synthetic or regular oil 96 cobra

[mattalope]

finally entered the arena of boost, I used to just run normal motor oil in my 96 cobra, it has 75,000 mi. I just had a vortech v2 installed, and they used synthetic. I know its not a big deal and probably could have been running synthetic earlier, but is this the way to go from now on?

 

[UnleashedBeast]

Amsoil ATM 10W-30

Amsoil EaO11

You can't buy a better, more well rounded lubricant or filter. Nothing off the shelf comes close.

Royal Purple HPS and XPR are other great choices. RP's filter, 20-820, is the same filter as the EaO11.

 

[mattalope]

thanks beast

 

[93L-STCA]

Amsoil is great, but falls on it's rear towards the 2500 mile mark. I would be wary of RP, they tend to run thin from the get go. Brad Penn is great stuff, also, Mobil 1 believe it or not.

 

[Jroc]

If you change your oil every 3000 miles then synthetic is really not necessary, and frankly is kind of a waste as conventional oils works just fine when changed regularly.

With that said I'm all about running synthetic. They say if you take 2 identical motors and run one with contentional oil and the other with synthetic oil and maintain them like they are suppose to be for the oil used, and run them the same way, etc, etc, and then break them both down at 150K mile that the motor which ran sythic oil will look almost brand new, and the motor which ran conventional oil will have some signs of wear. IDK though. I've seen plenty of motors running the most budget conventional oil on the shelf that's lasted 250K+ miles.

I personally have been running German Castrol,(0W30) and a Motorcraft filter for years, and really like them. I go at the very least 5k between changes, and will sometimes to 7000/7500 miles between changes. i figure if I didn't get that many miles out of it then I'd be wasting money buying synthetic oil.

 

[mattalope]

lots of good info

 

[UnleashedBeast]

Amsoil is great, but falls on it's rear towards the 2500 mile mark.

Brad Penn is great stuff, also, Mobil 1 believe it or not.

You sir, as misinformed. Very misinformed.

Amsoil "falls on its rear towards the 2500 mile mark". Are you kidding me? Have you NOT been paying attention? Amsoil has been KILLING everything put up against it in the GT500 UOA thread.

GT500 UOA thread

Mobil 1 changed to hydrocracked highly refined petroleum in 2005, not the "fully synthetic" they advertise on the bottle.

Where are you getting your information from? I'm guessing "troll".

If you change your oil every 3000 miles then synthetic is really not necessary, and frankly is kind of a waste as conventional oils works just fine when changed regularly.

Actually, this is true...and false at the same time.

True, it's a waste of money to invest in superior true synthetic Signature Series Amsoil only to drain it in 3,000 miles. That's pure ignorance, especially since it's good up to 15,000 miles or one year, whichever occur first.

False, there are still advantages of using a true synthetic even at short intervals. Lower frictional coefficient, lower heat, better engine efficiency, lower wear, improved mpg, etc....

Just because you drain at more frequent intervals doesn't mean your engine is as well protected. There is much more to ultimate protection than draining at more frequent intervals.

I personally have been running German Castrol,(0W30) and a Motorcraft filter for years, and really like them. I go at the very least 5k between changes, and will sometimes to 7000/7500 miles between changes. i figure if I didn't get that many miles out of it then I'd be wasting money buying synthetic oil.

I recall German Castrol's robustness back in the early to mid 2000's when it was "green" in color. I was saddened when Castrol changed the formulation to the newer "gold" color. More than just color changed, but it's still above average in performance.

 

[Jroc]

Actually, this is true...and false at the same time.

True, it's a waste of money to invest in superior true synthetic Signature Series Amsoil only to drain it in 3,000 miles. That's pure ignorance, especially since it's good up to 15,000 miles or one year, whichever occur first.

False, there are still advantages of using a true synthetic even at short intervals. Lower frictional coefficient, lower heat, better engine efficiency, lower wear, improved mpg, etc....

Just because you drain at more frequent intervals doesn't mean your engine is as well protected. There is much more to ultimate protection than draining at more frequent intervals.

I agree that synthetic offers better protection against friction and heat, etc, but what I'm trying to say is if you run conventional oil, and service the motor like you are suppose to with it then it will live a long and healthy life,(or if it doesn't it isn't because you used conventional oil) and it works just fine, and there is nothing wrong with using conventional oil. Again you just need to make sure you don't try to run it much past 3,000 miles between changes as it breaks down long before synthetic, and looses it's ability to protect your motors internals they way they need to be.

The other day a friend I work with was telling me about a girl he knew years ago that bought a new Camaro IROC with a 305 back in the 80's or whatever. Anyway the cars motor broke at something like 42K miles, and when they got to looking at it they discovered that she had never once had it's oil changed, and that's what led to it's engine failure.

 

[UnleashedBeast]

The other day a friend I work with was telling me about a girl he knew years ago that bought a new Camaro IROC with a 305 back in the 80's or whatever. Anyway the cars motor broke at something like 42K miles, and when they got to looking at it they discovered that she had never once had it's oil changed, and that's what led to it's engine failure.

Isn't it amazing how people can be so ignorant.

 

[Shreddingrubber]

Amsoil is great, but falls on it's rear towards the 2500 mile mark. I would be wary of RP, they tend to run thin from the get go. Brad Penn is great stuff, also, Mobil 1 believe it or not.

There is a thread over at bob is the oil guy where they have a 3v cam where royal purple was used from new and a 3v cam where the owner was a faithful mobil 1 user.
The mobil 1 cam had obvious wear with half the mileage,the rp cam looked new. It's a 35 page thread where a whole lot of mobil gambits ended up eating their shirts.
Mobil 1 has seriously cheapened out their passenger car motor oils. The only good oil left is their euro 0w-40. I won't use anything mobil again. I have tried the v-twin and 15w-50 in my Harley and drained both before 1000 miles because it made my valvetrain sound like a can of marbles. Put it in my old lady's caravan and the engine made an unreal amount of valvetrain noise and subsequently spun a bearing. Used it in my 2v and again way more noise.
Now I'm aware that more noise doesn't equate to more wear however less noise does equate to less wear.
Royal purples API line of oils,and amsoils are average oils. Both companies have stellar un-approved oils though. And Amsoil is proving to be very long drain capable.
I'm just an average Joe and most of what I know I've learned at bob is the oil guy and unleashed beast in a different forum so I'm no expert however my experience with some so called to tier oils has shown me that you don't always get what you pay for,and some companies have a great reputation yet sell an average product.