feeling the difference

08sienna · Jun 30, 2012

changed from Synpower 5w30 (SN) to ML Syn 10W-30 (SM) today and drove 55 miles.. I never believed one can feel the difference between oil grades (not to mention different brands), but I think my corolla was a lot different today from yesterday.. a bit smoother but a bit dragging. It was pretty abvious when I was driving uphill and then downhill - sluggish and then back to normal... Anyone else experiences the same thing? or am I crazy?

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Donald · Jun 30, 2012

I think we all like to feel that our car runs better after an oil change or a car wash. But both are 30W when hot and you just are not going to notice a difference.

Highline9 · Jun 30, 2012

new oil syndrome very common, the cure is some fuel injector cleaner.

aquariuscsm · Jun 30, 2012

The Maxlife,being an HM oil,is probably a bit thicker,therefore making it drag some.

Dakota1820 · Jun 30, 2012

you have a better butt dino than anyone ive ever seen..... or your crazy! .....its ok we all are!

Highline9 · Jun 30, 2012

I ran some vr1 20w50 in gsxr1000 and it was sluggish at low rpm. So went back to T6.

crazyoildude · Jun 30, 2012

sometimes you can feel the difference..i can using 5w20 syn feels better than the 5w30 in my 4.6 v8 fords

WMSmotorhead · Jul 1, 2012

A car fresh off an oil change always feels a bit different to me. Even if the new oil was from the same batch as the last.

Zeus103363 · Jul 1, 2012

To me after an oil change, it seems like the better the deal I got for the oil, the better it runs. That's just me anyways.....Free oil and she purrs like a kitten!

uart · Jul 1, 2012

The ol' butt dyno works in a similar way to how we sense audio quality. Say someone shows me some music and says, hey this copy is super high definition 24 bit 96kHz 4608kbps material and this other copy is a lowly down-sample to 16 bit 44.1kHz 192kbps mp3. I go wow that's amazing, that first one sounds so much better, so clean so crisp, such amazing definition - WOW. Then they give me a test where they mix them up I have to pick which one is which, just by listening, and I cant do it. Suddenly they both sound the friggin same, LOL.

Ok that's a parable as to why I take a lot of this "butt dino" stuff with a grain of salt. When someone can demonstrate that they can consistently tell the difference when having oils switched around at random, without being told which oil in the car at any given time, then I'll take these statements seriously.

fdcg27 · Jul 1, 2012

ML full syn 10W-30 is thicker than Synpower 5w30, according to Valvoline's product data sheets.
This would make for a smoother seeming engine, as might the moly that ML contains and Synpower doesn't.
Oddly, Valvoline shows a higher TBN for Synpower than for ML full syn.
I would have expected the reverse.

mechtech2 · Jul 1, 2012

We may be facing a sheared oil vs. a new thicker one.
Note that even the SAME oil put in fresh may have made sound/feel changes.
But sure - most people attuned to their cars can tell a difference . Small engines make this more pronounced.

08sienna · Sep 5, 2012

the maxlife synthetic 10W30 (SM) in my original post is still in my corolla's sump which I still feel sluggish. I just came across this old thread (https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=943315&page=2) and someone says the HTHS of this oil is as high as 3.6!!!
Is it now making some sense that I am feeling difference between early 3 HTHS and 3.6 HTHS?

feeling the difference

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