# Synthetic vs Conventional engine oil????



## GreatWhiteNorth (Oct 14, 2007)

What is your opinion. Is there any benefit to using synthetic motor oil? Being that the oil is the life blood of your engine, I change mine religiously every 3 months or 5000kms. If you change the oil regularly, is there really any benefit from using synthetic. A buddy of mine says the synthetic allows him to go longer between changes without break down. I get this, but if there are any small particles circulating with that synthetic oil that the filter can't remove, are you not just doing more damage than good? So within the 3month / 5000km period is there still a benefit? I can change my oil 2 times for the same cost as my buddy's one synthetic change. Will I truely get better mileage on synthetic? Thanks for your input!tymusic


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## Mike N (Dec 21, 2008)

Imo if you change your oil & filter at regular intervals you'll be fine with a conventional oil. I myself do my own oil changes every 5000 miles and have no problem with regular oil.

The car in my avatar runs the quarter mile in the low 10 second range and I run conventional oil in that as well.


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## mayhem (Aug 25, 2006)

Agreed. If you don't mind changing your oil regularly stick with conventional. Synthetic will give you a boost in economy, but not enough to cover the additional cost...less than a half mpg in my Silverado.

I do my oil every 10k and filter every 5k with synthetic.

I think that if you don't need to extended length between changes then you get no useful benefit.


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## theplowmeister (Nov 14, 2006)

I run synthetic oil and change every year before plowing and when I'm done plowing. In my car I run 10K miles between changes.


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## CityGuy (Dec 19, 2008)

My mechanic told me that there is not enough improvment in a truck to justify the extra cost. A sports car is a different story. In my honest opinion I have no clue if one is better than another. I run regular as I can buy it cheaper in bulk at Costco.


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## stroker79 (Dec 2, 2006)

Well I switched to syn recently on my diesel pickup and I will never go back to conventional oil. My truck starts up MUCH easier in the winter which tells me that the oil flows better and creates less resistance in the engine which I would think is good.

The oil is def not twice the cost and I can go twice the oil chang interval however instead, I will change at 8k-10k intervals instead of 6k intervals with regular oil.


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## JDiepstra (Sep 15, 2008)

Synthetic is definately an improvement in many ways, as mentioned above... Also, I go 20,000 miles on my Amsoil or more and my oil analisys verifies that it is "fine".


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## xtreem3d (Nov 26, 2005)

GreatWhiteNorth;753118 said:


> What is your opinion. Is there any benefit to using synthetic motor oil? Being that the oil is the life blood of your engine, I change mine religiously every 3 months or 5000kms. If you change the oil regularly, is there really any benefit from using synthetic. A buddy of mine says the synthetic allows him to go longer between changes without break down. I get this, but if there are any small particles circulating with that synthetic oil that the filter can't remove, are you not just doing more damage than good? So within the 3month / 5000km period is there still a benefit? I can change my oil 2 times for the same cost as my buddy's one synthetic change. Will I truely get better mileage on synthetic? Thanks for your input!tymusic


according to 2 buddies who are mechanics for UPS here in st. louis if you change your oil regularly there is NO benefit to synthetic. UPS uses syn in thier long haul trucks but the start and stop trucks get regular oil. also according to them UPS has done extensive research into when and why to use syn vs conventional oil....something unrelated that i found interesting an air filter for a car is not it's most effective until it is about 20% clogged/dirty.


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## HinikerPrototyp (Jan 22, 2008)

I have been running synthetic motor oil in my diesel since 2002, it cranks over so easy when its colder then crap outside.The first year i had it 2001 i used Rotella and it started so hard and shook like it was on one cylinder. I have about 79000 on the girl and usually change it once a year and it doesnt use any oil .You do have to check your air cleaner more often due to the salt dust clogging it all the time.


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## 06Sierra (Nov 30, 2008)

It cost me $15-$20 more for an oil change with synthetic over conventional oil. But I only went 3-4000 miles between changes on conventional and 6-7000 on synthetic. The main reason for changing over is the cold weather starts. Synthetic does much better when it's -40!


