using syn oil on V8 (Mobil 1 @ Walmart)

[Eliot Lim <eliot@u.washington.edu>]

On 22 Feb 1996, Michael LaRosa wrote:

> Did you know the V8 takes 10 quarts of oil!!! geezzzz......

no, it takes 8.5 quarts.  the original spec is wrong.
 
i only use 1 quart of synthetic oil per oil change.  i use
dino for the remaining 7.5 quarts.  i think pure synthetic
is overkill for this understressed engine.

if i lived in germany (or montana!) and frequently ran on the autobahn
i could justify using pure synthetic, but for speed limited WA, i don't
even see the oil temperature gauge creep up to 80 celsius.  most of
the time it is just a whisker past stone cold!

consider the fact that the v8 has a huge oil cooler as well as a huge
sump capacity and the case to use pure synthetic is pretty weak.

i don't dispute that synthetic is better, just that its benefits on
the v8 will never be fully exploited under US driving conditions.


eliot