Re: Synth Oil Evidence(Pro)

[MSV96@aol.com]

In a note dated 2/25/97 Mike Tipton writes:

<<Last year I had an opportunity to "open-up" a 157,000 mile Audi
I5(non-turbo) motor. Its entire life has been with Mobil 1! Head, pistons,
and crank were all removed, inspected and measured for wear. What was found
internally to this engine was quite supriseing! (From an engine builders
stand point) The first thing apparent was the condition of the cylinder
walls!  The "original factory" cross-hatching was still very evident.  The
pistons all came out thru the top of the block, no lip ontop!  When measured
the cylinder's were 0004 worn!  Thats the only difference we could find from
top to bottom!>>

These findings are the same I have heard of in Porsche circles (written about
by Bruce Anderson...P-car tech guru) regarding 3.0L 911SC engines for
years...big difference being the tear downs were in excess of 250k miles
(over 300k in some cases). No meantion was made of synthetic oils, just good
maintenance practices. I am no expert and make no claims about oil varieties,
etc.

I think that modern computer aided manufacturing (closer tolerances), modern
fuel injection (less combustion by-products=cleaner engines), and just plain
damm good engineering design (911 motors and Audi I5's both fit this catagory
I think ;-)  ) have as much (if not more) to do with this finding of near
zero wear. Not to say that synthetic oil didn't perhaps help...because it
very well may have...just that after hearing this for so many years about
3.0L 911SC motors with much higher miles I would tend to think of this as
"normal" for a good well designed and maintained German motor. I would weigh
these other factors in before arriving at the conclusion that synthetic oil
was the magic potion that resulted in near zero wear. Still, there are merits
to using synthetic vs. dino...just that coming from a P-car background where
you change 12 quarts every 1500 to 2500 miles...ah well-it gets umm pricey.
Not trying to rekindle the synth/dino thing...really have no interest either
way to be honest, just trying to give the credit for great wear
characteristics where it is due-the designers and builders of the fine cars
we enjoy!

Mike Veglia
85 4ksq (157k and I would venture to guess very little motor wear)