if you had a collision with DRL, does that mean that they are no good??
Amsoil and DRL both make me feel just a little safer!!

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MuncyBob · Oct 9, 2004

I agree with not waiting any longer time for a filter change...but I was contemplating a longer interval for the oil change. Something like filter every 3k miles and oil every 6k.......if the filter is working properly is there any major problem with this?

As for the Jimmy...I'm probably going by memory(bad idea!) on what the engine temp was previously to the oil change over...but the dash now reads slightly over 120 degrees...maybe the gague is wrong? Recently had the engine flushed and the thermostat replaced.

Charolais · Oct 9, 2004

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I use Amsoil Synthetic throughout! Motor Oil, Hydraulic Oil, and Grease!! )</font>

I use Amsoil too. Have been since 1988. I use the 15w-40 heavy duty diesel oil for my 2610 Long and in the Farmtrac 80. And like you I also use the Hydraulic Oil, and Grease. The only way I would use extended drain on the tractors is to have a sample tested. I don't run that many hours per year and just change at 12 months. That's about the 300 hours anyway. On the hydraulic oil I will send samples and will run it as long as possible.

I feed cattle daily in the winter. The tractors do start better on those cold mornings with the Amsoil. I put in the hydraulic oil about 2 years ago in the Long and don't have to wait for it to warm up when it's 5 deg. out there now. I use a hydraulic motor to unroll the hay when feeding. It sure helped when it's cold and no more squeeling noise out of that motor.

I do run extended drains for highway vehicles. They are all gas engines. I've run as much as 18,000 miles on an oil change. Most are in the 14,000 to 16,000 range. I change the filters at 6 months and top off to the full mark. Haven't had any problems and have one engine that has had one oil change per year since 1992. Still take the kids to school every day.

I like to change gear boxes over to synthetic after about 10 hours of use when new. That Long has final drives and once I got the Amsoil gear oil in those they sure stopped clucking and poping. Very smooth now.

The gear shifting on the Long is much smoother with the Amsoil Hydraulic Oil also.

Amsoil isn't a cure it's an inhancement. Use it right and it'll save you money. With todays machinery prices I want those machines to run for many many years.

FOURTEEN · Oct 10, 2004

“” if the filter is working properly is there any major problem with this? “”

The filter only removes solid particulate matter from the oil. It does not remove the acids, gums, and gasoline from the oil.
Perhaps a compromise of 4000 miles to change both oil and filter would be appropriate!

“” the dash now reads slightly over 120 degrees...maybe the gague is wrong? “”

Something is definitely amiss!! Most modern gasoline cars and trucks require a constant 195 degrees for the engine to operate efficiently and meet EPA standards. (Pre-EPA 180 was the norm.) If the gauge is correct, your engine is running cold, resulting in poor fuel mileage, oil dilution, and high emissions! You should have it checked immediately as either the gauge, or the thermostat, is defective!!

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Schultz · Oct 11, 2004

There shouldn't be any problem with extending your oil change interval. Not because of cost but convenience and conservation, the oil doesn’t ware out, it just needs to be filtered properly and it will last a lot longer. I use the syn 5-50w in my Onan along with a Pure 1 filter. With regular oil and Onan filter it would be black after 25hrs, now it takes over a hundred hours to get the same color. I would say 75% of the difference is in the filter but some of it is the synthetic oil.

Another, but similar story. My Taurus 3.0l 24v engine would get 5k oil changes, where the oil was pretty black. I would also have to add about a quart around 3500 miles. With 0-30w syn I add no make up oil and I now use a Trasko bypass/full flow filter. The oil never gets any darker than an amber brown even after 8k miles and so I don't plan to change the oil but every 15-20k miles now, but I do change the filter every 5k and ad the necessary make up oil. Again a key point is the filtration.

A great add on to these little engines would be a bypass filter. Amsoil makes them for small engines, or Trasko has a bypass/full flow filter that will likely fit your exsisting spin-on its 3.5OD x 3.5 long or a 3.5OD x 4.5 long with 3/4-16 threads w/ internal bypass valve and anti-dranback valve. Both companies offer relocation kits for the filter, so if it’s too hard to get to this may be another option.

Trasko Bypass/full flow filters

Amsoil bypass filters

There are many others that make good bypass filters if your interested I can post others. I think the above two are the easiest to install, especially the Trasko since is just screws on in place of your old one.

JackRobin · Oct 14, 2004

I think I have to put my personal two cents regarding using synthetic oil in the small engines.

I think it's a big waste of money, the synthetic oil in the small engine is a perfect solution for enviroments such as Alaska or Northern Canada, where the temperatures are reaching close to -35 - 40 degrees.

Regards,

Jack Gawecki
Robin America, Inc.
Technical Support Dept.

MossRoad · Oct 14, 2004

Duck and cover, Jack! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Bird · Oct 14, 2004

Yep, Jack, you'll probably find a lot of folks who disagree with you, but that's the same conclusion that was written up several years ago for truck engines in one of the RV magazines I subscribed to. Of course, since it was about ten years ago, engines have changed so I don't know whether that would still be their recommendation or not.

Schultz · Oct 15, 2004

No, problem Jack, I respect your opinion. That's what these boards are all about: sharing and friendly debating.

Jack, you've got me, I have no engineering data backing up that synthetics are better, but there is a difference: my car didn't burn any oil between changes using synthetic as it did before with relatively the same grade regular oils of many brands. I more or less switched to synthetics as an added level of assurance for running the oil longer. When I did switch I noticed the extras I mentioned and consistently an extra 20-30 miles per tank of gas. The filtration that I mentioned can be applied to any oil and would lengthen the oil change interval and likely lengthen the engine life too since more particulate is filtered out. Lengthening the life of the Robin, Kohler, Deutz or car engine isn’t usually an issue. So then, it boils down to a convenience and conservation.