quote:

Originally posted by SgtGold:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
Not true. Synthetic oil gets past gaskets much easier than traditional oil and causes oil leaks. Sludge does not build up at all with modern Dino oil and it's additives if changed at normal recommended intervals.

Bro, the 80's called. They want their gasket issue back.

LOL I thought I was back on the Harley Boards again, this was a major contention between old grey beard wrenches and new technology. It was debunked many times over, synthetic doesn't cause leaks, it can however expose them due to it's superior ability to clean.

Synthetic simply maintains it's properties better and longer than dyno oil and hence it lubricates and cleans better. 20W-50 is still 20W-50 regardless if its dyno or synthetic, the difference is syn won't break down as quickly as conventional oils and will super clean the area. If you have a bad gasket that's been plugged with oil sludge preventing the leak, synthetic can expose that by cleaning it out.

But you already had the leak, it was just plugged. There is no difference in synthetic and conventional as ones ability to get into areas the other can't, again they are exactly the same viscosity.

Synthetic simply retains it's properties better and longer and hence provides optimum lubrication and cleaning longer, thus the engine runs like it does when you first change oil longer because syn stays like new longer.


It's major BS, we might as well discuss bearing skate and why synthetic is "more slippery".

Bob is the oil guy is the forum if you want some serious petroleum nerd input.


In the end synthetic won't hurt the engine or cause it to leak, implode, or expose it's dirty side to MSNBC, so you'll be fine. Run it a few changes see if you notice any difference in temps or operating efficiency.

Back on topic. My personal experience with the last 3 trucks I owned was over 220K miles on each. None of them used oil between changes when traded off.
Changed oil and filter every 5K, used 5W-30 regular oil and whatever the shop had for a filter. A lot of times this was at the dealership with discount coupons, but not always because other places had sales also.
The cost of synthetic always held me back when it crossed my mind to change, and there would not have been a benefit in my case.

For me, I run synthetic in all three of our vehicles. I have the peace of mind that the internals of these engines will be cleaner and be less likely to have very expensive issues later in life.

For me, the cost of the synthetic is worth it. I usually buy Mobil 1 at Costco when it goes on sale for $27 for 6 quarts. Sometimes NAPA runs a great sale on their synthetic oil, and I buy a few cases.

I also use quality oil filters. I normally run OEM filters, if I can't get them, I run NAPA Gold.

I see no downside from running synthetic oil.

Good thing the OP didn’t ask If he should or should not change a Oem high mileage transmission fluid that has never been changed .

This has been one of the most entertaining threads I have read since a similar question was raised on one of my motorcycle forums.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
Synthetic has a purpose and it is good oil, and in some cases better than dyno oil for the application. This is not one of those applications. But for a truck that has averaged 5,000 miles A YEAR, he is better off sticking with Dyno oil and changing it every 6 months to keep moisture (and contaminents, ie. iron, and hydrocarbons from short drives/cold starts) out of the oil.

The 80's called again. They said they wanted their lack of manufacturing QA/QC back this time.

The main purpose of a synthetic oil is to extend the time interval between oil changes. My Subaru is 7.5k miles, or 7 months between oil changes. That's more than double what the recommended interval was when I started driving in 1980. At 5k miles per year the OP could probably change his oil once a year and still get to 200k miles.

Edited for spelling.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SgtGold,

quote:

Originally posted by Shifferbrains:
Sometimes NAPA runs a great sale on their synthetic oil, and I buy a few cases.

I also use quality oil filters. I normally run OEM filters, if I can't get them, I run NAPA Gold.

Keep an eye out for the 5 gallon bucket promos. The NAPA brand synthetic is filled by Valvoline. I wait until they have 20% off everything you can fit in one of their buckets and stock up. I carefully fill it with quart bottles and sometimes the counter guy will ring it if you stick another case on top. My Tundra, wife's Sequoia, and our Accord all use 0W-20 so I stock up when I can get a deal.

