Synthetic motor oil?

[Big country]

I'm not going to run to the Nissan dealer for a filter tho. I have been going to O Reilly's for just about everything. What do they have that's good?

[dee]

O'Reilly's carries Wix thats where our shop gets our filters at.

[Big country]

Originally Posted by dee

O'Reilly's carries Wix thats where our shop gets our filters at.

Cool Thanks for all the info in this thread guys.

[Hawghauler]

Wix are great filters. I have been a part of multiple oil and filter debates and I have seen them get emotional to the point of fanaticism. I have used both dino oil and synthetic and have come to the conclusion that when kept changed and clean you should be safe with most name brands and types. I use Castrol primarily and use the synthetic in extreme temperatures both low and high. Mobil 1 is superb and makes a great V-Twin oil too. I have also seen Mobil 1 used as gun oil. Quaker State had mislabeled oil in the 70's that caused many engines to seize at below freezing temperture and that gave them a big black eye. QS also seemed to leave more sludge in the pan than other oils.

[ROGER4314]

Neat posts. I learned a lot. Perhaps I can share some things I've learned over the years.

It's true in most cases that the oil doesn't break down and that the additives wear out instead. Unfortunately, wearing out of the oil or additives is not the biggest problem. I tested aircraft system oils for McDonnell Douglas for 5 1/2 years. What we found was that it's not the oil that is the problem, it's the crap that gets INTO the oil that is the biggest issue.

We tested oil for viscosity, acid number and particle count. The tests were so stringent that if you TOUCHED the top of the sample bottle or inside of the cap, the sample would fail the particle count test. The next time you add oil from an open container or use a cruddy funnel, you might think about that oil contamination.

Water is a natural byproduct of combustion and that stuff will enter the oil no matter what you do to prevent it. Taking long highway trips will help to vaporize the water but eventually, you need to dump the oil to get rid of it.

There is only one way to get the garbage out of the oil. Change the oil and the filters.

Please also be aware that auto filters are shunt systems. Only a part of the oil actually goes through the filter. It's like a side system and not full flow filtration. The filter systems have bypass check valves in them and if the filter clogs, the oil zips right around the obstructed filter. I always laughed when someone told me he never changed his filter and it ran just fine. Of course it ran fine! The filter system was in full bypass and the filter was out of the picture!

At the aircraft plant, Mil-h-5606 red oil (very similar to auto trans oil) for the military aircraft, ran $8 per gallon. Skydrol and Hijet synthetic oils for the commercial jets ran $35 per gallon at that time. Filter banks had 10-15 large cartridge filters in each of several filter enclosures. We dumped hundreds of gallons of both oils and countless filter cartridges over failed oil samples!

In another job, I tested gearboxes on a dyno. We increased the load on the gearbox while monitoring temperature, vibration with regular inspection for wear. I saw these gearboxes run and run regardless of load almost indefinitely as long as the oil temperature remained reasonable. (It varied for the weight of the oil). It was amazing to see that reliable gearbox that seemingly ran forever crater violently with the addition of 10 degrees F in oil temp! That's all it took.....10 degrees! Each oil breaks down at it's own unique temperature. If you stay 10 degrees below that point, you get along pretty well. Above that.......................Kaboom!

Summed up:
If you drive in a way that the oil is easily contaminated (short trips, dusty environment etc), then dump the oil pretty regularly. Make sure the engine stays within it's operating temperature range. Just a small amount of additional heat could crater the mill.

Flash

[M. Sage]

Many of the newer engines with canister filters (hello, again 1960's) don't bypass the filter, and I can tell you that BMW engines from the late-90s and early 00s don't have a bypass in the filter assembly. Plug the filter element and you get no oil pressure.

Cheap oil is a big no-no in those cars, so are cheap filters.

[ROGER4314]

[quote=M. Sage;110762]Many of the newer engines with canister filters (hello, again 1960's) don't bypass the filter, and I can tell you that BMW engines from the late-90s and early 00s don't have a bypass in the filter assembly. Plug the filter element and you get no oil pressure.

You got me there. Never worked on a Beemer. I will say that the vast majority of American cars are shunt oil filter systems which for decades had the bypass valve built into the oil filter screw on base. I understand some of the later ones had the check valve built into the filters. Millions of them are running around!

"Nothing is ever ALWAYS" as I was taught. There are bound to be exceptions. Consequently, I'll amend what I wrote to say " The vast majority of US automotive lubrication systems for the last 50 years have been shunt type systems in which only part of the oil is filtered in a side filtration flow system. Most of these vehicles have filter bypass check valves which will bypass the filter if it becomes clogged. You will never know if the bypass valve is open! The only way to prevent the oil from bypassing is to change the filter regularly so it doesn't become clogged."

Flash

[jdh]

Castrol Syntec is a good choice.

[M. Sage]

Just trying to share what info I've got. I get to work on just about everything.

I've literally got a lawnmower torn apart next to an 03 330Ci convertible.