RE: Engine Oil

[Nicholas Pinto <npinto@ix.netcom.com>]

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From: 	Psycho Bob[SMTP:honge@creighton.edu]
Sent: 	Thursday, August 01, 1996 7:44 AM
To: 	Nicholas Pinto
Subject: 	Re: Engine Oil

On Thu, 1 Aug 1996, Nicholas Pinto wrote:

> Am I really better off we this type of fake oil and how often should I
> change the oil when using synths.  My understanding is that it lasts
> much longer.  Also since some on the posting have said it cuts valve
> train noise, does this means that it is thicker (higher viscosity) and I
> will have cold start problems in the winter.  I just need to be better
> educated.

First, do something about your line spacing. You're typing in one big,
unending sentence.

There is an excellent oil FAQ that's floating around rec.auto.*. Try to go
to rtfm.mit.edu to get it -- it explains dino vs. synth quite nicely.

Long story short, regular oil needs a lot (make that *A LOT*) of additives
to get to the lubrication quality they need to become engine oil.
Synthetics come in two flavours -- the cheaper ones tend to come from
tighter selection of petrols, whereas expensive (in this case, also
better) ones are truely synthesized through chemical reaction (usually
starting with ether). Note that engine oil is there for lubrication, and
these additives do not aid in lubrication. (Oil thins as the temp rise,
and one of the job of additives is to "hold" the HC molecues together so
they won't thin out as quickly as temp rises.) If you add too much
additives, you loose lubricating quality; if you have too much (regular)
oil, you will not have not stability to withstand the environment inside
the engine block. (Synthetics were originally developed for turbines that
generates electricity around water dams. Turbines run in around 20,000rpm
to 40,000rpm, and temperatur far above conventional oil can withstand.)

Most synth we talk about on the list is the better ones, like Mobil-1,
Redline, and Amsoil. In regular oil, the additives will deteriate after
use, making the oil less effective as engine oil as time goes on. Since
synthetics are bred for lubrication quality, they need a lot less
additives to make them stable (viscosity, acidity, the ability of
suspending particulates in oil).

Crunching the noise factor does not mean the oil is thicker. But rather,
it's synthetics' ability to Stay There. Synthetics come in different
viscosity ratings just like regular oil (Mobil-1 comes in 5w-30, 10w-30,
and 15w-50; if you're in Europe, add 5w-50). Make sure you get the right
one.

As for changing intervals on synth, you'll get different answers from
different people. I still stick to 3,000mi/3mo schedule. Some will say
6,000mi/6mo schedule is fine due to synth's better abilities. In the
extreme end, Amsoil recommends oil change once a year, with oil filter
change 4 times a year [shudder].

Dear Psycho

Thanks for the lesson on synths. as for the endless lines, I'm using Microsoft exchange and the posting seems to be the only place I have format problems with.

Would Texaco's synth oil be OK since that is closest to me.

- Nick