lemmiewink

Good information is hard to disseminate, and it shows because there are very few places to get a good valid source. They have data charts, hard numbers and honestly they sound credible and have a good convincing argument. (talking about Jdub specifically)

But yes you are right, if you are in doubt you should see and validate for yourself.

There are a few good oil analysis places for the hard core persuers of good oil. Telling you how the viscosity is holding up, whether you have coolant in your oil or metal etc. etc.

I should have analyzed my "full synthetic" mobile 1 5w-30 that I had before I put in the 0w-30 full synthetic in.

Mortal300

iTrader: (3)

hes at 180k...pushing the constantly everday...and hes NA...ur analyzing as if hes a f1 racer... by the time he switches to synthetic and feals the differ hes gunna hit 200k. And hes still pushing hte damn car..

im not disagreeing with your arguements...im disagreeing with your arguements IN TERMS OF this thread...(in relation to the original thread makers questions..) lol...

v8soarer91

Keep it at 10w-40

If you look like you are going to overheat for any reason (ac, pushing the car hard, very hot weather etc) fix the problem before something blows. Thicker "alloy" radiator, bigger thermo fan etc.

lemmiewink

I don't understand? Are you saying its not worth switching to synthetic because of mileage and how hard he pushes it and the fact that its not built to race?

By my logic, wear is wear, regardless of how much mileage you have on the motor or weather or not its getting pushed.

Whats wrong with hitting 200k? If he does proper maintenence it will last far longer. This includes changing the oil to a lower weight for less wear.

I don't see any valid points you have in your argument mate.

But yes, you are correct. This argument should probably be conducted somewhere else.

SC300_704

iTrader: (5)

when i switched to synthetics it stopped my oil leak

GS4_Fiend

iTrader: (22)

If the car doesn't burn oil by using 10w-30 then just continue. If you car is a manual, you can also use 15w-50.

TRD_Power

I switched from 5w-30 to 10w-40 on my last oil change and my car seems to like it better.

Mortal300

iTrader: (3)

Synthetic at this point and time is not gonna FULLY solve the problem of whether or not he is leaking. So if he has leaks and he uses synthetic...GREAT problem fixed....but thats like fixing a problem taking the long route. Why cant he just fix the seals the proper way instead of wearing down more and more. And keep his 10w30 because of the high mileage and the heat he encounters. And hes the weather does matter. 90% of a cars damage is at startup ok fine. But that 90% is looked at a scale of 5 seconds it takes for the car to start. Unless hes driving the car for 5 seconds...then yeah it wont matter. But the ratio of the car driving over the ratio of the damage done at the first five seconds will eventually see similarities on the graph charts here...i mean hes driving the car maybe 30min-hour every day MINIMUM and that 10% left of that hes damaging constatnyl as the car is working and oil is being feeded through. I mean your saying ' No he must convert to synthetic RIGHT now to make his car perfect!' that cant be a good argument i mean...he can better run his engine through other ways than just saying 'eh go synthetic it will stop the leak'. Whats gunna happen when extra 90 degree of air is feeding through as hes punching it with the A/C on. Why does a turbo work smoother and nicer in the cold...??? In general cars run smoother in the cold weather you can feel hte difference cmon now..

lemmiewink

Ok,
1. I never said switching to synthetic will fix his leaks. I was stating that its not an issue with synthetics anymore since they used to shrink them. I never said that if it leaks he should change to synthetic to cure it.

I brought it up because of this vague statement:
"...you guys need to understand hes at 180k miles. Using synthetic now is like trying to stop smoking cigarettes after you already got diagnosed with cancer...."

I was pointing out your possible reasons because you never gave any reasoning for the claim in the above statement.


2. Again what exactly is your point with 10w-30 being in a high mileage engine high heat. I just pointed out that synthetic has better heat withstanding characteristics than dino oil. It would only benefit him to put synthetic.

3. From what I understand your argument on the percantage means that after the initial 90% of wear, the amount of wear will reach the value of that 90% eventually since you are running it. That would be true if the amount of wear didnt' become so small to the point of insignificance at op temps.

