Good idea to use synthetic motor oil

"Good morning all-

In my ne

"Good morning all-

In my new motor I was considering using Mobil 1 w/ Lucas Oil. I figured might as well treat her to the best to keep her running in the harsh environment. I really can't think of any reasons not to use synthetic. Was also considering adding Lucas Oil Stabilizer.

The application is a '94 Mercruiser 350, Alpha 1 Gen 2. Will be paired with a closed FWC system. Boat will be operated in New Jersey, salt waters.

All feedback in appreciated!"

"Joe.
I'm not too sure ab

"Joe.
I'm not too sure about the 350, but most Merc's are advised to run on straight 30 weight (40 weight in warm climates). Does Mobil make a synthetic in single viscosity?
With a '94 vintage motor, I'm not sure that the synthetic is money well spent. Frequent oil and filter changes are probably a better investment."

bob-

It's a new motor.

bob-

It's a new motor.

well... yes and no. there i

well... yes and no. there is no better lubricant than the mobile 1 synthetics. if you can keep it from becoming fuel and water contaminated and maintain a nice solid 220 or 230 oil temp you will get 3 x the hours out of it with superior protection than any conventional oil. well worth the money. as far as the magic bean additives... those are a comprehensive waste of money.

the new Merc synth stuff is 25

the new Merc synth stuff is 25w-40

"You will want to allow a suff

"You will want to allow a sufficient "Break In" period before you consider Synthetic. Conventional Oils allow the friction required for internal parts to mate properly. After that, go to it. Al W. For more check out the Web Site "Bobistheoilguy.com"."

he's right about that. a

he's right about that. a normal petroleum 30 wt for the first couple of hours will do the job. i was talking about general service.

"With all the money that Merc

"With all the money that Merc spends in testing for long life,etc. Do ya think they would suggest using anything that would not be in the best interest of Mercruiser. They are in business to sell their stuff. If you have good service, next time you will buy another Merc."

"maybe... but merc isn't

"maybe... but merc isn't in the oil business. they buy it and repackage it. now if you want to suggest that they designed the original formulation 20 years ago when they started selling it... ok. but the newer synthetics are superior in every single sense than the very best petro oils. do you believe there is something magic about a marine engine that makes it require magic mercruiser oil ? when merc sells you a reboxed gm part for 4 times the money, do you think it is suddenly a better part ?"

"Al et al:

I recently read

"Al et al:

I recently read some interesting data on the Web Site "Bobistheoilguy.com". Some of the synthetic oils have been "under" reformulated to meet today's improved engine designs. Oil makers have found that the newer engines do not require all of the additives of yesteryear's engines. Interesting reading. Don't quote me but I seem to remember Castrol Syntec is one of the under reformulated oils; maybe I'm wrong.

I have a 1997 Merc. reman. non-Vortec 4.3L and I use 15W50 Mobil 1 synthetic oil w/Merc's oil filters; just bought 3 for $6 each on eBay. including shipping. There isn't an oil cooler on the engine.

Last Oct. I drained the oil at the lake right after a 3 mile hard run. I was surprised that the oil was warm, not hot like a car engine, between my fingers and still maintained its viscosity. I change engine oil once per season, April - Oct., due to low use; about 50-75 hours."

"As Guy pointed out, there is

"As Guy pointed out, there is underformulated Oil. It is not intentionally underformulated to cut corners. Newer engines such as those with Roller Lifters vs Flat Tappet type, (Older), do not need the Chemical/Mineral compositions to relieve friction. That is why we recommend certain API, American Petroleum Institute, service rated oils for various applications. For Marine Service I would use no less a rated CJ-4. It is a common rating in Diesel Oil such as Rotella sold at Walmart. Al W."

Guy i was reading your post an

Guy i was reading your post and got to the part about the castrol and got a little scared im running castrol straight 30 in my 470 not the syntec IYO is there any harm?

"at the risk of turning this i

"at the risk of turning this into an off topic oil debate, i would suggest that there is no "one size fits all" to the oil question. type and grade selection are a function of load and demand.
if you are running a 2 litre , 4 cylinder 7:1 at 2200 rpm, you could sucessfully run 10 wt sewing machine oil. if you are running 1000 hp 13:1 8 litre blower motors, then you better have an oil that can deal with those stresses, temps and , above all, fuel dilution. from a friction and wear characteristic stand point, the pure synthetics are best by a lot. diesel oils are blends that are able to take higher shock and shear loads and have higher concentrations of zinc ( amongst others) for increased high stress wear resistance and contamination. they are good oils. in the case of this 350 alpha, you are talking about a low performance, low compression ratio motor that operates at a relatively low rpm. if it is clearenced correctly ( and the bearing clearences are the be all and end all of this discussion) and the oil temps are controlled correctly to 220 or 230 and the water temps are controlled correctly to 160 to 180 , and the carb and the ignition are such that it doesn't fill the oil up with fuel, then a conventional, off the shelf, 30 wt oil will run this motor perfectly for 200 years. in the alternative a similar synthetic in the 10 40 or 20 50 range will do the same thing with better better results, longer change intervals and the ability to save you in the result of a bad over temp or something else happening. i could regale you with stories of synthetics operating at 300 deg plus when oil coolers got clogged with no damage and when petroleum oils would have failed.

oil is like any other component. use what the engine combination requires and the factory specs are always a great place to start. no one knows more about what a motor needs for lube than the guys that designed it."

Steve:

"im running cast

Steve:

"im running castrol straight 30 in my 470 not the syntec IYO is there any harm?"

The data I read was about Syntec. I don't know about standard Castol. I know it was always a quality oil and can probably be assumed it is today. Google it and see what you find.

"nah no need to google it. i m

"nah no need to google it. i missed where you said syntec. my bad. ive always used castrol in my stuff and will continue to trust it Thanks Guy "