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Synthetic or semi-synthetic Oil Query?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mercaholic
  • Start date Start date
M

Mercaholic

Guest
For my '83 GS1100E

Any advice is appreciated as to the pros and cons of each.
 
... and let the games begin ...


:) really this has been hashed to death 1000x on every forum on the internet.

Use whatever you want and change it often.
 
Most talked about topic on the forum. The search function is your friend.
 
Olive or Crisco

Olive or Crisco

For my Popcorn...

Any advice is appreciated as to the pros and cons of each.

Just kiddin... 8-[
 
A "TRUE" synethetic will not lose its viscosity as quickly as an oil refined from crude. You can either pay the price for a real synethetic and run it for 5 or 6k or use a good refined oil and change it every 3K. I'm a Delo user and change at 3K. I know Ames and Royal Purple still make a real synthetic but don't know if there are any others. Almost everything out there that says synethetic is just highly refined crude at a "RIP OFF" price.
 
I'm not an expert but I do work for an oil company...

Seriously, I've talked with several chemists in my company about this and what they said was that the molecular chains in the synthetic oil have greater consistency than those oils derived from crude. Not that the crude is all that bad, but the synthetics can be engineered to perform certain ways in certain conditions.

Fgh makes a very valid point here. Castrol (my favorite dino oil for many years) decided that they could refine lubrication oil to the point that it could be marketed as a synthetic. Another oil company, Mobil (who makes a true synthetic) sued, stating that if the oil came from a crude oil base, then it was not a synthetic oil. Amazingly, Mobil lost the case and the court ruled in Castrol's favor.

One of the chemists gave me an analogy on the synthetic/semi-synthetic/crude derived oil issue. If you wanted to move a large piece of heavy sheet metal across a floor and you had to chose from three equally sized buckets of bearings to spread over the floor to slide the sheet along, would you want the bucket where almost all the bearings where of different sizes (the crude based oil), the bucket where only half the bearing were the same size and the rest varied in size (the semi-synthetic) or the bucket where all the bearings, with only a few exceptions, were consistent in size (the full synthetic).

Hap
 
The analogy breaks down a bit at the molecular level; your sheet of metal and the floor when highly magnified become lumps of jagged rock so any ball bearings that fit in the gaps are fine.

Anyone remember the engine that came out in the 70's that did 100,000 (test bed) miles with milk replacing the oil? Is it another one for the conspiracy theorists that was bought out and squashed by the oil companies?
 
I'm going out to kill myself.




Do you guys thing syn would do a better job than dino
banghead.gif
 
Pete Logan said:
I'm going out to kill myself.




Do you guys thing syn would do a better job than dino
banghead.gif
Click to expand...

Go with the synthetic...it will be absorbed at a more constant rate and thus allow a more complete saturation of the stomach lining and upper GI tract. :shock: You were planning on drinking it, weren't you? :-D
 
hampshirehog said:
The analogy breaks down a bit at the molecular level; your sheet of metal and the floor when highly magnified become lumps of jagged rock so any ball bearings that fit in the gaps are fine.

Anyone remember the engine that came out in the 70's that did 100,000 (test bed) miles with milk replacing the oil? Is it another one for the conspiracy theorists that was bought out and squashed by the oil companies?
Click to expand...


Analogies are not engineering or scientific statements. They are used to explain issues that are not easily seen. It would break down even further at the molecular level when you consider shear, thermal action and many other issues, but that was not the chemist's point. His point was that consistency at the molecular level is desired.

Hap
 
Dave8338 said:
Go with the synthetic...it will be absorbed at a more constant rate and thus allow a more complete saturation of the stomach lining and upper GI tract. :shock: You were planning on drinking it, weren't you? :-D
Click to expand...
Yeah - I don't have enough in stock to drown in, so I was figuring either drinking or injecting, but I don't have a clinically sterile needle in the house at the moment and my vet is on vacation, so I guess it's down to drinking.

I think you are right about the syn on the consistency front, but it also shows up leaks better. If your stomach uses a lot of oil when committing suicide, it may be better to switch to a good quality 20W50 dino.
 
I've come to the conclusion that I'm losing my sense of humor...:cry:

Hap
 
Pete Logan said:
...I think you are right about the syn on the consistency front, but it also shows up leaks better. If your stomach uses a lot of oil when committing suicide, it may be better to switch to a good quality 20W50 dino.
Click to expand...

I am a bit squeamish, Pete: I would prefer that you not leak excessively before your demise. [-o<

BB
 
Hap Call said:
I've come to the conclusion that I'm losing my sense of humor...:cry:

Hap
Click to expand...

...easy enough done, on an oil thread. :-D Hang in there, as with everything else in old age, either you'll find it again, or one of your decendents will find it for you. :shock: :-D
 
For some reason oil threads often tend to turn south. I think one of the reasons is because sometimes people that don't have a very strong technical background inject their opinions, or spread rumors, that are not based on scientific fact. Of course the fact that so many oil manufactuerers spread their marketing information on the uninformed population just adds to the confusion.
 
Nessism said:
For some reason oil threads often tend to turn south. I think one of the reasons is because sometimes people that don't have a very strong technical background inject their opinions, or spread rumors, that are not based on scientific fact. Of course the fact that so many oil manufactuerers spread their marketing information on the uninformed population just adds to the confusion.
Click to expand...


The old saying is if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all goes right out the window with oil threads.

Simply posts a few searched topics or make a darn sticky about oil already.

As you have stated; each company claims that it has the best oil.

For the guy who originally asked, just go purchase some Rotella 5-40 in the blue jug and be happy. Oil and filters religously will grant you many happy miles of riding.
 
82Shafty said:
For the guy who originally asked, just go purchase some Rotella 5-40 in the blue jug and be happy. Oil and filters religously will grant you many happy miles of riding.
Click to expand...


Agree! \\:D/\\:D/\\:D/
 
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