Yep, another oil thread Synthetic for Northern Climates....

[LandYaghtLover]

Have all new gaskets coming. Upper and lower pan. Even a new pan itself. Going to hunt down sending unit o-rings. And the valve cover gaskets were leaking when I first got the car, but I replaced them right away. So leaks are not really a concern. I am more concerned about my SLS pump leaking!

[babymog]

Delvac is dino diesel oil, Delvac 1 is synthetic diesel oil. Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel & Truck is the consumer-packaged version of Delvac 1 and currently on sale at O'Rieleys for $19.99/gallon.

[lee polowczuk]

i am using the dino 15w-40.. any reason to use the synthetic?

i worry more about the filters, that's why i change at 3333 or so on our cars.

a gallon of chevron/delo is 11 bucks at wal-mart

[Maki]

Originally Posted by lee polowczuk

i am using the dino 15w-40.. any reason to use the synthetic?

Probably not in Florida. Startup at zero F is when synthetic pays its way, IMO.

I've tried the new Rotella T6 synthetic and like it. I usually find it cheaper than M1 and way cheaper than Delvac 1 here in the Milwaukee area.

[lee polowczuk]

Originally Posted by Maki

Probably not in Florida. Startup at zero F is when synthetic pays its way, IMO.

I've tried the new Rotella T6 synthetic and like it. I usually find it cheaper than M1 and way cheaper than Delvac 1 here in the Milwaukee area.

thanks, that's what i figured as well..

freezing temperatures here are so rare, they are actually welcomed to kill mosquitoes .lol

[johnflight1]

The primary reason you must change the oil in your car is because of combustion contaminents suspended in the oil. reguardless of dino or syn it does not matter, you must follow the manufacturer recomendations for changes.
they know when the oil in the engine they designed will be at its limit with combustion contaminents suspended in the oil it does not matter if its syn or dino the filter will get full and bypass providing no filtering.
People speak of exterme temperatures as a reason to use syn oil ,you would have to live in northern Alaska for this to come into play. For this reason it is used in jet engines that operate at -60f enviorments with an operating temp of +600C.
Save your money! my 96 SL500 has 260,000 mi and runs quiet. oil always comes out the way it goes in, golden ! Golden dino oil
Bottom line just follow the manufactures recomendations
p.s. yes I do use mobil 1 in my 06 ML320 because it came with it and I kept it for waranty and its recomended by MBZ

[lkchris]

Originally Posted by RANDY P

Change the oil weights based on season..

Gee, why would you do that?

It's now the 21st century and this discussion is about synthetic oil.

Here's some data:

I checked the "cold pour point" specification for various grades of Mobil 1 on their website.

They were ALL THE SAME, same for 15W-50 being about 15 degrees higher. That made it minus 40.

No, just run year around the ONE version of Mobil 1 that meets Mercedes specifications and is NOT designed for diesels: 0W-40 European Formula.

[LandYaghtLover]

^ Thats what I want to do. One oil I can buy for year round. Synth for longer oil changes since testing has proven it lasts longer. The only thing I will do is what others may do and that is to change the oil filter mid-life of the oil. I did that before and on the Benz its 100 times easier.

[babymog]

Originally Posted by johnflight1

People speak of exterme temperatures as a reason to use syn oil ,you would have to live in northern Alaska for this to come into play.

I re-read the posts, and didn't see any prior discussion of extreme temperatures.

For cold temps though, you can demonstrate easily how much easier it is to pour a synthetic oil at 15F, or even 40F, than a dino oil. It is the same in your engine, it slows down the cranking putting extra stress on the battery and starter, and it pumps up slower to the oil system when the engine starts, it is not flowing like it should until warming up.

Further, the high-temp characteristics are different, a good syn oil can heat soak in a turbo with less degradation than a dino oil.

Last, and most important, is how a multi-viscosity dino oil is produced. A 5W-40 dino oil is a 5 oil, with short-chain polymers added as viscosity modifiers to try to keep the oil from thinning as much at higher temps. These viscosity modifiers are fragile, don't shear well, and basically protect high-shear areas as you'd expect from an SAE5 oil, plus the viscosity modifiers break down and cause your oil to become thinner as the oil is used.
In contrast, many group IV synthetic oils don't need viscosity modifiers, they naturally don't thin as much when heated nor thicken as much as chilled as dino oils (the standard is based on the characteristics of a dino oil) so they are automatically a multi-viscosity oil. This makes the oil much more durable, and helps it to protect the engine as a new oil for many more miles.

Synthetic oil is better for most automotive applications. It will almost always protect better, last longer between changes, and provide slightly less friction (meaning power and fuel mileage, however slight, and less wear). Whether it is worth it in an engine that will outlast the useful life of the car is another issue which is up to the car owner. For cold weather though, you don't need arctic cold to find a difference, you can tell it in cranking speeds at 30*F, which means a better chance of starting if the battery is weak or lights left on, or simply less wear and tear on the engine when started cold.

I have no connection with the synthetic oil industry, just have been using it since ~1974 when spectro-analysis showed significantly lower wear particles in synthetic oil we ran in two identical cars against dino oils (thank you goes out to a certain airline which had the testing facilities available).

[mbzman]

What are the differences in the additive packages between Mobil 1 0W-40 European Formula and Mobil 1 Diesel 5W-40 Synthetic?

[compu_85]

0w40 has Mercedes' approval, and is slightly thinner. I believe the 0w40 is also slightly more expensive. The 5w40 is available in convenient gallon size jugs.

-J

[mbzman]

Originally Posted by compu_85

0w40 has Mercedes' approval, and is slightly thinner. I believe the 0w40 is also slightly more expensive. The 5w40 is available in convenient gallon size jugs.

-J

Forgive me for my ignorance but what is this Mercedes approval that everyone is always talking about? How does this apply to older engines? Is 0W-40 too thin for an older engine like mine? As far as I can tell it has never consumed synthetic in 22 years.

[compu_85]

Look on the back of the bottle. Someone else will have to help me with the MB approval numbers and which motors they apply to, I only know the VW stuff offhand.

-J

[LandYaghtLover]

Well finally decided to get the oil change done. Found Castrol 5W-40 full syth for 4.99/quart. Wanted Mobil 1 but got sick of running around looking for the right stuff.

[compress ignite]

It may be a group II.