Terrorist eco-weenies strike again... goodbye decent oil for old engines....

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ck80

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If you haven't been to the stores lately, something has been happening since early summer...

Conventional, true conventional, motor oils are as gone as the dinosaurs from which they were made.

If you're lucky enough to find something mis-labeled "conventional" you will see it now has a "SP" rating on the jug... meaning it's actually a syn-blend at best. Which, you probably will also find in fine print somewhere on jug or in data sheets.

If you noticed more drips in the driveway then you're probably right.

So, prepare to be pulling motors and spending LOTS of money and time chasing oil leaks that spring from your forced conversion to the crap that has greater propensity to seep and weep through tiny spaces than good old Dino oil did/does.

Yes, the spaces the oil leaks through were already there. But the old stuff didn't make it through them.

"Progress"... <sigh>
 
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motorheadmike

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Looks at cabinet full of synthetic oils with lots of Gucci additives...

[Shrugs]

Guess y'all need LS swaps now?
 
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81cutlass

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Sure it's just not supply chain issues?

Texas got hit with a huge blizzard that effected refineries
Global supplier shutdowns


Synthetic 'blend' means it has like 5% (or whatever) minimum synthetic content, not sure it's something worth getting riled up about.
 
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ck80

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Sure it's just not supply chain issues?

Texas got hit with a huge blizzard that effected refineries
Global supplier shutdowns


Synthetic 'blend' means it has like 5% (or whatever) minimum synthetic content, not sure it's something worth getting riled up about.
Its more a systemic issue - it's not a 'no-stock' as much as they're deleting the old style conventional from the planograms to set up the aisles and removing conventional barcodes from shelving.

The blend has an amorphous content of synthetic, they don't give a set ironclad percentage, and, the weeps/seepage issue remains.

If you look or read into it, remaining stocks of the old conventional have made their way quietly into the clearance sections of autozones, walmarts, etc.

Looks at cabinet full of synthetic oils with lots of Gucci additives...

[Shrugs]

Guess y'all need LS swaps now?
🤮

If I were to do any unplanned swap it's probably gonna be a blue flame, a Pontiac ohc 6, or a 496 stroked to 540 with the forged raylar goodies.

My planned swaps were a buick v8 and a Pontiac v8 into a regal and firebird respectively.
 
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GP403

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I thought the sky already fell when SN rating came out. Or was I imagining all that.

EDIT: something like that.


The more things change... sigh.
 

Streetbu

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If you do a bit of research on oils. A VAST majority of the oils sold as "synthetic" are not. They are what is called cracked PAO's. Basically it's dino oil that has been modified enough they are allowed to label it as synthetic. True synthetic oil is very expensive. Like in the neighborhood of $12/quart.
 
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69hurstolds

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Well, the dirt will just have to absorb any and all of my oil leaks. Take that eco-weenies. Let's check to see if I give a flying f*ck about what they say anymore anyway....

tenor.gif


Nope. Guess not...
 
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motorheadmike

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If you do a bit of research on oils. A VAST majority of the oils sold as "synthetic" are not. They are what is called cracked PAO's. Basically it's dino oil that has been modified enough they are allowed to label it as synthetic. True synthetic oil is very expensive. Like in the neighborhood of $12/quart.

Being an oil snob I concur.
 
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ck80

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Well, the dirt will just have to absorb any and all of my oil leaks. Take that eco-weenies. Let's check to see if I give a flying f*ck about what they say anymore anyway....

tenor.gif


Nope. Guess not...

And people say lawyers don't give us anything good....
 

81cutlass

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It seems like a 'oil additive technology has changed and we are updating our labeling to align and allow us more flexibility to adjust trace elements based on availability and cost' than the manufacturers actually changing the hard oil base ingredients.

I once sat next to a senior chemist from Exxon-Mobile at a conference over a beer and I asked him about synthetic oils and he asked if I am talking about SYNTHETIC or Synthetic,

Synthetic
is not SYNTHETIC

SYNTHETIC oil is the base oil/slippy stuff that does add some leakage if your seals are shot or old
Synthetic is what you get when you buy 'synthetic blend' and is just the sub trace elements that are put in




Besides, I have come to a different viewpoint on the whole 'ethanol and synthetic oil are causing all these problems' train.

Yes, if you put e85 in a 40 year old, un-serviced fuel system it's going to show you where all the things are worn out. Same as putting synthetic in your 40 year old SBC. The seals are shot and dried out. The ethanol/syn oil didn't cause your seals to fail, it just exposed that they were shot.

If syn oil was causing all these leaks, why is the bottom of 75% of old cars covered in oil/grease/muck after 2 years on the road and never had syn oil installed but 10 year old cars built recently don't? It's not because the syn oil caused the leaks, it's because rope main rear seals and cork gaskets sucked. My FIL's 64 mustang got OE quality gaskets on a rebuild and leaked like a sieve until it got re-gasketed with steel core, molded silicone modern improved gaskets.

It's like if you have a worn out tire that is out of balance at 78 mph. If you drive 75 or under all the time you never notice the out of balance. When you go 80 and it starts shaking it's not like the tire decided to fail at 78, you have just never put it in a condition that causes it to exhibit the out of balance. That doesn't mean that the tire was ever not out of balance.
 
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