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## justme- (Dec 28, 2004)

To most people there is no benefit to syn if you change your oil regularly, and "regularly" needs to be defined as "soon enough".
The determining factor in oil is the additives which get used up. Oil will still lubricate long after it is after to provide the additives needed to keep it from sludging, coking, gumming, etc.
The lesser quality dino oil will use it's additives sooner in most cases, and the viscosity breakdown (where it stops lubricating) often happens sooner too.

Synthetic oil is beneficial in high performance engines (sports cars, turbo charged engines) as well as working engines and cold weather engines. Synthetic is available in wider viscosity ranges the Dino oil, and usually extends to a thinner oil in it's cold state meaning cold starts get oil sooner, which is where 90% of the damage and wear is done to an engine (because there is little oil....). Synthetic always has higher viscosity breakdown numbers, and most synthetics can capture more soot than a dino oil so diesel engines can run longer on a change before it turns black.

Been running Synthetic in my CTD since I got it and I have been told by Cummins mechanics (I'm near Cummins Northeast) they have seen Dodge diesel's running synthetic with over 250K miles still looking like new inside, not with the typical wear a conventional oil engine has. What does that say? Cummins/Dodge has 6K change intervals for dino oil... I run 6K in the winter because of plowing, and 7-9K the rest of the year between changes- and a new Fleetguard filter (never use fram) at each change.

I have also seen first hand the benefits on a Unimog which gained a lot from switching to Mobil 1.


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## augerandblade (Jan 17, 2009)

tymusicWe use synthetic oil 0W40 in our 6.5 diesels cuz it gets COLD here and its hard to start when the oil is syrup.  Only if your a worry wart would you have a concern that a oil filter is not doing the job.  Its not the oil that breaks down (im told) but it is the additives that get depleted over time. Big fleets running highway test their oil at regular intervals if it comes back with a pass they just change the filter and dont change the oil. Please dont tell me different otherwise I'll become a "worry wart:


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## creativedesigns (Sep 24, 2007)

stroker79;753288 said:


> Well I switched to syn recently on my diesel pickup and I will never go back to conventional oil. My truck starts up MUCH easier in the winter which tells me that the oil flows better and creates less resistance in the engine which I would think is good.
> 
> The oil is def not twice the cost and I can go twice the oil chang interval however instead, I will change at 8k-10k intervals instead of 6k intervals with regular oil.


I've never heard such nonsense before!  Conventional or Synthetic oil does not alter the oil change intervals in any way. In fact a lot of PS guys who run diesel engines play russian roulette with them. Every 3 months or 5000k is what a diesel technitian should tell' ya. Everyday we must check the oil levels in all our trucks before starting them...it's so essential for the life of the engine.


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## Danhoe (Oct 15, 2007)

My 1995 K 3500, 6.5 L. diesel has 247,500 miles on it been running Amsoil in it, the truck scales out at 13,000 lbs when I put amsoil in it I could see a temp. drop and starting easier in the winter. I now run it in my pumps, cut off saws and my Linkbelt excavator, next I will be putting in in my Cat backhoe. I also run it my wife's car. I am happy with it. Don't hesitate to run it. I put on at least 125 miles a day on my K 3500, it doesn't miss a lick. Dan


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## MileHigh (Nov 6, 2007)

Synthetic Oil Only...It's what my trucks deserve.

Plus it's the filter that needs changed before the oil.

Rotella Syn 5w40 in the diesel.
Mobil 1 Extended Performance 10w30 in all gas engines.

Anyone who tells you Dino oil will run just as good and provide similar protection as Synthetic oil is a crackhead.


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## Mike N (Dec 21, 2008)

BladeScape;753979 said:


> Anyone who tells you Dino oil will run just as good and provide similar protection as Synthetic oil is a crackhead.


Seems most of the people chiming in here for synthetic run a diesel- Maybe there is a benefit for them but for a regular gas engine dino oil is plenty good enough for me.

