synthetic oil Vs. Castrol GTX high milage

[wood1]

back when synthetic came out, yes there was an issue of it causing leaks by not being very kind to seals and gaskets if you changed from regular to syn. that is why you could not go back and forth, syn to reg, reg to syn. NOW that is untrue. the new sythetics of today are far superiour than the ones from back then. syn does NOT cause leaks. most of the time, the "gunk" and "sludge" can sit on the seals, harden, and cause a leak, because the seal cant flex. thats why sometimes an oil cleaner can help stop leaks, its breaks away the sludge from the seal. synthetic does clean better, last longer, and does not thicken in the cold as much. the new syn does not cause leaks period. leaks that "start" when switching to syn where already there. they were not as bad yet due to some of the sludge sitting there blocking the way, and had not gotten hard yet... key word YET. put it this way... you get what you pay for, IMO. would you use the cheapest .99 cent bottles of oil? or the 4.99 castol GTX bottles? (prices not actual, just there to show a point) now, there is nothing wrong with regular oil, and engines can and will live long happy lives. it all depends on what you prefer.

this is just my 2 cents, and just pointing out some things on syn that where not there before.

BAM!:

 

[1Byounkin]

ok so I change my oil to High Mileage oil. But the truck is using more like a qt a day. No white smoke and very small drips. I'm using 10w-30. Is there any thing better? PLEASE HELP!! What can I do?

 

[aldive]

Determine where the oil is "going".

 

[1Byounkin]

I do belive that it might be the valve seals on the driver side. Because if the truck leans to the drive side white/blueish smoke comes out of the exhaust.

I just didn't have time to tear down to fix it yet. I guess driving the oil seeps out as it runs.
1991 4.0L

 

[Mbrooks420]

It burns up a quart a day? That's entirely crazy.

 

[unclemeat]

I hate to barge in (not really), but if you switch to synthetic oil and find that you have more leakage, couldn't that be because the synthetic oil has better flow characteristics, ie more consistant viscosity in cold weather. The synthetic oil may be finding the leaks because it flows better through small openings. Isn't that what you want from your oil in the first place?

I run synthetic oil in all my junk, if it leaks a little that is why I check and top my oil when necessary. I dont have any oil leak problems in any of my junk.

 

[bigboyboles8]

92 explorer siezed after synthetic change

Yea... so about 3 months ago I went all out and replaced all of the sparkplugs with platinum 4s and all new performance wires. Then went and put a k&n air filter on it, and flushed the radiator. Then I decided why stop there might as well change the oil.... well heres the problem, I have 140,000 miles on my 92 explorer, I changed the origional oil to synthetic, since changing the oil there was a tapping/clanging on the inside of the engine. I really sounded like the pistons were hitting something or the lifters just werent lifting... I had no Idea what was going on... I asked a mechanic and he told me that the change to synthetic probably caused this, and after much research I found that the 92 explorers are known to have problems with their lifters not lifting if the oil becomes too thin, and synthetics are known to be less viscous than standard oils. Anyways long story short I tried to replace the oil back to standard oil and it continued the banging (and when I say banging I mean wakeup the neighbors banging) I tried driving around the block and giving it some throttle to try to get the lifter working again and about 1 mile from home the piston siezed... Now I have a truck that I cant even get to turn over, and I dont know what to do, my friend suggested force turning the crankshaft with a long wrench to move the piston... I mean it couldnt hurt the current situation. Anyways I just felt like sharing this little "horror" story of mine, and maybe someone has a suggestion?

 

[91explorer1009]

For the 1st five years I owned the explorer I ran dino oil. Never had to add a drop in between the 3,000 miles I changed the oil. I never even had any leaks on the driveway. Switched to synthetics 5 years in, and the ex started leaking the Mobil 1 all over the drive. I ran synthetics for a year and then decided to switch back to Dino oil. I now run Castrol GTX H.M. in hopes of slowing the leak. It now leaks about a quart of oil every 1-2,000 miles. I should of just left well enough alone and stayed with the conventional oil.

Now I know everyone is going to jump on me and say that the seal is just bad and that is the real problem, and youre right. But the synthetics did most likely dislodge whatever sludge was in the cracks and what not, and cause my leak now....just my thoughts, do what you wish with your truck, and for the record the castrol gtx has just about cured any lifter tap, she runs nice and quiet now...

 

[Tony H]

I have 300K on 3 automobiles and 70K on a motorcycle. I would not and have not changed my Brand or type motor oil.
For some reason, Synthetics tend to create Seal leaks on higher mileage cars and the High mileage stuff is designed to swell Seals to stop leaking but in doing so, they put undue strain on the swelled Seals against the Crank.

 

[aldive]

For the millionth time, synthetic oil does not cause leaks.

 

[Tony H]

For the millionth time, synthetic oil does not cause leaks.

Maybe there is no scientific reason why it should cause leaks but there are many many mnay car forums with real life folks that say they have Seal issues after switching over.

