Synthetic oil or not?

[bkrell]

Well there's a big misconception right there. Black oil doesn't mean bad oil. Some oils can turn black within miles of being poured into your engine due to chemical changes. Darkness/lightness of an oil is no way to gauge its useful life. Even if it is due to it soaking up contaminants, that's what a properly formulated oil is supposed to do. If the stuff wasn't in your oil, it'd be coating some vital surface.

[Jonathan_ED3]

Originally Posted by bkrell

Well there's a big misconception right there. Black oil doesn't mean bad oil. Some oils can turn black within miles of being poured into your engine due to chemical changes. Darkness/lightness of an oil is no way to gauge its useful life. Even if it is due to it soaking up contaminants, that's what a properly formulated oil is supposed to do. If the stuff wasn't in your oil, it'd be coating some vital surface.

I work in auto parts and I always think it's funny when somebody comes in and says "I think I need an oil change." I ask them when they last changed it, and they usually say "Oh, I don't remember. But I just looked - and it's BLACK. I need to get it changed today!!!!!!!"

In my experience, I haven't seen a dino oil that doesn't turn black (or at least very dark brown; what most people would probably call black) within a thousand miles or so.

[GasSavers_ALS]

I run M1 10W30 in the Volvo 960 for 1 year or 6,000 miles.
In my Volvo 745T, I run Castrol Syntec 5W30 for 5,000 miles.

I've done oil analysis on the 745T and between the turbo and short < 5 mile trips the oil is pretty much shot by 5,000 miles.
The 960 would probably be good for 10,000 miles since all it sees is long interstate runs.

With a good synthetic I wouldn't have a problem going at least 7,500 miles between oil changes with a non turbo.

I will tell you don't go over recommended oil change intervals with conventional oil. I have seen too many sludged engines at the dealer. Cheap lease customers

[bkrell]

Lol, my 9-5 was a leased car that had 10k intervals.....probably on synth blend

[ThirdeYe]

Originally Posted by Jonathan_ED3

I work in auto parts and I always think it's funny when somebody comes in and says "I think I need an oil change." I ask them when they last changed it, and they usually say "Oh, I don't remember. But I just looked - and it's BLACK. I need to get it changed today!!!!!!!"

In my experience, I haven't seen a dino oil that doesn't turn black (or at least very dark brown; what most people would probably call black) within a thousand miles or so.

It takes almost 5,000 miles for it to start turning dark brown in my car, using conventional (Group II/II+). With synthetic, it seemed to take about the same amount of time. After 4,500 miles it was only a medium brown.

[VetteOwner]

heh after 3K mines a very dark brown, almost black. but it turns colors within prolly 500 miles i notice it getting darker...

[TheSSG]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

heh after 3K mines a very dark brown, almost black. but it turns colors within prolly 500 miles i notice it getting darker...

Yes, oils change color VERY quickly, and that's really not much of an indicator of how "bad" it is, unless it's a DRASTIC change in color and viscosity.

When I switched to Synth, I noticed a nice gain in fuel economy, so I keep on keeping on.

Recently, I began to use Liqui-Moly MoS2; it's a liquefied Molybdenum disulfide. They usually add small quantities of this to most oils in case of catastrophic oil failure. The MoS2 bonds to the metal and prevents outright Metal-on-Metal contact.
I put a can of that in my car the last oil change, and it noticeably smoothed out. It's very nice...and only like $7 for a thing of it.

In Germany, one can buy Liqui-moly oil, which is a premium Synthetic with the MoS2 already suspended in it. Here, I've never found anyone who imports it
BUT, I found the MoS2!
http://www.germanautoparts.com/chemi...s/Lubro-Moly#1

I usually use this with Royal Purple.
My brother uses this with ELF oil.

IIRC, Mobil 1 recently dropped a grade of synthetic to where now it is highly refined conventional or it uses lots of wax as a base...I don't remember how bad it dropped, but it's definitely on the low end of the scale.
Royal Purple is fairly up on the scale...I remember Castrol is about Central, EXCEPT there is a high-viscosity German-made Castrol (has a green background) which is a higher grade synthetic.
ELF is a crazy high one, as is Liqui-moly.
My brother said he actually found someone who's importing Liqui-moly, so he wants to try that next time.

I should also mention, ELF is a racing oil. So, my brother's interest is less to do with fuel economy and more to do with a crazy-high performance oil for his tuned Golf. So, as nice as ELF and Liqui-moly are, their premium price is ridiculous...I have no need to use them, and I really don't think anyone here does either. They shine mostly in that they have a very high threshold of thermal breakdown...which is good for PERFORMANCE engines...I doubt any of us are holding our engines WOT at any point, let alone for several minutes at a time...

Just my 2?

[bkrell]

The oil you are talking about is LubroMoly VollSynthese. You can order it from Automotion.com

As for Royal Purple, it's a big hype oil. Not all that impressive in day to day driving.

In the US, the term synthetic can be used for very highly refined conventional oil. It's still great stuff if you buy the better brands. Most formulators are using a variety of base stocks now for their high performance synths. It's no skin of anyones' nose as oils are subjected to higher and higher certification standards these days.

As for wax....there's no wax in motor oil....hasn't been for 70+ years.

[FLAteam]

Its a good time to switch to the best synthetic oil available (from what I've heard), Mobil 1. Autozone's got a deal 5 qts of Mobil 1 Synthetic oil plus Mobil 1 oil filter for $26 (ends 6/25). I've personally been using Wal-Mart Supertech plus Purolator PureONE filter, so I'm pretty excited.

[bkrell]

You can get a 5 qt jug of Mobil 1 anytime for $21 and a $2 Supertech filter....

at Wal-Mart that is.....