Ram air -use mineral oil

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Aircraft have a whole different set of safety requirements than cars. For one thing, fouling spark plugs is Very Bad (tm.) If an aircraft manufacturer has to endure a lot more engine wear to be more certain that plugs won't foul... well, they'll pick the wear any day. Hence the extreme emphasis on ashless detergents. Also, the short time between overhauls of most aircraft engines is another reason that detergency isn't as important as it is in car engines. It may also be that some synthetics are more prone to ash than mineral oils too. Don't know much more detail than that. Truth be told, I think there's also a lot of superstition (or proof by many years of safe and successful use, as many view it) in aircraft engine design and lubrication also.
 
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Given the way an aircraft engine is run, it has a pretty long interval between overhauls.
Plug fouling in normal operation is not usually a problem. To ensure that all cylinders will likely fire, aircraft engines have dual ignition (top and bottom plugs in each cylinder), by magneto, which is entirely independent of the airplane's electrical system.
Try running your car wide open all of the time, and see hown long the engine lasts. This is permissable with most normally aspirated piston aircraft engines. For that matter, with rare exceptions, 75% of rated power can be used continuously, for as long as you have fuel. I don't think any car engine can do that.
There was once upon a time an M1 aviation oil. In the right engine, it produced exceptionally low wear. In the wrong engine (mainly the old 90 octane engines, a fuel no longer available, so one must use 100LL), its poor lead scavenging caused problems, and failures.
M1 Av was withdrawn from the market.
AFAIK, there is no pure synthetic approved oil for type certified piston aircraft at the moment.
Incidentally, drain intervals are typically 50 hours for engines without oil filters, and 100 hours for those that have them.
This means that in a fast single, the oil is run the equivalent of 10K miles+, allowing for taxi, climb, descent, etc.
Oil additions will be required, and the sump capacity is generous.
 
Adding to the above post, PAO does not have sufficient solvency to scavenge lead, and ashless dispersants are not sufficient alone. 100 "Low Lead" gasoline actually has more lead than automotive fuel ever had. Its just less lead than the old 100/130 avgas. These were not engines designed to run on 80/87 but high performance turbocharged, fuel injected Continentals. The constant speed propeller hubs were also filled with lead sludge.

Here is a link to the story of Mobil AV-1.

http://www.avweb.com/news/news/182891-1.html

Why RAM does not like semi-synthetic aviation oils, like 15W-50 Aeroshell, I dont know.
 
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