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regarding the synthetic oil debate

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Old Jul 20, 2002 | 09:58 AM
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regarding the synthetic oil debate

It would be interesting to see if the owner's manual for the 2001/2002 FD has the same discalimer regarding synthetic oils as the 93-95 has.

Can anyone here from japan or australia check?
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Old Jul 20, 2002 | 10:00 AM
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hmmmmmmmmmm, good idea!!!!
paul
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Old Jul 20, 2002 | 10:54 AM
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Where are our Japanese groupies? Will they chip in on their thoughts pls? Thx
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Old Jul 20, 2002 | 11:10 AM
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I'm waiting to hear the word on the RX-8.
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Old Jul 20, 2002 | 04:21 PM
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Yea I switched to Mobil 1 Synth. Yesterday when I changed my oil. I was glad to find out that it was ok to use. I used to use Mobil 1 on my other cars and was bummed to hear that I wasn't supposed to with my Fd. I'm never going back now...
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Old Jul 20, 2002 | 04:23 PM
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Despite gmonsen's tirade I'd be curious to know what the late model FD owner's manual says regarding synthetic oil, so if anybody in Japan knows, please chime in.
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Old Jul 20, 2002 | 04:37 PM
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From: sheppard AFB, TX
yeah, i agree with jconn. i use full sythetic and always have. . . and i always will. i just want to know. . . thats all.

paul
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Old Jul 20, 2002 | 04:44 PM
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My reasoning is if still says this in Japanese manuals, why do all the big name RX-7 tuners i.e. FEED, RE in Japan promote it with their own branding? IMO The only time it shouldn't be used is when you are breaking in your new engine
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Old Jul 20, 2002 | 04:53 PM
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that is exactly right. . . people need to realize that synthetic oils have come a long way just like the rotary engine.

paul
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Old Jul 20, 2002 | 05:05 PM
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Originally posted by 0piston
IMO The only time it shouldn't be used is when you are breaking in your new engine
Because it protects and lubricates so damn well.
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Old Jul 20, 2002 | 05:26 PM
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From: sheppard AFB, TX
gordon,

what do you think about the zMAX product. . . im gonna do it anyways, i just want to get another take on it. . . im doing this kinda on my own, except for my buddies in aviation.

paul
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Old Jul 20, 2002 | 05:35 PM
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Originally posted by gmonsen
"regarding the synthetic" christ, not this again. synthetic is the best thing to use. that's all there is to it. it just doesn't matter what mazda says. we've all been doing it for eons with nothing but great results. and i have just had it with those still debating it. its enormously tiresome. these threads start and a whole bunch of us older guys that have beenm running synth for years say its great and give all the reasons and people still question it. just use redline, mobil 1 or royal purple and your car will run better and smoother and you will lower your water and oil temps. that's all there is to it. -gordon
Gordon is right. What do you think Mazda uses in in Forumula Mazda spec engines? Synthetic! These engines are widely known to last a full season without a rebuild. If that's not abuse, then I don't know what is.

Gene
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Old Jul 20, 2002 | 10:49 PM
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Well it's hard to say if I noticed a difference in the car because I haven't driven it in 2 months but I did notice a drop in the temperature.
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Old Jul 21, 2002 | 04:22 AM
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I change my oil regularly at 1.5k miles with Castrol dino, in this case do I need to go synthetics? Even if I did, I still want to change at 1.5k miles and that's $$.

So it boils down to budget in a way I guess.

Timmy
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Old Jul 21, 2002 | 04:25 AM
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Your $30 sixpack of oil is still cheaper than a motor.
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Old Jul 21, 2002 | 06:29 AM
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Originally posted by Fd3BOOST
Your $30 sixpack of oil is still cheaper than a motor.
But its been proven that running that $30 sixpack of oil in a FD will not extend motor life anymore than using Dino juice.Thats why I perfer to replace my oil every 2K or less this way my motor only sees clean fresh oil. I think in the long run this reduces wear because metal shavings arent in the oil system long enough to cause wear on moving parts.
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Old Jul 21, 2002 | 10:24 AM
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When I switch to synthetic, I'm still going to change it once it is filled with enough carbon to make it almost black regardless of the miles.

I can tell ya I've ran synthetics in other cars, and the engine DID rev and idle smoother. Of course, on a regular car, I'd leave it in the engine for up to almost 5 thousand or so miles, but on the FD, once that stuff is filled with carbon, out it goes

One of the reasons why I use Mobil 1 synthetic Pre-mix is because of its clean burning characteristics, whic is also why I use Mobil for the regular oil, and which is why I will switch to Mobil 1 for the synthetic stuff. My friend who was constantly around road racing swears by Mobil, and if its good enough for a lot of the pro, then it's good enough for me
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Old Jul 21, 2002 | 10:52 AM
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From: Miami - Given 1st place as the POOREST city in the US as per the federal government
Originally posted by gmonsen
flybye: agree. best way to tell if its time is proably to look at the oil on the stick and see if its got filings and crap and isn't clear. but, you don't really mean "carboned up" do you? there's no source for carbon, is there? carbon comes from petroleum and synth doesn't have any. -gordon
You know what I mean Yeah, there is NO carbon in Synthetic.