Years ago I was a crew member of a 7 second 190+mph Corvette that we ran in NSCA's outlaw street category. We ran a mix of 20w50 and straight 30 Napa conventional oil. Nothing trick here, regular wet sump 7 quart system with an ordinary AC delco filter. This thing produced 1000+ horses on engine alone, and near 1500 with the nitrous turned on. At the end of the year we tore the engine down to inspect it, and the bearings still looked like new. So good, in fact, we cleaned them and used them again the next season. In all the years I've raced my own car and/or crewed on a faster car we _never_ nicked a bearing, or had any oil related failure. We may have wadded up a few pistons from an over agressive nitrous tuneup, but nothing you could blame on the oil we ran.


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## stroker79 (Dec 2, 2006)

creativedesigns;753889 said:


> I've never heard such nonsense before!  Conventional or Synthetic oil does not alter the oil change intervals in any way. In fact a lot of PS guys who run diesel engines play russian roulette with them. Every 3 months or 5000k is what a diesel technitian should tell' ya. Everyday we must check the oil levels in all our trucks before starting them...it's so essential for the life of the engine.


HUH???

Yes oil level is very important on our trucks but I check the oil once a month if that. Over the period or 8k miles i might use a quart of oil and thats partially because I have a small oil leak. I have Oil Analysis done every other OC at about 5k and the oil is always in great shape and they say that I am ok to run another 3-5k more on that change.

Also if you need anymore detailed reports and testamonies, head over to ford-trucks.com and start reading.


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## BigDave12768 (Nov 17, 2006)

Gota agree with all the posts. its better to start a diesel with in cold weather. They fire up much easier and quieter. I also saw a small mileage increase. For a regular gas engine in a pick up. It would work well if you keep you trucks along and into high mileage.


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## theguynextdoor (Sep 18, 2007)

*Is it true that if you have always ran conventional in a truck/car with a lot of miles on it that switching to synthetic is not good? * I tried to switch to synthetic in my 1998 Dodge 2500 with 130,000 miles. It burned that synthetic twice as fast as conventional. I suppose this might not be the case in all trucks because mine burns oil and coolant...and ALOT of gas. If i bought a new car/truck I would immediately switch it over to synthetic when I bought it.


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## GreatWhiteNorth (Oct 14, 2007)

theguynextdoor;756739 said:


> *Is it true that if you have always ran conventional in a truck/car with a lot of miles on it that switching to synthetic is not good? * I tried to switch to synthetic in my 1998 Dodge 2500 with 130,000 miles. It burned that synthetic twice as fast as conventional. I suppose this might not be the case in all trucks because mine burns oil and coolant...and ALOT of gas. If i bought a new car/truck I would immediately switch it over to synthetic when I bought it.


I tried synthetic in my 97 silverado. I had always run conventional oil and changed it religiously. As I drove out of the Lube place we use with my $70.00 synthetic oil change, the truck started ticking (lifters I was told later). My mechanic buddy said that the synthetic was so good at what it does that it removed the varnish from the lifters and exposed the slight scars causing them not to pump up as efficiently thus causing the ticking. The truck had 200 000 kms at the time and had never ticked in its life. My mechanic suggested running the synthetic only for a short time to clean up the rest of the engine and then dump it and go back to conventional. I did just that. It took awhile (and some oil additive) but the lifters eventually stopped ticking. I asked my mechanic about our new truck and he said as long as we stick with the synthetic from new, chances are that we will get longer life out of the engine. He said I was not the only one that he had heard of having problems in an older engine with synthetic. I am still waiting to hear what everyone else has to say about synthetic. Thanks to everyone for their input!


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## Niteman9 (Jan 6, 2007)

I ran Shell Rotella in my 2002 Ford 7.3 for the first 150,000 miles. I then switched to the Shell Syntetic Rotella. I now have a little over 190,000 miles. I always change the oil on a 10,000 mile interval. On my last oil change I used a Fleetgaurd FG/LF9027 filter. It is a full flow and bypass filter in one unit. I plan to get an oil analysis done around 9,000 miles and see what it shows.


