Synthetic oil..

[mietla]

It is almost twice more expensive, but the oil change guys are pushing it of course.

What's the value? is it worth it?

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by mietla
It is almost twice more expensive, but the oil change guys are pushing it of course.

What's the value? is it worth it?

Some engines it is required (My M54 requires synthetic)  

If you're not running your engine hard, or its not required by the manufacturer, IMO its a waste of money.

[Ripsnort]

Incidently,did any of you catch the Consumers Reports article on engine oil a couple years ago?

It was really great, they took 30? NYC taxi's (you and I both know NYC taxi drivers are probably much worse drivers we are) and tore the engines down and rebuilt them. Then they miked all the wear spots on the parts before reassembly.

They put a couple on every major mfgr's oil, several on synthetics and some on additive's like slick 50 and such.

CR changed the oil at the recommended intervals, making sure that all vehicles received the correct oil that had been assigned to it and that they topped it off with the same stuff between changes. Seems like they even had a coulple that didn't receive regular interval oil changes.

After 30 -50K miles (can't remember exactly) they tore all the engines down and miked them again for wear to compare the original readings.

Bottom line no difference at all. CR said buy an oil rated for gas engines and get the right viscosity, change it according to your manual. But buy whatever is on sale because it doesn't matter the oil isn't broken down at the recommended interval. It especially doesn't matter if you buy a vehicle and then trade it when it gets 60-70K miles on it.

[ravells]

I saw a small article in the UK about electric cars (think there's a post about it here somewhere) no road tax and (apparently) car parks have free charge points.

Electricity is much more efficient than oil for running cars. We should be using oil for making plastics and other items we don't have the option for.

Ravs

[Staga]

If your're having a modern car (say younger than 10y) you should think using synthetics, especially if you're going to keep that car for longer.
It's clear that with synthetic oil the engine wears less than with mineral oil. If the temperature where you live changes a lot that's another reason to use good quality synthetic oils, some better brands flow well at -35c dgr temp when mineral oils are solid at -20dgr... My old car had problems to start at winters but after switching to Castrol GTX the problems were history. Starter just run out of power with those stiff mineral oils.
 
If you're driving older wreck you can use waste oil if you want and use a taxi at winters

[mietla]

'98 Ford Explorer, California

[Staga]

btw my Peugeot needs oil changes after every 30.000km/18600 miles but only with  synthetics.

[Staga]

Well then temperature is not an issue... What does you car's manual say about the oils?

Anyways synthetics are keeping their characteristics longer than mineral oils so if you change oils at every 5k with mineral oils you could propably safely extend the oil change to 7-8k or even longer.

Edit: Synthetic oils didn't work too well with some older engines; some GM engines begun leaking oil from every seam and some hydraulic valve lifters were too slack/loose for "thin" synth.oils thought these were '70s engines...

Better ask what local Ford dealer suggests.

[Maverick]

The cost differential is not worth it even with a doubled change interval.

It works the same for aircraft as well. Light Plane Maintenance did a study and saw no apreciable difference for the typical recip.

In gear cases and transmissions it does boost the change interval and in auto trany's it will help maintain oil properties at higher temperatures.

Biggest thing you can do for your engine is to warm it up slowly, let it cool down in idle, particularly for turbo equiped cars and change the oil and filter regularly.

[GRUNHERZ]

Originally posted by ravells
I saw a small article in the UK about electric cars (think there's a post about it here somewhere) no road tax and (apparently) car parks have free charge points.

Electricity is much more efficient than oil for running cars. We should be using oil for making plastics and other items we don't have the option for.

Ravs

Electricity doesnt come for free, you would just  be transfering  the pollution creation from your exhaust pipe to the electrical plant as they would have to make the energy in the first place. Plus in order to create the extra electricity we would need to build numerous new generation plants, which is easy enough, but then again nobody wants them around their neghborhood so they wouldnt be and arent built. Second, with electric cars becoming dominant there would be an exponential jump in the demand for batteries which are extremely toxic. This would create a huge waste problem as these batteries need to be recyled and of course manafuctured.

So electric cars really arent such a dream solution.

Hybirid cars on the other hand provide a nice usable boos in fuel economy with far fewer environmental problems.

[LAWCobra]

I use Royal Purple snynthetic in my focus
I get better gas milage engine runs cooler and marginal performance(reves Free faster).
I change every 4K they say I can go 5K
but i drive the watermelon out of this little car so I change early.

[ravells]

Wind farms? Geothermal energy? Electricity is pretty efficient in converting energy into an energy 'lingua franca'.

Batteries can be recharged/recycled, can't they?

What is a hybrid car? sounds intersting. Saw something in 'Scientific American' about an engine that could run on water...is that it?

Ravs

[LAWCobra]

I  know back In 95 chevy would void ur warranty If you did not use mobile one or another approved synth oil.

[LAWCobra]

Originally posted by ravells
Wind farms? Geothermal energy? Electricity is pretty efficient in converting energy into an energy 'lingua franca'.

Batteries can be recharged/recycled, can't they?

What is a hybrid car? sounds intersting. Saw something in 'Scientific American' about an engine that could run on water...is that it?

Ravs

Now if they could make a car run on methane from your arse we woould all be set.

[ravells]

Damn right with the Vindaloos I eat these days!

Ravs

p.s. do you know what a vindaloo is?