Synthetic motor oil

junkyardjeff · January 03, 2009, 02:06:45 PM

I just put in a recently rebuilt (less then 20,000 miles) 460 in my 66 f250 and was wondering if synthetic oil would help,I never used it before and needing some input on it its worth the extra cost. Jeff

zzford · January 03, 2009, 03:27:20 PM

Quote from: "junkyardjeff"I just put in a recently rebuilt (less then 20,000 miles) 460 in my 66 f250 and was wondering if synthetic oil would help,I never used it before and needing some input on it its worth the extra cost. Jeff

My personal beliefs are that under severe conditions, synthetic is worth the extra cost. However, in all my cars I use a good quality conventional oil. I have used Castrol for many years and have had no problems whatsoever. My truck has about 150000 miles on it and shows no signs of slowing down. The valve train is still nice and clean. I also live way out in the sticks so none of the vehicles are run for less than 1/2 hour per use. I change the oil at about 4500 miles and I have the oil analyzed. It always comes back as good.

Okiedokie · January 03, 2009, 04:38:14 PM

A few years ago I had the opportunity to do a comparison between reg and synthetic. I had driven my 40 to a friends several miles away on a hot summer day. This was when I was dealing with some overheating problems so I was attuned to the temp gauge During the next week I changed to Castrol synthetic oil. The following Saturday was a duplicate of the previous, same temp with hot sun. So I decided to do the same trip. My 40 ran 10 degrees cooler. Nothing different except oil. Joe

junkyardjeff · January 03, 2009, 04:45:53 PM

I plan on using the truck as a tow vehicle but 95 percent of the time it wont be used hard and since I am cheap I will most likely use a good grade of regular oil but if synthetic will increase gas mileage some I might try it. I also might try a synthetic gear oil for the rear end as I heard its good for some better MPGs too. Jeff

Crosley.In.AZ · January 03, 2009, 05:08:27 PM

I use syn oil because I have seen it hold up better on my oil pressure gauge in my 71 chev truck I had. Dyno oil would drop off in psi after about 1500 - 1800 miles.

This drop off was not large , mayb 5 - 8 psi.... at idle

zzford · January 04, 2009, 08:14:53 AM

How about a synthetic blend? It's significantly cheaper than full synthetic. I read a few years ago, though I don't remember where, that a blend offers pretty much all of the advantages of full synthetic.

purplepickup · January 04, 2009, 11:40:38 AM

On the blends, is there a standard ratio of syn to dino oils? Is it ok to mix your own blend?

Carnut · January 04, 2009, 02:22:55 PM

I've been using synthetic motor oils since the mid 70's in most all of my rides.

I've used Mobil One synthetic 10W50 in all my cars since it came out.

I change oil at 5000, just because it's easier on my memory to calculate the intervals.

More discussion:

http://www.roddingroundtable.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4657

47convert · January 09, 2009, 12:39:54 AM

I don't know much about it, but, I changed the oil in my ElCamino just before a trip to Frankenmuth Michigan from Windsor Ontario, which is right across the river from Detroit - so a relatively short trip. Before I got to the show, all my rocker arms were rattling like crazy and had to make adjustments so every one. Ended up breaking a valve spring and limping home (luckily) without dropping a valve. My engine is a fairly stock 283 wih stock heads and a mild cam. but she's got a few miles on her. Most comments at the show were to never use synthetic in an older engine. Just my personal experience. I never had a loose valve adjustment before and think my lifters collapsed. It's fine now with 10W 40 regular oil back in the pan.