Technical Synthetic Oils are a Marketing Scheme.

So you must have a Flathead or a Harley.

 

What, only an hour? Ole Bardahl had a marketing stunt called the "No-Oil Run." He'd fill his Cadillac engine with additive, drain it, and then drive 100 miles with an empty crankcase.

 

No load full throttle?

 

I'll say this, Ole was a bit of a lead-foot.

 

Saudi Arabia is pumping sea water into their oil wells to bring the level of the oil up to where they can pump it and have been doing this for years. So maybe..

Larry

 

Thirty years ago, as a part-time job when I was going to a community college, I occasionally trucked water from an Exxon plant to an oilfield. Usually I trucked the water to a wastewater treatment plant. Maybe they were doing the same thing.

But, I'm still interested in clarification of what that person meant.

 

I very occasionally buy oil, from auto parts stores, and I have no problem finding regular old oil.

 

Popeye prefers Olive Oyl

 

Mmmmm French Fries!!!!!

 

We brazenly called Smokey to ask tech questions on the phone a few times from Massachusetts back in the 70s.
My recollection was he was ALWAYS courteous and forthcoming with tech answers.
My boss even bought a case of AllProof from him. I believe Smokey said it was from the last batch of the good stuff (at that time ?). Smokey said he had bought it all.

I'm pretty sure Smokey's discovered and tested "synthetic oil" was All Proof.
I believe it was polyolester-based motor oil introduced around 1970.
Supposedly the company All Proof may have since morphed into RedLine.
Not that means necessarily anything can be inferred or deduced about modern RedLine products' goodness.

As I hazily recall the synthetic oils used in turbine engines are not polyolester-based, and whatever that chemistry was, is not well suited to automotive engine use .
And we've had several reports that modern auto synthetics are all completely different.

 

Here's what looks to be a good source of general information:

https://www.caranddriver.com/research/a32879214/synthetic-oil/


I wonder how switching to a less carbon-intense fuel compares with using synthetic oil instead of using regular oil. As in, less carbon-intense fuels (propane, methane) produce a lot less carbon build-up, and therefore contaminate the engine and the engine oil a lot less.

 

Anthony Olive Oyl is for fancy Italian sports cars.
Corncopcoupe now I know why my french fries taste like shit and my car smells like McDonalds must’ve got my oils mixed up.
Now back to your normally scheduled program.

 

I'm an Amsoil fan.

As to the comment above that it hurts old engines? Can u cite that? What seems to end up as coffee grounds when choosing/researching is that conversion to it should require stepping up a grade. If 30w was OK go 40 if switching over. If fresh and broken in on mineral, then go standard synthetic. My experiences are racing related. My sleds were full synth. My racer was. Old engines, no worries, worked hard. My newer Cadillac is Amsoil, 10,000 mi between changes, no issues. Old engine and ring tech can't be broken in on synthetic, but once done just go for it. My diesel? The one engine I don't wanna do full synthetic. 189,000+ miles and doesn't use a drop between changes, which happens every 7000 miles. Those are my views, not yours. Thanks for liste...uh,reading

 

Flat Tappet? You could see how much zinc is already in the oil you plan to use. Shouldn't really need it if you went roller. Seems a lot of people like the diesel oils for their higher zinc content. I don't see it hurting anything if you did add extra, I usually throw part of a bottle in mine.

 

I've pondered what he was meaning as well. What I can think of is the lack of companies that are actually providing base stock. If you look at companies like Valvoline (Parent Company Ashland) or Castrol (BP), as far as I remember and I could be wrong. They only refine base stock that they purchase, not get themselves. Mobil gets and uses its own and sells to Valvoline and Castrol to Refine their own. I couldn't tell you how many companies supply base stock but if you're looking at large companies in oil and one is supplying the others. If you look it up, oil reserves at todays usage will last the world another 47 years. But the more you pump I'm sure its harder to retrieve what's left the further you have to go to get it.

