Quiet Drivetrain vs Noisy - Diffrent Oil Brands

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Ndx

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Hi Guys,

Im looking over this forum for long time ... And I wonder why some peoples are swearing that some oils are making their cars quieter and other oils are making car noisy ?

In chemical side of oil they should be no difference right ?

I understand difference w30 vs w40

Special Acoustic Additives ? lol ?

Cheers,
 
I'm not positive, but maybe the viscosity?

I've experienced this myself though in a 05' Corolla. PP was a bit quieter than Synpower.
 
Some engines are inherently noisy at startup. This could be because of drain-back from the oil filter, other design characteristics of the engine which delay full lubrication slightly at start up, or the age/condition of the engine.

The engine oil which is the quietest at start up may not be the best for it once the engine gets warm. But if you engine does have some condition that suggests delayed lubrication at start up, then using certain oils may help alivate those problems.
 
My Ford engines are quiet at start up, cold, hot, when the oil is first changed or after my usual 10,000 Oci.
Tuesday I did get startled while at the bank drive up. While waiting for the teller I kept hearing a lifter tick. Since never having any noise from my Merc Grand Marq I thought, diaster. After noticeing other cars at teller booths I shut the engine off. To my relief the noise was coming from the car next to mine.
One of those scarry moments in life.

M1 Oils
 
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After running my 88 E-150 most of it's life on Mobil 1, about 19+ years I'm guessing, I made the switch to PP in December. I'm sorry I didn't do it a lot sooner. The engine is quieter with the PP. I always ran Mobil 1 10W30, and am now running PP 5W30. I doubt it was the 5W vs 10W that was causing the engine to be louder.

As far as using oil after making the switch to PP that some people claimed happens, it hasn't happened. But then again my 4.9L engine never used oil.

tig1- I've had similar scares, being next to noisy cars thinking it was mine. I'd get that sick, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, until I was certain it wasn't my car.
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
After running my 88 E-150 most of it's life on Mobil 1, about 19+ years I'm guessing, I made the switch to PP in December. I'm sorry I didn't do it a lot sooner. The engine is quieter with the PP. I always ran Mobil 1 10W30, and am now running PP 5W30. I doubt it was the 5W vs 10W that was causing the engine to be louder.


I've had the exact same experience with a 4.6 4V, 4.6 2V and 3.0L Duratec now. PP is even runs a bit thinner than M1 for a given viscosity, but it sure seems to make engines run a little bit quieter/smoother than M1 does.

I'm just interested to see if it can match the cleanliness of M1 over the long haul. So far so good on that front.
 
Thinner or thicker is obvious, considering engine noise.
I wonder if the narrow latitude of the molecule sizes in synthetic oil transfers noises at certain ranges more readily.
Not harmful at all, but a plausible explanation for some of our perceptions.
 
Originally Posted By: Ndx
Im looking over this forum for long time ... And I wonder why some peoples are swearing that some oils are making their cars quieter and other oils are making car noisy ?


Because that's what happens. I, like some people, could cry 'placebo effect' all day to try and excuse my not knowing why, but it would be ludicrous to call all these people, including myself, liars.
 
Originally Posted By: mechtech2
Thinner or thicker is obvious, considering engine noise.
I wonder if the narrow latitude of the molecule sizes in synthetic oil transfers noises at certain ranges more readily.
Not harmful at all, but a plausible explanation for some of our perceptions.


You could be onto something. I think it may be related to how the fluid wants to 'stick together' with itself. Which could relate to some type of non-permanent shear. It seems M1 is more easily slung from rotating and reciprocating parts, as part of it's low-drag design, even if the increased AW performance totally compensates for the low-tack, easy-shear nature. That's not an ideal characteristic for valve trains, which could also explain the higher Fe seen in M1 uoa. Who really knows?
 
Originally Posted By: Max_Wander
Originally Posted By: Ndx
Im looking over this forum for long time ... And I wonder why some peoples are swearing that some oils are making their cars quieter and other oils are making car noisy ?


Because that's what happens. I, like some people, could cry 'placebo effect' all day to try and excuse my not knowing why, but it would be ludicrous to call all these people, including myself, liars.


Max I think you're right. People who frequent this board are people who really care about their cars, and are in tune with different sounds and what's going on with their engines. I think we can pick up on slight changes and its not a placebo effect. If it is then we're all nuts!
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: Max_Wander
Originally Posted By: Ndx
Im looking over this forum for long time ... And I wonder why some peoples are swearing that some oils are making their cars quieter and other oils are making car noisy ?


Because that's what happens. I, like some people, could cry 'placebo effect' all day to try and excuse my not knowing why, but it would be ludicrous to call all these people, including myself, liars.


Max I think you're right. People who frequent this board are people who really care about their cars, and are in tune with different sounds and what's going on with their engines. I think we can pick up on slight changes and its not a placebo effect. If it is then we're all nuts!


OK, I think I can hear some difference in engine sound on different oils... BUT...

a) I do not believe that less sound necessarily means less wear is taking place, and

b) I don't believe that I (or anyone else) can really make an accurate comparison of a sound I heard an hour ago to a sound I'm hearing now, let alone compare the sound I heard driving last week to the sound I hear driving at the same spot today. Its just not a quantitative measurement. Now if someone were to instrument the engine with sound pressure level meters and post some results, and we could be sure that the measurements were un-contaminated by background noise, fan clutches running the fan at different speeds, differences in ambient air density, etc. than we could say something conclusive.
 
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Now if someone were to instrument the engine with sound pressure level meters and post some results, and we could be sure that the measurements were un-contaminated by background noise, fan clutches running the fan at different speeds, differences in ambient air density, etc. than we could say something conclusive.





Sure, while at it I can park my car on a soundstage before and after the oil change and pay the audio engineer $200/hr to do a 3D spectrum analysis on the resultant waveforms taken from various angles by expensive microphones... but apparently that's not nessecary given that people are noticing the sounds due to the existence of the different sounds themselves. Some people are quite perceptive and know their cars as demarpaint said, enough not to confuse it with a compressor cycing or injectors ticking. No matter what, one can't rationalize peoples' own clear perceptions into non-significance by discrediting the listener's cognitive functions. It's like replying to someonewho says something to you that you cant hear them and would like to write the message down instead to believe it.
 
I added a quart of Lucas Oil Stabilizer (flame on) 5 years ago to my Land Rover while it was running. This was in the dead of winter, and I heard a difference. Quieter. I had checked my oil the day before and noticed I was a quart low, so I went to Autozone, the following day and added it while my wife sat in the truck. Given that Lucas Oil Stabilizer is ummm..viscous to say the least- draw your own conclusion.
 
Adding Lucas will quiet down a noisy engine, that doesn't mean it is doing the engine any good. Typically a mechanic working for a used car department will add Lucas to quiet a noisy engine down, and make the car a little more desirable to an unsuspecting customer.
 
Originally Posted By: ADFD1
Adding Lucas will quiet down a noisy engine, that doesn't mean it is doing the engine any good. Typically a mechanic working for a used car department will add Lucas to quiet a noisy engine down, and make the car a little more desirable to an unsuspecting customer.


+1, my friend bought a car that ran pretty quiet. Well, it started making noise soon after. In the trunk he found a bottle of Lucas, so the guy was covering it up.
 
Remember 50% of people that test for medicine gets the sugar pill, and they claim it works for them the same as the 50% that gets the real stuff. I think you guys that think you hear more noise with M1 are the same 50% that gets the sugar pill.
 
I convinced a friend to switch from M1 5W-20 to PP 5W-20 in his '08 Expedition (5.4 3V), he too observed a quieter/smoother running engine after the switch.
 
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