7t9l82

dino oil? you guys still buy into that decayed dinosaur carcass hogwash? think how much maple sap it takes to make a gallon of maple syrup, and then tell me how many dinosaur carcasses would it have taken to produce all that oil over the last hundred years. and yes synthetic oil is superior in every way

Shark Racer

Depends on what I saw when I dropped the main bearing cap.

Main bearings hopefully last a bit longer than the seals on these engines - especially valve covers.

That said, my hat in the argument is this; If my motor's old and beat enough for me to be worrying about whether the main and rod bearings are shot, I'd be buying cheap oil and working on a plan to rebuild it.

bluedawg

NB So in your words what is the diiference between sythhetic and nonsynthetic? If your eng8ne has miles, 50,000, 60,000n 70,000 or even 40,000 for that matter the you run risk of the seals being hardened and syn oil leaking past said hardened seals. Had a 76 chevy pick up 55,000 miles since rebuild switched to synthetic, leakes as if no seals were there, put synnthetic oil in relitively new engines no issues. Because synthetic oil has higher resistance to stratifacation it provides better protection under extreeme use/ high heat enviroments. Because the particles are molecularly the same size they stay less viscous and flow under extreem cold temps offering beter cold weather protection( usually the leak causing issue). Because all the molecules are molecularly the same size it offers better lubricating properties as well as proportional load bearing properties to each molecule also extending the life of the oil. As i say this im sure a hobbiest with with some machine will spin up synthetic oil on this machine in her car port to disprove this and to remember that this what i learned in school 21 years ago.
Blue

budco

Started running Amsoil in my Harley's about 12 years ago and there was a difference in engine temps. Everyone said you can feel the difference etc etc but I couldn't. Maybe you can see a performance difference on a dyno. I did this because it's an air cooled engine and when you get stuck in traffic and living in the south you can get the engine to extreme temps.

About 3 years ago I started running Amsoil in all my vehicles and have had zero problems. From all the reports that I've read Amsoil is on top of the charts in all synthetic oil tests. My reasoning for going to synthetic is as follows. I've been an ASE master tech for over 30 years, work for an international company that has over 45000 trucks and have been to quite a few different manufacturers schools from engines to diff's and have gotten opinions from all of the teachers about different oils. After listening to all of them I made the decision to change.

augiedoggy

I ran the synthetic in my 84 for a few years and switched back to Dino only because it burned oil and I got tired of having to pay extra for the stuff so often for an engine that was worn out anyway..... but my seals held up fine. It did have a small trans fluid leak though.

Tim H

Another thing to ponder on is gen 1 engines were built with looser tolerances so the older thicker oil takes up the space and newer engines are tighter on their build tolerances so thinner oil with work fine so when you reverse the oils new engine gets bad gas mileage and older engines have less friction between its metal to metal parts.

hugie82

I run synthetic in all my Harley's and I've done big bore kits, cams, strokes...but this softail With 20k I had virtually no detectable wear in the cylinders and pistons!

I did learn one bad lesson with synthetic in Harley's. I tried breaking in a new motor with syn. and it took almost 10,000 miles before the compression and new engine blow by to finally stop . This was the same motor that had no wear.
Most Harley's break in between 3-5000 miles

scrappy76

Synthetic oil is thinner, which means if your seals are weakening due to age, you will have oil leaks. Not only that but if your bearings are weakening also, the synthetic oil will not fill the extra space in there which will lead to early failure/ Your oil pump pressure can also be effected be the thinner synthetic. My own opinion, if your engines have more then 50,000 miles on them, its best to stay away from the synthetic oil.

Heres the way I see it, why use oil that costs a heck of alot more
only to make your engine outlast the car it is sitting in.

chevymans 77

molecular size is not necessarily smaller in all cases but more uniform.

chevymans 77

a 30 weight oil is a 30 weight oil no matter if its a Dino or Synthetic

birdsmith

The term "Dino oil" is really nothing more than a figure of speech used to differentiate between mineral oil and synthetic oil. I personally don't believe that oil came from dead dinosaurs any more than in the existence of the Tooth Fairy; I just use the term for the sake of convenience. Everybody here knows what [we] are referring to.

