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DirtyDan

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Everything posted by DirtyDan

  1. I haven't posted in this thread for a long time, but there is some bad information coming out and I will use my 20 years of selling lubricants to straighten some things out. There is some difference in performance between mineral oil and synthetics. Understand that a synthetic is nothing more than a man-made version of mineral oil. The main difference is the synthetic molecules are more uniform in size than a standard mineral oil that is refined from crude oil. That makes the base oil a little slicker and more resistant to oxidation. There are different base oils the most common is PAO, there are others that have a slightly different ph due to the chemicals used to make them. The most common of those is ester. Now for the ASE ratings: any oil that has a given a ASE rating has exactly the same additives. What has changed over the years is the reduction of certain load bearing additives like zinc and boron. This is due to most modern new engines having tighter tolerances and have more sliding parts than impact parts. Also, the EPA determines that boron might cause cancer after use in motor oil. They cannot take those additives out of diesel oils due to the pounding the crank takes. There are motor oils sold for old school engines that use the old school additives. However, the engines in these cars is a modern style and modern oils should be fine. Breaking in a "built" motor is critical. The cams in particular. Synthetic oil could not make cams go flat, not possible. Only a few things could: improper heat treatment of the cam lobes, over tightening of rocker arms, loss of oil pressure are the most common. Super heavy valve springs create very high loads on the rockers and cam lobes, a good quality racing oil will protect those things. Use a cheap oil on a $15k motor is going to cause problems. There is an old saying oil is cheap, iron is expensive. Don't use a synthetic to break in a new build, but don't use the cheapest stuff. I would run a Dino diesel oil and change it early and often. What people don't understand about multi- viscosity oils is that it's done with additives, and the top number is reached around 140 degrees. High viscosity oils do not guarantee protection, just high oil pressure readings. Most modern engines are clearanced for lighter oil viscosity of 20 or 30w. Heavier oils produce higher pressure readings but not necessarily more metal on metal protection. Again that is done with additives and the best oils are racing oils. They don't meet OE warranty requirements and if you run them and try to make a warranty claim, you may not succeed because they will test the oil and metal before paying for a major engine warranty claim.
  2. Redline is an excellent oil. Mobil 1 depends on which one you are referring to. Mobil 1 15,000 mile is the full synthetic, the other 2 (5,000 & 10,000) are mineral/synthetic blends. Anyone that tells you flat out, not to run synthetics is an idiot.
  3. 7,500 miles? Not in my turbo engine. I've gone that far in my old Chevy truck with a stock motor that never sees more than 3000 rpm, but only once.
  4. Back in the 70's, (showing my age) Castrol would warranty any car engine for 100,000 miles if you ran Castrol GTX in it. Around that time, VW recommended Castrol GTX to limit oil consumption. Go back a few pages and you'll see my posts that echo Blackwagonman's post. My information wasn't based on opinions because of something I read. I went to lubrication schools put on by Royal Purple, Castrol, and Summit. I learned a lot about synthetics, additives and advertising. How motor oils are marketed is right next to snake oil. People believe whoever advertises the most. When an oil carries a specific API specification, it must contain that specific additive package that is sold by one of the few petrochemical companies. It doesn't matter what brand of oil it is, they MUST use that specific additive blend. The differences in motor oils then boils down to the base oil that's blended with that additive package. There is a limit to the extra additives that are allowed based on the percentage it dilutes the API package. Running approved engine oils is only important if you have a warranty. If you're out of warranty, then you can run whatever you want. All of the major oil companies offer racing oils and are hands down the best you can buy. If you think NASCAR, F-1, or any other racing series you care to name runs a $5/quart oil in a $50,000 motor, you believe the advertising and the tooth fairy. Racing oils cost more, but you can be certain it's the best motor oil that company sells.
  5. Royal Purple is a good marketing job on a marginal product. Their racing oils are very good, the standard oil is no better than many others that cost less.
  6. This company is about 3 miles from my shop. They are a big oil distributor and a couple of years ago they built this re-refining plant. The last time I sold them used oil they paid me .40 a gallon. That means instead of a $100 a barrel, they're paying $16.80. For you math wizards, .40 x 55 is not 16.80. There are only 42 gallons in a crude oil barrel. Also, there is probably less volume loss during the re-refining process than if they were refining crude. I've said this before, there is only 2 reasons to change oil, it's dirty or the additives are depleted. There is nothing wrong with cleaning the oil and replacing the additives. They also blend in some type of synthetic base stock and call it a semi-synthetic oil. As long as it's cheap (because the cost is very low to make this compared to first run mineral oil or synthetics) I wouldn't be afraid of it in a non-turbo application. I suspect the dealership is charging full prices , say $5/qt and this stuff is costing them $1/quart in bulk. http://www.universallubes.com/index.php/ecofriendly/382 BTW, if someone wants to charge you for oil disposal, remember, places like this BUY USED OIL. So a used oil disposal fee is free profit because they're going to sell the oil out the back door and get paid again.