After start up, your oil is still somewhat cold. The majority of what wears after startup, I would assume, is when your oil is warming up.

Here is an excerpt from an article called "oil temperature and engine wear" from the following link http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF7/747.html(I apologize that this is an internet source, but the address suffix is ".edu" which are usually more reliable than ".com")

"... by far the greatest amount of engine wear takes place before the oil is warmed up. The amount of wear that occurs afterward is insignificant by comparison."


This would mean that if I started from the west coast, and headed for the east cost. It would be better not to turn off the car, and it will actually not wear as much as opposed to stopping by a place overnight turning the car off normally.

4. Having the a/c on is also drawing more power from the engine because the engine has to drive the a/c compressor clutch which is a parasitic draw on the engine sacrificing performance and effeciency. It is not causing his engine to wear dramatically. It has nothing to do with anything else about your a/c from the cold air blowing through it, to how hard it is blowing.

Again PEOPLE TURN OFF OR GET RID OF THEIR A/C SO THERE IS NO POWER LOSS BY PARASITIC DRAW. NOT BECAUSE OF ANYTHING ELSE

5. Why are you bringing up the ambient air temperature that he is getting through the car. Are you saying that it will raise his engine coolant and oil temperature which affect engine wear, or that it will hurt the performance/effeciency wise? This question, nor any of the previous questions were not answered.

If you talk about performance/effeciency then yes, it is being hurt. This is because cold air is denser allowing more air to fit in the same amount of space in the combustion chamber. Generally more air = more power.

But, under normal non track conditions,(I doubt that the op is under track conditions even when he pushes the car) the ambient air temperature plays little to no part on the temperature of the engine overall. This is because we have a cooling system designed to stay at a specific temperature, no more no less. So the engine itself will always be in ops temp from Canada to Mexico.

Also that quote you displayed is a gross exaggeration. I simply made claims and backed them up appropriately with good and reliable information.

I am guilty for giving a suggestion to the OP without saying my opinion about 10w-40 (I don't see the advantage of it unless you see higher than normal oil and water temps)For that I apologize. But as for my suggestions.

Do I argue that true synthetics are better than dino oil? Yes I do.
Am I an advocate for using thinner weight oils for less wear on start up? Yes I am.
Am I a close minded, dogmatic zealot that only believes synthetics is the answer? Not in the least. It is just that I see hard and compelling evidence that it is better than dino oil. If you show me how and why anything else is better, with hard compelling evidence, then yes I will admit it.

Any mistakes that I have stated will be withdrawn in that case.

lemmiewink

I don't understand what bearing the transmission has on the engine oil? Could you explain?

LMAOMAO

iTrader: (4)

Just to clear things up,

My car has never leaked oil, and at 180k miles, it is still very healthy.

10w-30, dino, has been the regular oil. Never pushed hard at start up, let it warm up till oil pressure drops down to regular operating pressure. However, it has been taken to track, time-attack, and autocross.

10w-40 actually feels pretty good. Iv'e never used synthetic, but after what iv'e read from lemmiewink i might switch over on the next change.

lemmiewink

At this point I have looked for verification on whether or not my information was correct. It is to a point.

Here is what I believe Mortal was trying to say.

"At 180K mileage wise, a synthetic is not going to do a whole lot to help wear wise...the motor is on it's down hill leg. It will help a turbo motor IMO due to the heat a syn oil can take, but on a NA with that mileage the only advantage will be an extended drain on a better oil.....

Concerning the use of a 10W-40, the same thing applies. Any start-up wear is pretty much moot at this point and if the bearings are starting to show wear, use of a 10W-40 is appropriate due to increased bearing clearances.

One thing a PAO or ester based synthetic will do is throughly clean out the engine. That is a double edge sword. You will have more particulates in the oil as engine deposits break down...not a big problem with a good filter. However, if those deposits are what's keeping worn, shrunk seals from leaking...care to guess what can happen?

The OPs decision to continue to run a dino oil on a motor with those kind of miles is valid. What you are saying is valid as well. It boils down in this case) what the owner wants to do because either will work, especially if he does not want to possibly induce a leak."- Jdub

Hope this clarifies things about high mileage and oil usage.