Does Type of oil really make much difference?

[Schism]

ruking77, the manual may say that, however, if you have a problem with the motor itself and try to get a claim when you change your own oil, they can argue that you didn't do the severe intervals and decide not to honor the warranty. Not saying it is right, but it happens. It's better not to allow them any excuses(good or not) for being asinine.

 

[tamu_man]

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Synthetic oils won't help with an overheated engine.

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Would you like to attempt to explain this one?

 

[ruking77]

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ruking77, the manual may say that, however, if you have a problem with the motor itself and try to get a claim when you change your own oil, they can argue that you didn't do the severe intervals and decide not to honor the warranty. Not saying it is right, but it happens. It's better not to allow them any excuses(good or not) for being asinine.

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I think truly a lot depends on your rapport with your "fulfilling" dealer/s. But having said that I do not want to mask the fact that warranty work due to engine oil causes are very, very, very remote.

 

[sambojoho]

In my opinion, as long as a good OCI is followed (I use 3k miles), dino is fine. 5k OCIs are probably fine too, but I like changing my own oil, and 3k is cheap insurance. The only exception I would note is for turbo-charged engines. They are subjected to more heat extremes, so I would use a synthetic for this case.

 

[Volvohead]

As has been suggested, for the vast majority of engines, as they will exist in an otherwise operating vehicle, the answer is NO. It makes no real difference what is run as long as the appropriate weight, service grade and change interval are observed. Most cars going to the bone yard don't go in for engine failures.

But for some engines with special needs or operating conditions, a synthetic base oil can significantly extend the engine's optimal service life.

The trick is in determining whether your engine falls into the former or the latter group. Sometimes the manufacturers and dealers don't even know the correct answer for some examples.

 

[ruking77]

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The only exception I would note is for turbo-charged engines. They are subjected to more heat extremes, so I would use a synthetic for this case.

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I use a synthetic ( Mobil 1 5w40 Truck & Suv aka Delvac One 5w40) for a VW Jetta TDI (turbo diesel) and do 25,000 mile OCI's. It is app 70,000 miles and the warranty was up at 50,000 miles.

 

[Cookie]

And sometimes the factory reccomends synthetics because it was cheaper and lighter than fitting an oil cooler, such as in the case of Corvettes and my BMW M series.

 

[ruking77]

"And sometimes the factory reccomends synthetics because it was cheaper and lighter than fitting an oil cooler, such as in the case of Corvettes and my BMW M series. "

It is certainly one reason why the Corvettes recommend Mobil 1 5w30. But I do happen to know the 500 hp Z06 still recommends Mobil 1 5w30 despite more hp and a better sump system and a oil cooler!!

 

[tamu_man]

Well they need it when you consider the crappy rod ratio and massive amounts of piston slap that occur in every LS and LT engine. In this situation, you need every peice of protection you can get in order to protect the engine from its designers. Synthetic is not an option for these blocks if you ask me.

 

[427Z06]

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Well they need it when you consider the crappy rod ratio and massive amounts of piston slap that occur in every LS and LT engine.

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What utter nonsense. The rod-length to stroke ratio is right in line with many popular engine designs today. Piston slap in these engines is caused by lack of quality control in the manufacturing process. Short piston skirts, with thinner rings moved closer to the top of the pistons (used in many other current engine designs) require tighter clearances with less tolerance. If you want to place blame on someone, it's not the design engineers. More than likely it's the management types at the manufacturing facilities.

 

[Volvohead]

Agreed. Don't confuse the engineers with the bean counters and marketing suits.

 

[Steve S]

tamu-man ,What would you like to know about how an engine cools and how syn oils will not make a difference.

 

[Steve S]

tamu-man ,What would you like to know about how an engine cools and how syn oils will not make a difference.

 

[Mr. Boston]

Yep - the bean counters decreed there WILL be so many engines produced during a shift! Quality control was a secondary issue at best...now the chickens have come home to roost!