Also agree on the NAPA filters. AFAIK the Golds and Platinum's are still Wix and US made.

man this has become a major purse swinging thread

worse than 9mm vs. 45 acp.

i'll chime in - no real benefit to switching now

just keep going with conventional

-------------------------------------

Reminds me, Mobil1 Vtwin Syn is on sale this week at Autozone.....

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
The thread is about "Advice and thoughts on changing to synthetic oil for higher mileage engine?"

Not about me.

Sorry, that's wrong. This thread shouldn't be about you, but you've made it so. You need to cut this stuff out. No one wants to listen to Cliff Clavin's opinions. That's how you come across- as someone who thinks they know about everything, but doesn't really.

You need to understand that no matter how right you think you are, you are getting nowhere with your approach. Alienating everyone in every thread you post in is no way to survive here.

You need to cool it. If you're so sure that you're right about everything you say, and no one else is right in what they say, you are going to run out of road in this forum. Be cool.

It's OK to be wrong sometimes. It's OK to know less about a given subject than others, especially if the subject at hand falls within the realm of their expertise. It's OK to not respond to things being said to you.

Find a balance, be aware of how you are perceived here and you will be fine. But if you keep this up, you'll have problems here.

It's up to you

I never imagined folks were so passionate about oil. I've had astonishingly good results from conventional oil.

quote:

Originally posted by bdylan:
I never imagined folks were so passionate about oil.

You don't know the half of it:

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...0601935/m/8280032834

quote:

Originally posted by bdylan:
I never imagined folks were so passionate about oil. I've had astonishingly good results from conventional oil.

Thank God we all agree on politics or this would get ugly.

quote:

Originally posted by dusty3030:

Keep an eye out for the 5 gallon bucket promos. The NAPA brand synthetic is filled by Valvoline. I wait until they have 20% off everything you can fit in one of their buckets and stock up. I carefully fill it with quart bottles and sometimes the counter guy will ring it if you stick another case on top. My Tundra, wife's Sequoia, and our Accord all use 0W-20 so I stock up when I can get a deal.

Also agree on the NAPA filters. AFAIK the Golds and Platinum's are still Wix and US made.

Cool thanks, I’ll check it out.

Bought a 98 4runner with 64000 miles on it, and started using Mobil 1 at my first oil change. Sold it a couple years ago with 380,000 plus on it. Never an issue, ran perfectly, and maintained 22-23 mpg just like the day I got. It may be wasting money, but I'm running Mobil 1 for the rest of my driving years.
Adding that I also run it in my Kohler powered zero turn.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by bdylan:
I never imagined folks were so passionate about oil.

You don't know the half of it:

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...0601935/m/8280032834

To add to this, check out Bobistheoilguy.com

Some years back Consumers compared synthetic to regular. There was no benefit so far as one lubing better than the other. Where the benefit came in was__say after long term parking at the airport, the synthetic adhered to the metal where the regular drained into the pan. So when starting up everything remained well lubed. Base on that I figured my Subaru Outback being parked over night would be better lubed. So have used Mobil 1 5w30 ever since. At 132,000 now.
Also from another reliable source Mobil 1 is superior due to the "chemistry" used by Moil. That accounts for costing more than other synthetics.
Maybe someone can pull up that old Consumers'article.

quote:

Originally posted by mikeyspizza:
What's the best gun grease?

Oops, sorry, wrong thread.

That's easy, the best is the Damn kind. Its official name is "Damn Grease". Get some and use it dammit.

Synthetic oil does not allow the manufacturers to extend oil change intervals. The reason oil is changed is because of the contaminants in the oil (metal shavings, unburnt fuel (hydrocarbons), additives being used up, moisture, and things that contaminate the oil like dirt particles). With the modern metallurgy (and coatings) in/on engine parts, engines run much tighter tolerances than they did 20 years ago, this results in much less hydrocarbons getting past the rings and into the oil as well as less metal shavings, and the modern computers can run much tigher fuel/air ratios (especially when the engine is started cold) and burn cleaner so the oil doesn't get contaminated as fast. The base additives in oil are also a lot better and last a long longer than they used to.

