Synthetic oil - Safe?

[T-Bird]

well on higher mileage engines we always recommend using regular oil unless the engine has been running synthetic for a while already I have seen a few cases at work on higher mileage Honda engines that went to synthetic and started burning oil because the oil started to seep through the exhaust valves that the regular oil couldn't squeeze through so what I would do is change your oil using synthetic and if it starts to smoke change it back to the other stuff quickly.

[Yablokov]

k, i put in the Quaker state full synthetic oil.

i idled the engine for 20 minutes, and drove 20 miles.

seems great. i will be on the lookout for and oil leaks.

my engine has 125k miles on it. but it has always had regular oil changes.

[ae86_16v]

^ Fingers Cross .

[nthfinity]

Originally Posted by graywolf624 At this point I think 145k is a bit late, both for the reason above and the damage is already done. gray found out that the hard way on his old Camaro... It was actually the grand prix (pre mazda daily driver).. but carry on.

my bad ops:

anyway... i didnt just start using fully synthetic at 145k... ive been using it myself since i bought the jeep; so about 32k miles on fully synthetic. i dont burn oil

of course, oil changes/plugs/air filter arent the only thing i do to keep the engine in tip-top shape. every time i turn on the engine, it runs for no less then 1 minute before embarking out...this ensures the oil is properly lubricating all parts properly under load. I expect the engine to be good for at least another 100-150k miles

[Yablokov]

Originally Posted by phatbimmer Doesn't Quaker state add wax to their oil to provide more lubrication? I'm pretty sure thats what I've read and heard.

DAMN IT!

now u tell me >.<

i was gona go for the mobile1 oil, but i wasnt sure which one would be better.

well i will run my engine another 2k miles, then change it with a better oil.

[graywolf624]

That doesnt necessarily make it better.

Better oil amongst the same type is determined by what types of detergents are used in the oil. My suggestion is if it means that much to you could try http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/ a forum devoted to motor oil.

I've never cared quite that much but it proves on the internet there is a forum devoted to just about anything.

[ae86_16v]

Just to add here: I personally use Mobile 1. I heard at the higher end, they are all about the same. Differences are fractional. And Mobile isn't the best, I only use it because I could get it for under $5 a quart @ Walmart.

[Yablokov]

@ gray - ty for the site m8. ^.^

@ae86 - lol! thats were i got the quaker state oil and filter

i was ducking and hiding whilst i was in there, doing all i could not to be seen by anyone i knew or have ever aquainted myself with

[FoxFour]

Seeing how high your mileage is, I don't think you need to switch to synthetic. It's just a 'feel good' type of thing if you do it now, besides spending extra money. Today's regular oil is much better quality-wise than it was 10 years ago. Do your frequent oil changes and I think you will be fine, the 1 to 4 peak hp that you may get, trust me, you won't feel it at all.
Back in 1987 I bought a 1984 Mustang SVO, a 2.3 liter turbo-intercooled 4 cylinder that put out 175 HP stock. Back then, the only synthetic that I could buy locally was the Amsoil stuff from dealers and it was expensive, the Mobil 1 stuff was not out yet in a lot of markets. Now I was in my early 20's and I gave that 2.3 hell, pushing redline a lot:etc. I used regular Castrol motor oil, 10W-40 and changed the oil and filter religously at 2500 miles and practised common sense prior to shutting the engine down so the oil wouldn't coke up in the turbo center housing due to excessive heat build up.
Anyways, 1992 rolls around and I decide to rebuild the engine, tear it down and looked at all the crank journal bearings, despite all the abuse I dished out of that little motor, the bearings looked like new, the cylinder bores still had a nice cross-hatch. I even considered putting it all back together and leave as-is, that's how nice it looked inside. All from using regular oil and doing proper maintainance.
Now the car I have, I have been using Mobil 1, as well as the previous owner did prior to me buying the car when it had 30.000 miles on it. If it had 90.000 on it, I wouldn't have, even though my particular aluminum block engine was cast out by Teksid in Italy. I would trust using regular oil. Now if I was open-tracking the car, then that would be a different story entirely.

[FoxFour]

Originally Posted by phatbimmer Yeah it does have wax . I also read that the ones that make oil: Mobil, Shell, BP, Citgo, give all the leftover oil they don't want to other companies like Joes Oil or Pennzoil. They just add more detergents to make up for the bad oil they get and sell it as good stuff. :shock: But it doesn't matter Honda motors are very resilient so 1 bottle of Quaker isn't gonna kill you. I used to use syn but then I got cheap and started using classic so until the car dies its classic now. Good luck

That is a big mis-conception that mineral oils have large amounts of wax. There are two types of crude oil, naphthenic and paraffinic. Most of the regular motor oils are made from paraffinic crude oil. Paraffinic is recognized as having the resistance to thickening and thinning with temperature. It also lubricates well and is known to have very good resistance to oxidation.
Paraffinic crude is broken down into many different properties such as wax, gasoline, kerosine, asphalt; etc. Many people believe that the term paraffinic is synomous with wax, like candle wax, and that the wax in in regular oils will eventually break down and coat the internal parts of the engine. The wax is pretty much removed in a process called dewaxing. Besides, if there was a lot of wax, the molecules crystalize at low temps.
Refining the oil today involves a process liscenced by Chevron called Iso Dewaxing. Almost all of the oil companies use this process today. With the combination of hydrocracking and the dewaxing, the distinction between synthetics and mineral oils are getting closer together. Matter of fact, the Castrol SynTec oil is a mineral oil using the hydrocracking process. In '99 Mobil sued Castrol, claiming that they were using the the name synthetic on their bottles when in fact it was a hydrocracked mineral oil. Mobil lost the suit, the courts claiming that the word 'synthetic' is a marketing term and referred to properties, not to the production methods or the ingredients used. So, the Castrol Synthetic oil is not the same type of synthetics like the oil that Mobil, Motul, Redline and Amsoil. Not to say it's junk, I believe and have seen Castrol work very well in my engines.

So if the regular oils contain a lot of wax, then the gasoline that you and I use and which is broken down from the same basestock is harmful in our engine. Yes, gasoline contains detergents, but so do regular oil and synthetics.

[FoxFour]

Why would they add wax to their oils?