 

[Elessar65]

Yea... so about 3 months ago I went all out and replaced all of the sparkplugs with platinum 4s and all new performance wires. Then went and put a k&n air filter on it, and flushed the radiator. Then I decided why stop there might as well change the oil.... well heres the problem, I have 140,000 miles on my 92 explorer, I changed the origional oil to synthetic, since changing the oil there was a tapping/clanging on the inside of the engine. I really sounded like the pistons were hitting something or the lifters just werent lifting... I had no Idea what was going on... I asked a mechanic and he told me that the change to synthetic probably caused this, and after much research I found that the 92 explorers are known to have problems with their lifters not lifting if the oil becomes too thin, and synthetics are known to be less viscous than standard oils. Anyways long story short I tried to replace the oil back to standard oil and it continued the banging (and when I say banging I mean wakeup the neighbors banging) I tried driving around the block and giving it some throttle to try to get the lifter working again and about 1 mile from home the piston siezed... Now I have a truck that I cant even get to turn over, and I dont know what to do, my friend suggested force turning the crankshaft with a long wrench to move the piston... I mean it couldnt hurt the current situation. Anyways I just felt like sharing this little "horror" story of mine, and maybe someone has a suggestion?

Just cause someone says something doesn't make it true. Also how would he or you know that the oil caused this? You did that other stuff at the same time, so it could have been any one of those things, or just a random coincidence. My money is on the plugs being too long and contacting a piston, or you getting the firing order confused when putting new wires on. The oil being too thin causing this doesn't seem right to me, unless it was non existent and the parts seized. Or it was too thick to allow anything to work. The valves opening is a mechanical process, the lobes on the cam act on the lifters, which act on the pushrods, which act on the rocker arms, which open and close the valves.

 

[Tony H]

Yea... so about 3 months ago I went all out and replaced all of the sparkplugs with platinum 4s and all new performance wires. Then went and put a k&n air filter on it, and flushed the radiator. Then

Are you sure you put the Wires on correctly. If you swapped two you could be getting a nasty Pre-ignition situation. The passenger side is laid out nice and intuative the drivers side, the wires are swapped from the way they come off the Ignition Module.
With the engine off, I would try to crank it around from the Crank Bolt.

Are you sure you put the Plug back in the Oil Pan before putting the fresh oil in? Check your dipstick

 

[1Byounkin]

oil plug is in and tight. Used a 5qts oil. I drive it everyday. But after a week I how to add 2 qts. (beginning of the week) than on Wed I have to add 2qts more. Small drips under the truck. Only smoke if it leans to the driver side, but no smoke when driving or start-up. I used 10w-30.

 

[bigboyboles8]

Are you sure you put the Wires on correctly. If you swapped two you could be getting a nasty Pre-ignition situation. The passenger side is laid out nice and intuative the drivers side, the wires are swapped from the way they come off the Ignition Module.
With the engine off, I would try to crank it around from the Crank Bolt.

Are you sure you put the Plug back in the Oil Pan before putting the fresh oil in? Check your dipstick

The truck ran fine for about a week or two before the knocking happened... also I recieved the wire set up on explorerforums, and yes I have checked the oil, and I know oil was in it because I did check the dipstick to confirm it was full, and when I changed the oil back to conventional oil, lo and behold 5 or so quarts of nice clean synthetic oil. Another post I made on the subject is yeilding some results. People are saying it could be the sludge blocking the oil pump and it could have oil starved the engine causeing the engine to seize like this. It makes sense, but I cannot get to the oil pan to check the oil pump because I have to engine lift or mechanic friend on hand... any tips on how to check the pump?

 

[tribestros]

For the millionth time, synthetic oil does not cause leaks.

For the millionth time, yes it does.

 

[wood1]

Anyways...

how would you know if you have a seized piston if you haven't dismantled the engine? If the engine refuses to turn over that is really all you know unless you have been checking it out further.

My suggestion is to find out why the engine refuses to turn over by removing the spark plugs and attempting to turn the engine over. With the plugs out you should be able to turn the engine very easily with a 1/2 drive socket and ratchet. If it still refuses to turn over remove the engine from the truck and pull the oil pan off to find out what is going on. From your description of the banging noises you have most likely done some serious internal damage due to either oil starvation or a mechanical failure or both.

Oh, once you remove the spark plugs do not use the key to turn the engine over without disabling the fuel pump and ignition. You wouldn't want to cause a fire. There is really no need to turn it over with the starter motor anyways, you can usually even just grasp the bottom pulley and turn an engine by hand with the spark plugs out.

 

[FIND]

For the millionth time, yes it does.

www.bobistheoilguy.com

learn.

You can apologize later.

Maybe there is no scientific reason why it should cause leaks but there are many many mnay car forums with real life folks that say they have Seal issues after switching over.

There are a lot of reasons for this.

1: switching to a higher quality oil, or an oil with a different formulation of additives, and this reveals problems that were hidden before.

2: The owner, after spending the money on synthetic, has now begun to pay more attention to their engine, and is noticing their problems.

3: You are not getting the full story. IE, they changed to synthetic 3 years ago, have changed their oil 14 times since, havent done anything different, but parts (like they always do) wear out, and they dont believe that, instead wishing to blame the problem on the thing they have changed.

Any mechanic has heard of this type of customer, they come into your shop and say "You changed my air filter 9 months ago, and now my rear end went out, what did you do to my car OMGWTFBBQ!!!!!!one!!!1!!11!!!eleven!!one"

 

[Mirge]

OMGWTFBBQ!!!!!!one!!!1!!11!!!eleven!!one"

Ahh that just made my day. Thank you