...the advantages are mostly in areas that matter only if (a) you've got a turbo or some quirk of engine design (e.g. the 3" main bearings in a Ford 351W) that cause high oil temps or (b) you want to run the oil longer than a few thousand miles (just about ANYTHING will work if you change every 3K miles, but I don't have the patience for that.)

Note that recent oil standards are not necessarily better than those of a few years back, automakers have been trying to get oil mfrs to reduce the zinc-compound extreme-pressure additives (highly desirable for non-roller valvetrains, etc that have a lot of sliding friction) because trace amounts that get past rings/valvestem seals reduce catalyst life and EPA now mandates 10yr/100K emissions warranty on cats. So the new SAE SM-grade oil has less EP additive than SJ and SL did (this is true for dino as well as synthetic.)

Note also that there's different 'flavors' of synthetic, the 'pure' synthetics are what are referred to as Group IV and Group V oils depending on the type of base stock they use. Group III oils are called synthetics in the US but not in Europe; their base stock is a very highly refined dino oil.

If you want an oil that's high on EP additive, you want a diesel synthetic like Shell Rotella T Synthetic 5W-40 (a very good Group III oil) which happens to be pretty cheap at Wal-Mart (it's the only thing I buy at Chez Walton.)

Otherwise, Amsoil, Mobil1, or the 'Net-famous 'German Castrol' (Castrol Syntec 0W-30, and ONLY 0W-30, as sold at Autozone and a few other chains is a German-made Group V 'pure' synthetic; ALL other US-market Syntec grades are Group III oils) - Mobil1 oils run thin, so their 0W-40 is about the same hot viscosity as a Castrol 0W-30 or BMW 5W-30 - are my choices.

posted by 198.144.20...

• synthetic vs. non synthetic oil, nathanb, Mon, 13 Jun 2005 19:32:40
  • Synthetic mostly better, but..., JEM, Wed, 15 Jun 2005 23:57:23 <-- Viewing This Message
  • Re: synthetic vs. non synthetic oil, dboone, Wed, 15 Jun 2005 15:49:00
  • Re: synthetic vs. non synthetic oil, Dick in Falls Church, Tue, 14 Jun 2005 12:27:15
  • Re: synthetic vs. non synthetic oil, Dean, Tue, 14 Jun 2005 11:57:18
  • Castrol is a good oil, period, and I understand..., Street, Tue, 14 Jun 2005 00:45:01
    • Re: Castrol is a good oil, period, and I understand..., nathanb, Tue, 14 Jun 2005 06:54:05
      • forgot something..., nathanb, Tue, 14 Jun 2005 06:55:31
        • Re: forgot something..., TML , Tue, 14 Jun 2005 07:08:40
  • Re: synthetic vs. non synthetic oil, TML , Mon, 13 Jun 2005 20:25:02

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