Dino vs Synth question

[MrClutch]

I have always thought that synthetic oils performed better, and protected engines better than dino oils. But I am seeing some UOAs with dino oils have better results than synthethics. Not only that, it seems that most engines run quieter on dinos. So my question is, am I just wasting $$ on sythetic when I can get better protection for less money?

I have an 04 Civic with the 1.7 VTEC and run Mobil 1 10w-30 with 4k OCIs. The car sees about 20k miles a year with lots of stop and go traffic, and many high speed trips. 70-80mph for duration of more than one hour. At those speeds engine reves almost at 4000rpm. I live in Los Angeles and it gets pretty hot in here.

Thanks for all the replies

 

[Rev320]

Synthetic oils have great benefit in frigid temperatures, long OCI's, and with sludge-prone engine designs. Since none of the above apply to your situation, synthetic is probably not really a big benefit . . . but certainly doing no harm either.

 

[drive it forever]

According to the facts you can read at Blackstone labs-go to technical then faq then gas/diesel, scroll down past the post office is late talk then you will find out what they think.

 

[vad]

It's a PR response.
They won't tell you what they really think, at least not in the FAQ section.

 

[Pablo]

Hey, it looks like M1 is working great for you. (this is the first usual argument for dino)

Match the oil to the car and application. Take your OCI out to 5-6K+ miles and M1 is a perfect fit.

Do a UOA.

quote:

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dino oils have better results than synthethics. Not only that, it seems that most engines run quieter on dinos.

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I haven't seen this - some dino oils do very, very well on short OCI's. Big deal. They should! The quieter thing is pure myth - we need to talk science here.

 

[427Z06]

quote:

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Originally posted by Pablo:
The quieter thing is pure myth - we need to talk science here.

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Amen.

 

[paulinfiji]

Hello everyone. To begin with--before I ask this question--I've read the owner's manual on OCI for my vehicle. I drive about 12000km/7500 miles a year. My servant is a Honda Prelude with a 2.2 litre VTEC engine. In the winter, my driving is 95% city and 95% of the trips are less than 8KM (5 miles) so these short trips are definitely not long enough to burn off the moisture and fuel content in the oil. Should I stay with synthetic in this case? What brand do any of you recommend and why? I used Amsoil last winter and it worked well (I think). I don't intend on getting a UOA because I don't know any place that does it here. I like Amsoil but I don't know if I want to stick with it because it's fairly expensive ($9.59 CDN/roughly $7.67 USD a quart). I change my oil twice a year; early May and late Nov. This servant parks outside 365 days a year. Winter here is terrible as you can imagine (-28 Celsius/-22 F.? sometimes) and I don't have a block or oil heater. BTW, I have a pretty good understanding of oil but I really want to hear it from all the gurus. Your thoughts, comments, and recommendation are graciously appreciated.

 

[mechtech]

If people report noisier engines with M1 [I'm one of them], it is not a myth. It is a fact.
[doesn't make the oil bad, though]
Amen.

 

[sands]

I don't really understand why you need a study in particle physics to determine if one oil is louder than another in an engine..If it's more audible then it's more audible...This doesn't neccesarily always mean louder...People will notice changes in pitch and rythym (more parts emmitting a sound).Last time I checked, a human ear is capable of noticing differences in sound.

Yeah, and I was puzzled when I put M1 in my wife's Isuzu and it became noisier...Switched back to dino and it got quieter...This messed with my pre concieved idea that synthetic would be quieter...

Experienced this with my RC51 (high performance 90 degree short stroke 1000cc Vtwin) as well. Stuck with synthetic in it anyway because it made me comfy but there was more audible engine noise...And believe me, you can get your ear pretty close to the valve train of a motorcycle engine very easily. No belts or fans to distort engine noise either...Just parts moving around being lubed by the oil.

