Question on oil

[selavia]

Was thumbing through some old posts and I ran across one that dealt with regular oil vs. synthetic. This one posts frightened me a bit because of the following: I have no idea what type of oil was used in my car before I bought it and I recently changed my oil and used synthetic.


Here is the post that has me worried:


ok this is coming directly from a manager of a bmw dealership. if you have an e36 and have been running on regular oil DO NOT switch to synthetic as it will ruin you r engine. the best thing to do if you insist on synthetic is to place 5 quarts of regular and 1 quart of synthetic. oh yeah in regard to 89 vs 92 octane..92+ octane will only make a difference if your driving a high performance vehicle like a ferrari or m5.


Is this comment BS?

Personally, I have always heard that synthetic is better no matter when you start using it. If someone can lay my fears to rest and even provide documentation or authority I would be ever so grateful.

Sean

 

[jrt67ss350]

It's BS...don't even worry about it for 1 second. I use Mobil 1 synthetic in my 270,000 mile E30 that certainly never had synthetic in it before I bought it. No problems here. I also use it in my 1967 Camaro, and it actually runs better with synthetic. Synthetic oil didn't even exist back then.

The last comment that person made should tell you that he is a questionable source: "oh yeah in regard to 89 vs 92 octane..92+ octane will only make a difference if your driving a high performance vehicle like a ferrari or m5." If your car calls for 92+ octane, you should use 92+ octane irregardless of what company made the car or how "high performance" it is. My girlfriend's Grand Prix GTP requires 91 octane gas, and it ain't no Ferrari. The octane requirements all depend on the design of the engine (compression, cylinder pressures, combustion chamber temperature, cylinder charge quenching, etc, etc) no matter if the engine is made by Ferrari or Kia.

 

[Big Daddy]

Bs

jrt67ss350 is correct, that is BS. However synthetic oils and lubricants have been around since the early 60's and Mobil One for autos was released in the early 70's.

 

[///M SPEED]

jrt67ss350 is correct, that is BS. However synthetic oils and lubricants have been around since the early 60's and Mobil One for autos was released in the early 70's.

Yep, I have an old 72 240z (I still have it too) my father use to race out at SIR and all it has ever ran was AMSOIL synthetic. He once put reg. oil and ran it on the track and actually lost around a sec. per lap. It made a huge difference....

 

[selavia]

thanks guys. I definitely trust your opinions much more than that one, however, it still made me nervous.

You don't know how much I'd be driving myself insane worrying about this if it wasn't for your relaxing comments. As they say: "Mad props to you guys." Thanks.


Sean

 

[Kirby]

If you go to Mobil's web site, they used to have a FAQ on this topic, I assume it's still there.. They claim that there is no danger whatsoever in making the change. The old wive's tale was that the synthetic oil would not swell the gaskets as much as dinosaur oil, and would cause leaks. This has never been proven to be true.

I am planning to go to synthetic oil on the next change in the '94 325i. Tests have shown that synthetic oil can add 2 - 5 hp over dino. Since I use that car for Autocross, I'll glady take every little pony I can get!