Originally Posted By: lexus114
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
You cannot just assume the oil has zero effect on the cam phasing. That's counter to the specification of an oil in the first place!
of course oil weight does affect the operation of some cam moving devices, on others it may not. It depends on the particular nature of the design.
For years Chrysler warned against heavier oils in their MDS equipped Hemis, but it was quickly discovered that heavier oil never hurt a thing, just changed it ever so slightly.
Well Steve, I have come to the conclusion that my v-6 just runs better on the Synthetic oil. I still use conventional oil too (I have too many jugs to use up) but every time I put in Synthetic, it runs better. Meaning more pep. Could it be in my head (placebo affect) yeah, it could be.
And you know, if it makes things feel good to YOU, what could be wrong with that? I played with my car's computers for a year to get the exact driveability I wanted. It's our car, we get to do what we like.
But the Chrysler community has been hashing out this MDS thing since 04, and we have too much evidence to list that it simply makes very little difference for most people.
Personally, I think you should run the thinnest oil you can without damage, but many would not want to. That's their privilege if they own the vehicle.