Synthetic oil

[Four Suns]

I can...

Had a room mate in college who had an engine fail on a camaro at about 50,000 miles. He never changed the oil in it from the day it was new. The shop said the whole inside was nothing but sludge. I'll never forget when he called his father and his father was pissed... not because of his son... but because he thought the shop was making stuff up and ripping him off and the father said "Son! With the newer cars ya don't have to change the oil anymo' ... ya jus gotta make sure there be oil in it."

I'm sure he's probably giving advice today on a forum somewhere of similar quality.

 

[mrsrobinson]

Fair enough, but that IMHO is an extreme case, one well documented, one we have all heard of before.

My point is if you are mindful of changing your engine oil, changed at 3K, 5K, 10K or 50 hours, 75 hours or 100 hours, or whatever your routine is, if you are changing regularly, the answer I hear from mechanics is engines do not fail because of oil.

 

[Four Suns]

one we have all heard of before.

I didn't recall telling the story before... hmm...

It was a silver camaro... event happened in 1983... Lived in Mercury West apartments in a not-so-good part of town. The autoshop was in Poquoson, VA.. You think I'm making it up? Is that what you are saying?

 

[tdappleman]

Off topic.....

Certainly these are not high performance engines but the engine in my cobalt is the same one that is used in the Ford Mustang at some point.

Just an fyi on this one.... the 5.0 used here is a 305 block which originates at GM. While the older Mustangs (up to 94) used a 5.0 it was a 302 from Ford and definitely not the same motor. My current Mustang uses the new 3v 4.6 V8 .... just wanted to clarify.

Ok - back on topic....

I now use the 25W40 from Quicksilver - non blended version as it's going to get changed at least twice a season anyway. In my other vehicles I use Mobil 1 synthetic and go a little longer on my oil changes.

 

[hack4alivin]

Fair enough, but that IMHO is an extreme case, one well documented, one we have all heard of before.

My point is if you are mindful of changing your engine oil, changed at 3K, 5K, 10K or 50 hours, 75 hours or 100 hours, or whatever your routine is, if you are changing regularly, the answer I hear from mechanics is engines do not fail because of oil.

You know, with the investment I have in my boat, I think it might just be worth the extra dollars for the oil. If Mercury recommends it, that's good enough for me.

Besides as much as I clean inside and out I might as well keep the inside of the engine clean:thumbsup:

 

[mrsrobinson]

I didn't recall telling the story before... hmm...

It was a silver camaro... event happened in 1983... Lived in Mercury West apartments in a not-so-good part of town. The autoshop was in Poquoson, VA.. You think I'm making it up? Is that what you are saying?

Nope, I am saying we have all heard about the case where someone NEVER changed their oil and had engine problems. That to me is an extreme case and not what this discussion is
about. None of us have done that or would do that.

I think we can all assume if you never change your engine oil you will eventually have oil related problems. So, lets put that on the board as an assumption and move forward.

Forget I ever said anything......If you feel like it, ask your mechanics the same question I ask...just trying to offer their feedback here to say in the end, if you have a regular routine chances are you will never have an engine oil related issue, regardless of the brand you chose and the type.

 

[hack4alivin]

I didn't recall telling the story before... hmm...

It was a silver camaro... event happened in 1983... Lived in Mercury West apartments in a not-so-good part of town. The autoshop was in Poquoson, VA.. You think I'm making it up? Is that what you are saying?

What a memory… gees I can’t remember what happened last week. Better lay off the wine for awhile.

 

[Four Suns]

Forget I ever said anything......If you feel like it, ask your mechanics the same question I ask...just trying to offer their feedback here to say in the end, if you have a regular routine chances are you will never have an engine oil related issue, regardless of the brand you chose and the type.

Wait a minute... is this the same mechanic that told you water is pushed up the through hull when you go fast?

 

[firecadet613]

Rotella T 5W40 full synthetic. Good to use in a gas 5.7 marine engine?

 

[surfinjoe]

I have never seen an engine fail due to lack oil changes however I have seen many engines have blow-by and smoke and burn oil. I have a friend who always buys a new econo. box like a Toyota Trecel or Saturn Ion and he typically starts burning oil around 120,000 miles using mineral oil (granted the cars always have a standard transmission). I convinced him to switch to Mobil 1 about 4 years back. Now he has a 2002 Chevy Caviler w/ ~200,000 miles and is not yet burning any oil. Granted all cars are different and not all engines are created equal.

