Originally Posted By: alcyon
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
Originally Posted By: alcyon
...I was talking to the mechanic about the inside of the valve cover being totally covered in deposits and I said it was because of the mineral oil used.
Nope. You should understand that synthetic oils can leave deposits as well and should learn how deposits are formed in the first place before criticizing others for their lack of oil knowledge.
I just knew I would get some flak sooner or later. Well let me explain my position and what I went through as well as my intentions.
My intention is simple, get this car I have to last me my lifetime, especially the engine. I am not here because I am a hardcore synthetic fan who is here to put down dino oil fans. I simply want to know what is best for my engine. Remember, I was using dino all the way from 1992 - 2004. And before that , when I was growing up, My late dad always used dino for his Mk2 and Mk3 Ford Escorts. He never believed in synthetics, oil is just oil to him. The again, he never had his cars longer than 12 years, the longest owned so far is this one that I am driving now. The escort Mk3 was the second longest.
This car was running 20W-50 dino with the API standards of those times, from new till 2004. By 1997, clocking 270,000kms, the engine was already burning oil mildly. The plugs were also fouling mildly, cold starts were usually difficult, and would take about 5-7 seconds of cranking..every day !Oils were changed religiously at 5000km, and they were always duckhams Hypergrade, or Castrol GTX, as everyone said this was just a low end car and will require only low end oil. When starting up, the valves and cams would make some grinding noises and would eventually quiet down once warmed up. White smoke would come out of the exhaust only on revs higher than 3000. At those times, everyone believed engine wear was unavoidable, especially after 200,000kms, and is to be expected. By 1999, white smoke was coming out of the exhaust even at idle ! Starting was always a chore as usual, and I would always add oil additives to counter the burning. In late 99, something rather bad happened to this car. After an oil change, and it was with Duckhams Hypergrade 20W-50. The car ran fine and I took it to work. After work, I started the car. I cant remember the specifics, but a colleague of mine called out to me and said engine oils was pouring out from the bottom. Upon inspection, I found that the oil filter failed. I had to get the car towed back home, the first time in 7 years of ownership. Thinking it was a bad filter, we claimed a new one from the parts shop, installed a new one, and re filled the oil. My brother went underneath just to check ,and I started the engine, I suddenly heard him screaming at me to stop. He said when I started the engine, the oil filter expanded and gave way at the o rings. We knew we had a serious problem, so we got it towed to a mechanic. He removed the sump, and he found a few short steel chips in the oil filter passage, causing the blockage. I now know that these were wear metals from probably the cylinder block.By this time it was already at 300,000kms. Accepting this as normal and unavoidable signs of engine wear and aging, I went on with this car, maintaining it with the recommended oil, and watching in horror as all the bad signs of an unhealthy engine show up, erratic idling, difficult cold starts, horrible noises, plug fouling, exhaust smoke and soot...I heard about synthetic oils but did not pay much heed to them as they were expensive, and as some one who just started working, I did not have much money.
In 2004, I was earning a better paycheck. I also met a racing gearhead who was also a mechanic, he was meticulous to the point of obsession, so I knew he was the right guy to over haul my engine. August 2004, I let him remove the engine . What he found was bad news all the way. The crankshaft,pistons, piston rings, camshaft, valves, cylinder bore,oil pump, water pump, all were basically in very bad shape. All those had to be replaced. So I gave him the go ahead, and he remachined the cylinder bores as they had ovalized. He put in new bearings,con rods, pistons, rings, oil pump, water pump, camshaft, crankshaft, valves etc..and told me to put only synthetic oils if I wanted it to last. So I boutght 2 bottles of 4L Duckhams QS 5W-40 Synthetic. Of course I ran dino 20W-50 for 1000km then switched to the synthetic. Well since the engine was like new,everything worked great. No horrible sounds, no smoking, no burning oil, starts were easy(cranks only takes 1 second, even now), power was there. So OCI after OCI I kept with synthetics, just to see if this was true. I ran the car pretty hard some times , and still the engine sounded and worked really good. I drove up to genting highlands, which is a mountain resort, which has a windy steep road to climb for about 10kms. I drove my car up there 4 times,in the span of 9 years since 2004. Still the engine did not burn any oil, and sounded good. Even the plugs looked good everytime i checked them. They always have brownish deposits and they are dry, all 4 plugs. So far I have clocked 120,000kms.And I hope to clock up to 370,000km, and see if the engine will go as bad as it did on dino. As comparison, my colleague who uses the same car and same engine, his car left the factory in 2006, and clocked about 120,000kms also, but his is on a steady diet of Shell Helix HX-3 20W-50. He has varnish all over his cams and valve rockers, but look at my valve rockers ! he changes oil every 5000km, which is 3000 miles, and yet, his engine does not look as clean as mine, nor sound even remotely as good as mine. Keep in mind the HX-3 is a SJ certified dino, so it was better than whatever was available from 92-2000. Yet he has varnish in his engine, and may even have some slight sludging issues.
Remember, my car is carb operated and not with EFI, so in theory this should contribute to more deposits, yet I do not see any on my rockers and camshaft.
I am not against dino oil, if it can keep my engine working as long as it possibly can, but if synthetics can help my engine to retain it peak operation 2 or 3 times longer than dino, then that is what I want. If you have a list of dino oils that do not leave deposits, promote engine longetivity, please do share them with me. But so far, I do not know of any.
Did you ever consider that the 20w-50 was too thick which then contributed to more wear at start up etc.
Unless you've got a big cube Harley a 20w-50 is waaaaay too thick. I don't care if you live in a tropical climate an oil that thick is just too much.
It's funny. Your car and engine routinely Achebe the mileage you rebuilt it at here in North America using 30 grades.
Unless you're getting oil temps in the 260-280f range even a 40 grade can be too thick unless bearing clearances are proper for oil that thick.
It's funny. Here in North America our engines routinely outlive the body of the vehicle it's installed in with oil grades that are typically thinner than what's specified in other markets,which makes me really think about why some folks choose to ignore the obvious,which is thinner oils don't contribute to more wear when driven within the design parameters compensated for by the oem.
