richie rich said:
Fishkey,
I believe a previous poster mentioned that Yamalube IS a semi-synthetic already.....and it costs more than other 100% synthetics....I run synthetics in everything I own including my Yamaha outboards with great results. Mobil 1 isn't designed to leak per se, its additives may or may not be compatible with some older style o-rings and gaskets and therefore may soften them up and leak.....most new equipment, cars, boats, aircraft, lawnequipment etc have newer style gaskets that are designed to work with these additives, hence many new manufacturers recommend synthetic in the products.
I'm actually surprised you run synthetic in your classic cars as thats where the high detergent additives in a synthetic would be most incompatible....but if it works, it works....just food for thought, certain synthetics are not the best choice for long storage of engines as their formulations may not stick to idle parts for long periods, resulting in a somewhat dry start.
This is completely incorrect, and in fact, just the opposite of the properties of a true synthetic. Do your test; dip large a steel washer in a full synthetic oil, and one in your favorite dinosaur oil, label them, and hang them in your garage. See which one rusts. Take the remaining quart bottles, and put them in the freezer. Next day or so, pour some out of each bottle, and notice how they flow. Which one do you want in your engine during cold starts? I'll take synthetic.
Here's some info for you, written by V.L. Dorrough
How many times a year do you change the oil in your car? Probably four times if you're a compliant car owner. With each oil change, you go through about five quarts of oil, five plastic containers holding it, a filter, and a lot of mess. Much of the waste created comes from refined crude oil—the stuff many of us are desperately trying to use less of in this country.
Now, wouldn't it be great if you could protect your engine better by changing your oil just twice, maybe even once a year—and didn't have to rely on refined crude oil to do it?
Maybe it's time you took a look at synthetic oil. It's not new—but a lot of people are still unfamiliar with it.
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Synthetic oil is generally thought of as a lab-created lubricant. Widely used by racing drivers and the factory-fill choice for several high-performance cars, including Corvettes, Aston Martins, Porsches and the Mercedes Benz AMG, it is believed to protect against metal wear within an engine, increase fuel efficiency, and allow a much longer interval between oil changes than conventional oil.
The first synthetic oils were developed in the 1930s and '40s, and used in industrial applications and during wartime. In World War II, the Germans began using synthetic oil, noticing that refined crude had a tendency to freeze as they attempted to advance into Russia. Years later when jet aircraft emerged, it became clear that only synthetic oil could survive the high temperatures found within jet engines. Synthetic oils designed for cars began to appear in the 1970s. In fact, while no producer of synthetic oil outright recommends that you ignore your car's suggested maintenance schedule, "Mobil 1," one of the first commercially available synthetic oils, was so named because it claimed to allow once-a-year oil changes.
One synthetic oil manufacturer estimates that "if the 135 million cars (excluding trucks, buses and taxis) in the U.S." began using synthetic oil and taking advantage of the extended drain interval, almost 3.4 billion quarts of petroleum oil would be saved per year, assuming an average vehicle oil capacity of 5 quarts and driving 15,000 miles per year. Synthetic oil is also claimed to increase a car's fuel efficiency. Estimates vary, but it seems reasonable that an engine experiencing reduced friction doesn't have to expend as much energy getting from point A to point B. There is not much difference in the content of emissions between cars using synthetic or conventional oil, because most of the emissions result from gasoline combustion.
Aside from those small but noteworthy environmental concerns, there are selfish reasons you might want to switch to synthetic oil. The most important is that, for most cars, synthetic seems to work better on several levels. Refined crude oil is an odd mixture of different-sized molecules, and it still contains some impurities even after the refining process. Synthetic oil has molecules of a consistent size and no impurities. In other words, on a molecular level, refined crude oil would look more like a mixed pile of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters mixed in with some of your pocket lint and the odd breath mint; synthetic oil would look more like a pile of clean pennies.
The more consistent the molecular structure, the longer the oil resists breakdown, and the better it does its job: protecting engine parts from friction. Friction is one of the main forces your car must work to overcome—particularly when you start your engine. Some sources claim that as much as 60% of engine wear occurs during start-up—when there is direct friction between metal parts, made worse by the fact that oil has not yet circulated enough to lubricate and provide a cushion between those parts. Metal-to-metal contact without that cushion results in engine damage, which leaves small flecks of metal floating around in your lubricant, free to scrape and harm other parts of your car. This is one reason conventional oil must be changed frequently, along with its filter; the metal flecks plus impurities in the oil result in the black sludge that comes out of your car during an oil change.
The properties of synthetic oil enable it to leave a film of lubrication on metal parts that stays in place. This means there is some lubricant present at the moment you start your car, resulting in less wear and tear on metal parts. Less wear and tear means a better-functioning, longer-lived engine, and one that doesn't have to work quite so hard. And if your engine doesn't have to work quite so hard, it uses less fuel. Users of synthetic oil have claimed increases in their fuel mileage ranging from 2-5%.
There's also the question of temperature and viscosity, or thickness of the oil. You can buy different weights of oil designed to work better in different temperatures, of course, but there will still be a variance in that oil's thickness depending on the car's operating temperature and outside weather conditions. Oil that is too thick takes longer to work its way through your car; oil that's too thin does not lubricate as well, and is more likely to slip out of imperfections in your seals, gaskets and joints, resulting in small oil leaks. Synthetic oil remains remarkably stable under extreme temperature conditions. In cold weather, you can still easily pour synthetic oil at temperatures that would render conventional oil thicker than the proverbial molasses in January. In very warm weather or in cars with high operating temperatures (common with newer cars), synthetic oil retains an effective thickness, while regular oil thins quickly and doesn't do as good a job.