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## Rock Boat (Feb 12, 2009)

i run rotella in my car i tryed the synthetic once never go back to it with convetional oil i have like 80 psi 60psi at idle with snythetic i had 30 psi running and 5psi at idle so my suggesttion to you would be get a gauge if your going to change to synthetic not the stock one in your truck but a real gauge that goes from 0 to 100 psi and see what kind of oil pressure you have after you do the change and if you have any leaks its going to leak more with synthetic then convetional oil


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## russ130 (Oct 29, 2002)

I think its safe to say synthetic oil is far superior to regular oil in every way. It is the new way of doing things and like anything new some people fight it all the way. Same thing happened with the horseless carriage, people hated them and swore they where useless and could never replace their trusty horse. Well at first those people where right because the technology was not advanced enough at the time. You had to go up hills backwards fuel was hard to find and so on. Then someone invented a fuel pump so no more backing up hills. Then more gas stations started opening up so that problem was getting solved. Now we have this new synthetic oil that costs too much and so on. It runs too clean? If you are relying on oil gumming up to keep things from ticking or oil from getting burned you are putting a band-aid on a bigger problem. Reminds me of a guy I knew putting gear oil in to quiet down a rod knock. To the OP I would totally disregard those posts because those are not a reason to run conventional oil just excuses why they aren't fixing their equipment. I personally still run conventional oil but for one reason and one reason only. I still have some on hand. Once its gone I am using synthetic oil because it is superior. When you get right down to it people in general don't want to accept change. I think if you go to any forum and search for this topic you will see the same answers in different words. 

Look I'm not trying to come across as an a**. You guys putting a band-aid fix on, I can relate, I think there is a good chance the majority of us have been there. Alright maybe I am an a**.


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## ahoron (Jan 22, 2007)

synthetic oil is good noone is arguing that. alI my trucks the all have convential oil which works fine. The small fuel savings is not worth the extra cost. Guys say you don't need to change your oil as often with synthetic. ask your dealer what happens to your warranty if you don't follow their recommended schedule for oil changes.


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## russ130 (Oct 29, 2002)

ahoron;758505 said:


> The small fuel savings is not worth the extra cost.


Is the cost of replacing your engine or the vehicle more frequently worth the extra cost? Or how about the loss of value due to a smoking engine from worn piston rings?
Not everyone buys new and gets ridiculous amounts for their old crap box in trade.(my neighbor just got 10k for his pos toyota)
Not everyone is worried about their warranty because that has long since been up.(mine is a 78) I don't remember getting grilled about oil change frequency anytime I've had warranty work done. In fact I've never been asked, ever!
Not everyone falls for the mpg bull for every product on the market.(remember the magnets that clipped over the fuel line?)
I built my truck and using something better than the same old is a sound investment for me. I'm ok with using conventional oil right now because my motor is still breaking in with under 1000 mi. on it. Seems you can't use synthetic oil for break in because not enough wear takes place to properly break it in.(found a legitimate reason for conventional oil)


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## Mike N (Dec 21, 2008)

Russ you make it sound like conventional oil has gone the way of the steam locomotive. Fact is oil has come a long way, both conventional and synthetic. Conventional oil is factory fill for 99% of new cars and trucks, and if you change your oil and filter frequently enough there's nothing wrong with it. In another thread I mentioned my 84 Chevy K10. 373,000 miles, original engine. Never saw a drop of synthetic oil, and that truck was used to tow my Camaro to the racetrack 2x a week, and it also had a 7 1/2' Western plow on it. I pulled the pan to inspect the bearings the day before it left for the junkyard, and they were still gray in color- showing little to no wear. The frame and body were beyond rotten, but the engine still ran like a top. My current truck has 210,000 miles on it, no smoking or drinking oil, and no synthetic either. 

For what I do I see no need for synthetic oil. If, however, I lived in Alaska or was turning 8000 rpm around Daytona all afternoon you can bet I'd be running synthetic oil.


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## ahoron (Jan 22, 2007)

russ130;758546 said:


> Is the cost of replacing your engine or the vehicle more frequently worth the extra cost? Or how about the loss of value due to a smoking engine from worn piston rings?)


