Re: [VN] New Mobil1 vs. Old Mobil1 vs. Non-Synthetic?

["C and T" <candt@techcom.net>]

20-50 is a little heavy for your app.... unless you live in the desert:)
Synthetic is NOT a miracle worker, BUT what most people miss is the fact you
CAN go longer between oil changes w/ synthetic.

I recently sold a 85 Chevy 3/4 work truck , stock 350 , 4 speed. 4 x 4. I
ran it into the ground ever since I paid $600 for it 2 years ago...it had
180k miles on it then. It had 271k  miles on it when I sold it. It received
synthetic from day 1 ( my neighbor bought it new ) .. oil changed every 10k
miles . It was on it's 3rd set of valve seals ( crappy Chevy design in the
1st place )...

My brother bought a 91 Cavalier RS ( 3.1 V-6 ) ragtop new for his wife. It
has 240k miles on it.... the rear main seal finally gave out...He used dino
oil every 3k miles.

I drive EXTENSIVELY for my job as a Computer Field Engineer ( averaged
almost 3500 miles a  month last year )... and I've always believed highway
driving did NOT need as frequent oil changes as stop and go driving. The
last vehicle was a Toyota 4 Runner.. I got it w/ 82k on it. It had a NASTY
rattle on cold start up. I changed to Mobil 1 synthetic and noises went
away. I got rid of it last year w/ 145k on it w/ NO problems...

The BIG problem with synthetic, as I see it, is it's use in an already high
mileage engine. The seals and gaskets will quickly start to leak w/
synthetic .. the dino oil sort of "allows" sludge to keep them from leaking.
NOT w/ synthetic.

OF course oil companies won't tell you to lengthen the oil change interval
w/ synthetic.. that would be BAD business practice ( more oil changes = more
$$$ )

Just my highly inflated 2 cents


Chris
Newby to ECM's , wrenchin' for too long to remember..


-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Adams <michaeladams1@compuserve.com>
To: 'GMECM' <gmecm@diy-efi.org>
Date: Monday, January 24, 2000 9:41 PM
Subject: RE: [VN] New Mobil1 vs. Old Mobil1 vs. Non-Synthetic?


>I hate to be the one to throw water on the synthetic fire, but let's
>remember that synthetic oil cannot work miracles.  I have an '85 Buick
Regal
>that has had 20-50 Mobil 1 synthetic in it since about 20,000 miles, up to
>its current 102,000.  The oil and filter were changed every 4000 miles.
The
>engine, frankly, is getting noisy.  In fact, I am a little disappointed in
>how noisy it has gotten considering the expense of Mobil 1.  I am not
>running a fleet, so I cannot attest to the value of using synthetic
>lubricant, but I have had engines with non-synthetic oil which lasted
>better.
>
>Synthetic, no doubt, is better regarding engine deposits, and thermal
>breakdown.  It's value for reducing wear in on the road conditions (ie. not
>racing), however, is questionable in my mind.  In fact, I have not seen one
>good fleet test with a true A/B comparison, with one set of cars running
>synthetic, and the other running non-synthetic, under the same usage
>conditions.  If someone has seen such a test, I would be interested in
>seeing it.
>
>Michael Adams
>'89 Coupe 6-speed Z51
>
>> People are getting 200k+
>> miles out of everything from VW's to 'vettes to Subaru's using regular
>> organic oil simply by keeping to a good service schedule.
>> Synthetic gives
>> you extended drain intervals, a wider operating temperature range, and
>> overall lower internal friction. Going from $1/qt to $3.50/qt
>> to get this
>> is worth it. Going from $3.50/qt to $10/qt for Redline isn't, to me.
>

>
>