  7. I have no idea who bottles NAPA oils, but whoever does it is not using an oil that would be ideal for a turbo. The bearings in turbos run hot and fast, saving money on oil that doesn't have a high viscosity index and oxidation resistance will prove the old saying " oil's cheap, metal is expensive." It's your car, saving a few bucks on a mediocre oil is your choice. The filter had nothing to do with your failure, unless the element collapses and starves the engine, particles will be caught. There's only a handful of filter manufacturers, and NAPA is probably using a decent one with their name on it.
  8. An explanation of the standard viscosity index test :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viscosity_index Everything made for use in the automotive industry is subjected to tests established by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Lubricants must perform all the standard tests and publish the results in order to get SAE approval. However, you'll find companies will make finding their test results a little difficult, especially if they don't perform well in a test or 2. A prime example I know of is Royal Purple. When I was a distributor, they really bragged about a couple of tests that they did well in, viscosity index, oxidation resistance, and water emulsification. However, they hid the results of the 4 ball wear test because they didn't perform well. When asked about it, they did a song and dance about how it wasn't an important test result. http://www.swri.org/4org/d08/ShearTst/4ball.pdf and http://papers.sae.org/930160/ I don't mean to imply that R.P. is the only oil marketer that does this, I believe they all do. What I am trying to do is raise your awareness that you can find all of the test results and how to interpret them, taking opinions out of your oil purchasing decisions. I have a 84 year old friend that was a certified Ferrari and Lamborghini technician. He still owns a fleet of exotic cars and runs Pennzoil in them with Fram filters. His faith in those products comes from 50 years ago and is convinced that they are still great products. Fortunately, he doesn't drive anymore and even though he may not drive them, he still changes the oil 2 times a year.
  9. Look for the tests of any oil you are considering. The key test for heat breakdown is called the viscosity index. The higher the number the better it resists thinning in heat.
  10. The API specific rating is based on an additive package. The specific package is designed by the automotive manufacturers engineers. Once the additive package is approved, it is sold to EVERY oil packager and mixed in prior to packaging. Therefore, the differences between oil brands is due to the base oil and other additives. The base oil only has to meet the necessary API viscosity ratings and there is no limit to how good it is before the API additive package is mixed in. Synthetic base oils are varied and some are not significantly better than a good mineral oil. There are several oil tests that show how good it is: 4 ball wear is used to indicate film strength, viscosity index shows how the stable the oil is to heat, oxidation index shows how long the oil goes before it begins to degrade from oxidation. Bottom line, motor oil is as much marketing as it is lubrication. Under warranty always, always, always use the correct API spec lubricants. You can meet those with excellent synthetics from Amsoil, Redline and a few others, or you can meet them with the cheapest stuff with the correct API rating. Your warranty claim cannot be denied as long as the oil you choose is correct for your vehicle. Once your warranty is done, it's up to you what you use to protect your engine. The best oils will not carry the API spec, they're racing oils and there is no such thing as a race car engine warranty.
  11. I posted this in the other oil thread. Oil viscosity and an oils ability to support loads are not the same thing. That was the idea back in the 1960's, but it is not valid today. The additives used in the base oils are what makes a lot of things happen: multi-viscosity, cleaning, anti-oxidation, shear strength, load bearing, are the most common. Every API spec change is a change in the additive package, not the base oil. High load bearing is not needed in the average modern car motor, the additive packages have been modified to reinforce shear strength instead. The reason is OHC engines require sliding on the cams and the impact loads that push rod engines experienced are greatly reduced. Shear is the oil hydrocarbon chain's ability to resist being torn apart. Load bearing film strength is the oil's ability to cushion metal to metal impact. Turbo engines really need oxidation resistance and cleaning properties. The low number in the viscosity, is only in use when the motor is below 140 degrees, above that and the higher number is the viscosity of the oil. Higher viscosity can be useful is extreme heat, but to see how good an oil is you must see it's oil viscosity index. That shows how stable the oil is in heat. The higher the index number the better is is in hot service. Bottom line, use the oil recommended while under warranty, after that it doesn't matter anymore. I use a full synthetic and come summer, I'll be running Rotella T 5w-40. It's a turbo diesel oil and that service is as tough as it gets. High heat and incredible bearing loads. With 18-20:1 compression and 35 psi turbo boost, the abuse a turbo diesel oil takes is far more than a typical turbo gas motor, even modified ones.
  12. Back in the early 90's I was a R.P. distributor. In 1995 they stopped making the Maxoil full synthetic. Their racing oils are still full synthetic, but won't meet any warranty specs. I you want a full synthetic that meets all warranty specs they must have the proper API code on the bottle. However, they can say "synthetic" on the bottle and be a blend (big lawsuit over that). They cannot say "Fully Synthetic" if it's not. Best way to know, pull up their MSDS sheets and if there is mineral oil used, it must be listed.
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