I've never had to replace an engine /vehicle because of a engine failure. I have over 200,000 miles on my 02. Never so much as removed a valve cover on that motor. Just change the oil when oil light says and you won't have a problem. Truck came from gm without syn. and has run. Doesn't leak or burn oil. If you want to spend money on synthetic by all means do so if it makes you sleep better at night. If Gm wanted me to use synthetic they would say so. At 200,000 miles and 7 years my truck owes me nothing and if the motor blew tomorrow that would be okay I have gotten my moneys worth.


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## russ130 (Oct 29, 2002)

Mike N - I'm not saying conventional oil is useless or anything to that effect. I change my oil a lot more than most people and I have never had a problem with it either. What I am saying is that for the average Joe Smoe who is highly unlikely to change their oil on anything that resembles a schedule, synthetic would be the way to go without a doubt. 

ahoron - I have over a 1,000,000 mi on my 30 yr old truck. If the motor blew on it I would be heart broken cause that truck has been in my life longer than anyone but my immediate family. I'm on my second motor which was just put in less than 1k mi ago and my second tranny which was done some 30k mi ago. Both of which I built myself because I wanted it done perfect. I plan on getting another 30 yrs out of it and then my daughter has dibs on it. I have always used the best fluids whether it be motor oil, tranny fluid, grease, light oil, antifreeze or what have you. 7 years out of a truck, please, that truck is still a new born. 

Thank god for that 7 year mentality its how I come across almost new parts in junk yards all the time. So yeah use not only conventional oil but buy it at the dollar store I heard it last forever hehehe.


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## robison_01 (Feb 4, 2009)

i use a semi synthetic by brad penz who was head guy for penzoil made his own oil produced it its a green oil. best engine protection easy start up. change oil evry 7 - 8 thousand no lost of oil highly recomend this oil. hard to find in ares but it's 4 dollars a quart


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## articstorm (Dec 15, 2005)

*Its in the filter.*

I'm not an expert on oils but I will share what I know about the subject. I think most of the bullet points have been covered above and mostly I would agree with them. However the most important part of any oil change has not fully been covered and that is the importance of a quality filter.

This is one place where the Amsoil people and their filters shine better than most of the rest. (Most of the Amsoil filters are made by Bradley or Hastings). Anyway if you look into how a filter functions it does two things to affect the performance and protect the engine and those are measured by flow point and Millipore size. Other things that are important is the actual construction of the filter because here is where you get what you pay for. Some brands such as the old Delco was great on flow but this was in part to a very open Millipore size which allows too much dirt to get threw and stops being effective very quickly. Others such as Fram are so bad in every part that they should come with a warning from the Surgeon General such as they put on cigarettes' stating how much your engine is not being protected by our product I should mention that from the studys I've read, besides the Amsoil filters the Wix brand and the Wix filters sold under the N.A.P.A. gold are very good filters also.

Although I've never heard that a filter works better after being 20% clogged and I would question where that information was coming from, I can say with certainty that one filter can do a much better job for a much longer time based on how it's made and what materials go into it.

The main reasons I starting using Synthetic oils in the first place was for marine engines. Amsoil developed an oil specifically for a marine environment and the extended oil change intervals allow me to run an engine up to 150 hours instead of the regular 50 hours with conventional oils and let me tell you crawling into a bilge room that's 90 degrees and changing two engines oil three times a year not only cost more, it's not very fun either.

After a couple season of that I started using synthetics in my regular vehicles as well. One thing though is that I use both Amsoil and Mobile 1 oils. The reason I'm using Mobile 1 instead of Amsoil in my truck it that my truck likes to use oil a little, like many of the Chevy 8.1 Gas engines do and I'm adding about a half a quart for every 25 or so hours of plowing with it or 1500 miles running it down the road. The vehicle I use mobile in is my wife's SUV that uses a cartridge filter and Amsoil doesn't have a filter for this yet so I'm changing the filter at 5,000 and the oil at 10,000. My car uses maybe a half a quart every 4000 miles so it's strictly uses Amsoil and only get changed once a year.

So I'm definitely saving time, and in my opinion I'm treating my engines better and yes I do use synthetic in my small engines and drive train components.


