Spend more $$$ on Full Synthetic or use Blend?

[Crew4991]

Full synthetic is better than blend. I would continue to use the synthetic as the only downside is the slightly higher cost.

Always remember, oil is cheap - engines are expensive. Regardless of which oil you want to use, just make sure you change it regularly otherwise you will be changing out your engine for a hell of a lot more money.

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[GregO]

Full Synthetic motor oil is a Unicorn.
It doesn’t exist.

 

[Zrussian13]

I used 5-30 motorcraft blend for 48k Miles before I boosted my gt. After boost I switched to full synthetic and I'm at 79k now with no issues. Going full synthetic on an na car won't hurt but as long as you keep up on intervals you should be fine on a blend.

 

[Strokerswild]

I was taught something many years ago by a 75 year old ex mechanic in my shop that is pretty damn accurate. He basically said, as long as oil is in the engine and being changed on time, things like brand, viscosity, blend type, all that shit are nearly irrelevant. Obviously viscosity matters a lot more now with modern engines with VVT, but he's still pretty accurate. We all gloss over good enough chasing perfection in this type of situation.

Use what you want, change it either following the OLM or at 5,000 miles and the engine is going to be just fine.

Ding! We have a winner.

I've got a big 10-year-old zero turn mower that has used WalMart Super Tech dino oil since the first change. Nastiest working environment of any engine I own by far, hot and dusty. I change the oil every spring, never an issue with the engine.

People overthink oil more than anything....

 

[Andy13186]

Amsoil signature series for me, with 2 bottles of ceratec every time. Change when the OLM tells me to, (~3k miles since I drive insane) Good to go for 17k miles at 800 rwhp, on e50. Even have done some high speed 195 mph runs. I check the oil level every 500 miles and add some to keep it topped.

 

[Garfy]

I used to find engines so gunked up that all the oil would end up in the valve covers. The oil drains would be clogged and the rockers,springs ect would have a wax like 1/4 inch thick gunk on it. This was before synth oil was invented.

Mostly due to drivers never getting the car fully warmed up. I suspect the same happens with the current oils. Stopped making my living wrenching on cars around 1995.

I ran across that on SBC engines where the tiny oil drains in the heads were clogged with sludge. Of course the exhaust smoked heavily because the oil pooled up in the cylinder head and the oil was sucked in through the intake valve stem/guides. That occurred due to people not changing their oil regularly. The quality synthetics today are so much better than what was available in the 80's and 90's. I retired in 2017 as a Master Tech after 44+ years in the career. BTW when I first saw your ID, I thought maybe you were a ham operator, but after checking the callsign, I guess not as that guy passed away earlier this year and lived in Alabama.

 

[Garfy]

A book called drive it forever by Robert Sikorsky mentioned cold starting wear on the bearings is equal to 500 normal driving miles . so having all synthetics that stay on the bearings and don’t leave the bearings dry will make a difference on bearing wear in the long run. Also Zinc has been removed from most oils for emissions , Zinc ads better shear protection, red line , Royal purple , Ams oil still have it . Oils the least expensive protection.

Not only that but even the cylinder walls and pistons can be affected by driving a car "normally" immediately after starting it up cold. The fuel mixture is much richer during a cold start and although modern cars go into closed loop in as little as 15 seconds due to O2 sensor heaters, the fuel injected into the cylinders is still more than when it's fully at operating temperature, and the fact that the fuel against the cylinder walls probably won't combust, it mixes with the oil film on the walls and essentially reduces the frictional coefficient which can cause greater wear on the walls and pistons during the cold start/run conditions. Once your coolant temperature gets over 140 degs. F, you should be able to drive somewhat normally without any significant potential for wear in the cylinders, etc. I don't care much about how much fuel I'm "wasting" by sitting there warming the engine up for one minute before beginning to move the car. But, I'm still driving it nicely until the coolant temp gets near 180 F. Once it does, I can drive it in whatever way I want without fear of excessive wear.

Some people may point out that NHRA nitro cars don't do much pre-run, but they do actually "warm it up" a bit in the bay before taking it to the staging lanes. Then too, unlike our engines, they tear theirs down after every run.

 

[Garfy]

Speaking about Zinc only it was removed from many of the off-the-shelf brands for a number of years.

Then the folks with solid lifter cams were pushed towards Amsoil. Not that it has much to do with the roller motor. Just found Castrol putting the Zinc back in interesting.

