Too damn cold for dinosaurs up here

 

A modern 5W-30 Synthetic is what your LS was designed for.
I would recommend Signature Series for those
wanting the Best. XL for those wanting better than
average, at a lower price point, and OE for those "cost conscious"
owners who want the least expensive oil that still
meets/exceeds the factory specification,
(the genteel cruisers & garage queens).

AMSOIL ZROD is available in 10W-30, & 20W-50
and is designed for Old School Hot Rods & Muscle Cars
along with hibernating garage queens (with
anti-rust and corrosion inhibitors) that sit for extended
periods in cold/non climate controlled environments,
along with Pre OBD I levels of ZDDP for flat tappets etc.

The AMSOIL Premium 10W-40 is a Pre OBD I high ZDDP level
synthetic designed for daily drivers and engines needing
a 10W-40, which is not a LS with factory clearances
unless running at 90*+ Ambient temps under endurance
racing track conditions, and if so there are better
choices.

 

Thanks for the explanation...i decided to change it to the 5-30. Is it a waste to change it probably..it makes me feel better..lol.

 

And even on minimal sleep he provides great insight!!

 

The real question is, who came first?: the chicken or the egg.

Change the oil if and when you want but at least once a year. I have seen people on here get into heated discussions about this.

I have yet to read someone write: it's your fault if your motor blew up, I told you to change the oil (insert your correct answer here)
a:before putting it away,
b:when you take it out of storage.

 

And I thought I was not driving enough and trying to put 10K miles on my car in the 1st year of ownership. But, 125 miles to go with 8 days before 1 year. I'm a gonna make it.
I did change oil and filter when first buying the car and again at 8K miles

 

Short answer...what ever synthetic is on sale, along with regular oil changes.

 

I'm always hesitant to receive knowledge about questions like this in a forum like this. It's a question that isn't answerable without experiment, and it's an experiment nobody runs.

To frame the question clearly, we're asking, "How much does synthetic motor oil break down, if any, when at rest and stored within an unused motor, with respect to time."

How many of these guys who are answering you contrived a reasonable process for measuring oil efficacy, measured an unused sample of synthetic oil, then let it sit without use for several months, and then measured its efficacy again to learn the exact degree of "breakdown" relative to time and independent to use?

My guess is none.

How many took the time to find somebody else who ran this experiment, following at least some loose adherence to the scientific method so that there results are verified and repeatable?

My guess is also none.

How many are shooting from the hip based on communal wisdoms that are passed around without basis because the question is, in fact, hard to answer?

My guess is most or all of them.

Communal knowledge is only valuable when its root was some empirical knowledge. Perhaps some chemist at Chevron wrote an article 40 years ago that was disseminated to mechanics and eventually became an industry knowledge... Something to that effect. At best you're hoping the game of telephone has a reliable root and was untampered by bias or bad memory or whatever.

Now, you or I aren't going to run this experiment, but if we can find somebody in the field of science who has, or purports to have knowledge as a result of the experience, we'll probably walk away with a better understanding of reality than almost anybody else. I happen to have wondered this very question myself for a long time and decided to do a little searching around.

If you google for this sort of experiment, I expect you to get stuck with nothing but listicles and **** written by journalists without a degree in science. I try to use Google Scholar for any question to which the answer matters to me, so that I'm leaps and bounds closer to reality. It scans scientific literature and almost every result I get is the result of scientific method, so I absolutely trust it more than any other knowledge I can get.

I ran out of patience before I found the exact experiment I wanted, but I did find this:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US5459074A/en

Its section "BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION" lays out, ostensibly, all causes of motor oil breakdown. Every last one of them depends on the motor operating to generate either heat or contaminates. The potential that oil efficacy does break down over time without motor function is not ruled out by this find, so I haven't accomplished our goal. However, after finding a thorough examination of all causes of oil breakdown in the abstract of, apparently, the result of the scrutinizing scientific method, I feel I'm getting closer to reality here. It lists every single cause as dependent of motor function, and my current assessment is that a few months in the garage has very likely had no impact on your motor oil. I'll be leaving mine in.

If you're interested in a thoroughly reliable answer, I'd suggest finding the experiment. It's gotta be out there somewhere.

Rock on.

 

I just had this thought: chemists at oil companies needed to answer nearly this exact question when deciding a shelf life for their oils.

Mobil1 says that their oil has a shelf life of five years and other manufacturers claim unlimited shelf life.

The only relevant difference between the inside of an oil container and the inside of your motor is exposure to some atmosphere.

Still haven't found the ideal empirical information I'm looking for, but the verdict is looking more likely "the oil is unchanged."

 

I've been known to "over think" things in my younger high knowledge days but now that I'm older and not as smart I just do what the book says.
Just change the oil with Mobile 1 and go driving. Sure makes life easier.

 

Well, for what it's worth, I'm not young and what some have called "over thinking," and others call "good epistemology," has put me leaps and bounds ahead of others in most areas of my life. Anyhow, I don't want to make it a personal argument lol. I like going by the book as well. The book does say to use Mobil 1, but makes no comment on the life of unused oil. In fact, my posts are meant to guide us to find "the book" that will tell us that.

 

No doubt leaps and bounds ahead of me.
Since the book doesn't mention the life of unused oil it must have not mattered to the engineers of our wonderful cars.

 

I would not agree with that statement due to by products of combustion that get by the rings and contaminate the oil.

perhaps the statement is true only until the engine is started for the first time and after that there will be always be residual contamination. changing the oil before you put it away for the winter helps to minimize these corrosive by products.

having said that the oils are really good these days and Mobil 1 is top notch stuff. any reasonable oil changing strategy will provide for a long life of the engine

 

So i checked the info on the 10-30 zrod oil thats in the car now...according to amsoil this oil is good for storage and acids..not really sure how true it is?

 

If the uncertainty bothers you, it might be worth it to change it regardless of the comments here. Me, I would run it and not even give it a thought. But that's me, and I'm a low revs, easy going driver. I don't think I put a strain on my stuff like some guys do.

 

yeah i hear you..i actually received my oil today..lol.

 

Cool! Problem solved!! I like that!