Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Performance Pro's and Cons of Mobil 1Syn???????

Originally posted by FastFordFreak:

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It can cause leaks in high-mileage engines

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Switched at 106k when I got my CSVT and no leaks at all... As others have said, it doesn't cause leaks, it finds problems that conventional oils can't leak out of (yet).

Pros: better protection from wear, especially at cold startup
Cons: more expensive, can be offset by using a longer change interval as I do

I've run it on my cars since I got my first good car (Miata) and will continue to run it on my good cars that are keepers. The Wife's leased Honduh minivan gets the cheapest oil I can find, since the motor it only has to last 48,001 miles.

Scott

a few corrections

The leaks are indeed from older gaskets where dino oil would plug the microscopic holes becuase the molecule sizes vary... some bigger some smaller.

Synthetic oil has smaller uniform molecule sizes and tends to seep thru older gaskets... it doesn't cause the leaks, just exposes them.

As to getting crap for running Mobil1 or any other synthetic oil... just ignore them.

Yeah it may be overkill for highway driving... but in town driving and in extreme heat/cold it is the best thing going.

Besides you can leave it in for 10K + miles. BMW did a study where they tried all sorts of different driving and testing of the oil.

With Mobil1 the lowest milage they changed was 100% short trips, lots of cold starts... it was 8K miles. The highest was 18K miles, mostly highway and few cold starts.

Other independant studies show that longer drain intervals are a truth and that you can recoop any extra cost by simply extending your drain interval.. heck you could just change your filter every 3K miles if you want the peace of mind.

I agree with Big Jim on conventional oil. The cost alone, plus changing @ 3000 miles, the oil never gets close to the black color(I know the oil is doing its job, hense it gets dark, keeping the engine clean) that the synthetic oil would be at ,say 5,000 miles, keeps the engine cleaner. On my sisters BMW, a 2000 model, normal oil change interval is 15,000 miles. At 15,000 the oil is "BLACK" and feels thicker than the 5-30 it started its life at. I have since started to change it @ 7,500 miles, since she is planning to hold on to the car. Another reason I wouldn't want to buy a car off a lease.

I used a synthetic blend in my car, because of cost. A synthetic blend will offer you 75% of the benefits of full synthetic, at half the price or less. And it doesn't "expose the leaks" so much as does full synthetic, or however you want to word it. If I raced my car I would probably run full synthetic in it, or if it was brand new I would, but my engine has 99k miles on it so I just use the blend.

Originally posted by FastFordFreak:

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1. I used a synthetic blend in my car, because of cost.
2. A synthetic blend will offer you 75% of the benefits of full synthetic, at half the price or less.
3. And it doesn't "expose the leaks" so much as does full synthetic, or however you want to word it.

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1. Sorry to hear that. It's not worth the money like a full synthetic is!

2. BS! A blend is maybe 10-15% synthetic whichs makes the other ~85% subject to the typical thermal breakdown, ashing, other normal degeneration a crude oil is known for. In other words a blend is no better than a good quality dino oil since the majority of the oil breaks down & protects like one anyway!

3. That is true since it's basically a glorified dino oil you pay twice the money for.

Your best bet is a full synthetic (Mobil 1, Royal Purple, AMSOil - but NEVER Syntec!) or a quality dino. Definitely skip the blends if you want to save a buck by not running a full synthetic.

Originally posted by eepals:

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I agree with Big Jim on conventional oil. The cost alone, plus changing @ 3000 miles, the oil never gets close to the black color(I know the oil is doing its job, hense it gets dark, keeping the engine clean) that the synthetic oil would be at ,say 5,000 miles, keeps the engine cleaner. On my sisters BMW, a 2000 model, normal oil change interval is 15,000 miles. At 15,000 the oil is "BLACK" and feels thicker than the 5-30 it started its life at. I have since started to change it @ 7,500 miles, since she is planning to hold on to the car. Another reason I wouldn't want to buy a car off a lease.

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You can not tell the oil condition by looking at the color of oil. Oil is supposed to turn darker and darker when subjected to repeated heating. When I ran Mobil 1 in the old engine, I change it at the shortest 5k mi or 5 months. I'm running dino oil in my new engine for break-in right now. But as soon as I hit the next oil change, I'm going back to my Mobil 1 routine with 5k mi or 5 months oil change. Only thing I'm going to change is to use Motorcraft oil filter instead of using K&N oil filter.

Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords reported a 6 horsepower gain in a 5 liter mustang from merely switching to Mobil One synthetic oil.

that makes it worth the extra to me.

That's a mere 6HP, and consider the standard error on dyno it can probably turn out to be no gain. I'm not running synthetic because of the possible gain, but rather for better protection of the engine.

Originally posted by rozwell911:

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Hey Guys, Happy holidays. I hope everyone is safe out there.

I was over hearing a conversation of a few mechanics and some of them said that they wouldn't reconmend Sythetic Oil over Regular. Now I love my Mobile one in my car, but is running sythetic bad?? I can't believe that but the question is running through my mind because thats what one of the mechanic said. I know mixing sythetic and reg. is bad but I find it hard to believe Pure sytheic is bad for you car...and yes I over heard the entire conversation of the mechanics so I didn;t leave anything out.

Can anyone shed a little light?

Roz

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I'd run what the manufacturer suggests. Some manufacturers (Lotus, GM for Corvette, etc.) use Mobil 1. Ford now uses some sort of synthetic blend I believe when you go to get your oil changed at the dealership. Everyone is going to have their preference, mostly guided by what someone else says or does. When I was a kid a million years ago, I'd run nothing but Valvoline Racing Oil in my Cuda. Why? Because some racing team did. Did it make my car faster or protect the engine better? Probably no to both answers (it was street driven). And that was dino oil. And I've had all my car's engines (except the Contour's) apart for reasons ranging from total rebuilds to just changing valve cover gaskets (Ranger) and their engines have been as clean as the proverbial babies behind. All of them. The Ranger has over 350K miles on it and it's never faltered once in any area that oil would make a difference. A regular oil/filter change mantra is the best insurance you can provide.

By the way, you didn't state why these guys said that synthetic was bad so something was left out. At any rate, run it if you want but as a number of posters have said, it's probably overkill. Personally, and even though our cars are fast approaching end of warranty (if not already out of warranty) being guided by what the manufacturer suggests is better insurance as far as I'm concerned if for only one reason: If your engine failed while under warranty and it was regularly serviced at a dealer, you'd likely suffer less of a hassle getting it replaced than if you DIY'd it with some other type oil. It's got to count for something. Just my .02 cents.

Karl

typical mobil1 change doesn't cost more than a quick lube change. (always better and cheaper to do yourself). i noticed a good difference over dino, idles smoother, stays clean longer. there is also a possible power gain and it's better at withstanding heat than dino (important in a hot zetec). mechanics are used to the old school thought of dino being better, but it's an outdated idea. my dad's a mechanic and told me it's not worth it, but hopefully i can convince him to switch once he rebuilds the upper part of his v6 Ram. do a search on yahoo for synthetic oil myths, you'll find some good info.