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## CityGuy (Dec 19, 2008)

Ok so now that we are kinda of onto filters what are the differences in filters and what should you look for in a filter?


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## jimz2500 (Dec 19, 2008)

Puralator PureOne, Wix/Napa gold, k&n....

Gonna be ALOT of opinions on this too...lol.


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## justme- (Dec 28, 2004)

Just stay away from Fram- poor construction techniques and less filter material have been seen every time they are compared against ANYONE else.

I will add one more thing- GM doesn't recommend Synthetic because they don't make as much money on it as conventional. Everything the manufacturer sells is overly expensive compared to other sources right? Why would you expect oil to be any different?
The factory fill for a Corvette is Synthetic (give me a couple of days and I'll find a list of factory fills using synthetic I saw a few months ago- it'll surprise you. It's more like 70% conventional these days).
Also remember, synthetic has been proven to lessen engine wear so it normally shouldn't be used in an engine that needs to wear in for best performance until it has worn it- Cummins engines should have at least 40K before switching, IH recommends something similar for diesels. And engine broken in on Synthetic will take significantly longer to break in. Not marketing, facts.


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## streetsurfin' (Jan 22, 2004)

ahoron;758505 said:


> synthetic oil is good noone is arguing that. alI my trucks the all have convential oil which works fine. The small fuel savings is not worth the extra cost.


Some of this may have already been mentioned, but it is not just fuel savings that are seen. You have easier cold weather starts, lower exhaust emissions/less pollution, less to deal with in regard to the waste oil being discarded, less packaging materials and natural resources being used as in the plastics for the containers, paper for the boxes they come in and the energy used to produce them, quieter and smoother operating equipment, lower operating temperatures, better protection from overheating in the event of a failure of the cooling system or other mechanical failure,better cooling in the heat of summer, less drain and wear on the battery and starting system, less wear of bearings and cylinder walls/rings at start up, easier smoother shifting when used in manual transmissions and cooler operating temps of automatics, better protection of suspension components when synthetic greases are used, better protection against water damage should a cooling system gasket fail or from condensation or you drive into a lake, longer life of seals and gaskets, better protection from acids and other contaminants which are the by-products of combustion during storage, time saved on fleet maintenance (or for the individual), helps slow the depletion of natural petroleum reserves, in the case of the marine and outboard oils-less pollution to our streams and lakes, better performance/increased horsepower, and so on, and so on.


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## Mike N (Dec 21, 2008)

articstorm;759821 said:


> I'm not an expert on oils but I will share what I know about the subject. I think most of the bullet points have been covered above and mostly I would agree with them. However the most important part of any oil change has not fully been covered and that is the importance of a quality filter.
> 
> This is one place where the Amsoil people and their filters shine better than most of the rest. (Most of the Amsoil filters are made by Bradley or Hastings). Anyway if you look into how a filter functions it does two things to affect the performance and protect the engine and those are measured by flow point and Millipore size. Other things that are important is the actual construction of the filter because here is where you get what you pay for. Some brands such as the old Delco was great on flow but this was in part to a very open Millipore size which allows too much dirt to get threw and stops being effective very quickly. Others such as Fram are so bad in every part that they should come with a warning from the Surgeon General such as they put on cigarettes' stating how much your engine is not being protected by our product I should mention that from the studys I've read, besides the Amsoil filters the Wix brand and the Wix filters sold under the N.A.P.A. gold are very good filters also.


That's all great the certain filters can filter down to the smallerst particle possible, but most (if not all) production engines have a filter bypass in them that allows oil to bypass the filter if for some reason the filter can't keep up with oil flow demands. The theory behind this is it's better to let even dirty oil circulate thru the engine to keep the bearings lubricated, versus no oil at all. So I guess to put it simply not all the oil gets filtered all the time. No matter how good your filter is, there's always some dirt circulating around.

With that being said I certainly wouldn't run the cheapest Chinese filter I could find, but I also wouldn't be searching for the most expensive filter either.


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## russ130 (Oct 29, 2002)

I blocked my bypass off to ensure all oil gets filtered. It means I have to be very attentive to my oil change schedule, which I tend to be overly compulsive about.


