I recently changed the oil on my 97 3.0CL and on my wife's 00 3.2TL. I used synthetic oil. Later on I looked at the oil jug and they said "Approved for all Domestic and European Cars".

Is there any reason I should not use synthetic?

 

full syntetic = best for cars. mix or blend is cheap. but whatever floats ur boat. especially for the tl. ahhh id use full synthetic. dont know why they just dont say for all cars... theyre racist i tell u to us ASIANS... right ..AznX TL!!... haha... whats up!

 

put synthetic twice in my CL, wasted 50 bucks...the 20 premium isnt really worth it IMO. use the money for something else like a tuner up

 

it's really not worth it unless you're rebuilding the engine like I am, I use only 5W-40 delvac in my motor but it's not neccessary for normal drivers, just don't use cheap shitty oil. Valvoline maxlife is good stuff for older engines. To answer your question, there's no reason NOT to use it, it is overkill for your car but it's the best oil you can buy

 

I was watching Horsepower on Spike TV last week, and they were dynoying a mild Chevy SB 350, first using regular 5-30 oil as a baseline, then they drained the oil and then added Royal Purple 5W-30 and dynoed the Chevy again. The results were 8hp and 6 ft lbs of torque gained! Just from an oil change! I also talked to some guys who switched to Royal Purple and they said they could feel the difference between the regular oil and Royal Purple.....something to think about....

 

This is a long read but very good info.
Mind you this was on another thread but similar subject.
Sorry but long.


A little background (tho he sorta goes into it in the first part)...phil
owns a roadster and is an engineer at NASA. His field of specialty is
lubricants. I don't think you can get much more knowledgable on the subject
than that. with that in mind... pay heed to what he has to say about synth
oils:

Demon ______________________________________________

Part 1: Today's topic seams to be motor oil related. I am a NASA Engineer at
Marshal Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. My field of work is
Tribology which is the study of friction, wear, and lubrication. In our
spare time, our group collects and tests different motor oils using the
Shell Four Ball tester. This tester tests the extreme pressure properties of
oils. These areas in a motor are cam to lifter contacts, valve stem to
guild, and piston skirts. Over the years we have found synthetic bases oils
to out perform mineral based oils by a large margin. We test the oils new,
after 1000 miles, 2000 miles, and up to 10,000 miles. In a nut shell, we
found that synthetic oils have better wear properties after being run 10,000
miles then mineral grade oils new. Which synthetic do we use? First any you
will benefit from any synthetic, but we use Mobil 1. Mobil by far puts more
research dollars in motor oils then any other company. They are also
aggressive in racing. Other notes on motor oils.

Do not run synthetics in a new rebuild. A new engine needs the added
friction allowed by mineral oils to set the rings properly. Chevy found this
out on the corvette. These cars came from the factory with Mobil 1 and
owners brought them back because of smoking and oil consumption (rings did
not seat). Run a good single weight oil for the first 2000 miles. We found
Havaline 30 to be a good mineral oil - in fact we use it for our standard.

The reason Mobil 1 can safely be run for 10,000 miles is because the
additive package is well engineered to isolate grim and hold it in
suspension. This also is why Mobil 1 is expensive. You know - you get what
you pay for.

I know there are a lot of questions on motor oils. You can e-mail me for
more information or search the web for more details on synthetics. Your
Roadster deserves the best - run synthetic oils.

Phil 1966 1600 SPL311-002500 Keep it between the lines and in a four wheel
drift


I have received a lot of comments on oils, so I will try and cover some the
concerns/comments.

I listed multi grade oil break down at 1000 to 2000 miles. This is for the
junk oils found at circle K for a dollar. A good name brand oil will last
3000 miles without too much break down. This is for mineral grade oils -
synthetic oils meet government viscosity tests for ratings without adding
thickeners like polymer chains.

Guys here at work run synthetics in motors that have 140,000 to 170,000
miles on them without any more oil consumption them normal. I believe that
you will get a slight increase in consumption in older motors because the
synthetic are very slippery and can get by old rings easier. In these cases
going to a 15w-50 may help, but this is not a reason not to use synthetics.
Older motors need the extra protection. At running temperature a synthetic
will maintain its viscosity, where a mineral oil viscosity is DRASTICALLY
REDUCED.

