Author Topic: Synthetic oil problem...? (Read 5148 times)

black powder · « **Reply #30 on:** March 18, 2007, 12:32:42 PM »

i have used synthetic oil since 1977 ..i worked for GENERAL MOTORS for 30 years and have a good idea how synthetic oil works inside ur motor .synthetic oil will NOT repair worn out oil seals ..and ur seals do not leak because of it ..i even use it for my front and rear differencial ..but if you want to use CRUDE OIL by all means use it ...

Cheesehead · « **Reply #31 on:** March 18, 2007, 12:58:44 PM »

OK, this may be a dumb question but here goes,, what is synthetic oil made from?

Cheese

black powder · « **Reply #32 on:** March 18, 2007, 01:30:34 PM »

Quote from: Cheesehead on March 18, 2007, 12:58:44 PM

OK, this may be a dumb question but here goes,, what is synthetic oil made from?

Cheese

there is no such thing as a dumb question [in my book] check the link http://www.oilsandlube.com/

Cheesehead · « **Reply #33 on:** March 18, 2007, 02:09:06 PM »

Thanks Blackpowder, that link was very informative.

Cheese

eye shot · « **Reply #34 on:** March 20, 2007, 08:02:41 AM »

I have a 2002 Chevy D/A PU and used Amsoil synthetic for about three years. I was out west pulling a 32' fifth wheel running between 75 & 85 MPH to keep up with traffic. When I got home and changed oil it was a gallon low, it had never used oil befor. I switched to Shell Rotella synthetic and hasn't used any since. I read later that Rotella is the oil that all others are judged against.

Buckskins & Black Powder · « **Reply #35 on:** March 23, 2007, 10:06:22 AM »

You shouldnt have used 5-20. I was running 20-50 in my 71 buick 350, changed to mobil one 5-20 and wiped my rocker arm shafts right down to copper. Use 10-30 or 10-40, some of the chevys are built on with loose bearing clearances and a thin oil like that is like throwing a handful of sand in there. Valvoline is great oil though, i think once u switch back to a 1030 or 1040 oil, you'll be fine.

eye shot · « **Reply #36 on:** March 23, 2007, 03:18:49 PM »

Did I say I used 5-20?-NO. The D/A stands for Duramax as in diesel. I would never use 5-20 unless maybe it was 40 below. I was using 15-45 Amsoil Heavy Duty Diesel.

Buckskins & Black Powder · « **Reply #37 on:** March 24, 2007, 05:26:41 PM »

Wasnt talking to you... It was to the guy that made the post. Your name just happened to be the closest.

DirtyDan · « **Reply #38 on:** March 25, 2007, 03:21:25 AM »

1. If you are changing oil every2000-3000 miles you are pissing away $$.

2. I have exactly the same confidence in engineers as I do used car dealers.

3.Trial & error & experience is what will tell you what works. If you don't have the time or the $$ to get the experience, find somebody the has already done it. Who puts the most miles on the costliest vehicles under the most sever conditions each year? Over the road truckers. What do they use? Find out and do the same. I can tell you for sure they don't change oil every 3k miles. My second option would be farmers & ranchers. They use their trucks & equipment for a living and don't have time to change oil all the time.

I drive a Dodge with a Cummins. I have used Royal Purple 15W-40 in the engine and whatever is called for in all gear boxes & power steering pump. It is expensive was $6/quart, two years ago. I changed every 10k. Right now I'm running Chevron Delo 400 15W-40($8/gal), changing at 5k. The oil looks as good as when it went in, which I attribute to the coating the RP put on the wear surfaces. If you really want to know when to change, have your oil tested. Also, read what the military thinks of synthetics. IIRC, they ran a hummer 500,000 miles on the same oil without a problem.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #39 on:** April 03, 2007, 08:45:42 AM »

We put syn oil in all our trucks after 15000 miles or if it is a used truck when we get it , we flush the engine with a flush and new filter , we do this not because the oil mix but to get deposits and sludge out ( so the filter won't stop up and the by-pass open ) .
The 15000 miles we do for break in , some new engines in fact do not have a break in period but what could it hurt vs. not having the rings seal or other breakin needs, things we have experinced .
The the oldest truck we switched 10400 miles no leak , but some with less miles did leak , one had a leak before the change !
when we have a leak or oil consumption we use 1 to 2 qts. lucas oil additive in place of the oil and so far it has worked well ' at 100000 miles we use the lucas in all trucks as a standard procedure .
we run run about 45 trucks , vans , pick-ups and stake bodies , we have dodg. ,ford , chev. , and toy. we get around 200000 miles on average . we use syn. trans. fluid ! we have had diesel pick-ups from the big three , but most are gas .
we went back to reg. oil for a short period and had both engine and trans failure so we went back to syn.
To be honest if you don't keep a truck over 100000 miles reg. oil is ok , all you would miss is cooler temp. and better gas millage , and the top end noise we went through with chevy. and the filter worked !
our main reason for the use of syn. oil is the abuse or trucks get , it just plain seems to stand up to abuse better , ie. one employee went 84000 miles without changing oil , yes we found out when the engine went !and yes we have a better check system in place now ! thats what i have seen in 17 years of running a fleet for what it worth !

