Syn motor oil
King Jackass
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,610
Likes: 5
From: Aurora, CO
Ah! Now this is what I'm happy to talk about! So, to start off: I have been running Mobil 1 full synthetic fluids in ALL of my vehicles. The Dak had 1000 miles (safe break in period), and I changed it to Mobil 1. My intervals are every 5K. The Charger: 3000 mile (break in),went to Mobil 1. Again, every 5K change. The race car: after building the engine, the break in period was finalized on the dyno with Castrol conventional, then changed to Mobil 1. I change the oil on the Talon every 25 passes or so, and about 1 time a year.
Here is where it gets interesting. Some of you have mentioned that you have ran a conventional oil for many thousands of miles, and then switched to synthetic, then had problems. Many of the problems are related to the cleaning agents in the full synthetic. Sometimes, you can develop an oil leak at a crank seal, and never notice it with conventional oil (ie: leaking oil becomes extrememly dirty and becomes a stop leak at the seal. Then, when you get oil thats worth a f&^%, it cleans out the dirty deposits, therefore, re-opening the original leak. Synthetic motor oil does NOT create leaks.
Oil can get contaminated three ways: Fuel contamination, burning, absense of aditives.
The inside of the engine on the race car is absolutely clean. There are zero deposits, anywhere. Everytime I lift the valve cover, remove the oil pan, swap the rotating assembly, inspect oil gallies, inspect the pick-up, inspect bearings, etc....it is clean.
Synthetic oil is a great thing guys, it prolongs engine life expectancey...to a certain degree. Obviously, if one is a hard driver, things wear quicker. Its that simple. If you drive the car like a grandma...and keep up on maintanence, you will see long life. Synthetic oils just extend it even further.
For performance applications, synthetic oil also gives the builder additional value. Take vehicles that run on methanol, for example. Considering that I have assembled many engines in my day, most that have run on methanol, here's what we typically see: When changing the oil every 3-5 passes, the royal purple looks like a vanilla malt when drained. No matter how tight you make the ring gap, you will get fuel in the oil. Some oils react differently when subject to uncommon fuels. Ethanol vehicles should change the oil more frequently then gasohol applications. Methanol applications should change the oil all the time. Alcohol fuels are thinner, and air fuel ratios are richer, therefore when running alcohol applications, the oil accepts more fuel during a given period. Stoich air fuel ratio for gasohol is 14.7:1. Most of our vehicles will run richer @ WOT...say, 13.5:1, as a conservative/safe tune. Ethanol is about 9:1, Methanol is about 6.4:1, deisel is about 14.6:1. So, one has to run more fuel/volume of air to keep a stoich a/f ratio. Therefore, more fuel enters the oil by passing by the piston rings.
Sorry for the novel, this is just good information to know.
Here is where it gets interesting. Some of you have mentioned that you have ran a conventional oil for many thousands of miles, and then switched to synthetic, then had problems. Many of the problems are related to the cleaning agents in the full synthetic. Sometimes, you can develop an oil leak at a crank seal, and never notice it with conventional oil (ie: leaking oil becomes extrememly dirty and becomes a stop leak at the seal. Then, when you get oil thats worth a f&^%, it cleans out the dirty deposits, therefore, re-opening the original leak. Synthetic motor oil does NOT create leaks.
Oil can get contaminated three ways: Fuel contamination, burning, absense of aditives.
The inside of the engine on the race car is absolutely clean. There are zero deposits, anywhere. Everytime I lift the valve cover, remove the oil pan, swap the rotating assembly, inspect oil gallies, inspect the pick-up, inspect bearings, etc....it is clean.
Synthetic oil is a great thing guys, it prolongs engine life expectancey...to a certain degree. Obviously, if one is a hard driver, things wear quicker. Its that simple. If you drive the car like a grandma...and keep up on maintanence, you will see long life. Synthetic oils just extend it even further.
For performance applications, synthetic oil also gives the builder additional value. Take vehicles that run on methanol, for example. Considering that I have assembled many engines in my day, most that have run on methanol, here's what we typically see: When changing the oil every 3-5 passes, the royal purple looks like a vanilla malt when drained. No matter how tight you make the ring gap, you will get fuel in the oil. Some oils react differently when subject to uncommon fuels. Ethanol vehicles should change the oil more frequently then gasohol applications. Methanol applications should change the oil all the time. Alcohol fuels are thinner, and air fuel ratios are richer, therefore when running alcohol applications, the oil accepts more fuel during a given period. Stoich air fuel ratio for gasohol is 14.7:1. Most of our vehicles will run richer @ WOT...say, 13.5:1, as a conservative/safe tune. Ethanol is about 9:1, Methanol is about 6.4:1, deisel is about 14.6:1. So, one has to run more fuel/volume of air to keep a stoich a/f ratio. Therefore, more fuel enters the oil by passing by the piston rings.
Sorry for the novel, this is just good information to know.
I'm convinced. Switching to synthetic next oil change. Will probably go with mobile 1 and do my first oil change at 5k, then maybe extend it to 10 k if it looks good at 5k. I think someone on here, six shooter maybe, goes a full year between changes, not sure I would ever feel that comfortable being around the 3 month 3k thing all my life.
Guest
Posts: n/a
to be safe, have an oil analysis done at your first change. I have a local place that I can take a small mason jar with the drained oil in, and they will send it out and do the lab work. It costs around 30 bucks, but it will tell you a lot about the oil. How much life is left and such.
Veteran
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 294
Likes: 0
I'm convinced. Switching to synthetic next oil change. Will probably go with mobile 1 and do my first oil change at 5k, then maybe extend it to 10 k if it looks good at 5k. I think someone on here, six shooter maybe, goes a full year between changes, not sure I would ever feel that comfortable being around the 3 month 3k thing all my life.
I have went for long periods on some vehicles between oil changes, on cars I don't care about, but that's it.
The Datsun gets an average of 2 oil changes a year, I'm usually only driving it for about 5 or 6 months each year, and my daily drivers get oil changes somewhere around 4 to 6 months. If I went by milage I'd be changing like once a month or two months.