Reply to: RE>better lube
Greg,
Where I work, there is a group of engineers who take their oil seriously.
They work in a lubrication branch, and did some testing on motor oils. I looked
at some of their comparison charts, and MOBILE1 synthetic blew away any natural
oils they tested (I think they measured a CASTROL synthetic, too). The tests
they ran were ASTM standard protocols which measure lubrication effectiveness
on some ball bearings, measuring wear scar diameter at standard temperatures,
pressures, and time. The group brought in fresh natural oils, fresh synthetic
oils, used natural oils from their own cars driven various miles, and used
synthetic oils driven various miles. The wear scar diameter measurement for the
fresh MOBILE1 was better than the best natural oil of the ones they measured
(Havoline). At 7000 miles, the MOBILE1 wear scar diameter was equivalent to
fresh Havoline, and at 10,000 miles, the diameter was equivalent to Havoline at
3000 miles. After that, the curves dropped off similarly, if I remember
correctly.
The gentleman I spoke with noted a few interesting facts:
1) Synthetic oil holds up under higher temperatures much better than the
natural oils.
2) When breaking in a new/rebuilt engine, you should use the natural oils
first, to allow the wearing to occur - thats WHY you're "breaking in" your
engine. Use the synthetic after you've broken it in (thats what I'll do with my
65 vette. We've got 500 miles on the rebuilt engine).
3) This one's for you Greg. Appearantly Chevy now requires new corvette owners
to use MOBILE1 in their new vettes, or they will void their warranty! There IS
a new car that comes with synthetic in it, and you don't have a choice :-)
One last thing, at $3.50 to $4.50 a quart, MOBILE1 isn't cheap. I'm not
sure you'd save any money on the oil changing, but overall its probably a good
investment for your jag, IMHO.
Alan_Johnston@ed22qm.msfc.nasa.gov
'65 corvette (daily), '88 Maxima (daily)
(both with MOBILE1)
PS, neither me nor my employer in any way financially gain from any motor oil
company or sales. The opinions stated above are mine only, and in no way
reflect any belief or recommendation of my employer ;-)
--------------------------------------
Dear netters,
A few summers ago, I worked on a Formula Atlantic race crew.
**stuff deleted**
but that I'd certainly like to try a Synthetic oil.
**stuff deleted**
"if this stuff is so great, how come new cars don't come with it?"
So anyway, I'm thinking I'd like to try some in the Jaguar all
aluminum V-12, which has around 90k miles on it currently.
**stuff deleted**
At 12 quarts to the fill-up, I'd like to be able to leave the oil in for
awhile, and change filters every few thou.
Without starting a Flame On Synthetics/ Flame on Dinosaur Juice
war, if some of you have experience/opinions about synthetic oil, I'd
like to listen.
Thanks in advance.
Greg
Greg Meboe meboe@wsuaix.csc.wsu.edu
Dept. of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Washington State University, Pullman, Wa.
'85 XJ-12 H.E. (daily) '67 Spit-6 '74 TR-6
|