As far as synthetic oil being "superior in every way", that's a completely subjective statement that sounds like it's being made by an apologist for the synthetic oil producers. I have personally had problems with it in my own experience so I stopped using it in my 'drivers', but continued using it in my race car because of its alleged/ advertised cold-flow and heat-resistance characteristics. If 540 Rat's figures are to be believed (and I have no reason to question them) they would render a lot of what I had previously believed as somewhat dangerous myth, since my Mobil 1- equipped race car routinely saw oil temps in the neighborhood of 280 degrees during races on hot days.

Commercial companies, regardless of what they are selling, advertise because advertising is effective, and people run out and buy whatever it is they're selling because of the well-packeged claims that they make. The makers of Slick 50 sold tankerfuls of that stuff before the public finally figured out that it not only didn't work but it could cause premature and rather catastrophic engine failures and stopped buying it as a result. A friend of mine used to brag incessantly to me about how Mobil 1 was going to make his tired old DD ford Escort run forever shortly before IT gave up the ghost. He didn't brag anymore after THAT happened...

If people here want to go out and spend extra money for something just because it's supposedly 'better', fine. The arguments to the contrary that I've seen combined with my own experience are enough to convince me to do otherwise. I've been putting various flavors of mineral (there, I said it) oil in my DD Focus for nine years and 135,000 miles now and it's happy as a clam, and I'm probably about $300 better off today because of it. That's a pair of mounted, balanced tires for my Corvette-money well spent IMHO!

chevymans 77

as stated throughout this thread, the oil will not cause your engine to leak, bad seals will.

Neal

chevymans 77

Refineries spend millions on lubrication of there equipment each year.

They are very cost wise when it comes to saving as much as possible in every aspect of the business and lubrication is not spared.

they use what they need to meet the specifications and at the best cost savings possible.

But we still have equipment that is in sever service due to temperature, load etc... that requires something more than the average lubricating oil and for this equipment it is usually synthetics that meet the bill.

We have tried some additives but we usually end up back with true synthetic oil.

Are there advantages to synthetics, yes

are they needed in your car, i guess that's left up to each one of us to decide.

I personally feel that synthetics do offer some advantages,

Neal

LT1GMC

Synthetic is NOT thinner, especially at normal operating temps. My son and I did a science fair project on comparisons of synthetic versus conventional oil. Same viscosity at 200 F for both oils, using a viscosity cup and a specific amount versus time. However, at cold 10 F temps, the synthetic will pour easily, the conventional will not pour. Check it your self in a deep freeze. Which oil do you want trying to flow thru your engine at low temp starts?
Also, in 1992 GM started requiring synthetic in Corvettes, why? They eliminated the engine oil cooler because synthetics could handle the heat, and also to extend oil change mileage. There are benefits. I have converted 7 or 8 120,000+ mile vehicles to synthetics when I bought them used. NONE have had issues with leaks or oil usage.

63mako

The above statements are all incorrect except "if your seals are weakening due to age, you will have oil leaks" That is bad seals and has nothing to do with the oil. Some modern synthetics have seal sweller additives (amsoil Zrod). Viscosity is viscosity, 10W-30 is 10W-30 weather synthetic or "dino". Synthetic will not take out your bearings. It will protect better both cold and warm. The big thing is Group IV basestocks are much better than the Base III used in many oils labeled "synthetic"

LS4 PILOT

I agree ....the AmSoil rocks.....I use it and nothing else...... my old z28 runs smooth on the Amsoil................no leaks dry as a bone everywhere under the engine.

leskinner

Can the better lubricating ability of synthetic oils in a freshly rebuilt motor cause a longer period of time for rings to seat/seal ?
Enjoy !
Larry

L71Ragtop

I don't know about your 350
but when I changed from Dino oil to Mobil 1
my 350 engine started to leak.

And for me that's ok because it kicked me in the ****
to start my BB conversion and when I get it dialed in
Electric,brakes,suspension,
I will ad it (mobil 1) to the fresh BB
.
So put me down for Yes.!
.
.

leskinner

My 350 has used Mobil 1 since rebuild 7000 miles ago. Still leaks and smokes and uses a quart every 300 miles. About 1000 miles ago I took the heads off and had them redone with new valve stem seals again. Cross hatch in the cylinders still looks fresh. I am seriously considering changing to "dino" oil just to get some "wearing in". Is this a "bubba" idea?
Larry

GDaina

You should break in a fresh rebuild w/regular oil, then switch to Mobil 1 or or other synthetic