The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop synthetic oil

I don't know if i'm spelling this right Synthetic oil. I would like to hear the positive, and negitive sides of using this in Stovebolt motors. Besides cost. Is there any reason to stay away from it? Are leaks a danger? Hope to hear plus and minus side. Thank you...Sepp..

I don't have my burb on the road yet and it is running a 67 250 (for a while anyhow) put in place many many years ago. So I can't answer your question but I can tell you my experience on the grocery getter. Manufacturer recommends synthetic on a 7500 mile change cycle. They do say that if you use regular oil you need to follow a 3000 mile change. For that reason alone the synthetic is a good value.

I have been using Syn oil since 1984 (mobil 1) with nothing but positive results.
I don't use it in everything but thats because of cost and the fact that I still have a couple of 25gal barrels of mineral oil to use up.
I am looking into Syn oils that meet European specs and have a longer change interval which would make them more cost efficient.
You might wonder why Europe...because in Europe the car makers set the standard for the oil they want unlike hear in the US where the oil makers set the standard. Thats what I read and all I know so far but I'm still checking into it.
But anywho, it doesn't change the positive aspects of Syn oil.
Dan

Oil gets just as dirty & contaminated if it,s synthetic or natural oil. Longer change intervals will not get rid of the contamination. Natural products are still best in most cases.
Wood is still a great building product. Wool & cotton are still the best fabrics.
Just my 2 cents worth. I'm kind of old fashioned. Back in the 50,s they came out with a synthetic oil. It turned into a disaster. It didn,t lube the upper rings good. Many low mileage cadilacs had to have ring jobs.

For the "what its worth department": Years ago I ran straight 30wt oil in my old bangers. Changed oil every 3000 miles. Back then (early 60's) one would consider himself lucky to get 100,000 miles out of an engine.
Then better engines and better oil so NOW: For the past 30 years I've ran nothing but 10w30 in all my vehicles changing the oil and filter every 5000 miles. EVERY vehicle I've had I've driven 165,000 to 215,000, including one disel, and when I got rid of them none of them smoked or did I have to add any oil between changes.
If you use common sense and consistent maintenance there is no need to spend $6 a quart for motor oil and you can still get your mileage out of a vehicle.
Just my .02

EDIT: my brands of choice have been Valvoline and Castrol

Wrenchbender makes a good point. I believe in synthetic oil BUT it you don't filter the oil you're just throwing your money away. Personally I use dino oil.

" Back in the 50,s they came out with a synthetic oil. It turned into a disaster."

Actually I think it was the Germans who ran WWII on synthetics pretty much without engine failures but it certainly did turn into a disaster.

Geez guys, I'm not going to rebutt this nor do I care what oil you run.
To point out that their were problems with Syn oil back in the 50's and world warII is like saying there was problems with radial tires when they brought them out.
We are a long way down the road from the 50's and time has made for the correction of mistakes.
Guess thats why we're running radial tires and there's a whole lot more Syn oil out there.
Back when I did a lot of short trip driving I would change oil and filter every 1000 miles. And that was not a lot of money spent per year for engine P.M. and that got me an easy 100k miles out of an engine back in the 60's and 70's
Oil in a motor is like blood in your body...keep it clean so you can go the distance, which I feel is the most important, not the type of oil you use cause everyone will tell you their favorite brand....baby oil ! Just kidding
Dan

You are right Glasman. I threw that in for a little trivia & it left a bad taste in my mouth. I still wouldn,t use synthetic because of the cost & then I would want to change it at the intervals for natural oils. Some vehicles like ones with Turbo,s must use synthetic oil. The high heat can bake the oil. I agree with Achip. I get over 200,000 miles out of all my engines. I don,t think different oil would help.

Jezzz, I wish I had an engine that was as tight as you all. I'm pumpin' out a qt every 200 miles so I guess you could say I'm changeing oil every thousand miles! Don't know where it goes, not smokin' plugs are clean, runs like a top, compression 130 across the board and just some weeping around the sheet metal and dribbling out of the breather when I park it. The Depends take care of that though.
I think it pumps most of it out the breather and I would bet that the mesh has been pulled or burned out. We discussed that a couple of weeks ago.
Anyway synthetic oil would be kind of a waste in my case, I thought there were a lot more old timers out there with the dribbles. Don't tell me I'm the only one now.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Show me an old Chevy six that doesn't leak oil and I'll show you an old Chevy six that doesn't have oil in it.

I don't know about the old motors, but I changed in my little Dodge Neon about a month and a half ago. It is getting at least 2 mpg more than running the mineral oil. This pays for the little additional cost very quickly. I bought a fully synthetic oil from the Car Quest store and it was $3.67 per quart. I plan to change every 10000 miles, with a filter change at 5000 miles. I would not go back to the mineral oil, at least not on this vehicle.

