Engine Oil!

Why would you want to?

Yes, it has already been done, using a lubricant which is not an oil.

"SynLube Synthetic Super Lubricants are 100% man-made Syn-Sols and NO petroleum is used in the production".

Unlike the true 'full synthetic' engine oils, such as Mobil 1, Amsoil, Redline, Silkolene, and many other oils, where the fossil source, natural materials are split and recombined - in the same sense in the recombination of genetic materials in cellular biology - SynLube is entirely *man-made*, synthesized, built artificially from elemental molecules. Hence, it is a lubricant not oil.

Savings of $150 to $600 per vehicle life! Well, woohoo!

gazzafield (rufty_tufty snipped-for-privacy@nospam.saysI.ko) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

IF it works.

It will be made from some readily available base. The common one is methane which comes from the same vegetable decay process that eventually produces oil and coal.

It could be synthesized from hydrogen and carbon. The argument that it's not an oil because of the way it's made is kind of weak though.

Its possible but would be extremely expensive in comparison. And since most people dont do oil changes when they should anyway it seems unlikely it'd ever take off if it were more costly, unless it were forced on them. The thing is that oil is very good at what it does. Any chemical that was 'designed' for replacement would undoubtedly be based on something very similar but just custom made, which would be just a super-synthetic really - it would still be liquid, and it would still undoubtedly be fairly thick consistency, so would porobably still be considered an oil of sorts, though im not sure on the exact definition of oil.

Methane is CH4. ;-)

Most of it is marketing bollocks.

The message from "Dave Plowman (News)" contains these words:

That's tautologous.

The composition may be devoid of any hydrocarbon; we just don't know.