Synthetic Oil

[Airboss]

Please read the following discussion on using synthetic oil during the initial car break-in period and comment. I am looking forward to some intelligent discussion on this topic, so please refrain from the "well, my daddy told me to..." remarks (unless, of course, your father was a mechanical engineer).

Thanks all!

http://www.stealth316.com/2-breakin.htm

 

[AlpharettaRK]

As a racer and a person that has built several motors over the years I have been involved in many discussions on this topic. Best I can tell the only people that have ever invested the bucks to analyze oils are the oil companies themselves. Even thought Porsches come with Mobil 1 from the factory, and I use Mobil 1 in every vehicle I own I did not use it for the first fill when I rebuilt my race car (2.5l 944) this year. Why? I guess because it's always worked for me. Race cars are extreme too, in that you can't drive it for 500 miles below 4,000 rpm. In fact I ran one practice session shifting at 6,000 and then let it fly. After the first weekend I refilled with Mobil 1 an have hardly used a drop of oil since. That first wekend I used a little more than a quart which sure would indicate that there was a break-in period of more than 10-20 minutes.
I think the only safe thing to do is what the factory says on first fill and then use synthetic. That's not much better than "my daddy said so" but it's about all we've got. I can't beleive that there isn't a Chem Eng grad student somewhere that hasn't misused a university's resources to objectively test oil properties. I spent an evening once searching for such on the web but have not found it. I'm interested to hear what others say...
Cheers
Randy

 

[Airboss]

Thanks, Randy! I've searched the net pretty thoroughly and I haven't come up with much. Unless anyone has evidence against it, I'm going to run conventional oil to about 2500 miles and then change to Mobil 1.

 

[AlpharettaRK]

If that's a problem we can deal with it together. I put Mobil 1 in at 3500 miles

 

[Airboss]

Randy (and anyone else intereted),

This web site may be of intrest...
http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/oil-life.html

 

[san6279]

Airboss, I just scheduled with LR of Bellevue (LROB) today for my first oil change (2000 miles). Picked up a case of Mobil 1 5w-30 (full synthetic - normal, not Extended Performance) on the way home from work today. They'll also be checking the alignment and camber of the rear wheels. I've seen other threads where people recommend staying with the EOM oil type (in this case Castrol) for "chemistry-related" reasons, but I guess I've never given that much credit. My internet searches mostly come up with Mobil being one of the best, although I have seen good things about Royal Purple also.

On a side note, will also be taking it into Accutint this week. Having them tint the front driver and passenger windows and apply clear bra. I've already had one bad experience with the front bumper and road debris that I had to have fixed, so figured it was a good investment. LROB recommended Accutint. Actually worked out well as Accutint offered to drive the LR3 over to LROB after they were finished, saving me 1.5 to 2 hours drive/wait time.

Suppose to pick it up Friday evening. Will let you know how it goes.

 

[Airboss]

Great! I'll be watching for your post.

 

[san6279]

Airboss,

Just as I suspected might happen, they put in the wrong oil. They were very nice about it and supposedly drained their oil and put in mine, but no way to really verify, huh? I mean, the case of oil was right there in the passenger side footwell. How could they have missed it? Plus I spoke about it with the service manager over the phone. He admitted later that he had not put anything down on the paperwork or notified the technicians. Still, there is a case of oil right there in front of you - what do you think its for? I suppose partly my fault for not dropping off the car in person and not calling again first thing in the morning to confirm again what oil to use. Frustrating.

Rear tires are apparently wearing evenly, although again they were up front about this and told me to keep watch on them and notify if uneven wear is noticed.

 

[Airboss]

****!!! Do you know how many times that has happened to me? And honestly, how do you know if the mechanic doesn't just put the case of Mobil 1 in the trunk of his car and use the factory oil anyway? Again, it just boils down to who you trust. Frankly, it's getting harder and harder to trust anyone these days.

I'm sorry you had that problem. I'm assuming you went to the Bellevue dealer? How were you treated? Is there any service advisor you recommend over the others?

Thanks for posting! Take care!

 

[san6279]

Yeah, the only reason I somewhat trusted them is that they actually admitted to putting the wrong oil in. Figured if they were going to be dishonest, why not just do it from the start and tell me they used my oil. That still doesn't mean the oil got in the engine of course. I normally deal with James, but he was on vacation so Andy was the service tech. Very pleasant to deal with and overall I've received good service from LROB.

I went to pick it up last night after hours - the right rear tire is still not holding pressure. Was at 22 lbs when I got home. Maybe they filled it up, maybe they didn't. The low pressure indicator was on when I started it up, but that was Saturday evening and they did the work on Friday morning. Definitely enough time for the tire to lose pressure. Filled it up last night and by this morning it had lost 4 lbs. Great, another trip to the dealer! Les Schwab said they had fixed the loose tire stem. If that is true, not sure what the problem is now.

The tint and paint protection came out great. One small foggy area on one headlight that will need to be fixed, but other than that its perfect. I like the front windows tinted also.