With regards to the test consumer reports did on oils and oil
additives, I think it was seriously flawed because the test vehicles
were cabs and where not operated the same as our vehicles. ei, they
tend to run constantly and have many fewer cold starts per mile than the
average car and the oil will have less contaminats from ring blowby
because the engine is run at normal running temperture for longer
periods per start, when ring perfomance is highest. When considering
these oil additives do their work in absence of oil, during cold starts
and loss of oil pressure the consumer reports test was flawed concerning
their perfomance.
I prefer to use synthetic oil because it is superior in all aspects
even though the newer mineral oil products are very good. I know that
my synthetic oil will not breakdown and will maintain its viscosity and
has far better thermal properties. The extra cost is insignifigant to
me. I just sold my 87 dodge caravan with 156k on her, she ran like
new. At about 20000 I drove her on a 2500 mile trip at 65mph using
cruise control and averaged 18.4 miles per gallon on regular oil. The
next year I made the same trip with 35000 on the van same air filter no
tune up as of yet, only difference was mobil one oil, average mpg was
19.9. That is over a 7% improvement. The outside air tempature was
similar as was the load. The next trip was done at 20.6 miles to the
gallon after a slick fifty treatment that year as well as a tune up so
cannot be sure of the results. I realize these are not scientific
results but along with a engine that was running great after 156k I
beleive slick fifty and or more probably synthetic oil made a
difference.
I should also mention my oil change intervals were 10k. I cut open
several oil filters with 10k on them and found little evidence of
contaminants, they appeared virtually new. I don’t think that would have
been the case with regular mineral oil.
Porche I understand is using only synthetic oil and their change
interval is 15000. Liabilty laws have made oil additives for aircraft
impossible!!! Jet engines run at 15000 rpms at much higher temps and
use synthetic oil exclusively. Their oil is changed at overhaul.
I have no affilitation with any product. This is my limited knowlledge
and experience with oil take it for what it is. Tom Ion
@Tom_Ion
Porche I understand is using only synthetic oil and their change
interval is 15000. Liabilty laws have made oil additives for aircraft
impossible!!! Jet engines run at 15000 rpms at much higher temps and
use synthetic oil exclusively. Their oil is changed at overhaul.
I have no affilitation with any product. This is my limited knowlledge
and experience with oil take it for what it is. Tom Ion
tion@pacbell.net
five or seven years ago, i think it was mobil that got stuck with
having to replace (or overhaul) hundreds, if not thousand$ of aircraft
engine$. seems their synthetic caused a bit of internal damage to
numerous recip engines. fortunately for me (or unfortunately if you
know aviation maintenance), none of my aircraft(all since sold) were
running mobil. i did look through every receipt i had though hoping,
praying, wishing to find a few damn mobil oil receipts. alas, no joy,
sigh... mobil astutely realized that spending tens of millions on
customer engines was far cheaper than hundreds and hundreds of
millions for wrongful death lawyers. (wouldn't have mattered if the
pilot was intoxicated, on cocaine and lsd, and not wearing his glasses
and having sex at the time of impact into the mountain in broad
daylight... juries seem to always award the poor, the bereaved, the
money grabbing, i digress)
i liked shell. they made (still do i suppose) an oil/synthetic blend
that yielded positive empirical results. little to no varnish as i
recall.
the short story is that mobil took that one in the shorts for their
synthetic oil. i'm not very familiar with recent porsche designs, but
i seem to recall they, like most aviation recips, are air cooled.
these are different animals thermally from our water-cooled pieces of
art, aka AJ6.
the reason i chose a synthetic (blend in this case) was based on
temperature. air cooled engines, particularly in the southwest
(aviation and automotive) can run very hot. the viscosity of a
synthetic lubricant remains flatter (constant)over a wider temperature
band, than the hydrocarbon variety.
additionally, the varnish issue goes away with a synthetic lubricant.
on a related note, i recently learned of an additive that is added to
the automobile engine crankcase about 20 or 50 miles prior to an oil
change. regular usage of this product in this manner has shown some
promise, removing an preventing varnish. i may try it.
and that is, my inflated two cents worth.
dennis hurvitz
1990 xj40 88k miles
1980 twin beech b-76
1980 cutlass rg
1981 c152
gone with the wind...