When the synthetic begins to break down and discolor itself or when anything else begins to run in the oil is when I'll change it. I was just so used to saying when "It's carboned up" I nearly forgot that Synthetic has no carbon. Spare me for it is early Sunday morning

Last edited by Flybye; Jul 21, 2002 at 10:55 AM.
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Old Jul 21, 2002 | 12:17 PM
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What is the exact name and weight of this mobil oil that all you guys think it's good. I was thinking about putting it in, since all of you think it's good. I Know i have read that synthetics are bad for rotaries, but what a hell i'll give it a shot. So can someone write me exact name and weight of the one that's good.

Thanks
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Old Jul 21, 2002 | 12:26 PM
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ill post it again. .. here is a thread about a comparison chart that i found. take a look. this will dismiss everything youve heard negative about synthetics.

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...ight=synthetic
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Old Jul 21, 2002 | 12:34 PM
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Ok, Looks good. So what is the name and weight?

Mobil 1 15-50 ?

or what?

Thanks
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Old Jul 21, 2002 | 12:42 PM
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depends on your climate. im using currently castrol syntec 10w-30. . . i think ill be going to 20-50 soon though, my pressue stayed higher with 20-50.

paul
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Old Jul 21, 2002 | 01:08 PM
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the carbon in the oil isn't from the oil... its from combustion gasses blowing by into the oil....

Ever have a propane vehicle??(I havn't ) but the oil is always clean. Thats cause there is almost no carbon as a result of the propane burning.
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Old Jul 21, 2002 | 03:35 PM
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Time for my $.02 in this thread. Lets see how good a job I can do!

Rotor brain linked to another thread with 2 links in his top post.

I think the 1st link is pretty worthless, I think the 2nd is very important.

The 1st has some pictures. They show the Mobil-1 engine parts pristine. This is pretty much what some of us knew already. They then show the 2nd set of dirty parts. Its hard to draw exact conclusions from the 2nd set. It was mostly non-synthetic then Castrol Syntec. It would be fair to assume that most if not all of the buildup was from the non-syn, but you can't know for sure.

On to the 2nd link. http://go-synthetic.com/compare_oils/compare_oils.html.

From everything I have read, Mazda's recommendation for not using synthetic comes from Ash and combustion characteristics of the oil. Otherwise everyone knows about the rest of synthetics superior characteristics. We care about Ash because we burn our oil in our gas in our rotaries. That's not to say the other denominators aren't important, its just that they are the same with piston engines. Therefore they aren't specific to us.

Check out the chart. I used the 10W-30 specifically, since it lists the most brands.

Here were the results from lowest ash content to highes (best to worst)

Amsoil 0.05
Red Line 0.85
Mobil 1 0.85 -> .90
Chev. Sup Syn 1.1
Valvoline 1.5

We have no ash numbers for Syntec or Golden Spectro. Royal Purple is totally missing, as are Pennzoil and Exxon. There might be a few others I can't think of.

OK. We could see that

I started searching. A number of hits show the same article (2nd) that we know of.

I found a different comparison here. It has some more ash numbers
http://www.bimmerforums.com/AmsoilStudybyBobM3.php
This is worth a read.

It gives us a few other numbers. I don't think the guy could come up with numbers for AMSOIL, because it was too low for him, or he threw it out as inaccurate.

Castrol .90-.93
Quaker State < 1.0 -> 1.1
Havoline F3 1.1
Union 76 1.1
NEO 1.3


Combine the two and we end up with this:

Amsoil 0.05
Red Line 0.85
Mobil 1 0.85 -> .90
Castrol .90-.93
Quaker State < 1.0 -> 1.1
Havoline F3 1.1
Union 76 1.1
Chev. Sup Syn 1.1
NEO 1.3
Valvoline 1.5


In conclusion, we have very little to go on for ash content aside from the 2nd article mentioned formerly, and the one directly above. If we use the 2nd article as an accurate benchmark it shows an insanely low ash content for AMSOIL. AMSOIL is my choice, once I use up my Castrol GTX and Red-Line. I

If you had asked me 6 months ago, I would have said that Mobil 1 is the choice, they were the 1st, and everyone has been trying to catch up to them. That belief was based upon price value. I was aware of AMSOIL but believed the cost too high (maybe I was just getting raped from the distributor before ~8.00/qt). I had been told that they were the **** (AMSOIL), but decided I could live with Mobil1 for 2/3 -> 1/2 the price. Before that I was running Castrol GTX, and then Syntec for a while.

Trivia: In 1972, AMSOIL Inc. opened its doors as Amzoil Synthetic Lubricants. U.S. Air Force award winning jet fighter pilot AL "A.J." Amatuzio gained solid appreciation for the extra ordinary synthetic oils that protected the engines of the jets he flew. Amatuzio started Amsoil Inc., a revolutionary oil company and introduced the first API classified synthetic motor oil in the world.

Rotorbrain, you owe me a beer

Last edited by PVerdieck; Jul 21, 2002 at 04:01 PM.
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Old Jul 21, 2002 | 04:26 PM
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From: sheppard AFB, TX
Originally posted by PVerdieck

Rotorbrain, you owe me a beer
thanks PVerdieck, ill get that beer to you asap. haha. gimme your addy. what kind of brew do you want?

paul
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