A test on how well synthetics work at different temperature can be done in
your home. Get a quart of your favorite mineral oil and a quart of a
synthetic. Put a cup a each oil in a glass or paper cup and stick in the
freezer over night. In the morning try and pour the oils out. Next test: DO
THIS OUTSIDE. On an old camp stove put a ? of the synthetic oil in an old
frying pan and put it on the stove on the highest heat setting. Cook for 30
minutes. Now cook your oil for 30 minutes. At this point you will see why
you cooked the synthetic first. As the oil cooks pour some out to see the
changes in viscosity between the oils.

Part 3 on oil additive coming soon. I need to back to NASA work.

Phil 66 1600 Hey all -

The question of change intervals and synthetic oil has come up. As a side at
work we run oil tests using the Shell Four Ball test rig. This tester was
developed by Shell oil to test the extreme wear properties of motor oils -
cams, piston skirts etc. It consists of three, = inch balls held in a
triangular pattern in a cup with oil heated to 165 degrees. A forth ball is
lowered to the center of the three balls and loaded to 40 KG. The ball is
then rotated 600 RPM for one hour. After the test the wear scar is measured
on the three stationary balls. The bigger the scar the lower the extreme
wear property of the oil is. We use Havoline 30 wt for a base line. We use
this oil because engineers from the past liked this oil, so we have a large
data base.

Looking at data shows new Havoline 30 wt has a wear scar of .0165 inches.
New Mobil 1 has a .0145 inch scar. May not seem like a lot of difference,
but it is. Havoline 30 at 3000 miles has a wear scar of .020 inches and
Mobil 1 at 4000 miles has a .0164 scar. Remember - the bigger the badder.
3000 miles is as long as anyone was willing to run Havoline 30 wt, so its
data stops here. Mobil 1 at 6000 miles is .0167, at 8000 miles is .0188, and
at 10,000 miles is .0194. So, at 10,000 miles Mobil 1 has better lubrication
properties in the critical areas in your motor then a good 30 wt. All
mineral oils follow Havoline pretty close - major brands. Some off brands
have a .020 wear scar new. Multi-grades generally have a larger wear scar as
well. This data was from a 5.0 Ford Mustang. Every motor will be slightly
different, but not much.

So, synthetic can handle long run intervals. But, that is part of the story.
You have contaminates to deal with. This is where the additive package comes
in play. This is the expensive part of oils and the reason synthetics are
high priced. Because of the long run intervals of synthetic, they must have
a vastly superior additive package - and they do. Proof of this is to take
3000 mile dino oil and look at it in a glass jar - then do the same for
Mobil 1. The Mobil 1 will look new compared to the dino oil. I run Mobil 1
in my new cars to the longest manufactures oil change interval - usually
7000 miles. This will keep the warranty happy. In my Roadster I change it
once a year regardless of mileage. It run my Roadster about 5000 miles a
year. Most people at work run synthetics and do the same. We have a bunch of
cars in the lot that have over 200,000 miles on them and going strong. I (my
wife) never keeps one that long.

I run 10w-30 Mobil 1 in my new Roadster motors (after break-in). Older
motors get 15w-50 because the tolerances are larger. Because synthetics
don't thin down like mineral oils do at temperature, I would be careful
running 15w-50 in a motor with a high volume oil pump. By doing so you may
run into cavitation problems - oil gage jumping wildly. Drag racers
experience this often at high RPM. Drop a wt and it will clear up.

I checked the auto parts stores last night and could not find a zero wt
Mobil 1. It was about 2 years ago they were talking introducing this oil, so
apparently they have in some markets. I stand corrected.

Testing another "magic" oil additive today. It looks and smells like linseed
oil! This should be fun. Additives are another subject all together. Another
day, but never tested a good one - none- zip - zero - don't waste your
money.

Sorry for being soo long. I like synthetics (obviously). If you have been to
the conferences, seen all the tests and data, and read the lubrication
journals you would run nothing other then synthetics.

Phil SEROC

 

A fully synthetic is the best oil for your car. I was doing 15k change intervals on another car from 10k and after 100k miles, that car still runs incredibly well. The oil would still comes out smooth and VOA tests still showed the oil could still go on. Plus you can be a little green by using less natural resources. But if you are strapped for cash, I say use good quality dino oil and strictly follow the manufacturer's change intervals.

Like CristCL, I wouldn't recommend any synthetic blends/mixes. Most blends consists of less than 20% synthetic, but are priced significantly more than regular oil. Not the best bang for your buck.