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I have used products like Slick 50 and ZMAX in my vehicles over the years. My 90 Civic has 320,000 miles and still going but my 98 Wrangler just shot a rod at 150,000 miles.
I usually do oil changes about 7500 miles using an asortment of brands, except Pennzoil. Sometimes I have used the Syn Blends also.
What about these products and do they prevent "dry startup"?
Do they give you any added protection?
What about Syn Blends? worth the money or not and what is a syn oil made of anyway?
We are ready to buy a 06 CRV and after reading some of these posts, I think I will pay a little closer attention to oil/filter changes.
As for when to change oil/filters, it kind of depends on your driving conditions (if you race, high rpms, or regular/normal driver, dusty area driving, towing/hauling , etc). Id change all my oil/filter whether it be dino or synthetics at 3000 miles regardless if the oil still has alot of 'life' in them...
I dont think alot of people know this, but for new cars, the design of these newer cars need thin oils because the tolerance/clearance etc are very small and needs these thin oils to flow quickly. Let's say if your manual prefers 5w30 or 10w30, use 5w30 YEAR ROUND!!! If you put in a heavy weight of oil like the 10w30, you might restrict oil passage and can actually cause wear in the engine... this can be very bad speaking in long-terms. Most people believe since they live in a hot environment during the summer or do heavy towing, they need thicker oils for their new car... i think this a common misconception... that's why synthetics are very helpful in these situations... As the engine age pass about 90k miles or so, you may need heavier oils to keep everything lubricated. But since you have a new car, use only thin oils.
If i leave anything or miss anything, im sure someone will fill in for me... :P
Have you considered using a a different brand of oil, to see if it might affect the consumption issue? Not sure if that will have any impact, but might be worth investigating.
You should probably use a newer "SM" rated oil to lessen contamination of the catalytic converter - the new SM grade has less zinc and other chemicals that can "poison" catalytic converters.
Changing oils probably won't help.
Do you top-up mid-change, or just do 3,000 mile oil changes now, and let it run a quart low at the end?
Now I'm going to have to check the oil level on my Caravan - I was assuming there wouldn't be any oil consumption (vs. the Golf I used to have).
one quart in 3K miles is perfectly normal. If it starts to drop from one oil change to the next and continues to slide downward, that's not so good. If it drops below a quart every 1,500 miles I'd start to be concerned.
You're right, oil burning at that rate wouldn't bother the converter at all, or the smog machine either.
My idea is to have a place for you to change your own oil. We would have it set up just like a jiffy lube, but you actually do your own oil change. I'm thinking the charge would be about $5.
We would supply the bay and also have tools and a mechanic on hand in case you had trouble. We would also have oil filters and oil for sale or you could bring your own.
The advantages are you don't have to worry about dumping your oil somewhere, raisng your car, having the right tools and you make sure you do it right.
Disadvantages: Have to pay to do your own work, have to drive somewhere else.
We could also offer antifreeze and transmission flushes that you do yourself.
Right now I'm thinking it would not be a bad idea, but probably not good enough to justify the costs. What do you guys think.
Best Regards,
Shipo
You: "...and we'd let people use our garage for oil changes and such."
Broker: "Wait...you plan to let untrained, non-professional people work under a car on a lift on your premises?"
You: "Yes."
Broker: "The liability exposure is out of our league. NEXT!"
Rob L
I have used synthetic oil for at least ten years. Started using K&N filters only few years ago and that gave the biggest bump in fuel economy.
K&N air filters don't filter as well as OEM filters do. It's not a good idea to use one if you're looking to get a long life from your vehicle's engine.
Agreed. What's even funnier, is that changing paper air filters prematurely also leads to more engine wear. Ford published a paper on its "sealed" air filter in the PZEV engines in some of its Focii, and the study mentioned that as paper elements load up with dust, they filter better. (Of course there is a eventually a tradeoff in the ability to freely flow air.) The Ford study mentioned that not only do people reduce the effectiveness of their stock air filters by replacing them every 12,00 miles instead of their rated 30,000 lifespan, they also tend to replace them with aftermarket air filters that don't filter as well or, worse, don't fit properly and allow unfiltered air in. All this was to explain why the new sealed element filter, with a pressure drop gauge built in and user visible, was better.
I've also see user studies comparing various diesel filters for efficiency. Factory air filters (AC Delco in that instance) worked very well. Conversely, K&N filters don't work as well as paper stock elements (they do work in accordance with the specs published on the box). Once again, frequent cleaning and re-oiling is to be avoided - K&N filters work better after they have built up a cobweb of dust.
I have completely given up on aftermarket performance exhausts, cold air intakes, and K&N filters. Nowadays manufacturers are right on top of eking the maximum performance out of their cars. About the only tradeoff I see is the difference in performance for Ford 2.0 engines in PZEV and non-PZEV tune. The Chevy 2.2 Ecotec is 145 HP even in PZEV tune, from stats I see!
Well, maybe. Personally I'd much rather have "Dirty" fully synthetic oil with 9,500 miles on it than "Clean" conventional oil with 0 miles on it in my oil pan.
