Technical Synthetic Oils are a Marketing Scheme.

One of the biggest reasons you get extended service intervals on new cars is the EFI. There's no fuel washing down cylinders like there is on a carbed car. With a carb, when you shut it down there's still a few revolutions where the car is sucking in fuel and air. That unburned fuel condenses, seeps past the rings, and ends up in the sump. It isn't much but over time it degrades the oil and you have to change it. Modern ring materials also help keep a lot of the combustion gasses out of the crankcase, too, so the oil picks up less contamination from that. Finally, my 2024 car runs at 210-215 degrees. Synth oil lasts a lot longer at those temps.
So for my old stuff, regular oil is fine. I have to change it often anyway. But the new cars get a good brand of synthetic.

 

Fuel Dilution can still be quite a issue. Aside from poor maintenance or leaking injectors. Low engine temperature, excessive idle, short drive times all play into effect. And your synthetics do account for that. Most wont notice it if you still keep up with moderate service intervals. Draw that out to 10k~ 20k like some vehicles manufacturers or oil companies say, you'll definitely notice it more.

 

I always thought it was 2,000 miles?
.

 

I have not changed oil in 3yr.... guess I'm on the shit list.

 

No, longterm personal materials-quality test. .
Marcus...

 

My Dad was a damn good mechanic, and was always pretty skeptical about "new" stuff.
He was a die-hard Mobil fan, based on what he saw tearing down engines. He also thought Shell and Conoco were okay, and hated Quaker State and Pennzoil.
Our neighbor, and his good friend, started selling AmsOil when I was a little kid. Dad's initial reaction was that it was more hype, and generally BS.
He finally consented to buy some 80/90 synthetic gear lube for the Ford Courier (rebadged Mazda) that my Mom drove. With the old lube, at -20 degrees (yes, we get that) you had to slip the clutch a little at initial start-up, or the tranny would kill the engine in neutral, and the stick would fight changing gears. With the synthetic, it acted just like summertime.
A year or two later, Dad was at a "home, sport, and travel" show, and the Conklin salesman had his booth set up with a machine that put friction on an oil. His product was, of course, the best performer. Dad went and got a cap full of AmsOil from the neighbor, who also had a booth, and brought it over. It out-performed the Conklin hands-down.
Dad never did convert to AmsOil, but did run Mobil One in his later years.
I run "synthetic blend" Motorcraft in my dailys, as it seems to flow a bit better in the winter than purely conventional oil. And cold starts are scary in our winters, which it is not uncommon to have a few weeks between -10 and -40 degrees F. I run Mobil Delvac in my flatty.
So, there's my .02 worth...

 

When I first bought our 56 Ford it had 10 miles on a newly rebuilt engine. I have kept with the changing of oil once a year and not the milage because the way I use the car. I added 1/2 bottle of GM Zinc additive at the first 2 changes and then read about “hot rod” oils with the correct zinc and other additives and decided that was a better way to go. I buy and use Lucas Hot Rod 10-30 and everything seem to be fine after 12 years and 15,000 mile of driving. My engines recommendation in 1956 was 20-20w which many probably didn’t use.

 

My old man brought a new Ford Maverick in 71 and in 76 I gave it it’s first oil change when he was up from Florida, that change lasted until 1990 when he traded the car in with 145k on it… Over his life he owned a total of seven cars ( hell I’ve had nine licensed and insured at one time). So 2000, 10000, 20000 miles or even never who knows…but we sure get anal about it don’t we?

 

I don't change my oil until it's good and dirty. I don't like to do too much anymore with my car. I just drive them. when the oil gets black it's time for a change. the cheap synthetic Walmart oil for my daily drivers and my old stock of oil for my 41 Cadillac. maybe even half a cup of Lucas oil stabilizer... i think that cad engine has never been rebuilt.

 

I run plain old dinosaur oil in all my old cars, no additives of any kind. No one tell them that won’t work.
In my modern turbocharged stuff I run whatever they ask for.

 

Every oil thread has the same conclusion.

every poster has one common point

oil is good

 

I dated a girl back in College. She laughed when I mentioned oil changes, she said I add oil until I trade it in. She became a Scientist at NASA....

 

AM >>>every poster has one common point>>>oil is good >>>

Yes. Maybe an uncommon point is that additives make it much better. Using Walmart's finest 0W-20, fast idle pressures on my 21-studder are ~20psi cold, warm or hot. Means viscosity doesn't seem to vary much with temps. So flows nearly as well on a cold winter startup as it does at normal running temps. As Martha Stewart might say, that seems like an uncommonly good thing.

 

Yep. Don’t drive away from home without it

 

Not going to get into which is better, don't know, not my field.

What I do know from experience is that a vehicle with Mobil 1 will start easily in temperatures that cause vehicles with regular oil to go "Urr.........." or worse!

But then some of the folks on this forum have probably never seen -25 F (or lower).

