Engine Oil

[Daveb]

I guess i m old fashioned but I dont believe in synthetic oil. I dont think man has improved on mother nature yet. I run castrol GTX 5W30 12 months a year, the temps go from -40 to 100 above farenhieht here.

My old rs is still running strong with over 300,000 Kms on it. Its doesnt smoke and takes very little oil between changes if any at all. (original motor, tranny & clutch)

I do my oil changes religiously at 5000 Kms which makes all the difference and use an occasional conditioner (I like Engine restore).

Stay away from Quaker state unless you like having a pile of grey sludge under your valve cover ect...

I sold my old 94 rs to a friend, so I still know how its running, its probably got 350 k by now!

[_-Night-Shade-_]

Omg I hate people with that mentality, no offense. The "don't fix it if it ain't broke" ideology. There's always room for improvements and there are always new technologies being invented that improve the performance or prolong the life of engines. Synthetic oil is one of them, my friend. Now if you read up more about engine oil and how it works you will realize that.
P.S. - Just cause you stick to regular oil doesn't mean your car won't last as long, it's not as simple as that FYI.

[Daveb]

Thousands of scientists have been working for decades trying to improve on Rubber (which comes from a tree) and they just cant do it, if they gain on one thing (lets say cold crack) they lose on all the other properties like chemical resistance or durability or.....

Sometimes man just cannot improve on mother nature. Many of your so called studies on sythetic oil is by the manufacturers (or thier subsiduaries) trying to soak you for that extra buck.

Personally I like to change my oil every 5000 kms and see how it looks, you can change your sythetic crap every 50,000 kms for all I care.

[_-Night-Shade-_]

Hah! That's rediculous. So what are you saying, there have been no improvements whatsoever to the internal combustion engine over the past 100 years? I didn't realize we were discussing rubber, last time I checked this was an engine oil thread.

[Daveb]

Bad example dude. It s sad how little improvement has been made on the internal combustion engine in the last 60 years (or 100 if you prefer).

I was amazed to see the the average american fuel economy was better in 1971 than in 2001.

Watch the documentary, Who killed the electiric car, if you ever get a chance.

To me, the sad improvement since 1967 (or 1957) in American cars is a major part in the current US auto downturn.

My very first car (many years ago) was a 1976 Honda civic, it got roughly 50 miles per gallon, its tough to find an american car that gets the same mileage today. (the focus doesnt, no matter what the adds say).



Did you know that when the above doc was done the average US hybrid got 28 per gallon & the jap got 42!

lets make gas guzzlers, saudi arabia is poor!

[Ryan]

honestly, science has come up with a million awesome things above what we can scavange and roughly purify and use.

teflon
carbon materials
emr sensitive materials used in cameras
transistors and semiconductors
concetrated chemicals. Man made fertilizers beat using manure (specific to situations)
phamaceuticals (not sure if I spelt this right)


and then you're right, there's a lot of things we can't beat

glass
wood
stone
water
sugar (ever tried splenda? ick)
metals

although they're all made from "nature" as we can't make elements from nothing.


but oil! mineral based oils are weaker than synthetic oils. if engines never wore, and never lost any material we could run synthetic for 50 000k. But it gets dirty because engines loose tiny particles and they gum up the system (death of HLAs). natural oils do break down, the molecules actually physically shear under the stresses and heat and gum up that way.

[Flyer]

Now to find a cure for PMS...

[mitmaks]

There's definitely difference between conventional oil and synthetics. Molecular structure is the main difference, then there's all different additives that make all the difference between oils. If you have extra money go with synthetic, if not stick with conventional. Personally I dont mind changing my oil every 3k miles.

[_-Night-Shade-_]

Owned

[SuperK]

My pops always told me switching to synthetic will dry out the seals on older cars.

I dunno if that's the case nowadays or if it was ever the case in the first place, but I would like an opinion from unbiased individuals...


... I would like to switch to synth in my little b6. I got new front, valve stem and cam seals, all new gaskets and new rings.

The only seal that's not new is the rear seal. I think I would be able to switch over to synth (5 30)

Does any unbiased individual have any suggestions why this would be a good or bad idea?

[_-Night-Shade-_]

It's a good idea. All those beliefs are myths. The only difference is that synthetic is engineered differently (better). It's like food, they genetically modify crops so they can withstand harsher climates and add extra vitamins and such. Same concept with oil. Sure it's not AS natural but it's better.

[Mad Cow]

I've heard it dries out oil seals too, but that's with really old motors, you won't have any issues with your B6.

[Mikitu]

I'm using synth oil on my k8 without problems. In fact it seems to be running smoother.
Also fully synth on the tranny eases up shifting while cold alot.

[RX8SE3P]

Now to find a cure for PMS...

Hahahah!

[mitmaks]

Oil weight should not be only factor when choosing oil for your engine. Also look at the API service category
http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/API.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In our cars we can run most categories but you don't want to run SL in older engines with solid lifters.