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Re: Synthetic oil

To: "bruce haden" <bhaden@ucsd.edu>, "Edwin Martens" <acbs@onemain.com>,
Subject: Re: Synthetic oil
From: John Galligan <galligan@gulftel.com>
Date: Wed, 08 May 2002 16:14:40 -0500
I use M1 exclusively in my Autox/Street car, and Valvoline in my wife's
street car, and am very happy with performance of both (the cars, not my
wife}. However; when i am counting pennies, i sometimes can not afford a
M1 filter also, so must use a "regular" filter. Am i destroying the
benefits of using M1 by using a cheap filter?  In such cases should i
just use regular oil, wait until i can afford both, or just do what i
have been doing, M1 with regular filter?  How important is the filter in
this case?  I change oil in both cars every 3 months or 3000.

John

Ron Nottingham wrote:
> 
> Alan Dahl wrote:
> >
> > I'd like to through in one real-world measurement into this synthetic
> > oil debate. My old autocross car is a 1990 Miata which I raced from
> > 1989-1993. I was concerned that the racing would cause extra wear on the
> > engine so I switched over to RedLine synthetic oil at about 30k and have
> > stuck with it ever since, changing my oil every 5-6,000 miles. At about
> > 151k the engine burned a exhaust valve when the header bolts loosened up
> > causing a lean condition. After I brought it in I got a call from my
> > mechanic wondering what type of oil I had been running. Seems that the
> > cylinder bores had *no* wear on them! He said that he could not measure
> > any wear at all and that the original cross-hatching could still be
> > seen. He had never seen an engine like that before and was amazed.
> >
> > Perhaps I am just lucky but this is enough proof for me of the
> > superiority of synthetic oils and RedLine in particular. I plan to keep
> > using it in the Miata (now at 171,000 miles and still going strong) and
> > in any future vehicles I buy.
> >
> 
> I don't know about RedLine, but your story about the Miata engine with
> cross-hatch and near new cylinder bores is not new.  I have an 84 300zxt
> with over 200k miles on the odo.  Still had the manufacturer's tags
> under the headbolts.  At 208k I rebuilt the engine due to a failed
> exhaust valve.  I got the car with 208k miles on it from my friend (I
> don't pass up free cars :-), he bought the car with 130k on it.  I don't
> know the kind of treatment it had its 1st 130k, but my friend was
> rough.  Oil change?  Just whenever. Synthetic oil?  The cheapest he
> could get.  When I opened that engine, I was surprised at how little
> wear there was.
> 
> Same for my 90 SHO, rebuilt at 133k due to spun rod bearing.  Bores and
> cross-hatch were like new.  I used synthetic in the the SHO for 10k (I
> got the car with 123k miles), but for these cars to spin rod bearings,
> you have to really not take care of the engine.  Cylinder bores were
> perfect, however.
> 
> --
> Ron N. - Dalton, GA    http://www.pchacker.org/
> 90 SHO                 http://www.v6sho.com/
> 84 300zxt              http://www.zxfiles.net/
> IZCC #4779
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