Synthetic oil

[Brudus]

Anyone here use synthetic oil. My car was due for an oil change recently and I decided to use synthetic oil. I'm trying to do all the little things I can to improve the responsiveness of my car, especially the throttle responce. Not just for just performance sake, but for saftey. I can think of a couple of time where i punched the gas to avoid geting in a wreck and my car would just sit there and rev untill i caught. Any tips you can give me will be appreciated.

[awdrifter]

My dad's car runs on synthetic oil, I didn't feel any throttle response gain or hp gain when he switched (3 years ago), so if you're after throttle response, you might be disappointed. Go with a light weight crank pulley instead.

[klutch]

I run synthetic. Definitely a noticeable difference in the bike world, where the clutch is often oiled by the crankcase oil. Shifting is much smoother. Less difference in the automotive world, although you won't have to change as often, and in dramatic cases, you can notice a gain with less friction between moving parts. I remember a dyno challenge with a few Mustangs, switching back and forth between different brands and weights of oils, and between dino and synthetic, and there were marginal power gains/losses.

[MrChips]

Oh man - I really don't know what to say about the above.

Switching from conventional oil to synthetic will NOT give any easily measurable gains in horsepower, throttle response, etc.

However, there are some benefits (and some disadvantages) to switching from conventional oil to synthetic. First is that due to differences in friction modifiers, there will be less friction within the engine. Now you will gain a little bit of power from this, where the biggest difference lies is in how much moving parts (especially piston rings) wear. Also, less friction will reduce temperatures in the engine.

One more benefit is that after the first three or four oil changes, the synthetic oil will have cleaned much of the sludge and grime out of your engine, meaning it will again run cooler and wear better. However, if you have an older engine, this can cause a problem. It may sound cliche, but many seals and gaskets in older engines are held together more with this sludge and grime, as the old seal material has long since deteriorated. Potentially, an old engine running synthetic oil could leak like a sieve, so keep that in mind.

Generally, I would say that if your car is relatively new (less than 100,000 km on it), switching to synthetic should be no problem. However, if the engine is old, you might be better off sticking with conventional oils, or at most, a semi-synthetic designed for old engines. And one more thing - NEVER run conventional oil in an engine designed for synthetic.

[Brother Michael]

Kind of funny thing here, just like in the petrol thread about octanevalues. Is it really so that Europe and North America are that far apart in the automotive world ?

I say this because again like in the petrol thread, I haven't seen any engineoils been advertised that AREN'T synthetic. I'm not sure if you can still buy something else but synthetic oil is the one used here. Or am I just plainly wrong and misinformed ?

[jayhawk]

Originally Posted by Brother Michael

I say this because again like in the petrol thread, I haven't seen any engineoils been advertised that AREN'T synthetic. I'm not sure if you can still buy something else but synthetic oil is the one used here. Or am I just plainly wrong and misinformed ?

No, American cars need not run on synthetic oil, unless specified. Maybe your country does, because of 2 reason I have discovered with using synthetic: I get better gas mileage, and starting the car when its -20C to -30C is alot easier with synthetic.

Myself, I use Amsoil 5W40.

[awdrifter]

The only reason I told my dad to switch to synthetic is that I sometimes drive it, and I usually hit 4k rpm on every gear, so it's good to give the car a little bit more protection. We use Mobile1 5w30.

[jayjaya29]

I switched over from dino oil to full synthetic during my last oil change. Havn't had any leaks or problems, I'm loving it!

[klutch]

Originally Posted by MrChips

Oh man - I really don't know what to say about the above.

Switching from conventional oil to synthetic will NOT give any easily measurable gains in horsepower, throttle response, etc.
.

Are you referring to my post? 'Cause you just went ahead and reinforced it.

In terms of peak numbers, we found that the engine gained nearly 7 hp with the thinner conventional oil, and was up nearly 10 hp with the synthetic. No peak torque gains were observed by changing from 20W-50 to 10W-30 conventional; however, the synthetic was up 15 lb-ft of torque at the peak. Looking at average numbers helps explain where the gains occurred--both the thinner conventional and synthetic oils broadened the torque and power bands overall, but the thin Mobil 1 showed the greatest improvement under 4,700 rpm, indicating that the thinner oil provides less initial drag for the engine to overcome.

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles...ventional_oil/

Advantages
The benefits for synthetic motor oils include:

Uncomparable low and high temperature viscosity performance
Superior shear stability and lubricating film strength
Unbeatable resistance to oxidation and thermal breakdown
Decreased evaporative loss
Reduced friction
Superior wear protection
Improved fuel efficiency
Chemical stability
Resistance to oil sludge problems
Reduced engine deposits
Reduced exhaust emissions
Some synthetic motor oil producers offer extended drain intervals

About.com (to be taken with a few grains of salt...)