 

[Mickey_M]

quote:

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sands:
I don't really understand why you need a study in particle physics to determine if one oil is louder than another in an engine..If it's more audible then it's more audible...This doesn't neccesarily always mean louder...People will notice changes in pitch and rythym (more parts emmitting a sound). ....

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"Louder" and "more audible" may be different things.

If you look at sound meters you'll see that there are several different weighting systems. Our hearing is more sensitve to some frequencies than others.

I would not be surprised if Mobil 1 in an engine resulted the engine being "more audible". Viscosity for viscosity Mobil 1 runs on the low end of the standard. This means the engine will run 10-50 rpm faster than with many other motor oils.

What this translates into that makes any difference is hard to say. It certainly has nothing to do with engine wear. It may mean you get better gas mileage and more power to the wheels with Mobil 1.


.

 

[kingrob]

Me personally, I'm pretty cool with my engine going tat-tat-tat-tat-tat, but when mobil 1 makes it go CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK, I sort of DO begin to worry about engine wear.

 

[Darryl]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mickey_M:

quote:

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sands:
I don't really understand why you need a study in particle physics to determine if one oil is louder than another in an engine..If it's more audible then it's more audible...This doesn't neccesarily always mean louder...People will notice changes in pitch and rythym (more parts emmitting a sound). ....

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"Louder" and "more audible" may be different things.

If you look at sound meters you'll see that there are several different weighting systems. Our hearing is more sensitve to some frequencies than others.

I would not be surprised if Mobil 1 in an engine resulted the engine being "more audible". Viscosity for viscosity Mobil 1 runs on the low end of the standard. This means the engine will run 10-50 rpm faster than with many other motor oils.

What this translates into that makes any difference is hard to say. It certainly has nothing to do with engine wear. It may mean you get better gas mileage and more power to the wheels with Mobil 1.
.

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"This means the engine will run 10-50 rpm faster than with many other motor oils".

Are you talking about an rpm increase at the redline? Not quite sure what to think of this statement.

Darryl

 

[sxg6]

at a 4k oci, i think synthetic is a waste. id at least run 5k+ with a max of 10k. personally i run 7.5k oci's in my '03 1.7l civic using synthetic

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

The dino versus synthetic arguement. It's the core of BITOG's website.

Carry on men!

 

[yannis]

From my personal unsientific experience i found that synthetics put more strain to the coolant.
Whenever i used syntetics even a group 3 ,the
coolant turned brown sooner(OCI was the same).
Currently i am using a semi and i don't intend to go synthetics again in my daewoo.

 

[Ugly3]

quote:

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Originally posted by yannis:
From my personal unsientific experience i found that synthetics put more strain to the coolant.
Whenever i used syntetics even a group 3 ,the
coolant turned brown sooner(OCI was the same).
Currently i am using a semi and i don't intend to go synthetics again in my daewoo.

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You are kidding, right?

 

[Bryanccfshr]

quote:

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Originally posted by Ugly3:

quote:

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Originally posted by yannis:
From my personal unsientific experience i found that synthetics put more strain to the coolant.
Whenever i used syntetics even a group 3 ,the
coolant turned brown sooner(OCI was the same).
Currently i am using a semi and i don't intend to go synthetics again in my daewoo.

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You are kidding, right?

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That's the wierdest thing I have seen posted here. Synthetic oil turning coolant brown, yet anmazingly coolant stays fresh with conventional or blends? Must be a Daewoo thing

 

[yannis]

quote:

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Ugly3:
You are kidding, right?

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No, i am not.
I didn't say they can't handle higher temperatures or they have worse heat transfer. Maybe that's the reason, they transfer more heat, i don't know.

 

[kingrob]

Hey, stranger things have happened.

My friend bought an 04 Chevy Aveo which is basically a re-badged Daewoo and his coolant looks like Hersheys Syrup no matter what kind of oil is in there. I've flushed it three times in a year but after 5k it looks pretty grimy.

 

[vad]

Flushed with what?