They all have to be pretty similar, their biggest customer (yep, the
government) demands that all the motor oils they buy be compatible with
eachother. It seems to me that if you have confidence in the particular "magic
goo" that goes in your engine, you change it regularly and frequently, you use
a quality (there's a nebulus term for ya) filter and change it frequently too,
that the engine will most likely last longer than you'd expect. Back when I
was younger and more foolish I ran whatever was cheap and changed it when I
started feeling guilty, and I've never had an oil related failure. Maybe I've
just been lucky, but I sorta think they're all good products. Of course some
might be a little better than others, but if you change it every 3k ~ 6k miles,
you'll be in fine shape, whichever brand you choose.
Ron Nottingham <nottingham@alltel.net> wrote: Date: Wed, 08 May 2002 16:25:45
-0400
From: Ron Nottingham
CC: autox@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Synthetic oil
Reply-to: Ron Nottingham
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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