Re: Synthetic Oil < From a Manufacturer's Factory Tech Rep < Answers ready this weekend

Hi,

It would be especially helpful to see some real data from the test bench, track and actual on road driving, something like:

"Dino oil A, changed at 3000 miles, 100 engines reached wear limits at avg 125000 miles

Dino oil A, changed at 5000 miles, 100 engines reached wear limits at avg 112500 miles

Dino oil B...

Synthetic oil A..."

You get the picture. There's no end of "opinion" on this subject, but a definite dearth of valid "numbers" to back up the opinions. Too much of what we read is anecdotal. Including MY OWN personal experiences and the numbers I've recorded for myself.

Rick

similar to this using New York City Yellow cabs. Engines were new upon start, then taken apart and analyized. Problem was that they did not apply the same standard to all engines. I think that Mobile 1 engines got a 25,000 mile oil change, so it's hard to compare if the engine actually lasted longer.

I don't have a citation for you unfortunately.

What you described is exactly how this needs to be conducted. None of this In My Experience stuff. That's how research works. Using high mileage fleet vehicles is about the only way to really get a good answer due to the time involved and the relatively small amount of wear.

But I'd also be interested in seeing a cost/benefit analysis, too. Synthetic costs a lot more than standard oil. If it costs 50% more, but only provides 10% longer engine life, does it pay off? Even two of the same cars and two of the same oils are likely to have dramatically different engine lives. A significant sample is necessary, and that's just not something I've ever found.