We’ve found lightweight synthetic oils to be worth 3 to 10 hp depending on the engine’s frictional area and overall power output.

http://www.hotrod.com/tipstricks/84819/index1.html


And for a definitive article on all aspects of motor oil, the comapny claims, and some interesting stuff in general:

We took two open-class sportbikes-a Suzuki GSX-R1000 and a Yamaha YZF-R1-and ran them with common off-the-shelf automobile mineral oil to set a baseline dyno run....
Lo and behold, both the Suzuki and Yamaha posted horsepower gains. While not an earth-shattering boost in power, the gains were far beyond common run variations, and weren't restricted to the very top end. The GSX-R1000 posted an increase of 3.3 horsepower on top, with some noticeable midrange gains as well; even more interesting was that the power steadily increased for several dyno runs (as the coolant temp increased). The Yamaha responded nearly as well, with a 2.7 horsepower boost on top. It should also be noted that while riding both bikes, there was a noticeable ease in shifting with the synthetic oils compared to the automobile mineral oil. Pretty impressive for just changing oil, in our opinion.

http://www.sportrider.com/tech/146_0310_oil/

[epp_b]

As far as I'm concerned, the only real purpose of synthetic oil (in a car) is the resist being burned off as easily as conventional oil.

Quaker State 5w30 is good enough for me.

[Svempa]

Originally Posted by Brother Michael

Kind of funny thing here, just like in the petrol thread about octanevalues. Is it really so that Europe and North America are that far apart in the automotive world ?

I say this because again like in the petrol thread, I haven't seen any engineoils been advertised that AREN'T synthetic. I'm not sure if you can still buy something else but synthetic oil is the one used here. Or am I just plainly wrong and misinformed ?

Maybe they're not advertised but you can buy conventional Mineral oil and semi synthetic almost everywhere.

Myself I use Castrol Magnatec GTX 5W40

[ruuman]

well in the UK we still have "normal" oil, which I use in my range rover. My dad uses semi synthetic in his defener and my mum uses fully synthetic in her mini (weird stuff, as thin as water!!). My diesel skoda gets fully synthetic too.

Basically the more modern the car the more expensive the oil. Apart from that I haven't noticed too much difference, maybe the engines pick up slightly faster but that's it.

[Deviate]

Originally Posted by MrChips

Generally, I would say that if your car is relatively new (less than 100,000 km on it), switching to synthetic should be no problem. However, if the engine is old, you might be better off sticking with conventional oils, or at most, a semi-synthetic designed for old engines. And one more thing - NEVER run conventional oil in an engine designed for synthetic.

Yep, I've heard MANY horror stories about that exact problem.

I use full-synthetic in the M3, but only because that's what it's always been run with. In my truck, it's cheap-o dino oil. With 240k miles on the engine, I need all of the sludge build-up I can get to keep it held together.

[YF19pilot]

Originally Posted by MrChips

Generally, I would say that if your car is relatively new (less than 100,000 km on it), switching to synthetic should be no problem. However, if the engine is old, you might be better off sticking with conventional oils, or at most, a semi-synthetic designed for old engines. And one more thing - NEVER run conventional oil in an engine designed for synthetic.

Great, now you've got me worried about having put synthetic oil in my 300k+ Volvo for the past 2 oil changes...

[tigger]

Originally Posted by YF19pilot

Great, now you've got me worried about having put synthetic oil in my 300k+ Volvo for the past 2 oil changes...

It will probably just leak a little more oil than usual. That's what happened when I switched to full synthetic from a mineral oil in a '81 Chevy pickup I had.

The first oil change I did with my Celica (at 215k miles) I ran full synthetic, and it leaked oil like crazy. This last oil change I used a synthetic blend, and that seemed to cut down on leaks (and it's cheaper). I've also topped it off with old dino oil once or twice now, which is probably a bad idea but at least it's all 10W-30 . It hardly leaks at all now, but I will be re-sealing the oil pan with my next oil change.

[I<3myV8]

In new engines I would use synthetic oil. Synthetic oil provides better thermal protection, and maintains lubrication longer than conventional oil which is why you don't have to change it as often.

However, in old engines I would use conventional oil. Synthetic oil is thinner, and in an old engine you're likely to develop leaks with it. Conventional will be fine, you just have to change it more often.

[Ottobon]

Its worth mentioning that synthetic will leak more because its thinner when cold, not because its ruining your engine. Basically it just exposes any problems that the engine already has, rather then making new ones

[Cobol74]

Synth Oil is the manufacturer recommendation on my Peugeot and Toyota.

[lit143089]

I just had my engine rebuilt it had 250k miles on it I should be able switch to synthetic w/o any problems w/ leaking right?

[Mopar Man]

I always use 100% synthetic motor oil in my truck. Mobil1 baby! Keeps ma HEMI running like a charm!