Synthetic Blend Oil

98 LeSabre here 3800 v6 series 2 engine.
Car book calls for 10w30 preferred.but 60 degrees F or less 5w30 acceptable.
Why do you want to run 10w40? Too thick ...
 
What is "group 2 plus"? Someone's new marketing term of a an API group that doesn't exist?
Correct, such a distinction does not exist in the API interchange. However, it is commonly used to designate Group II products that are on the high side of VI for the definition, plus lower contaminates and higher saturation than typical Group II bases. An example is the ISOSYN that Chevron uses.

A better Group II than some others, but still not qualifying for the requirements of a Group III.
 
Curious on what people think about running syn-blend in an 02 lesabre. Looking to run it because I want a 10W-40 but its nearly non existent in full syntheticthetic. If anyone has any thoughts or experiences with supertech or quaker state all-mileage, or valvoline maxlife synthetic blend please share. Or any used oil analysis to share. I want to know if it would shorten the life of my engine at all compared to a full synthetic doing 3k OCI.
Mt Dad's Le Sabre and my Regal both used 10w30. Both had the 3.8. We used Quaker State or Pennzoil. Dad used reg oil, I used Syn blend. Both were running beautifully when sold. The Regal was sold at 98,000, the le Sabre at ~160,000 (Both miles).
 
Any modern synthetic-blend oil would be more than sufficient for your vehicle if it otherwise meets spec. Heck, even brand new Mustang GT's with ~500hp come with synthetic blend from the factory. Respectfully, you may be overthinking this.
That's because Ford knows the factory fill will be drained in 500 miles or less. LoL
 
Our beloved '06 Acura TSX with the mighty K24 has 242K on the clock. It has been on a steady 4500 OCI diet of Mobil 1 5w30.
The internals are squeaky clean; I never check the level because there is no reason. I would drive it anywhere right now.

I've dealt with numerous K24 driven cars; many of us have. This one has to be one of the very best.

No failure is a great thing, but a long, high quality life is even better. And cheap insurance, IMO.
Auto or manual tranmission?
Awesome little cars 💪
 
Yes, but whenever someone around here gives the "it doesn't cost much" argument for shorter OCI they often get a blast from the boutique / long OCI guys there being wasteful?

As always "worth it" is in the eyes of the beholder. I have never suffered a oil related engine failure on Conventional / semi syn following manufacturers OCI suggestion. I am no chemist but with an engine design that doesn't have any shortcomings I wonder if a cheap synthetic is really any better than a conventional from someone like Chevron or Valvoline?

As always, YMMV and Caveat Emptor.

This response was part of the comments given to me on my last oil report for my 2023 Harley M8 engine and I quote...
"In our experience, conventional. semi-synthetic, and a full synthetic oils all perform about equally well in this kind of engine"

The things that make one stop and go, Hmmmm? LOL
You boutique oil guys don't shoot the messenger...

Reminds me of the old oil 80's commercial...
 
I would and have run full synth ~23 years. Semi seems like pinching Pennies for ?

Caveat. Family had a well worn 200k early ‘00’s Grand Cherokee with the wicked Damlier v8. Last few years Full synth even Mobil 1 High Mileage burned about 1qt/1,000 miles Semi cut that by 50%
 
I would and have run full synth ~23 years. Semi seems like pinching Pennies for ?

Caveat. Family had a well worn 200k early ‘00’s Grand Cherokee with the wicked Damlier v8. Last few years Full synth even Mobil 1 High Mileage burned about 1qt/1,000 miles Semi cut that by 50%
Back in the late 90's I was a Mobil 1 fanboy and used it in our 98 Chevy truck and 98 Grand Prix. I noticed after a while that both vehicles were using more oil and that the engines in both were noisier. Both of these vehicles were bought new by us and had low miles at the time. I even took the truck back to the dealer because the engine had developed a tick but they said nothing was wrong.

After about a year I went back to Chevron conventional and in both cases, the oil consumption went down and the engines were not noisy and the tick in the truck went away. I still own the truck to this day and other than some piston slap on a cold startup it still runs quiet.

I never ran Mobil 1 again and have not used a full synthetic again. I use all semi-synthetic oils now and all of the vehicles in my signature I have owned for 19 years or longer and none of them have engine issues. I'm not saying a full synthetic is bad but I personally don't run it and don't have engine issues even after years of use.
 
Back in the late 90's I was a Mobil 1 fanboy and used it in our 98 Chevy truck and 98 Grand Prix. I noticed after a while that both vehicles were using more oil and that the engines in both were noisier. Both of these vehicles were bought new by us and had low miles at the time. I even took the truck back to the dealer because the engine had developed a tick but they said nothing was wrong.

After about a year I went back to Chevron conventional and in both cases, the oil consumption went down and the engines were not noisy and the tick in the truck went away. I still own the truck to this day and other than some piston slap on a cold startup it still runs quiet.