The cost of synthetic oil may be considered a negative—until you take a closer look. Synthetic is hands-down more expensive per quart. But the added cost of synthetic oil is effectively canceled out by its longer life, if a car owner is taking advantage of the extended oil drain interval and not changing synthetic oil every three to four months. It is not at all uncommon for a car using synthetic oil to go six to 12 months without an oil change—and when the oil is drained out, it often looks nearly as clear as when it was first poured in. Filters specially made to work with synthetic oil also help extend the drain interval. It's usually recommended that you change the filter every six months with synthetic oil.
It can be difficult to get a straight answer about recommended synthetic oil-change intervals. After all, many of the same companies that market conventional oil also market the synthetics. Even though the major benefit of synthetic oil, aside from added prevention of metal wear, is the longer drain interval, this is negated by advice to switch your car over to synthetic but still keep changing the oil every three months. As a matter of principle, synthetic oil manufacturers will not recommend that a car owner challenge his or her warranty by failing to observe recommended oil change intervals. (An interesting twist resulted in a class-action suit against Mercedes-Benz, now settled, resulting from Mercedes having told 630,000 car buyers that the oil need not be changed more than once every 12,000 miles—but apparently neglecting to inform those car owners that they should do that only while using synthetic oil, which was the factory fill for those vehicles.)
To confuse the issue a bit, not all synthetic oils may be created equal. The definition of "synthetic" came into question when the maker of Castrol Syntec began using a different base for its synthetic oil a few years ago. As reported by Patrick Bedard in Car and Driver magazine, "Here's what happened, according to a detailed account published in the trade magazine Lubricants World. Late in 1997, Castrol changed the formula of its Syntec 'full synthetic motor oil,' eliminating the polyalphaolefin (PAO) base stock (that's the 'synthetic' part, which makes up about 70% by volume of what's in the bottle) and replacing it with a 'hydroisomerized' petroleum base stock. Mobil Oil Corporation, maker of Mobil-1, 'The World's Leading Synthetic Motor Oil,' said 'No fair' and took its complaint to the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. NAD often arbitrates between feuding advertisers on their conflicting claims." It was held that for advertising purposes, Syntec was indeed a synthetic oil, even if its base was petrochemical and not lab-created.
Not everyone is convinced that synthetic oil is necessarily that much better for the average car. Plenty of authorities insist that using conventional oil and changing it frequently adequately protects most cars. Some may recommend a switch to synthetic if you drive in an area with extreme temperatures where cold morning start-up is a problem, if you use your car to tow large loads, or if your car is subject to severe conditions. "Severe conditions," however, describes the type of driving a lot of people do every day—stop-and-go driving, a lot of short trips, extreme heat or cold, and driving in dusty, dirty conditions.
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If you decide to switch your car to synthetic oil, the hardest part may be researching the various brands available. No special procedure, no flushing, is required to switch your car over to synthetic oil; it's the same as a regular oil change, although some mechanics recommend that you change the oil about three months after the initial switch to get rid of any remaining sludge from conventional oil that might still lurk in your car. The only car manufacturer that advises against use of synthetic oil is Mazda.
If you're primarily interested in your car's long-term health, you also might want to switch your transmission fluid to synthetic. This gets more complicated, because merely draining the old fluid isn't enough; the whole system should be flushed. A garage will do this, but it can be expensive. (If you're interested in doing it yourself, one manufacturer's instructions can be found at this web site:
http://www.bestsyntheticoil.com/dealers ... rter.shtml.) The synthetic drain interval is about three times that of regular fluid, and the properties of synthetic should save your transmission a lot of potentially very damaging metal wear. Any environmental benefit to switching would be tiny. But if you've ever had to replace a transmission, you understand the importance of protecting that considerable investment.
All of this, of course, is no excuse to forget about sticking your head under the hood every so often. You can't use longer service intervals for the other maintenance your car requires: checking fluid levels, belts and hoses, and all the other recommended periodic maintenance that keeps your car safe and running cleanly. You'll still want to check your oil level regularly, of course, and it's a good idea to keep a few quarts of your chosen synthetic in your trunk, because chances are you can't just pick up an extra quart or two in the automotive aisle of your grocery store. (It is okay, in an emergency, to mix conventional oil with synthetic, although not recommended; both types of oil are compatible.)
Finally, if you drive a car that has developed an oil leak or is burning oil, switching to synthetic won't decrease harmful emissions; pretty much the same compounds will be released. There is actually some debate regarding the possibility that synthetic oil may slip out of seal cracks more easily, aggravating leaks. Some synthetic users say they've experienced this; other users say they have not. Environmentally, it's imperative that you get problems like leaks and oil burning fixed as soon as possible.
The bold highlighting is mine, for those who don't want to read the whole thing. Here's the link to the original article:
http://organicanews.com/news/article.cfm?story_id=211
and this is a good read, with a lab analysis of syn vs petroleum-based oils:
http://mr2.com/TEXT/synth_oil.txt
