After 2 ARx treatments, do I go to synth or dino?

[Volvohead]

A synthetic will almost always be a "better" oil in the abstract. M1 is the synthetic standard and generally speaking one of the best motor oils made today, with some grades being better than others.

A synthetic, besides the advantages you've already mentioned, typically has better thermal and oxidative stability.

But the real question is whether and how much you need these advantages of a synthetic lubricant for your particular engine, driving and maintenance habits and conditions, and for your budget.

There are some excellent conventional oils made today, one already mentioned, that with prudent change intervals will work just as well as a full synthetic in most normal situations.

Were you driving a turbo, a known sludger, driving in extreme temperatures, or going long intervals between changes, a synthetic becomes more advisable. But most folks are somewhere in the middle, which is why most folks use and do just fine with a conventional.

Perhaps if a conventional only lasts 5K in your situation, an oil like M1 EP going 12-15K makes economic sense. Otherwise, a synthetic, even with a longer interval, is usually worse from a cost per mile standpoint (if you change your own and not including filter costs).

Nevertheless, I'm a big fan of full synthetics, and use them whenever possible, even though I could save money and get similar results in some applications.

. . . and then there is the semi-synthetic option.

 

[jonny-b]

Hello. I would go for the synthetic. Synthetic oil is protecting your engine much better than mineral oil and as well can be driven 3 times longer than mineral oil. Just think of the time you will save having to do just one oil change instead of three. If you say that one hour is worth 15USD for you, then you can count that in. If you choose a synthetic, Mobil 1 is a good one, but if I where you, I would also considder Schaeffers S9000 or Royal Purple 5/30(this one is rather expensive, but it gives excellent protection in all conditions. If you, of whatever mysterious reasons still wants to use a mineral oil, you should use schaeffers.

 

[John_E]

If one does alot of short trips, won't a synthetic oil sludge up during those long OCIs? For city driving on a nonturbo, non-sludge monster engine, dino on a 3k mi = 5k km OCI may be better than synth on a 7.5k mi = 12k km OCI.

If one does mostly longer trips on open roads, synthetic starts to make alot of sense.

 

[ntwrkguy1]

Volvohead -- I wonder if I would benefit from synth. My driving consists of short city trips (5.5 miles one way to work) and the weather here in NC isn't too extreme, though it is pretty cold in Jan/Feb and pretty hot in July/Aug/Sept. I do my own oil changes as well, and the car is maintained per the owners manual

jonny-b -- the only thing that concerns me on synth is the long OCI's. I only average about 120 miles a week, and 4 weeks out of the year, the car sits. I'd be worried about going 2 years between oil changes, but the idea sounds nice. It's pretty cheap for me to change the dino oil (about $12).

Thanks for the input so far!

-David

 

[Volvohead]

With a lot of short trips (anything under 10 mi is short in my book), you will certainly benefit from shorter time-based OCIs. Any oil's service life will be shortened under those conditions (yes, a synthetic will still last longer, but not as long as it could otherwise).

Your engine is barely ever getting to temperature with what you describe.

I'm leaning towards more frequent conventional changes at this point. Much as I hate to say it, buy five or six cases of Havoline, a carton of Wixes, and be done with it.

More frequent trips under the car aren't so bad; every so often it's good to check over things to see if anything is amiss. Oil changes force you to do that.

 

[ntwrkguy1]

I am approaching the last 100 miles of my 2nd ARx treatment, and am debating switching over to Mobil 1.

A brief background on the car: 2001 Ford Taurus with the 24v motor, 120,000 miles. Dino oil its' whole life, with 3k OCI. Of course, I used dino oil on both ARx treatments.

Is there really any advantage (other than longer OCIs and better cold-weather performance) to switching over to synthetic? I can buy the 5W-30 version of M1 from Wal-Mart at a reasonable price, so the cost isn't really an issue.

If the synthetic truly offers a better solution, then I'm all for it. Any opinions on which is better after ARx: synth or dino?

Thanks!

David

 

[glennc]

I would use Havoline. Another dino would be fine, undoubtedly. Mobil 1 is excellent and would have some theoretical advantages but will cost hundreds of dollars extra over the life of the car and doesn't seem to show any actual wear benefits over Havoline based on UOAs. People also often report increased noise and oil use with M1, and quieter running with Havoline.

- Glenn

 

[denaliguide2]

I agree about frequent oil changes. Any excuse to get dirt out of the engine !! Funny what you see when your under there.
Now I have a question. I am running Purple in my D24 Volvo Diesel here in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Putting in a new valve cover gasket fixed most of my oil loss. Now I am loosing a minor amount, and want to put a temp seal conditioner in for that purpose, anyone have an opinion on the MaxLife Valvoline Seal conditioner additive???

 

[sprintman]

100 miles into the 2nd cleaning phase or rinse phase?

 

[terminaldegree]

Just out of curiosity, what were your impressions of AutoRX ntwrkguy?

 

[ikarus1]

with 120K miles, on a duratec, that has had dino all it's life - I'd go with Maxlife syn. for the same amount as M1. Actually * I * would probably just go for Maxlife dino @ $9.00/5 quart bottle.

I had a contour with the duratec and it seemed like a nice strong engine that Ford copied from Mazda's KL V6 and added a timing chain. That being said, all my mazda's thrive on Dino.

 

[jonny-b]

John_E Using a synthetic will not cause more sludge than with mineral oil, even if you drive three times longer. If you use RP, it will also leave a thin, protective layer of oil on the metal, when the engine is not in use. This is very useful at startup, when you need it the most. 90% of the engine wear, occure at startup and the first minutes until the oil warms up and thereby flows better. In addition, a synthetic oil flows better when cold.