I ALWAYS use full synthetic in every internal combustion engine that I own and have never had any internal engine issues PERIOD! No oil burning, no valve/lifter noise nothing! I have put over 200,000 miles on several cars and typically I get tired of driving them and end up selling them. A few years back, I had a 1994 Chevy Beretta Z26. I put 190,000 miles on her without any issues. I sold the car to a guy for $3,500 and he couldn't believe how well it ran. I saw him in the gas station last year with the same old car; he just rounded 300,000 miles. He told me that the engine was still running very strong, but he had to replace the transmission and rebuild the front suspension a couple of times and he didn't have any plans for scrapping the car. WOW! He also said that he decided to keep up with the synthetic oil changes and was very happy that he did so.

I use Mobil 1 in my boat PERIOD. Just my two cents....

Next time you are in front of your/a mechanic, ask the question I always ask: "Tell me about a case where you saw an engine fail because of oil, whether that be not changed frequently enough or using the wrong kind of oil". The answer I receive 100% of the time is "I can't".

 

[fc3]

A couple of months ago, I saw an Audi A4 being torn down so that they could replace the engine. The techs said that the guy used the wrong oil. Saw a few months before that an A6 being torn down. They pretty much have to remove the entire front end to get the engine out. That guy didn't change the oil, according to the techs. I also know of a couple of Ford dealers, who for reasons of economy, only stocked 5W-20 oil, which is the requirement for the newer cars. When they got an older car that used 5W-30, they still put in the 5W-20 figuring, "close enough." Well it wasn't and the engines had to be replaced.

Best regards,
Frank

 

[mrsrobinson]

I respectfully retract any and all advise given on this thread. I am obviously using the wrong mechanics.

 

[mawyatt]

Greg,

I think the synthetics generally are better, not to say the mineral oils are bad. I agree direct oil related engine failures are rare, but with synthetics these engines may live longer and burn less oil later in life.

To me as an engineer, one of the most amazing things we encounter every day and think nothing about are piston rings. These rings must remove almost every molecule of oil from the cylinder walls on every down stroke of the piston. At 3600rpms this is 60 strokes per second! Yet after a year of service with 8 cylinders running we usually don't need to add more than a qt of oil...pretty amazing!! I think the synthetics help the rings do thier job a little longer and this is why we see less oil burning in longer life engines with synthetics.

Mike

 

[hack4alivin]

Greg,

I think the synthetics generally are better, not to say the mineral oils are bad. I agree direct oil related engine failures are rare, but with synthetics these engines may live longer and burn less oil later in life.

To me as an engineer, one of the most amazing things we encounter every day and think nothing about are piston rings. These rings must remove almost every molecule of oil from the cylinder walls on every down stroke of the piston. At 3600rpms this is 60 strokes per second! Yet after a year of service with 8 cylinders running we usually don't need to add more than a qt of oil...pretty amazing!! I think the synthetics help the rings do thier job a little longer and this is why we see less oil burning in longer life engines with synthetics.

Mike

Bingo, now that is the type of answer I was looking for... Thank you. (where's the balls:smt043)

 

[mrsrobinson]

So, for the boat, is the MerCruiser / Quicksilver Synthetic Blend, NMMA FC-W rated, 4 cycle oil the best synthetic to switch to or should I be looking at the Mobil 1 product? If Mobil 1, what weight?

For our cars, which both have 75K on them, is it too late to switch?

 

[Fishnut]

Next time you are in front of your/a mechanic, ask the question I always ask: "Tell me about a case where you saw an engine fail because of oil, whether that be not changed frequently enough or using the wrong kind of oil". The answer I receive 100% of the time is "I can't".

It's all a matter of longevity and quality of performance. If you want a real test, run your power washer with regular oil for 6 months and then switch to synthetic for the next 6 months and watch what happens. I guaranty that you will never go back to regular oil again, ever.

 

[hack4alivin]

So, for the boat, is the MerCruiser / Quicksilver Synthetic Blend, NMMA FC-W rated, 4 cycle oil the best synthetic to switch to or should I be looking at the Mobil 1 product? If Mobil 1, what weight?

For our cars, which both have 75K on them, is it too late to switch?

I am going to go with the MerCruiser brand for the boat.... It's got Mercurys label on it and they recommend it.:thumbsup:

 

[Memo]

I have been using Mobil 1 on both the ski boat and the Sea Ray with absolutely no problems. The question I have is that what do you folks are using in the transmissions? Synthetic?

 

[Woody]

Engine life is not all about the oil used. First, keep it properly tuned, sevice air filters, etc and don't abuse it. Use any oil that meets the spec and conditions and change frequently. Get that dirty oil out of there. The longer oil change intervals of synthetics don't make sense. I change at 2,000 mi in my vehicles.

 

[Four Suns]

The longer oil change intervals of synthetics don't make sense.

Wouldn't that statement depend on the engine? I believe my car holds 3 gallons of oil... no way I'm changing that every 2K miles.