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## articstorm (Dec 15, 2005)

Yes filters have bypasses, and again this where you get what you pay for. Really crappy filters that clog quickly and have weak springs will be running a great deal of oil through the bypass. The spring that is used and construction of the filter element is what determines the flow through the bypass. Amsoil filters use a synthetic media that will not break down like a paper media. Look it up.

Amsoil filters run about $15 to $18 a filter. If I’m only going to change my oil once a year on many of my engines than that’s the one I’m going to go out and find. If someone doesn't want to spend the money on this stuff or feels it's not worth it then by all means do so, I was just stating that filters are just as important as the oil you put in it. So if you going to put a lower quality filter on, then don't waste the money with the synthetic oil. But if you want true protection and longer life oil then use a good filter. 

I know it's been mentioned before on this thread but I'll mention it again. Even the best oils are really giving you an estimate of how long their oil will last. To truly know if your oil is still good then an oil analysis is needed. Is anybody going to do this? Very few will. But if a company is claiming that you can run 25000 miles on their oil and filters and they have done the tests to prove it then I would believe them.


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## Mike N (Dec 21, 2008)

russ130;760798 said:


> I blocked my bypass off to ensure all oil gets filtered.


That is something that I personally would not have done, but if it works for you that's great.


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## Mike N (Dec 21, 2008)

articstorm;761159 said:


> Yes filters have bypasses, and again this where you get what you pay for. Really crappy filters that clog quickly and have weak springs will be running a great deal of oil through the bypass. The spring that is used and construction of the filter element is what determines the flow through the bypass. Amsoil filters use a synthetic media that will not break down like a paper media. Look it up.


In the case of a small or big block Chevy the bypass is in the filter adapter, not the filter itself. So even with the best filter you're still at the mercy of the factory bypass, unless you block it off, which I personally wouldn't.


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## streetsurfin' (Jan 22, 2004)

The solution to that is to install a bypass filter, which filters all the time.


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## unimogr (Feb 18, 2004)

> I have also seen first hand the benefits on a Unimog which gained a lot from switching to Mobil 1.


Model 404? What weight did you run?

I'm using Delo 15w 40 in my U-1300L and change twice a year. It's overkill because I put on about 3000 klicks a year.


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## cplmac (Nov 25, 2009)

creativedesigns;753889 said:


> Every 3 months or 5000k is what a diesel technitian should tell' ya. Everyday we must check the oil levels in all our trucks before starting them...it's so essential for the life of the engine.


Not necessarily, diesel engines have the added benefit of being lubricated not only by the motor oil but by the fuel as well. It's important to check the oil level in your vehicle periodically, but unless you have a noticeable oil leak or oil burn it's not necessary on a daily basis, if it's dangerously low you will see it on the oil pressure guage.

I've been using synthetic in my car since the day I bought it, 100k miles and the motor runs like new. How much of that is a result of the synthetic I don't know, but I know I'm not going to change that practice with my truck.


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## Two Seasons (Dec 6, 2009)

There isn't as much sulfur in diesel fuel like there was several years ago, so the oil doesn't get contaminated as quickly, is what what we've been told.

We use synthetic oil in everything, even our two-stroke engines get Stihl HP Ultra oil---the white bottle.


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## silvercity (Jan 10, 2009)

Just wondering how many people on here have had a engine failure and were using a Fram filter? I have been in business for over 22yrs and have owned over 100 cars,trucks and machines. We service all our equipment on a regular basis and knock on wood have never had a engine failure[other then my race cars] and have used most every oil and filter made. I think it comes down to taking care of your stuff and regular maintenance.


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## NICHOLS LANDSCA (Sep 15, 2007)

robison_01;758653 said:


> i use a semi synthetic by brad penz who was head guy for penzoil made his own oil produced it its a green oil. best engine protection easy start up. change oil evry 7 - 8 thousand no lost of oil highly recomend this oil. hard to find in ares but it's 4 dollars a quart


Actually the Brad Penn oil is the "old" Kendall formula. The current Kendall is made by Conoco Phillips which is NOT the same oil as the original


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