Synthetic Oil Opinions

[LiuBei]

I know many of you use synthetic oil. What kind do you use, and do you like it or not? When do you reccomend switching to synthetic? Do you think it is worth the extra money?

Does anyone here use Amsoil, Royal Purple, or Redline? Those are harder to find and I wanted to hear some consumer reviews on those products or any syn oils in general.

[enginerd]

Not worth it unless you drive a diesel.

[CraigFL]

I use Redline for engine oil and transaxle oil. I'm not sure that you could say it's cost effective but it gives me an extra margin of safety that I want.

[enginerd]

Synthetic oil can raise your horsepower and fuel mileage, but I don't personally know if the higher costs justify the price. I've never done any testing on these products but just from the hip calculations I'm not sure if they're worth it. I use Valvoline semi-synthetic and I've noticed a slight increase in fuel mileage. I just wouldn't reccommend putting it into an engine that leaks.

[Tireburner]

I use Mobil 1 in my transmissions and rear ends.

I just put it in the manual transmission of my 00 F-150. I have clearly gained just over 1 mpg. It also has made the slight gear noises I had go away. Next weekend it goes into the rear end of the same truck.

I had an 80 Courier. The manual transmissions on those trucks were only good for about 80,000 miles. When I bought the truck, it had a recently rebuilt transmission in it. I drained the generic gear oil out, and added Mobil 1. In 300,000 miles I never changed it, that included a lot of racing and also pulling my 3200 lb boat. It wasn't until 317,000 miles that the transmission finally gave out.

I belive in the power of synthetic.

With as many miles as I drive, I can't afford to go full sythetic in the crankcase (I have to change my oil every 30 days) But I do put one or two qts. synthetic per oil change.

[spnx]

My car redlines at 7800 rpms. IMO, for peace of mind, it's worth running synthetic.

Especially because I often redline it

[fritz_269]

IMO, a resonably priced synthetic like Mobil 1, Castrol Syntec, or Valvoline Synthetic is excellent and cheap insurance for a high-revving engine. It's even more important if you have extensive engine mods, and nearly manditory if you run a turbo.

The (significantly) higher priced synthetics like Amsoil, Neo, Redline, and Royal Purple do generally give you a bit more protection, but unless you're on the track, the cost/benefit is pretty steep.

As far as conventional oil, Castrol GTX is still the best I've ever seen.

Here are a couple of informative websites:
http://www.fernblatt.com/longhurst/engineoil_bible.html
http://auto.msk.ru/auto/ehoilfaq.htm
http://cjsupra.kendra.com/Oil-Spec.html

[Polygon]

I like Mobile 1. I don't always use synthetic though.

I once heard about a guy that overheated his engine. He was using a synthetic oil. He claims that some of the damn stuff solidified in his engine and ruined it. Personally I think it is BS, what about you guys?

[YogsVR4]

I've used Quaker State High Performance synthetic in my VR4s and its been real good for the engines.

[Tireburner]

Originally posted by Polygon
I like Mobile 1. I don't always use synthetic though.

I once heard about a guy that overheated his engine. He was using a synthetic oil. He claims that some of the damn stuff solidified in his engine and ruined it. Personally I think it is BS, what about you guys?

I agree with you.... BS...

Hasn't he seen the Mobil 1 commercials where they heat the oil to some extrodanary temperature? Regular oil solidifies, while Mobil 1 keeps flowing.

[SaabJohan]

Use Mobil 1 or Castrol synthetic.

A synthetic oil is much more resistant to high temperatures. This is extra important if it's a turboengine.

I don't know so much about Castrol but both Porsche and Saab recommends Mobil 1, and both these manufacturer have long (the longest?) experiance with turbo engines. And if it can handle a turbo, a normaly aspiranted shouldn't be a problem.

[Steve]

Synthetic oil is better than petroleum oil for a number of reasons:
1. It resists thermal breakdown.
2. It lubricates better because the molecules are a uniform size.
3. It flows at lower temperature, which is important when the engine is first started.
4. Premium oil has superior detergents which keep your engine cleaner. Superior detergents may cause all the sludge that petroleum oil left behind to dispersed into the oil and that would make it thick as some complained.
If your engine is tight you can run the oil for extended drain intervals. Which actually makes it less expensive to use than the cheap oil. Porche recommends mobile 1 for 15,000 miles or a year in the boxter. Amsoil recommends 25,000 miles or a year with their synthetics. The filter still must be replaced at normal intervals, but the oil stays in. I know that sounds insane. However, I had the oil in my berreta analyzed after a year and 17,000 miles and the oil was fine. The analisis showed antifreeze in the oil because of a head gasket leak, so I repaired it. I have used Mobile 1 and it is good but switched to Amsoil because it is tested superior. I do all my own maintenance and like the benefit and longevity synthetics give to my engines. Here's the list of my stuff that gets synthetic: 2002 Bonneville (5K), 1991 Berreta (168K), 1986 Cherokee (241K), 1980 Yamaha 1100, 200, 125, 1982 Suzuki 750, Triumph 500, KTM 500, two lawn mowers, a chainsaw, and a weed eater. So why the list? Just want to let you know I use it alot and it is good stuff and worth the money. I don't understand why someone would spend thousands of dollars on a car and then hagle over a few of bucks for a quart of oil. I take care of my equipment! If you want more info check out my website.

[Seabass]

Mobil 1 is all I use. My dad's been using it since I can remember and I used it on all my cars.

<img src="http://members.tccoa.com/seabass55/cardone.jpg">

Sebastian

[tSina]

From the information I have gathered, everyone seems to like Mobil 1 Synthetic, now my questions, and this may be a stupid one, but what weight. I have a '99 Si, that I recently purchased and need to get the oil changed. It has 55k miles on it. Someone told me 5w30 but I thought once you hit 50k you should go to 10w.. Just what I heard.. but someone correct me. Thanks!!
Tina

[ivymike1031]

stick with the 5w30 unless you have a really good reason not to. The viscosity at operating temp is not a whole lot different for a 5w30 and a 10w30, and the 5w30 pumps better at low temps.

fyi, many new cars are coming / will be coming from the factory with 5w-20 or 0w-20 oil in the sump.