The fact is that just because oil is "Clean" that doesn't mean that it is protecting your engine from wear, rust, sludge and acid formation. The flip side of course is that used "Dirty" 100% synthetic oil will offer better protection in all of those same areas (err, well all except for maybe rust if you don't drive the car regularly) as compared to new petrolium based oils.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Sorry, not buying. Simply too much scientific evidence to the contrary.
As for your "clean" filter every 3,000 miles... Sorry, not buying that either. The "dirty" filter in my car with 9,500 miles on it does a far superior job of "cleaning" the oil than a newish oil filter with less than 3,000 miles on it.
Personally I simply don't understand why folks stay with cheap oil and frequent oil changes when there is such a huge repository of evidence supporting extended oil changes with fully Synthetic oil. The sad fact is that an engine run on fully synthetic oil with an OCI of 10,000-15,000 miles will easily outlast even the best maintained car. With that in mind, why would a person rationally choose to waste their time and money on frequent (and decades outdated) oil changes? :confuse:
Best Regards,
Shipo
I never said that, nor is it true in an absolute sense. What I said was, "...well all except for maybe rust if you don't drive the car regularly..."
I said that for two reasons:
1) Due to the superior flow properties of synthetic oil, it will run off the internal surfaces of the engine if left long enough (as in weeks).
2) Due to the superior stability of synthetic oil, it will not vaporize under high heat and as a consequence it won't coat interior engine components with a layer of varnish. In addition, due to the superior cleaning ability of synthetic oil, it will wash off any built up varnish and sludge left behind by any previous usage of non or semi synthetic oil (including hydrocracked fake synthetics).
If I had a car that I only drove once every month or so, then I'd either "Pickle" the engine between drives (if the manufacturer required synthetic oil), or I would use a petroleum based oil. That having been said, for my daily driver, it's 100% synthetic all of the way.
Regarding your comment that said, "FWIW I seen it stated by synthetic oil manufacture not to exceed the auto manufacture oil change recommendations. Makes sense to me, dirty oil is dirty oil."
They have to state that simply because the auto manufacturers can and often will void your warranty if you've exceeded the OCI, regardless of how clean and capable your oil is. The truth of the matter is quite different than what you suggest as evidenced by OCI specs from BMW, and Porsche to name just two. Since they spec fully synthetic oil for their cars, they've been able to extend the OCI to 15,000 miles or more. To take it one step further, back when I was working for MB-USA in Montvale, NJ, they were doing some synthetic oil testing on the then yet to be released W210 E-Class (we're talking 1995 here). The engineers simply took factory new cars, filled them with fully synthetic (German made Castrol IIRC), kept them topped off and ran a full oil analysis every 1,000 miles. These cars were driven by the executives of MB in and around the congested NYC metro area and as such were subject to what many would call "Severe Service". Any guess as to what they found? I'll tell you, they found that the oil was good for over 20,000 miles before it dropped to their pre-established minimum. Not too shabby.
In my case, I'm more than happy to keep within the manufacturers recommendations, while I'm under warranty. Once said warranty is up, I typically take a car with a 7,500 OCI and extend it to 10,000 miles, I'd go further but at that point, new oil is more cost justifiable than oil analysis. The fact is that even after the full 10K, the oil is still not "dirty", in fact, as I said before, more than likely, it's both "cleaner" and better able to protect the engine than lesser oil would be after only 3,000 miles. So, dirty oil isn't really dirty oil after all. ;-)
Best Regards,
Shipo
Longer oil change intervals reduce the risk of a mechanic stripping the threads on the oil pan drain bolt.
On the other hand, most oil change shops and dealers check fluid levels (coolant, brake, etc.) and tire pressure at every oil change, and some include underbody visual checks (muffler, tie rods, cv joints) and engine compartment checks (fan belts).
For the active owner, you can do it yourself. For a lot of other people who NEVER, for example, check their tire pressure, 3,000 mile oil changes aren't a bad thing.
I of course cheat. ;-) I use an oil extractor and suck it out through the dip stick. I think the last time I pulled a drain plug was an easy five or six years ago, and hopefully I'll never have to do it again. :shades:
Best Regards,
Shipo
From my perspective, the BMW/Castrol Syntech is at least somewhat suspect given both the smell and the amount of varnish that built up inside my 328i (and that didn't build up in my Mobil-1 lubricated 530i). I say somewhat suspect simply because a number of BMW dealerships were alleged to have used more pedestrian oil in a class action law suit a couple of years back. Did my dealership use the BMW/Castrol oil in my 328i? Don't know.
FWIW, if you want to peek inside of the engine of one of our Caravans, check out the "Caravan Stuff" in my photo album at http://photos.yahoo.com/shipo. In there you'll find a detail shot through the rocker cover taken at the 104,000 mile mark (4,000 miles after the last oil change), at which point the oil pooled in the rocker arm is still perfectly clear and "clean". Note also the top of the rocker arm shaft, that metal looks just as clean as the day the van was bought new. Not too shabby. ;-)
Best Regards,
Shipo
Can't say I performed a sniff test, but I do know that Mobil 1 never left varnish in the engines of my other vehicles-Jeep, Nissan, or BMW-and I run at least a 7.5K OCI on all of them. I do know the dealer that performed the first oil service on the X3 and I would be extremely surprised if they had used anything other than the BMW/Castrol synthetic. In any event, I wiped the varnish off the X3's oil filler cap so I'll have to wait and see if it returns.
