I read the Consumer reports article and agree that, for steady state
driving, there is no real difference between any of the modern oils.
However, as others have stated, our LBC's are not driven like taxi's
although I am not sure about Barney's A.
Because my car spends six months a year sitting still, I am most concerned
about the long term stability of the oil. Here is one area where synthetic
oils have a real advantage. If, upon resurrection next year, I find that
my car has an acceptable appetite for oil, I will probably change to Mobil
1 15 W 50 next fall. Synthetics also keep the inside of the engine very
clean and I like that. This is especially important if a car gets a lot of
short mileage usage since this is a main cause for sludge build up.
It is interesting that other areas of the country seem to have a prejudice
against Pennzoil because I grew up with that too. The common wisdom was
that if you used Pennzoil all the time you were OK but if you changed back
and forth your car would start to burn oil. I don't know if it was true
but I have never used Pennzoil.
In the last 25 years I have only had one bottom end failure and that was
from street racing a very tired 440 Dodge 2 1/2 quarts low. I have had a
couple Chevies wipe a cam lobe too but I think that is a common problem.
Both of my MG's have had low oil pressure when I bought them but neither
broke. I blame the B's pressure on the upside down oil filter. The car
rattled like crazy for a couple of seconds every time it started (I was
sixteen, what did I know about check valves in filters?) The A is just old
and, with its three bearing crank, over stressed.
For the Record, I now use Mobil 1 in my other two cars for a variety of
reasons. I like clean engines. I change oil every 5k miles and I feel
more comfortable with the stability of the synthetics. I live in Minnesota
and the pour point is much lower on synthetics so cold weather starting is
improved and the car gets oil faster. ( I remember pouring oil into my Jeep
truck at 30 below and the oil had actually changed color because some of
the waxes had solidified. The truck was running and it started blowing big
oil bubbles out of the filler tube because of the blowby.) Also, changing
oil less often means less oil is used and that is a good thing.
I presently use Castrol 20 W 50 in the A. Why? Because it seemed like the
right thing to do.
Regards
Bill Eastman
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