Synthetic Oils

Eric Kropp · Oct 20, 2008

Dudes, I just put a new engine in my Suburban and was wondering what your thoughts were on synthetic oils for the long haul. When I say long haul I mean the last engine went 200,000 miles and had some sludge, but not as much as my Ranger 2.8 when it had 320.000 miles. I would spend the extra money if I thought it would take me to around 300,000 miles. Other wise if it didn't take me much further then 200,000 my money would be wasted. What are your thoughts?

Eric<><

Bob Ayers · Oct 20, 2008

I think you did very well with 200K miles from a GM product!

The secret is frequent oil changes, and using API certified oil, NOT synthetic over dino oil.

exbass94 · Oct 20, 2008

Bob Ayers said:
The secret is frequent oil changes, and using API certified oil, NOT synthetic over dino oil.

Synthetics ARE API certified. If you plan on changing the oil every 3-5k miles, then a conventional is all you need to last 200k+ miles. Synthetics are great for extended drain intervals, extreme temps, and overall very tough conditions. If you don't fall into that category, just use conventional.

Bob Ayers · Oct 20, 2008

exbass94 said:
Synthetics ARE API certified. If you plan on changing the oil every 3-5k miles, then a conventional is all you need to last 200k+ miles. Synthetics are great for extended drain intervals, extreme temps, and overall very tough conditions. If you don't fall into that category, just use conventional.

I never said synthetics WERE NOT API certified, just frequent oil changes, and using an API certified oil was more important than using a synthetic over a dino oil.

Scamsoil is the only synthetic to watch out for, they try to convince you
ALL of their oil products are API certified, and only one (XL) is API certified
for gasoline engines, NOT diesel engines!

Eric Kropp · Oct 20, 2008

Does anyone think there may be less sludg using synthetic?

Eric

Bob Ayers · Oct 20, 2008

Some engines are more prone to sludging than other engines. VW and Audi have these engines, so they developed their own test and specs for oil
sludging. Here are the oils that PASS their tests:

http://pics.tdiclub.com/data/500/vw_tb_17-05-04.pdf

http://dejong947.com/audi/tsb/audi.tb.17-05-01.pdf

Notice there are NO Scamsoil products listed, matter of fact, Scamsoil came out with a TSB about sludging in some engines, and recommended following the auto manufacturer's OCI, instead of the extended OCI BS they claim, to
justify the inflated price of their products!! They also recommend using their XL product, which is their ONLY API certified product!!

http://www.smartsynthetics.com/pdf/TSB-engine-sludge-issues.pdf

Rammunition360 · Oct 21, 2008

i would use mobile 1 synthetic oil, but thats just my opinion

Capt Jay · Oct 21, 2008

If you do regular oil changes, there is no reason to spend the extra money. Even cheap oils are much higher grade than oils of years past. If you feel better about synthetics then use them. They're great for fluids that aren't regularly changed like tranny's and axles. For the engine oil, I use good old petrolium products. That's just my opinion. My 2.8 was running just fine when I pulled it out and threw it away ( dropped in the 302).

Big Jim M · Oct 21, 2008

I use whatever is on sale at the JiffyLube! The ONLY gain from using the fancy, high priced synthetics would be if your engine reached temps far greater than regular oils could live under.. The synthetic oils can survive much higher temps than our engines can.. The whole synthetic oil advertiseing program is simply a SCAM! Synthetics won't do one damn thing to help normal gasoline vehicle engines.
A far as luberacating goes synthetic oils do just as good in our engines as regular oils do.
Big JIm

Original_Ranger84 · Nov 18, 2008

I am switching over all of my axles, tranny, t case, to synthetic cause it will protect them really well, and when I fix the leak in my engine I am going to switch that over to syn. cause I have to drive around in down to -30 degree weather and also cause I want it to run at peak, when I get the engine in tip top with a few performance parts.

85_Ranger4x4 · Nov 18, 2008

Motorcraft oil from Wally-World is a synthetic blend and usually a little cheaper than dino, it is what I run in my F-150... and what the book calls for. I am pretty sure they have a 10W-30 available there too.

Change your oil on time and your sludge issues should be minimal. When your 'burban hits 400k I doubt you will be too concerned what the inside of the engine looks like...

Synthetic Oils

Eric Kropp

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Bob Ayers

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exbass94

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Eric Kropp

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