I am now getting 32-35 mpg on fairly short trips, 12-20 miles. I honestly believe this little Neon would get 40 mpg on a long drive in summer driving. The winter driving always knocks a mpg or so off, and I am getting at least 2 mpg more on the same trips than I did under warmer temperatures.

BTW, as far as I know, at this time, the only straight 30 available in a full synthetic is Royal Purple. Lucas has a 30 wt, but I'm not sure if it's synthetic or not, thier site doesn't say one way or the other. I've priced it here, about $4.80 a qt.

First off, let me point out that I would never pour synthetic oil in my stovebolt - my truck leaks oil, it burns oil, it has no filter.
30 years ago my dad started putting synthetic amzoil in his vehicles. It cost 4 times more than regular oil, but he ran it 4 times longer. I believe he went sometimes 20 - 25,000 miles without changing oil, although he changed the filter and added a quart more often. All through the 70's and 80's he never had a vehicles that didn't last over 200,000 miles.
I believe synthetic oil can be a good product if it is used sensibly. But I also believe it has no place in an engine from the 50's.

I will be trying synthetic oil in my stovebolt, yes it might leak a little more, and no I won't be going 7500 miles between oil changes. It will cost more and maybe it is not necessary, but I have been very impressed by the performance of synthetic oils. I work on jet engines for a living and have seen first hand what synthetics can hold up to. My uncle has a 1926 model T ford that he decided to try synthetic in, turns out the brake band that runs in oil became so slippery that he couldn't stop anymore with that brake and had to change back to mineral oil. Whatever you use will be fine as long as you keep it filled and changed regularly. I am amazed that there are always huge forum discussions about oil but very few hard facts or scientific tests to back anything up, I've gone through the synthetic/mineral debate many times with my Harley as well. Good Luck with whatever you choose.

I didn't see that when I looked there before. But then again, I didn't look at Deisel spec oils as my truck, and most of the others on here, are gas engines. That one should work fine, though. I notice that the smallest size is a gallon. Not very convenient. Individual quarts would be much better.

I've run Mobil 1 in my firetruck for the two years without a problem. I have a filter and change the oil& filter once a year at Christmas time.

Here's a thought, GM started putting Mobil 1 in corvettes coming off the line a few years back. Would a car maker spend the extra $ if there wasn't a benefit to be had.
If you look at the molecular structure of syn oil you'll understand why it's a better lubricant.
Now do I think it's better for an old AD motor, maybe if it was a fresh motor, but I can't see how the benefit will be seen in an old leaky half wore out motor, plus a higher viscosity oil is needed for those old motors because tolerances were greater back then as opposed to present day motors.
The best choice I see is to keep clean uncontaminated oil in your motor. The choice is yours as to which one.
It's going to take a lot of miles and a complete tear down to determine which oil is actually the best and then by what margin was it the best.
Dan

I have been told by multiple people that the older engines need to use oil with the CF rating. Is this fact? I run synthetic in everything else I own and believe in it's properties. But - I can not find a synthetic with a CF rating.

I run Amsoil in all of my vehicles. We have two cars and two trucks. My father in law is a Amsoil dealer and highly recommends it. He has a '96 Toyota P/U that has close to 300k miles. I use it simply for the cost savings and time saver. My wife and I put about 60k miles total on our four vehicles per year. Not all, but some will allow you to go up 25k miles/or one year between changes. They do not recommend using their product if you are losing oil through various means though. My personal opinion would be that if you are not driving very much, say less than 5000 miles per year I would use regular oil. When I get my new truck (58 Step) on the road I will use regular oil vs Amsoil. Mainly due to the age and usage.
Ken

I worked for a company that ran a fleet of coal haul trucks with cat 3512 engine in them and upon overhaul, they would set some up on synthetic, and some on dino oil, and did fairly meticulous sampling, and records keeping. Engine life was pretty much the same across the broad with much higher cost for the synthetic(those engines held 18 gallons if I remember right) as others here have said its, all about keeping the oil clean. Proper viscosity is also paramount, those engines had a prelube system so those the engine had oil pressure before it even started turning, but if you run the wrong wieght of oil you can also cause alot of wear on start up, as start up has been proven to be the time when any engine is most prone to wear. Thats my 2 bits
Coleman Barnett
Absarokee,Montana

CF rating is actually a diesel classification ("C" = Commercial) which was introduced in 1994. The latest rating is CJ. The newer classification oils are backwards compatible so a CJ oil exceeds the older CF specifications. Full synthetic oils can be rated for both diesel "C" and gasoline ("S" = Service).