Apparently Motorcraft synthetic has it as well. My recent oil analysis (after 3700 miles) shows 760 ppm of zinc in my used oil, unless it came from the engine somewhere...

 

[Garfy]

In my wife's 2015 Ford Edge with the EcoBoost 4 cylinder, I have always changed the oil myself at the 50% oil life monitor since we bought it new with full synthetic 5W-30.
Some might think that I'm wasting my money, but I don't care as It's my money and that's what I'm going to do. Mainly I want to keep that hair drier under the hood alive....

You really can't "hurt" an engine by changing the oil more frequently than required, but you certainly can hurt it by exceeding the intervals. I can't count how many Honda Odysseys and such that I've seen come in with their maintenance light on and when you check the oil life monitor, it says "-345 miles" on it instead of the percentage of oil life remaining. That basically means they drove 345 miles beyond the 0% remaining point.

 

[Garfy]

Lol, I know you're joking, but I just like 5,000 miles because this is a performance car that we beat on. But it's just pulled out of my ass. I disagree with those super long intervals some of those Euro brands are using with their performance vehicles, but sure, if you're using the recommended Euro spec oils, its probably fine.

I do think it's interesting how Ford backtracked and went back to 5W30 though. I forget if it was you or someone else that suspected it had to do with GDI related fuel and carbon dilution over the relatively long OLM intervals. Which sounds plausible to me. All the more reason to change it sooner and sleep soundly at night.

I guess my driving use is very different but soon to change next year when I move to the mainland U.S. But my oil life on my car at last oil change (1 year interval) was about 15% and I had barely driven 1800 miles since the previous oil change. Yeah, mostly short runs around here and only a few days a week so that probably accounts for it. I imagine I'll get more usual 5K miles after I move and have longer drives with longer highways to get on. I'm looking forward to the "fun" of actually opening it up where speed limits are 80-85 instead of 55.

 

[Paul McWhiskey]

The should i buy cheaper oil to save money should be added next to the can I run regular gas in my gt to save money?

people like that need to start buying more corollas and less V8 mustangs…

a good quality oil is vital for the longevity of an engine… don’t go cheap… go quality…

in my case, i use liqui molly in all my cars. The only one that uses something different is the wrx because it gets all the services done at the dealership because it’s still under warranty

Yea, I always get a chuckle when I see someone with a high dollar machine at the lowest priced off brand gas station in any town. I mean, you spent serious dinero plus and now you are pinching a penny on gas? I know you don't live in that part of town, but you will drive all the way there. I wonder if the oil in the crankcase is the factory fill?

Gotcha!! No, I don't!! But, I am still chuckling.

 

[K4fxd]

BTW when I first saw your ID, I thought maybe you were a ham operator, but after checking the callsign, I guess not as that guy passed away earlier this year and lived in Alabama.

I didn't even think when I signed up. I should have put a space between the K4 and the FXD.

Some people may point out that NHRA nitro cars don't do much pre-run, but they do actually "warm it up" a bit in the bay before taking it to the staging lanes.

The burn out and reversing warm the engine. They have a set procedure to get it to a range that the crew chief likes. I think it is in the 180 degree range where they like to take the green.

 

[ice445]

I guess my driving use is very different but soon to change next year when I move to the mainland U.S. But my oil life on my car at last oil change (1 year interval) was about 15% and I had barely driven 1800 miles since the previous oil change. Yeah, mostly short runs around here and only a few days a week so that probably accounts for it. I imagine I'll get more usual 5K miles after I move and have longer drives with longer highways to get on. I'm looking forward to the "fun" of actually opening it up where speed limits are 80-85 instead of 55.

The car has a timer countdown regardless of how much you drive it, that's why.

 

[GregO]

The burn out and reversing warm the engine. They have a set procedure to get it to a range that the crew chief likes. I think it is in the 180 degree range where they like to take the green.

You're going to like this, especially the fuel pump video even if it is 10 years old ! Display is a 64 gpm. Today's Top Fuel is 100-120 gpm @ 600 psi.

https://rollingsteel.it/rs-english/top-fuel-drag-secrets-nitromethane-hp/

 

[Racer5973]

Hi all I've had 2 oil changes so far at my dealership and I use Motorcraft 5w30 Full Synthetic.
Is it worth spending the extra money to stay with Full Synthetic or should I switch to 5w30 Synthetic Blend?

Full synthetic!

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