Great Article Synthetic Oil

The new VW Trends has an outstanding article comparing oils/synthetic oils and effects on temps on all important points on the engine. I highly recommend reading it! Confirms Jake's findings, except they didn't compare synthetic brands.

Jim Ward
OKC Dub-U-Tub

It also mentioned that the car developed a leak using synthetic oil.

Synthetics have been superior for years. They also will leak/weep/seep/ooze out of any questionable seal or gasket where normal petroleum oils may not. The first racing synthetics I used in 1976 seeped out of their own cans enough to collect dust on the top and bottom.

I have been in the oil industry for over 16 years . I have talked to some of our research personnel regarding synthetics vs regular base motor oils. One thing that was pointed out was that you never want to put synthetic oil in a motor that has had regular oil for most of it's life. The synthetic will break the bonding of sludge and scale deposits within the the motor which is a good thing. The draw back is now all the desposits will clog up your oil filter. The sludge in and around the oil seals which aids in the sealing ability will be gone creating oil leaks. The recommended practice is if you start with synthetics stay with them or you can change to regular base. Never do the opposite. Oil companies will not state this because it will hurt sales. Synthetics are great for high operating temps.

Should I be concerned about oil leaks (anything else) if I change to synthetic oil on a new rebuilt engine? Someone suggested earlier that I should wait 10-15K miles to "break in" on regular oil before switching to synthetic. Is that correct?

Thanks,
David

I will also try synthetics after reading that article on oil. Currently my enine has about 3500 miles on it so shortly I'll change it over to synthetic. I'm not sure what brand I will use but whatever it is it's gotta be available in a store nearby. That royal purple stuff is recommended by people on other chat rooms but I've yet to see that stuff in any store.

As far as oil leaks go....you can quickly stop them by venting the heads and crankcase to the carbs., just make sure to include an inline airfilter in the tubing before it gets to the carbs. Bassically the motor will scavange the pressure from the crankcase and stop a leak caused by blowby. I had a little leak before i did this now nothing, not a drop. The synthetic oil will prove to be the real test though.

J-P

The same applies for switching from non-detergent oil to detergent oil - all the sludge and deposits will break up and get into suspension. This can clog oil filters and in extreme cases oil galleries in the block or crankshaft. Of course it's hard to even find non-detergent petroleum oil today, but it was in regular use up through the 1950's.

If you have been running detergent oil with full-flow filtration switching to synthetic should not be a problem at any mileage.

In a new engine I would switch from petroleum base detergent oil to synthetics at 1,000 miles. New Porsches come with synthetic oil.

(Message Edited 5/21/2003 10:48:07 AM)

Jean-Paul, Mobil1 syn oil is OK and if you want you can order AMSOIL mail order/UPS by the case. My ex-2,110 has both valve covers and the filler casting vented, and the 901 transaxle vented, but syn still leaks/seeps out.

George,

My engine's not full flowed.

I'll change to synthetic oil next month. If I get leaks, how would I fix that? What should I look for? (Other than taking it to a mechanic, since I'm only an informed car guy).

David

David, just drive it.

Just remember, old VWs don't leak...they mark their territory. ;-)

I

David,
I read the CR report too. However, I don't think most of us drive our Speedsters as Taxis are driven, so this comparison, IMHO, is bogus.
John H.

David, many of Gene Berg's "rules" for air-cooled engines have been proven false. And "The Maestro" was not a petroleum engineer. I would suggest you look at some air-cooled engines that have run fairly high mileage on synthetic oil and compare the wear to similar mileage engines that have not.

If synthetic was not superior Porsche would not be using it in all of their new cars.