Hot and cold for synthetics?

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I have read tons of theads that talk about the only advantage to usuing synthetics is the extended oci or if you live in an extremely hot, or cold place. So what is hot and what is cold? (I know thats going to get sarcastic answers too, but bring em on)
 
Originally Posted By: TheTacoman
I have read tons of theads that talk about the only advantage to usuing synthetics is the extended oci or if you live in an extremely hot, or cold place. So what is hot and what is cold? (I know thats going to get sarcastic answers too, but bring em on)


How HOT does it get in Texas during the summertime, I would bet it gets well into the 90's, so you live in a hot climate. I would think you would benefit from synthetic with those long hot Texas summers. JMO
 
Originally Posted By: TheTacoman
I have read tons of theads that talk about the only advantage to usuing synthetics is the extended oci or if you live in an extremely hot, or cold place. So what is hot and what is cold? (I know thats going to get sarcastic answers too, but bring em on)


It's based on oil temps.
Dino will begin to oxidize when temps hit 120C and very much so at 130C plus.
Dino's thicken at a much faster rate particularly when temps drop below freezing. Even a 5W-XX will no longer pour as temp approach something like -30C.
If you want the lightest oil at start-up, even in the tropics you have to go with a synthetic which is a 0W-20.
 
Originally Posted By: c3po
Originally Posted By: TheTacoman
I have read tons of theads that talk about the only advantage to usuing synthetics is the extended oci or if you live in an extremely hot, or cold place. So what is hot and what is cold? (I know thats going to get sarcastic answers too, but bring em on)


How HOT does it get in Texas during the summertime, I would bet it gets well into the 90's, so you live in a hot climate. I would think you would benefit from synthetic with those long hot Texas summers. JMO


Are you kidding me? When I lived in Texas, we had a summer with 79 days over 100 degrees -- can you imagine that in one summer? The all time high for the town I lived in was 118 degrees. In most places, when it gets over 90 degrees people start dropping, most summers in TX people are thrilled when it doesn't reach 100. 95 degrees is a cool day. Many nights it is still 100 at 10 o'clock at night.

It gets crazy hot in TX. Good place for synthetics.
 
What type of engine(s)? Water cooled, air cooled, applications, load, RPM's, and other things such as maintenance of cooling system if water cooled, load on engine such as towing, age of engine and condition that it is in? Do you plan to trade it in soon, or want to get many more years out of it? How important is reliability? There are many things to take into consideration.

A new air cooled engine on a new expensive piece of equipment, is a far cry from an old water cooled junker that is 6 months away from going to the bone-yard.

Hot or cold ambient for one might not be hot or cold for another.

In general I try to give my engines extra protection from heat when people start wearing cut-off pants. In general I try to give extra protection from cold when people wear coats (not jackets).
 
Man you are not kidding zed. I'm in south Texas and last summer we had a string like that. I want to say 60 or 65 days straight over 100 degrees! It is very common to still be 90 degrees at midnight. I was stuck in traffic one time and had my infrared thermo with me, aimed it at the pavement and it read 140 degrees! You definitely want synthetic oil in that heat.
 
I dunno about hot but for cold, synthetics were used and possibly invented by the Nazis when they were trying to fight in the Soviet Union. So yeah if your weather is Russia cold, go for synthetic!
 
Hot is the oil temperature which usually is related to load and power output and cold is oil temps at cold starting. Usually the concern is cold starts below freezing. The differences between dino and syn have been getting less and less with the last several oil ratings.
 
All that matters is the temperature of the oil. Ambient air temperature has surprisingly little to do with that on a well designed engine on the hot end. Load has more to do with it than outside temp.

On the cold end, it needs to be ~10 below before I can see a significant difference when I shake bottles of syn and dino 5-30 valvoline. Even then, the difference is little. But one will gel in the -20's, the other in the -40's, so at some point the difference is huge.
 
Originally Posted By: Zedhed
It gets crazy hot in TX. Good place for synthetics.


I agree 100%! Even if the car is parked in a lot, the radient heat emminates up from the pavement. This happens well into the night. The oil pan on my Honda Odyssey stays about 5" from this scorching hot surface. That, and extended OCI's in my older rides is exactly why syns fit great in S-TX.
 
Originally Posted By: bepperb
All that matters is the temperature of the oil. Ambient air temperature has surprisingly little to do with that on a well designed engine on the hot end. Load has more to do with it than outside temp.

On the cold end, it needs to be ~10 below before I can see a significant difference when I shake bottles of syn and dino 5-30 valvoline. Even then, the difference is little. But one will gel in the -20's, the other in the -40's, so at some point the difference is huge.
Years ago I would drive truck to make extra $$$ and usually get the older truck . Anyway going from San Franciso Ca to Los Angles Ca. on really hot days the truck would run really hot going over the Grapevine as compared to when it was not really hot. Heat rejection ratio or something like that. The engine was a 903 Cummins with close to 80,000 lbs gross vehicle weight.
 
todays oil are so good compared to years ago that you may get slightly better performance from a synthetic...The key word being "may"
Change your oil and your engine will probably out last the car most of the engines we rebuild are due to cooling system problems and not oil related
 
I've noticed my cars start up easier with a synthetic in them as opposed to conventional. I've noticed it this past winter too. A co-worker as an Impala with a LZ4 like I have in my Malibu. The difference was more prominent once temperatures dropped to around or below 5F which has happened a lot this winter in Iowa.
 
Originally Posted By: SAJEFFC
Man you are not kidding zed. I'm in south Texas and last summer we had a string like that. I want to say 60 or 65 days straight over 100 degrees! It is very common to still be 90 degrees at midnight. I was stuck in traffic one time and had my infrared thermo with me, aimed it at the pavement and it read 140 degrees! You definitely want synthetic oil in that heat.


I remember that string of heat we had. With how hot it gets and how hard I drive the car I've always gone with synthetics.
 
Here in Florida I see huge numbers of NA cars and trucks that run dino oil, pull large loads, and get filled with conventional. Well designed ones last for ages.

HOWEVER, turbo gasoline engines don't last here unless fully synthetic is used.
 
Well it doesnt get rediculously hot up here, but gets pretty cold in the winter at times.

We dont really live in extreme temps like some do, but we'll routinely see -20 C days.

I use synthetic in both of our cars. Even though a conventional oil says, that it pours down to -30 or so, and pumps to....whatever, a synthetic will almost ALWAYS pour faster at those temps.

Even a 5w30 conventional will move very slowly until the temp rises.
 
Too cold would be regular starting below 0 deg F.

Too hot would not occur unless you have a turbocharger, supercharger, or otherwise are creating lots of engine heat.
 
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