goodwrench6710 · « **Reply #40 on:** June 17, 2007, 08:43:14 AM »

GM has a problem with the mid to late 90's small block engines. They all had poor machine work done on the crankshafts. There were bullitons on this problem. They wanted the technitions to patch these engines using mix matched bearings to take up the clearance (which is a piss poor repair in my book). also the don't have much of a skirt on the pistons which can cause alot of piston slap when cold until the pistons warm up & expand to fill the bore. So the synthetic oil isn't the problem, it's the engine. Use a 10w-30 or 10w-40 synthetic oil & an AC delco filter. If it knocks more than about 2 minutes after a cold start, the engine has problems & will need repaired or rebuilt. I hope this info helps.

PS: DONOT PUT SYNTHETIC IN OLD ENGINES, THEY WILL LEAK FROM OLD SEALS!!!! Synthetic oil has smaller molecules & will find leaks that you never knew you had.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #41 on:** June 17, 2007, 10:42:12 AM »

GW , that filter had a check valve in it , and cost alot more ! went thru. that !
syn. in an older engine can go either way , i have switched over 20 trucks with over 60000 miles on them , the oldest 165000 . what i find is if you add a qt. of LUCAS oil treatment it won't leak ! I know being a mechanic you are saying BS about now , give it a try before you write it off find an engine with an oil problem and give it a try !
I had one burning oil so bad i thought it was a 2 cycle and it was recommended to me and i also said BS but gave it a try and it worked , now any truck we have with 100000 miles gets a qt each oil change !

goodwrench6710 · « **Reply #42 on:** June 18, 2007, 02:27:24 PM »

I'm a believer in Lucas products. But, if you add Lucas oil treatment into synthetic oil you are defeating the purpose of using synthetic oil. Lucas is a petroleum based product & cancels out the extended oil change intervals of synthetic. The main advantage of synthetic is the fact that all of the molecules are the same size. In petroleum the molecules are different sizes, the smallest break down first & continue to break down up in size till your left with sludge. Synthetic doesn't break down, it just gets dirty. Synthetic blends are a sales gimmick & really not worth the money, still only last 3,000 miles in reality. I recommend Lucas in differentials & transfer cases, old high mileage engines with conventional oils. Yes it blends with synthetic, but your really not doing any justice for your money. This information was given to me by the Vavoline oil representative. I switched my 2001 Chevy Cavalier at 70,000 miles to 5w-40 Vavoline synthetic oil. The valve cover gasket started leaking & I replaced it. I haven't had any other problems. I change the oil every 5,000 miles & put 75 miles a day on it. It now has 100,000 miles on it. My fuel mileage increased from 27 mpg. to 32 mpg. No additives. My 5 speed transmission I changed to synthetic Mobil 1 ATF, the output seals started leaking right away. I did add Vavoline Maxlife into it & cleaned of the transmission & the leaks stopped. The reason I put sythetic in the transmission was do to a hard shifting problem & GM had a bulliton to use Saturn transmission fluid which is synthetic. The Mobil 1 fixed the problem, but found the weakness of the old seals, the 4 ozs. of Maxlife softened them back up & sealed. If you have an old engine I would really recommend trying the Vavoline Maxlife oil, it really works good. It is petroleum based, you can add Lucas if you wish.