Ships for example NEVER change their oil, they have centrifuges that simply spin (filter) out ALL of the contaminates and the engine runs the same lube oil for decades and decades.

To think you can just pour synthetic oil in your engine and go twice as long between oil changes is not doing you any favors in most instances. What about the oil filter that is catching all of the metal shavings,dirt particles,etc, when the filter gets full it stops filtering completely. What about all of the acidic hydrocarbons in your oil? Dirt that makes it past your air filter? If you're doubling your change interval without pulling an engine oil analysis at every oil change ($30), you're just guessing and could be creating more wear. By the time you pay for the oil sample, you might as well just change it a lot sooner. If I was to double my oil change interval, I would at the very least change the oil filter at the recommended interval. Also looking at color of the oil, doesn't necessarily mean anything that simply shows the amount of hydrocarbons in it, but doesn't show you wear metals or dirt.

I analyze on average 3 oil samples, per week, every week, for the past 15 years.

Nobody on this forum is an EXPERT as to which oil they should run in a car or how long they should go before changing it. The real EXPERT already wrote this information in your vehicles owner's manual. The engineers and manufacturer that designed, built and tested your engine is the expert. Manufacturers spend 100's of millions of dollars per year on research and development on their engines and your engine. MTU (Mercedes Technologies Unlimited) spends $1.2 BILLION dollars a year on research and development on their engines. The manufacturers run dozens and dozens of each engine, in every scenario possible, with every oil, then analyze the oil, tear the engine apart and measure every tolerance and all of the wear in the engines and then use the oil that is the best in cost, benefits, and longevity across the broadest range of conditions. They also see what warranty claims they have on all of that vehicles built, how many parts as a percentage to engines built they're selling, and then change recommendations (or parts) through technical service bulletins. These are the EXPERTS. If you simply follow the manufacturers maintenance recommendations, 99% of the engines out there built in the last 15-20 years, will make it to or over 200k miles.

Is synthetic oil better in some cases, absolutely. It has excellent extreme cold weather attributes. It does run cooler oil temperatures a lot of times (this is not always a benefit, as those that drive a lot of short drives, the higher temps on dyno oil burn the moisture out of the oil caused by the natural heating and cooling cycle of the engine). But, when you do a cost/benefit analysis of synthetic oil and it's costs versus dyno oil, for over 95-98% of people it's not beneficial and just costs more. Only 1% of drivers, ever drive a car to 200k miles without the car being worn out. It usually gets sold off, totaled, or has a different catastrophic failure (transmission, rusts out, etc.) that it isn't worth fixing by that point. But just about any vehicle engine will make it to 200k miles or more, by simply following the manufacturers maintenance schedule using the fluids and parts they recommend. Bottom line, nobody here knows more, nor has tested an engine, various oils in that engine, in every possible climate and scenario possible, than the manufacturer and engineers who made it.

I've had 2 catastrophic failures on engines. 1 was a 3 month major on a D.D. 12v71 TI that was rebuilt by the dealer, and the other was a 6 month old 16v2000 2000HP MTU. The first thing both dealers did, was pull oil and fuel samples, look at the engine history (what RPM it was run at in the engine computer), and ask me what oil I used, who changed the oil, etc. It was their techs who installed the oil and used factory oil. But the first thing they look for is a reason to deny the warranty claim.

I'm no expert. I follow the manufacturers recommendations and use the manufacturers parts and fluids and simply analyze the samples for issues. I don't play "oil expert", I leave that for the engineers that designed the product I'm putting the oil into.

Mobil does make excellent oil, both synthetic and non synthetic. They are the company Caterpillar, Cummins, Man, and many others choose to make their oil, both synthetic and non.

^^^^^^^^
Boy, I say boy, you is a glutton for punishment, ain’t ya?