Synthetic Oil

[jonnyslick]

So someone told me that if you have a car that has a oil burning issue (say blow-by on the rings) and it smokes with conventional oil, you can switch to synthetic and it will not be as apparent.

That is to say that the way they described it is synthetic oils burn almost "invisible" and there's not much visible smoke. Sure, your car will still by-pass/burn the oil, but the smoke cloud coming out of your exhasut will not be visible or at least very diminished.

Is that true?

:?:

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I have never heard that before. However, I would go up one viscosity number for the oil to see if that helps. I find that it does. For example, when I run 5w-30 in my truck, it uses oil at a much more rapid rate than if I use 10w-30. When I had the Buick V6 in my Cutlass, I ran it on straight 40 weight. Anything less, and it had low oil pressure due to the crappy aluminum pump housing design that was worn with high mileage. I ended up pulling it at over 200k when most of these engines were dying at 80k.

 

[NY87SS]

Far from the truth as you can get.
Syn oils are thinner than the same viscosity conventional oils, like watery compared to dino oils.
This condition will allow it to find everything wrong with a motor leak wise.
You motor may have never leaked oil before and after it might and also it'll blow by rings that don't seal as good anymore the a thicker dino oil would do.

 

[jonnyslick]

^ Yeah, thanks for your reply, but you're missing the point. I know that it'll still leak (maybe even more) with Synthetic. But what I'm asking is when it burns does it still smoke.

Basically if I put Synthetic oil to a flame will it still create smoke like conventional oil would. That's all I'm asking really.

 

[crappycutlass]

try it?

 

[kustomkyle]

I topped off my car with some synthetic after it got a little low (it burns oil) because I thought the same thing. I think it made it smoke a lot more and the blue tint to the smoke seemed brighter. For example, it smokes the worst when I pull out onto a main road and accelerate up to speed. There is usually a few blue puffs that come out, but after I put the synthetic in, it was like I was spraying for mosquitos (I don't think the people behind me could see). It's a 307 Olds that takes 10W-30, but it runs with 20-50W and 30W also depending on what time of the year it is. I'm not sure how it would work if I changed the oil and replaced it all with synthetic. I heard on an older engine, especially one with wear, that it will cause more problems like leaking? It seems the more sludged up it is, the less it smokes. I guess the only thing you can do is put thicker conventional oil in it to try and help or get the engine rebuilt.

 

[Blake442]

If your engine consumes oil in any way, why would you put a more expensive product into it? That's a waste of money, cause it's just going to burn it up anyways...

In my oil burner wagon and now my pick up, I run 5-30 in the winter because of the intense cold up here, and HD-30 in the summer. It burns it at a slower rate than the thinner oils.
I also buy the cheap stuff.

 

[megaladon6]

to correct a point here, synthetic is not thinner than conventional oil. syn will tend to get by the rings more however. this is because it sticks to the walls better than conventional. also, it "slides" on itself better which means that more can be left on the walls. this is also why it works better than conventional. obviously this means that more can be left in the cylinder and burn.
as to it burning clearer? it's possible, but not by enough to make a difference. as stated i'd just go to a slightly heavier oil.

 

[SBCregal]

viscosity is a measure of how thick a liquid is (or resistance to flow...something like that)

if 2 oils have the same viscosity...they're both just as thick/thin

 

[413Cutlass]

totall BS.
But however, beware in puttin synthetic in anything with over 100K, it can make your seals leak. If you've been running regular oil and your over 100k, stick with it.