I never ran Mobil 1 again and have not used a full synthetic again. I use all semi-synthetic oils now and all of the vehicles in my signature I have owned for 19 years or longer and none of them have engine issues. I'm not saying a full synthetic is bad but I personally don't run it and don't have engine issues even after years of use.
I purchased my 1997 Harley new and used mineral oil the first few years but I thought it may benefit from trying then then new on the market Mobil 1 Synthetic V-Twin motorcycle oil. I changed it myself with new filter like I always did but Immediately I noticed at every stop a top end tic, tic, tic, I did 15-20 miles with the ticking then back home and dumped the Mobil 1 and refilled with mineral and now 27 years later, I still have the bike and has never again had a drop of synthetic and I have NEVER heard any ticking again.
Then around 2004 I purchased a one owner cream-puff Ford Crown Vic and did excessive early OCI using Mobil 1 Synthetic on my low mile per year car.

I sold the car before it hit 60K miles at at around 50K I had blue oil puff at startup ( assume valve seats ) I guess I can't blame it on the Mobil 1 oil but I stopped using Mobil at that point sold that new looking car and purchased many ( I think 6 or 7 ) retired Police Crown Vic some with high miles 140K+ I always used Motorcraft "Blend " oil in those Crown Vics and never ever seen a blue puff of smoke again...

I can't say anything is wrong with Mobil 1 as so many on this forum love it but I can say my old EVO Harley didn't like it and I had possible oil related issues when using Mobil 1 and with all the oil choices it was just easy to walk away from Mobil 1.


On my modern new 2023 Harley I did a early 100 mile break-in oil changed and filled with mineral Bel-Ray oil, then changed to Bel-Ray blend at 1K and still had a smooth top end. I do start to get valve train noise around 1,800 miles so I wonder IF Synthetic may get me more miles without oil shear. I may try a full synthetic to see, may not as I believe have a mineral or mineral blend offers less top end noise on a Harley. I do early OCI anyway so we see how I feel this summer. IF the oil don'y work I can alwasy dump it out and refill with what I know works.
 
I purchased my 1997 Harley new and used mineral oil the first few years but I thought it may benefit from trying then then new on the market Mobil 1 Synthetic V-Twin motorcycle oil. I changed it myself with new filter like I always did but Immediately I noticed at every stop a top end tic, tic, tic, I did 15-20 miles with the ticking then back home and dumped the Mobil 1 and refilled with mineral and now 27 years later, I still have the bike and has never again had a drop of synthetic and I have NEVER heard any ticking again.
Then around 2004 I purchased a one owner cream-puff Ford Crown Vic and did excessive early OCI using Mobil 1 Synthetic on my low mile per year car.

I sold the car before it hit 60K miles at at around 50K I had blue oil puff at startup ( assume valve seats ) I guess I can't blame it on the Mobil 1 oil but I stopped using Mobil at that point sold that new looking car and purchased many ( I think 6 or 7 ) retired Police Crown Vic some with high miles 140K+ I always used Motorcraft "Blend " oil in those Crown Vics and never ever seen a blue puff of smoke again...

I can't say anything is wrong with Mobil 1 as so many on this forum love it but I can say my old EVO Harley didn't like it and I had possible oil related issues when using Mobil 1 and with all the oil choices it was just easy to walk away from Mobil 1.


On my modern new 2023 Harley I did a early 100 mile break-in oil changed and filled with mineral Bel-Ray oil, then changed to Bel-Ray blend at 1K and still had a smooth top end. I do start to get valve train noise around 1,800 miles so I wonder IF Synthetic may get me more miles without oil shear. I may try a full synthetic to see, may not as I believe have a mineral or mineral blend offers less top end noise on a Harley. I do early OCI anyway so we see how I feel this summer. IF the oil don'y work I can alwasy dump it out and refill with what I know works.
I have read of others having more engine noise when using Mobil 1 so I know I was not the only one. I'm sure it's a better oil than it was in the late 90's but I still have no desire to use it again. I will say that I've seen plenty of pictures of the inside of engines that claim to only use Mobil 1 and they looked super clean so that is a plus.

I own a 2014 Honda Rancher ATV that I bought new. It came with the Honda GN4 conventional oil in it. At the first oil change I switched it to the Honda full synthetic ATV oil and while the ATV seemed to shift better, the engine was definitely noisier, and the engine had a tap in it. I even went as far as checking the valve clearance even though it wasn't time to do so to see if the tapping was caused by that, but it was still within spec. On the next oil change I went to a semi-synthetic ATV oil and that quieted the engine down some but it still wasn't as quiet as it was with the original oil. I eventually went back to the GN4 and is what I run in it now. While the tapping probably wasn't hurting anything, I didn't like the sound of it. I guess some engines just don't like a synthetic. Honda doesn't recommend anything but GN4 in this ATV so that might have been a clue.
 
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