 

If you will go back and read the message before yours, he was asking about using CASTOR OIL,,, NOT CASTROL.

 

If you're talking about mine. Wasn't trying to say that it ruins them. Was trying to show the debate that is had on the synthetics and conventional in motors. Like the fram vs wix filter arguments, how at the point its brought up that one over the other is bad and leads to engine damage.

 

Fair enuff. Oil is like old world car brand loyalty.

 

Castrol Nitroblend for 2 strokes was castor oil based. That's why I mentioned it...

And it smelled so funny. It'd clear your sinuses and make you gag for a week!

 

I use synthetic in my junk for numerous reasons but one I like is the hydraulic fluid in my tractor, both the transmission and the hydraulics work great at -25 below.

 

Please tell me you have an enclosed cab with a heater. Otherwise I’m going to feel so inadequate I may start crying.

 

Cabs are for wimps so yes I have a cab with a damn good heater!

 

Dave G I always liked the smell of castor oil burning thought it smelled like popcorn , did you run nitro in your mix also? I believe back in the day guys ran castor or a mix of castor oil in the crankcases on race engines.
Budget36 you need to come up this way and visit us all, I have a balmy 5 degrees with a wind chill of -10 and about 18 or 20 inches of snow. Snows blowing around so it’s hard to get a good measurement. Anyhow have to go snow blow my drive and drum rollllllllll! I HAVE synthetic oil in the blower - fires on 1st or 2nd pull never have to use the electric start.
Old iron 440 only the rich farmers around here have heated cabs LOL
Dan

 

It’s around mid 40’s right now here. My one trip out to feed the horses, I looked at my MF35. I had a thought. I came back in and said to myself “do it later”

 

Synthetic oils are a better option, whether in a newer engine or in your old one.
Why do you think the service interval in newer cars is around 50% longer than in our older ones. For the most part, it is down to the change from mineral oils to synthetic oils, so it's really a no-brainer as to what to use.
Synthetic oils do not "cause" older engines to leak. Synthetic oil is thinner than conventional oil and therefore flows more easily. If there is a spot where oil could leak from your engine, then synthetic oil is likely to leak more from that area. However, synthetic oil would not "cause" the leak. As @theHIGHLANDER said, that is why it is good practice to step up a grade when using synthetic in older engines.
And, if you want the very best protection, keep the original shorter service interval with your older engine. It will love it...

 

Only whatever was in the Nitroblend can. I don't have a clue how much was in it, but it helped get the methanol to combust in the cold weather...

Now one night in the dirt car, 12 percent nitro in methanol. That was a fun night...

Getting back to the topic at hand, we used Mobil 1 racing oil in all of the various engines stuck in Jim's hillclimb special. We had a problem with cooling a 400 that had ridiculous compression as it was a retired sprint car engine. SCCA didn't allow methanol so we tried to run it on race gasoline. Lowered the compression, tried a few more things, but couldn't keep it cool. The oil temperature never went crazy, and we didn't have any problems with bearings, pistons scuffing, valve springs, or anything else that the oil cooled. Ruined the block, couldn't keep the head studs from pulling out. But the rest of the engine is back together and should be just fine when ratrodder finishes up on it.

 

Since your engine has flat tappets I would run an oil with the zinc package, I believe oils still have some zinc just greatly reduced for catalytic converters I know quit a few people run rotella 15w40 but I heard the zinc was reduced in this oil also but not sure. Most good auto parts sores have oil with zinc available I would think that you want a 10w30 or 10w40 oil. There is a lot of discussion on various sites about the proper amount of zinc for flat tappet cams. I run oil with a zinc package so I am reasonably certain I’m at the right level of zinc.
Dan

 

They had to use smelling salts to revive me after I saw the price of the oil bought last time I changed it, it was quite the show before hand hopping from forum to forum seeing what oil i needed, everyone had a different answer but they all agreed that the factory recommendation was wrong. Go figure