RFC822.TXT (1.4 KB)
I would agree that CU test on oil was flawed. The first thing I thought
after reading it was that NYC cabs have very few cold starts. The cabbies
I’ve talked to in NY say they have to run their cabs 24 HRS a day because
the high cost of the medallion (license) $125,000. I’ve read that one
cold start is equivalent to 500 miles of driving. And the colder the
engine, the more the wear at start up. ( I’ve seen some cold starts in my
day; once at my cottage, after 3 days of -40F weather, my truck would just
bearly turn over with jumpers from 3 other vehicles all connected in
parallel. The solution was to slip a Coleman propane stove under the oil
pan for an hour… but that’s another story.) I would also agree that
synthetic oil is the best hands down. Especially for an exotic car that is
expensive to repair like a Porche or Jag. However, the Fords and Chevys
that I have used for my business will go 300,000 to 400,000 KM. on
conventional oil without having to touch the engine. (10w-30, changed
5-6,000 km., on unleaded fuel) These vehicles rust out, and wear out in
other areas, before the engine wears out. Parts are inexpensive and used,
rebuilt or new engines are plentiful and cheap. I go to Q-lube and use the
cheapest oil they have.
For anyone who’s interested Shell Canada has some synthetic vs.
conventional oil info at http://www.shell.ca/oshell/lubes/htm
I took auto mechanics when I was in High School. And at the beginning of
the year a local auto wrecker would drop off 12 beat up V-8 engines, and in
groups of 2, we would rebuild them from the crank up. The first thing we
had to do was remove the oil filter, cut it open, unravel the filter paper
and measure how long it was, and observe the quality of construction. The
best filter would be the brand the instructor would buy for the rest of the
year. (although meaningless today, the best was AC-Delco with 12 feet of
paper, and the worst was Sears with 4 feet.) The thing that struck me was
that these filters were almost totally free of any contamination including
metal filings. I’m sure there were particles not visible to the eye, but
most people think their filters are full of gunk at oil change time, and
this is not the case.
My 2 cents,
Dave Raymond,
Ontario, Canada,
92XJ40----------
From: Tom Ion tion@pacbell.net
To: modern@jag-lovers.org
Subject: OIL-ADDITIVES
Date: February 3, 1998 5:04 PMWith regards to the test consumer reports did on oils and oil
additives, I think it was seriously flawed because the test vehicles
were cabs and where not operated the same as our vehicles. ei, they
tend to run constantly and have many fewer cold starts per mile than the
average car and the oil will have less contaminats from ring blowby
because the engine is run at normal running temperture for longer
periods per start, when ring perfomance is highest. When considering
these oil additives do their work in absence of oil, during cold starts
and loss of oil pressure the consumer reports test was flawed concerning
their perfomance.
I prefer to use synthetic oil because it is superior in all aspects
even though the newer mineral oil products are very good. I know that
my synthetic oil will not breakdown and will maintain its viscosity and
has far better thermal properties. The extra cost is insignifigant to
me. I just sold my 87 dodge caravan with 156k on her, she ran like
new. At about 20000 I drove her on a 2500 mile trip at 65mph using
cruise control and averaged 18.4 miles per gallon on regular oil. The
next year I made the same trip with 35000 on the van same air filter no
tune up as of yet, only difference was mobil one oil, average mpg was
19.9. That is over a 7% improvement. The outside air tempature was
similar as was the load. The next trip was done at 20.6 miles to the
gallon after a slick fifty treatment that year as well as a tune up so
cannot be sure of the results. I realize these are not scientific
results but along with a engine that was running great after 156k I
beleive slick fifty and or more probably synthetic oil made a
difference.
I should also mention my oil change intervals were 10k. I cut open
several oil filters with 10k on them and found little evidence of
contaminants, they appeared virtually new. I don’t think that would have
been the case with regular mineral oil.
Porche I understand is using only synthetic oil and their change
interval is 15000. Liabilty laws have made oil additives for aircraft
impossible!!! Jet engines run at 15000 rpms at much higher temps and
use synthetic oil exclusively. Their oil is changed at overhaul.
I have no affilitation with any product. This is my limited knowlledge
and experience with oil take it for what it is. Tom Ion
tion@pacbell.net
Forwarded message:_________________________________________________________________
Date: Tue, 03 Feb 1998 20:54 -0500 (EST)
From: Brett Gazdzinski <@Brett_Gazdzinski>
To: Tom Ion tion@pacbell.net
Subject: Re: OIL-ADDITIVES
I would have bought Toms posting on oil additives except for
for the fact that he actually admits to owning and driving
a dodge caravan!
Hard to take someone like that seriously…
Brett