You think a person so concerned about his engine that he goes to the expense to buy synthetic oil that he would at least want to get all the sludge out the bottom of the pan. Do to the effect of gravity everything end up at the bottom.
In marine applications most times you have little choice, not my car, drain plug and dino oil.
When I first bought my Pela, I sucked all of the oil out of my 530i and then pulled the plug, not a drip. I then sucked the oil out of both of our Caravans and once again, not a drop was to be had from either. The flip side was that each of the three yielded a fair amount of metal shavings during each of the first few extraction oil changes. After a few go arounds with the Pela, the shavings extracted along with the oil tailed off to barely any, which suggests to me that the oil extractor is a far superior method of oil removal.
Think what you wish, do what you like. I for one am convinced that the "Good old fashioned drain plug" is just that, old fashioned and out of date in light of newer (at least from a cost effective perspective) methods.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Best Regards,
Shipo
Okay, here goes. I looked around at the latest oil specs from manufacturers that specify synthetic oil in their cars (this list is just a sampling; I did not spend the time to find every manufacturer). I then looked at the web sites of various automotive engine oil makers to see which of their oils met with which of the manufacturers’ standards. Consider the following:
--------------------------------------------------------------- Castrol ---- Pennzoil --- Amsoil European
Manufacturer ------- Oil Spec ------ Mobil 1 --- Syntech -- Platinum ------ Car Formula
BMW ---------------- BMW-LL-01 --- 0W-40 ------ 0W-30 -------------------------- 5W-40
GM ------------------- GM 4718M ---- 0W-30 ------ 5W-30 ---- 5W-30 ----------- 5W-30*
GM ------------------- GM-LL-A-25 -- 0W-40 ------ 0W-30 --------------------------- 5W-40
Mercedes-Benz - 229.5 ------------ 0W-40 ------ 0W-30 --------------------------- 5W-40
Porsche ------------ A.L. 2002 ------ 0W-40 ------ 5W-40 --------------------------- 5W-40
VW/Audi ----------- 503.01 ---------- 0W-40 ------ 0W-30 --------------------------- 5W-40
* The spec for the Corvette (GM 4718M) is met by Amsoil 100% Synthetic
Notice any patterns? I do. Not a single oil that meets any of those standards are hydrocracked fake Synthetics, I checked and couldn't find even one.
The truth of the matter is that while fake Synthetics are pretty good oils, IMHO, they are not even in the same league as full Synthetics. That having been said, I'm certainly willing to be proven wrong. If you have any scientific evidence that suggests that recent improvements in hydrocracking technology has yielded oils on par with full Synthetics, please share it, I'd love to look it over.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Now get this: I e-mailed BMW NA asking which oils were on BMW's approved list for the X3, and their reply was:
"BMW recommends BMW High Performance Synthetic engine oil, Castrol Synthetic, Mobil 1 Synthetic, and Valvoline High Performance Synthetic. The engine oil you choose should have a weight of SAE 5W-30."
With the exception of the BMW house brand, none of the other 5W-30 oils BMW recommends meet LL-01 or ACEA A3/B3/B4. Go figure...
That figures, Valvoline has always made pretty damn good oil, I simply forgot to look them up. My bad. ;-)
Hmmm, a new BMW LL-04 standard? Cool. Any idea when we're going to have to start using it?
Best Regards,
Shipo
VW/Audi ----------- 503.01 ---------- 0W-40 ------ 0W-30 --------------------------- 5W-40
Not to split hairs, but....
If I'm not mistaken, the 503.01 is the diesel spec for VW. At least through 2005 MY, the gas engine oil spec is 502.00. Castrol (5w-40) and Valvoline (5w-40 Synpowerr and 5w-30 MaxLife Synthetic) meet 502.00 and are hydrocracked (IIRC).
VW's website also lists about 4 more products from PZ/QS, but I've never seen them on the shelf anywhere.
According to the VW specs the following applies:
503 series (i.e. .00, .01): Oil spec for the higher performance gasoline engines, specifically the S4, RS4, TT, S3 (with more than 180 HP), Passat W8 and Phaeton W12.
505 and 506 series: Oil spec for the diesel engine line. In this case, the higher the number, the later the spec.
For more detail, please refer to a post of mine from a couple of weeks back regarding the full line of VW Oil Specifications. Said post can be seen at the following link:
shipo, "Passat Oil Issues" #8, 10 Mar 2006 8:48 pm
Best Regards,
Shipo
The new Castrol synthetic is Castrol GTX9 Magnatec 5W-30. I suspect that LL-04 will apply to the upcoming Valvetronic and turbo gas/diesel engines-but that's just a guess.