Buckskins & Black Powder · « **Reply #43 on:** June 18, 2007, 02:53:50 PM »

i just put valvoline high milage and a bosch filter in my isuzu. So far the oil has stayed clean. Castrol always seemed to get dirty within 45mins to an hour. Runs smoother too it seems. Also added a can of Engine restore oil additive. Use that in our f250 and always get better gas milage.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #44 on:** June 19, 2007, 01:30:00 AM »

G W ya better get a new LUCAS cat. they have had a syn. oil add. for a couple years now !
it would be hard to use different oils in a fleet of 47 trucks , i guess we are lucky we experience little in oil leaks , most of our trucks go over 200000 miles , we do also use syn. trans. fluid , in the Allison we use amsoil , not the atf but the heavy torque one for Allison trans. i now have 122000 miles on it and it has had a hard life to say the least ! not bad when everyone said the way we use it 80000 miles would be about it !

rockbilly · « **Reply #45 on:** June 19, 2007, 07:01:47 PM »

After many years working on aircraft, and servicing aircraft engines with synthetic oil. In 1962 I put the first synthetic oil in a 1958 Oldsmobile Holiday 98, the car had about 50k on it when I changes over. I ran the car for several years, and it had well over 100k on it when I went to Viet Nam and sold it to a friend. He continued to use the oil, and put several thousand more miles on the old car before it was sent to an early grave as a result of a wreck. We were running the same oil used in the jets, it was a 10w oil, the lifters were a little noisy when first started, but that was also common on a high mileage car running petroleum based oil, the old car never spotted, or leaked oil.

I didn't run a synthetic oil again until 1977. After returning from Europe, I purchased a new Ford, F-250 with the 460 engine. When the warranty ran out, I switched over to Mobil 1, I worked that truck hard, it had over 130k on it when I finally traded, never an engine problem or leak problem. I later bought a Toyota pick up, I don't remember when, but I switched it over to Mobil 1 after the warranty ran out on it. When I was forced off the road and rolled five times the truck had over 230k. It never had a bolt turned on the engine except for valve adjustments. In addition, I ran the Mobil 1 in my sons truck, both daughters Toyota's, and my wife's Cadillac, they averaged about 5-6k between oil changes. I could run the Toyota pickup 6000 miles, pull the dip stick and the oil still looked fresh.

For the past few years I have been running a diesel, I use Shell Rotella T in it.

goodwrench6710 · « **Reply #46 on:** June 21, 2007, 05:14:28 PM »

I thought about this & came up with an easy way to explain the biggest advantage to synthetic oil verses petroleum based oil. In petroleum based oil, picture the molecules, all different sizes (like balls on a gym floor, softballs, baseballs basketballs, etc... lay a sheet of plywood on top of them, yes it will roll but the little balls fight it). Synthetic oil, all the molecules are the same size (like all basketballs, lay a sheet of plywood on top & rolls very smooth). If you add anything else to the synthetic oil, you have defeated the advantage of using the synthetic oil (even mixing brands & weights). I hope most of you guys can understand my comparison on this. I'm not knocking additives, but they're not good in synthetic oil. Yes they will mix in, then you have the different sized molecules that increase friction & that's what we are trying to eliminate. The price of gas is too high, lets save every bit we can! As far as synthetic oils casing knocking noises, that isn't the problem. It's too much internal clearances in the engine & you just mask the problem with additives. Todays light weight engines are made with the minimum amount of materials to save cost & increase MPG. We have to put up with noisy engine when cold in return. They are improving though & engine last longer than the did in the past. Not including the Ford 300 & the Mopar slant 6, the 2 indestructibles! If you want to see what can happen to motor oils, take a look inside of a VW or Audi 1.8L turbo engine, it has a 4 qt. capacity & tortures conventional oils. They have been know to sludge up & blow up with less than 30,000 miles on petroleum based oils.

Buckskins & Black Powder · « **Reply #47 on:** June 21, 2007, 06:27:30 PM »

Look at the mazda rx7 lol. the motors were lucky to get 60k before blowing.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #48 on:** June 22, 2007, 01:49:43 AM »

G W , the Lucas is made to be compatible with syn. oil , it helps with the seals ! it has worked well for us ! the ball idea is good just add the oil cleans all the gunk out of the engine , which can cause a leak and the Lucas fills in the voids left on surfaces that bear pressure , and as your balls and plywood roll they would certainly roll better on a clean " smooth " surface
not one that has scars in it .

Don-T · « **Reply #49 on:** June 29, 2007, 04:57:59 PM »

Fer what it may be worth, a few years back I had a running mate who also happened to be a Chem Engineer and Army Reservist. He found himself at Aberdeen Proving Ground for his summer tour one year doing oil analysis. They were working on finding an oil for the light duty vehicles (if you've ever seen a soldier drive an Army vehicle, you know it's not light duty) at the post. A bunch of standard dino oils and several synthetics were tested over time and miles and then by a 3-bearing test at various intervals. The bottom line was that dino oils lost half their lubricity before 3000 miles and only Valvoline reached that stage. All synthetics tested went at least 10,000 miles before reaching the 50% threshold. So if you like changing oil frequently, dino squeezin's work fine. I prefer running a bit longer between changes and synthetic works for me.