Oil Viscosity? What's Best

[Bob Parmenter]

Boy, give myself a break from the remodel project and I can't help but get involved (or in trouble).

Ron,

I'm sure Lubrecon will deal with your personal comments, but I'd like to deal with the overall concepts, and some of your general statements in particular, from my experience. Please note, this is not a flame job on you. Only my additions and what, to some, might seem like nit picking. Unfortunately, wives tales sprout from nits.

To frame my responses, I'm not a big proponent of synthetics. This is not because I am biased against them, but precisely because of what you said. Too many people look at them as "miracle in a can". Synthetics in the correct application have definite advantages. But just because they solve certain "high stress" applications, doesn't mean they are a cure all for less stressfull situations. Sort of a variation on the "more is better" theory.

Now for a nit. Your statement about carbon burning as a result of the combustion process is generally accurate. I take issue with your referring to it as a "contaminant". Almost all mineral oils are hydrocarbons (chemically speaking), as are gasoline, diesel fuel, and natural gas. Carbon is what they are, so, by definition, it is not a contaminant. It's in there, we have to deal with it (e.g. detergent/dispersants). For that matter, the proponderance of sythetics (the name meaning synthesized from something else) are hydrocarbon based. So you're not eliminating carbon, it's just been somewhat more stableized.

Part of my resistance to the synthetic mantra stems from the example you gave about the 25k oil change. I'm not clear what your meaning was in bringing up zinc, but that has virtually nothing to do with synthetic oil function. The additive packages for mineral and synthetic oils are very similar. The long drain interval came about from the way that early synthetics were marketed. The implication was that since synthetics were so chemically superior to those wretched old mineral oils you could leave them in a lot longer because they won't "break down" (a term that has different meaning to nearly every ear it falls upon). I will say it had a lot more to do with cost. When you could buy a mineral oil for $1.00 a qt, and a synthetic for $8.00 a qt, is it any wonder how we get to a 25k interval? Remember, early marketing of synthetics to the general public was done largely through multi level marketing by people who had little to no formal education in lubrication fundamentals. They were well meaning, and bought into the near religious fervor, but largely mis-informed. I could go into a long discussion on drain intervals, but in general it comes down to the oil sump is a septic tank. The more contaminants, the sooner it needs to be changed, and the contaminants don't originate with the oil, it is the carrier (although there are some chemical reaction factors to consider).

Sorry to say, your comment on 2 cycle oils is absolutely wrong.

As for moly, assuming you are referring to molydenumdisulfide as an additive, the oil industry is, and has been, very aware of it for a few decades. Most oil marketers have products in their line that contain it. Most often it's in heavier products, e.g. grease, where it can be kept in suspension so that it can provide what benefit it does. Again, it's PROVEN benefit in crankcase oils is negligible.

I'm sure that in your professional endeavor you hear statements from partially informed people that drive you up a wall. You find it frustrating that they haven't taken the time to learn as much as you have before spouting off an absolute. I don't know about Lubrecon, but that happens to me and it's hard to contain the frustration. In most cases in this forum the incorrect opinions don't much matter, so I just let them take their course. If someone wants to spend way more for something than they really need to, so what, it's their money. But, liking to be accurate, I sometimes get pushed out of shape when someone touts a product that they KNOW gives them more power (or whatever). After all, they just got done running it on the Levi's dyno!!!