synthetic oil bliss

[Lawrence C Leung]

On synthetic oil performance, I have noted one thing about the Castrol.

In my area, I'm not allowed to do my own oil changes, so I have to go to
the local quick change place. The only synth they have is the Castrol
Syntec 5W-50 and in two Auto-X's in the 200Q I have noted that the
viscosity when hot is not enough to support the valve lifters (i.e. I get
lifter tap at the end of each run. Goes away when the oil cools. Never
has occured in road driving, probably b/c there is enough airflow through
the air/oil cooler to keep it cooler. Note, the oil temp gauge shows no
noticable difference btw a long highway run and a 50 second auto-X run,
but there is a lot more WOT at the Auto-X). I'm sure that the range of
viscosities ('come-on 5 to 50 in one oil!) has a lot to do with this,
unfortunately, the oil change places offer nothing else in synthetic. I'd
prefer Mobil 1 10W-30 winter and 15W-50 3 season, or even Castrol's
smaller range Syntec, but so far, not availible. Note, I do use synthetic
in the GTi which is my regular autocrosser, and I have not ever had any
viscosity problems with that car, so I imagine that the Audi just runs
the oil hotter. Just an FYI for those considering synthetics.

LL - NY

On Mon, 23 Oct 2000 15:29:12 -0500 (cdt) Virtual Bob <hey9811 at yahoo.com>
writes:
>On Thu, 19 Oct 2000, Bryan Rodgers wrote:
>
>> Brings to mind a question that's probably been asked again and 
>again: is one
>> synthetic oil better then the next?
>
>Donno. However, there are different ways of creating (or, uh, 
>marketing)
>one as recent C&D article claims. And as such, I guess, whom you 
>choose to
>support...
>
>The article says whereas virtually all synth oil manufacturers starts 
>with
>ethylene, but Castrol uses very-refined petroleum as the base stock 
>for
>its Syntec synth oil. The substitution is said to "provide similar
>properties" of traditional synth base stock, polyalphaolefin (PAO).
>
>The bottom line is Castrol can create its synth oil at half of the 
>cost of
>others in the market, but the problem is Castrol ain't sharing its 
>cost
>savings with you. Personally, I'd support those manufacturers who 
>went
>the long way with product cost reflecting the trouble they went 
>through to
>produce the product just for heck of it...
>
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