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impetus-93xj

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Burnaby B.C
well I went and put synthetic oil in my 93xj and shure enough it started to leak out of evrywere! any quick fix ideas for now since i have no time to fix all the problems
 
drain oil, refill with conventional oil, run it for a couple of hundered miles, drain nd refill once again. should clear up for you.
My Heep doesn't leak it just marks its territory.
 
ok, here's how i understand this working:

synthetic oil is not only thinner than dino oil, but it also has minor cleaning agents. hence, when you switch to synthetic after some time, the cleaning agents remove debris and sludge around your engines seals/gasket, and then, because its thinner, it leaks through.

now that you've "cleaned" the debris and sludge from around your gaskets/seals, i'd suggest you will have leaks when you go back to dino oil, despite its increased thickness.

i hope, for your sake, that assumption is wrong, but dont expect all your leaks to magically disappear.
 
I do intend on replacing all the gaskets but i need time and i cant have oil spilling all over the place
 
switching to dino oil will NOT help you now. a quick fix now would be to replace your seals and gaskets. syn cleans out all the sludge that allowed your seals to dry out.

synthetic oil is ok to put in a low mileage engine or a rebuilt with newer seals.
 
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I did the same thing on my old engine, put the man made stuf in leaked like a mother, switched back to plain ol Castrol and it slowed back to the original state. All modern oils are detergent, I was under the impression that syn leaks easier cuz of the smaller molecules , not the fact that it cleaned out your sludge.
 
Synthetics are too thin to stay in the engine.

Untrue. In order for a lubricant to be classified in any SAE grade (10W-30, 10W-40, etc.) it has to meet certain guidelines with regard to viscosity ("thickness").

For example, it makes no difference whether it's 10W-40 petroleum or 10W-40 synthetic, at -25 degrees centigrade (-13F) and 100 degrees centigrade (212 degrees F) the oil has to maintain a standardized viscosity or it can't be rated a 10W-40.


synthetic motor oils are more sludge resistant than their petroleum counterparts, resisting the effects of high temperature and oxidation. In the presence of high temperatures, two things can happen. First, an oil's lighter ingredients boil off, making the oil thicker. Second, many of the complex chemicals found naturally in petroleum base stocks begin to react with each other, forming sludge, gum and varnish. One result is a loss of fluidity at low temperatures, slowing the timely flow of oil to the engine for vital component protection.
 
PETEY said:
Untrue. In order for a lubricant to be classified in any SAE grade (10W-30, 10W-40, etc.) it has to meet certain guidelines with regard to viscosity ("thickness").

You made several good points, and I was wrong to generalize synthetics as being 'thinner'.

However, while viscosity is commonly referred to as 'thickness', it's actually a measure of a fluids resistance to deformation, usually under shear stresses. So while all 10W-40's have to have a certifiable level of viscosity, they may not all be the same thickness.

I'm under the impression that this is how synthetic oils 'increase horsepower', as the thinner layers of film actually reduce friction and free up motion, giving the impression of increasing power, whereas they actually just reduce parasitic losses. Though I may be not entirely accurate about that....
 
Save yur self some sanity. Go buy a complete gasket kit and seals. Bribe a couple of buddies and make a weekend of it. Depending on how quick you can competently go, it will be a long dirty couple of days, but when yur done, yur probably set for the rest of the life of the engine. Then top it off with some million dollar syn oil and realize that it goes from point A to point B just as well as it did with good old inexpensive dino oil.
 
CJ's98XJ said:
Save yur self some sanity. Go buy a complete gasket kit and seals. Bribe a couple of buddies and make a weekend of it. Depending on how quick you can competently go, it will be a long dirty couple of days, but when yur done, yur probably set for the rest of the life of the engine. Then top it off with some million dollar syn oil and realize that it goes from point A to point B just as well as it did with good old inexpensive dino oil.

True, dino oil or any oil is good as long as it's clean. I think regular oil changes make the difference. The "sludge" thing with dino oil is not a problem with regular oil changes.


lost honda pro,

Synthetic motor oils are fuel efficient, extended life lubricants manufactured from select base stocks and special purpose additives. Synthetic oil base stocks are made from organic compounds or synthetic hydrocarbons using a process that re-arranges the structure so all the molecules are uniform in size, shape and weight, a phenomenon that does not occur in nature. In contrast to petroleum oils which are pumped from the earth and refined, synthetics are custom-designed to produce, in effect, the ideal lubricant.

molecules being uniform in size shape and weight, not necessarily smaller.
 
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PETEY said:
Synthetic motor oils are fuel efficient, extended life lubricants manufactured from select base stocks and special purpose additives. Synthetic oil base stocks are made from organic compounds or synthetic hydrocarbons using a process that re-arranges the structure so all the molecules are uniform in size, shape and weight, a phenomenon that does not occur in nature. In contrast to petroleum oils which are pumped from the earth and refined, synthetics are custom-designed to produce, in effect, the ideal lubricant.

molecules being uniform in size shape and weight, not necessarily smaller.

Now my brain hurts.
 
Not be argumentative at all guys. I rebuilt my 4.0 and ran synthetic for a while thinking it was worth the money. At 5 or 6 bucks a quart, I decided to do a little research. In a nutshell, I am back to plain ol` dino oil and regular oil changes just like I always have.
 
PETEY said:
Not be argumentative at all guys.

No one thinks you were, I figure I might as well get my facts straight since you seem to know what you're talking about... or your educated well enough to bullshit convincingly :D

So am I wrong in saying that synthetics provide the same level of protection with a thinner film layer? I thought that was one of 'synthetic oil's' main marketing tactics, and the basis behind its gains in performance, amongst its (obvious) improvements in longevity, cleaning, and heat resistance, was that it could do all the things that dino oil does, but better, and with less frictional losses.
 
I've run vehicles foooorrreeevvvveeeerrrr on regular old dino oil. I'm religous about oil changes and never had any problems related to oil. I guess you gotta weigh out the costs.

I'd bet you would spend a lot more on syn oils over the course of 250000-300000 miles (the life expectancy of a well maintained 4.0) than the price of a rebuilt engine. And that's if you keep the vehicle that long. Usually by that point everything else would wear out around the engine, the owner would sell the vehicle or it would be lost in a wreck or 2 or 3 or....... If any of these things happen, you would recoupe about.... $0.00 dollars for all the extra money you spent on the syn oil.

I still use a good brand name high milage dino oil and filter and stay on top of the oil changes. I keep a small notepad in the glove box and log my maintenance work and other useful / useless info about my Jeep. That way I don't worry about forgeting.
 
Yes, I also believe in good ol' Castrol 20-50 every 3000 miles and Slick 50 every 20,000 or so. My '89 has had this regiment since I rolled it off the showroom floor with 42 miles on it. 336,000 miles later she doesn't burn a drop of oil while sporting all original motor and trans/transfer save the usual wear and tear items like waterpump and such. Best damn vehicle I've ever owned, I'll run it 50 miles oneway to work all week and head straight out to Death Valley on the weekend and she'll run the trails like a teenager!
 
lost honda pro said:
No one thinks you were, I figure I might as well get my facts straight since you seem to know what you're talking about... or your educated well enough to bullshit convincingly :D

......or maybe an expert at " cut and paste".
 
I use "Mobil 1 extended service". I change it twice a year.
I now add some STP (blue bottle) to make up for the loss of the ZDDP in the SM rated oils.
 
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