Best no BS motor oil/filter comparison?

Normal conditions, mostly highway mileage he had an hour Interstate drive to work. No modification, no drag racing. The car had about 40 or

50K miles on it. On the first oil change I went to RP and inside of a week I started seeing what looked like flakes of varnish on the dip stick. A couple of years later when I replaced the heads and intake I saw what it was. The non-wear surfaces of the cam looked like it had a thin layer of shellac on it. Since the previous owner used Syntec since day one and I changed to RP and it cleaned it, one can only assume the Syntec left the crap layer behind.after the 2nd or 3rd RP change it had stopped and somewhere after that I switched to Amsoil. I guess that side effect of RP can be really good IF you know about it and keep it in check and if you don't have some sludge/varnish that is plugging a hole.

Oh, the valve covers were horrendous as well, I had to chisel the crap out with a screwdriver. They looked almost as bad as a 60K mile Pennzoil set of valve covers used to if you used it in the 70s.

Reply to
WindsorFo
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Hmmm, if you acquired the car with 40K or 50K miles, you have only the original owner's word that the Syntec was used from day one and that the oil was changed according to Ford's recommended intervals. I think a more likely cause of the buildup is neglected oil changes, whether using conventional or synthetic oil, and the original owner switched to Syntec in hopes of cleaning out the sludge. As far as the sludge in the valve cover, it was probably there before you acquired the vehicle, but it is theoretically possible (though not probable) that the sludge came from the Royal Purple or Amsoil products or some kind or reaction from switching products.

Reply to
Ray O

You are incorrect. The original owner is a best friend I've known since middle school. I was there when he bought the car and told him that day when he sold it, I had first shot. I was the passenger or driver for a lot of those miles and I have the service records for the car and his word it never went more than 5K miles for a change if that. I was also there the day that he bought the first change of Syntec. He decided on Syntec because at the time he was a chemist for Ethyl and his unit was responsible for making the additives package for Castrol Syntec and I used Syntec at the time as well in my 85 Toyota truck. I'm not so sure he'd want to admit that now.

I'm sure the sludge was there before I bought it, and I'm also sure that the RP remove some of it too. What was left was hard and too far away for the oil flow to reach. In the years that have past since I made the mods to that engine, the valve covers that are on it now remain as free from gunk as they were when I put them on. You may use Sytec if you like, but after my experience I will steer clear of it and use a real synthetic oil.

Reply to
WindsorFo

Oh, dont even whisper that...This sort of thing happens just about every time someone wants to talk oil and filters...And nothing is ever resolved.

Reply to
HLS

Despite their sometimes shortcomings, I have a lot of faith in the engineers in the back room at the auto makers. Aside from the oddball case I think they know pretty well how long oil should be run and like you say, they then shorten the interval to make sure there's never an oil related failure. After all, the original fill of oil at the factory is the only oil they ever have to pay for so why would they stretch out drain intervals for any reason other then marketing hype. My 64 T-bird called for 6000/6 month oil changes but mainly as a marketing thing. The factory warranty back then was 12,000 miles or

12 months. Even today, with far better oils and far cleaner burning engines, it's rare to see a "domestic" car that allows a drain interval longer then 7500 miles under the best of circumstances. There's obviously more going on then science.
Reply to
Ashton Crusher

If you want to spike things just start asking if Amsoil is really the BEST oil you can buy!!!

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

Sounds like Syntec is not the way to go!

Reply to
Ray O

How long was that "one use", 6 months? That B&S better have been a diesel, otherwise you're FOS.

Reply to
Hairy
1997 14hp Briggs. After dino break in has been on a steady diet of 15-50 Mobile 1 summer and 5-30 Wal-Mart synth in winter. No leaks, oil color after season of use is markedly better than dino. Compression still the same as day one. I only use synth. in my air cooled motors. 15-50 is what's left of a 5qt jug that is used in my Harley.
Reply to
Repairman54

That's true, and is a key part of this discussion. Too bad its being discussed in terms of "synthetic" versus "conventional," because that really doesn't matter. What DOES matter is the rest of the oil additive package, in particular the compoenents that maintain the total base number (TBN) and keep the oil from becoming acidic. You can have synthetics with poor TBN control additive, and you can have conventionals with good packages. Now *most* synthetics also happen to be higher-end oils and have decent additive packages... but its not BECAUSE they're synthetic.

Reply to
Steve

No, The B&S got pretty dirty after first use. Maybe black after a couple of uses. This was about 15 years ago when I first had the edger (no longer have it). Engine worked OK for the 7-8 years I had it, but not anything like the Honda which started the first pull of cord every time (and engine oil stayed quite clean).

Reply to
Mark A

Escort, Camry, Accord... all generic people-transporters of the same ilk. They're completely interchangeable cars as far as I'm concerned.

Reply to
Steve

If you believe that particular engines are "not suitable for synthetic oil," then there's no use trying to have an intelligent, engineering-based discussion.

Reply to
Steve

And I've been using synthetic oil in 2 B&S 6-horsepower lawnmowers and a

5-horsepower tiller for over 10 years now. All 3 are good as new, despite being air-cooled engines that see most of their operation in near-100 degree F ambient temperatures.

Of course the same was true of the 60s B&S engines I had back in the 70s and 80s that only got single-grade SAE 30 dino oil, too. I just can't kill a B&S, and I sure don't take it easy on them. I've only ever gotten rid of a B&S powered mower because the mower deck fell apart around the engine.

Reply to
Steve

Based on looking at the very dirty oil after first use on my Briggs and Stratton engine, I made the determination that synthetic would not work well in that engine, even though I had no problem with it in my Honda lawnmower. Someone else mentioned in this thread that they put synthetic oil in a B&S engine and it was ruined.

You can piss and moan about intelligence all you want to, but those are the facts.

Reply to
Mark A

In the case of small engines with splash-plate lubrication rather than an oil pump, the synthetic oils are NOT generally suitable for them. The better flow characteristics of the synthetics mean the splash plate cannot pick up enough oil.

This is why Royal Purple, for instance, makes a special synthetic oil that is designed to be extra-sticky, for small engines.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

Guess that depends on how much you value your time or enjoy doing oil changes.

Reply to
Brent

Yes, and "becoming acidic" is just one of the things that happens to oil as the miles go by. So what is the advantage of getting a good additive package that counteracts or slows down that inevitable deterioration versus just changing the oil more frequently to avoid the deterioration?

-jim

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Reply to
jim

No, there isnt.. I went back to the distributor on this and they told me that B&S did not recommend synthetics in this engine, and I shouldnt have assumed that the Mobil 1 would be a good choice after break-in.

I went into the B&S, honed it, installed new rings, etc, and it lasted a few hours, but quickly went to hell again. Got rid of it, dont want to hear that technically the synthetic should have been great.. Either the B&S was BS, or the lubricant was unacceptable.

Next mower, I used what B&S recommended, and it worked fine (until it was stolen a couple of months ago).

I can talk engineering with you all day long, but this is not a case where I am very open to "shoulda, coulda, and woulda".

Reply to
HLS

These were modern B&S engines, not old ones. The old ones were very likely better made.

Reply to
HLS

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