Before Mobil 1, Dad used to put a trouble light on top of the engine, and another under the oil pan when the temp dipped below a negative 10. With heat, engines with conventional oil will still start, but the Mobil 1 just kept us from crawling under to insert the trouble light in the cold.

Jon

 

Now , since they took away our standard light bulbs , they bulb under the pan wouldn't do a bit of good

 

Plus, one against the battery.

Ben

 

I had an old friend that would use two magnetic heaters on the pan of his diesel Benz. He would have been a champion for synthetic oils.

 

Another example of the "Law of Unintended Consequenses".

Jon

 

With the heating thing, I recall as kid a guy coming by to show my dad the truck he bought. Early ‘50’s Chevy.
He asked my dad “what’s the cord for”?
Now I was maybe 12/13 then, but
Only time I ever have seen a block heater.
I’ve never seen one since.

 

yeah, they're kind of rare to find in the southwest unless you're up in the mountains. then a slightly better chance of finding a block heater.

and believe it or not, some LED bulbs do put out some heat. just not as much.

 

Heat bulbs still around.

Block heaters are common on diesels even in bama.

 

I run Rotella T4 15w40 in the flatty. I used to run Rotella T1 in the flatty's, but finding it has been harder and I can get the t4 on sale a whole lot easier. Could I run cheapo supremeo oil? Yes, especially at 1k changes. But I like the Rotella and its normally 20 bucks a gallon. I may look at Costco once I am out of Rotella.

Now onto the 56... Mobil 1 5w40 European car formula in the flat tappet 318. The swap to Mobil 1 ECF took alot of research. I was running Valvoline VR1, but finding 10w30 locally was a problem, yes I could order it but on road trips, or in instances of needing to do have a quart fast, I decided to look out for a comparable replacement. I have some decent valve spring pressure with a flat tappet, so I searched for some data sheets online, and found the ECF 5w40 is Mercedes, Porsche and VW rated, and had the proper ppm for zinc, alot of the other oils they have in that line were missing the zinc.

I think some of the gimmick stuff out there is a joke. I used to put zinc additive in regular oil and then went vr1, and now I am running the cheapest yet with no issues on both vehicles. As long as it has oil and protects as the motor needs, then its golden whatever you choose.

 

So to answer the question are synthetic oils a marketing scheme?
No I don’t think so ,tribology - the study of lubrication is alive and well in industrial settings for good reason. In industry you want maximum oil life , and the least amount of wear in equipment and through tribology they work towards that end.
This on going study of oils has also produced better lubricants. Modern synthetic oils take high temps better, flow better, are cleaner etc. Are some oil better than others ,absolutely. You can have your oil analyzed through analysis you can see how many wear particles and what metal they are, also can determine if the oil is oxidized etc. So if you were to run conventional oil and have it analyzed and then run synthetic and have it analyzed I’d bet you your car vs mine , pink slips, the synthetic oil will come out on top.
Clean oil is best - duh
Do oil manufacturers have BS in their ads - duh
Dan

 

I wonder if Olive Oil is any good for motors? I'm Italian, what can I say?

 

Well, it would smell good...

 

My 30 Chev had original service and maintenance recommendations.

Lubricants mentioned whale oil... amongst others. Interesting to look back.

 

Yep olive oil is for fancy Italian sports cars. Anyone out there have a Ferrari 250 GTO, if you could run some olive in it and get back with us we’d appreciate it LOL. French cars running cooking oil smell like French fries, wonder what the 250 GTO running olive oil would smell like …. Alfredo???
Dan

 

Amazing isn’t it, I mentioned castor oil as I vaguely remember old timers talking about running it in race motors. Oil technology sure has come a long way.

 

Castor oil was the best stuff available back then, from what I've read, even into the 50's. Trouble was, it had to be used correctly, or lots of Trouble ensued. Wasn't all that trouble-free to start with, mind you, but, racers did what they had to do. Anyway, the trick was two-fold. 1st was to use virgin castor oil, 2nd was to get it hot before the race, keep the temp in it as long as you were going to race that day, & then completely flush it out while the engine was hot. If you didn't do this, the stuff congealed, & got worse every time you used it. Also the lubing properties went to hell quickly after the 1st use. But at least you got this substance that resembled sticky cosmoline in & thru everything in the mill. & then starting, even maintenance, becomes increasingly difficult. While I really kinda liked the smell of castor oil gone thru an engine (even just the castor oil combined w/nitro, methanol, [probably]benzene, + other stuff - which made up the KB-100 hot-fuel for flying model airplanes), from what I've read; if you breathed the burned fumes too long(like the WW1 planes w/exhaust ending before the pilot), you got diarrhea. Not a subject talked about much(WW1 flyers), although I doubt the racers sniffed the Fumes long enough, esp since most exhaust pipes exited behind the driver.
If I can ever get the early-style racer-replicas together, I'll rig up a small thin castor-oil drip-line into the manifold(or at least the exhaust manifold), so's it smells correct.
Marcus...