Ever heard of a synthetic oil called Royal Purple? Is is it legit, or does it have problems?
It is synthetic oil with purple dye. It is expensive. It claims it will improve fuel economy, but I doubt it.
Who hasn’t heard of Royal Purple? It’s good, but everyone knows that amsoil is the best…
Royal Purple, Amsoil, etc. Sure they are good, but before you spend extra money for these products, do a search and read the dozens of previous discussions on this subject. You’ll find that less expensive oils and regular maintenance will meet your needs as well.
Royal purple’s fine oil, but unless you’re running a 24-hour rally, what’s the point? Mobil-1 synthetic is just as good, cheaper, and available everywhere (even if it doesn’t look as cool)
The problem is the price.
If price is object, use Amsoil. If you can “settle” for something 99% as good, use Mobil-1. Royal Purple isnt any better, just more expensive.
I personally would never use anything but full synthetic oil such as Mobil-1. It has saved me severe engine damage several times where dino oil would have failed.
Amsoil is no good for a warrantied vehicle. For whatever reason they do not perform the typical API spec testing. It likely exceeds it but if a rare but very $$$$ oil related warranty claim comes up and maker wants to skip out, the oil is not API spec’ed.
It has saved me severe engine damage several times where dino oil would have failed.
How do you know Dyno oil would have failed??
In 40 years of car ownership, some for hundreds of thousands of miles, I’ve never worn out an engine…and all using only dino oil. Change the fluids and filters regularly, monitor the cars’ condition, repair any problems promptly, and you won’t need expensive additives.
I have honestly never heard of a prematurely worn out engine or an internal engine problem that was not tracable to a design defect, a manufacturing defect, abuse, neglect, defective maintenance, or simply ignoring warning signs. A properly designed, properly manufactured, properly maintained, properly treated engine will last the life of the car on regular ol’ dino.
I personally would never use anything but full synthetic oil such as Mobil-1. It has saved me severe engine damage several times where dino oil would have failed.
I would like to know how you know that. Did you perform some kind of scientific test?
Nothing scientific. But, with no binders to break down due to stress on the oil with synthetic, I am very convinced dino oil would not have let me get away with the following (best example I have):
How about running for 20 minutes in slow town traffic, including stopping and starting the engine twice, with ZERO oil pressure? Well, my wife called me while I was on travel, saying the oil light was on. She had to still pick up my son from school (did that), then shut it off to call me. I told here to take it to a good shop I know of that wasn’t too far away, after she checked the oil level and found it to be ok (I figured it was a sensor - Ford Windstar). It turned out that the pump shaft broke, so literally no pressure. The result? No perceivable damage after this event - e.g. lifter noise, oil loss due to rings or valve seals, etc. This happened at about 70k miles. We drove it to 210K without opening the engine for anything before selling it after we bought a new van.
Of course, every time I’ve worked on one of my engines (change to a hotter cam, stronger rods, etc.) then engines are spotless. No gunk, nothing, perfectly clean just like new. And this is mainly on supercharged and turbo VW’s that run higher oil temperatures (think 290F as normal oil temp on a Corrado).
No way would I ever use dino oil in any vehicle, or even my lawn mower engine beyond the break-in period. 
In 40 years of car ownership, some for hundreds of thousands of miles, I’ve never worn out an engine…and all using only dino oil. Change the fluids and filters regularly, monitor the cars’ condition, repair any problems promptly, and you won’t need expensive additives.
Worth repeating. In fact my experience is the same. A car which has had proper care with the engine worn out is very very rare.
So in other words it’s pure conjecture.
Nope, just good experience with a certain product. I have used dino oil in many engines, and none ever were as clean as the synthetic ones. I like to stick with what works, and in the turbo engines, what is >required< by the manufacturer due to the heat stress at the turbo bearings. Not to mention the availability now of 0-30 oils, something not even possible in the non-synthetic variety that reduces wear on cold starts in the winter (when the most damage occurs).
IMHO, there is just no need to take chances on expensive engines, when a few changes a year with synthetic are all that are required. If you have low compression loose engines, go ahead and use dino oil. But if you have high compression / non aspirated engines, I wouldn’t use anything but synthetic. Since I tend to run all our vehicles for at least 200k miles (city mostly), I want them to last trouble-free as long as possible, and synthetic oils do that for me.
My $.02 (or maybe $.01 after todays wild ride)
I guess you don’t know what the word conjecture means…Without scientific proof that can you can run repeated experiments on…then you have no proof…It’s just conjecture (i.e. What you think…not what you can prove).
If his turbo engine requires synthetic oil according the the owner’s manual, it isn’t conjecture. However, if hallkbrdz was driving a naturally aspirated engine and the owner’s manual didn’t say synthetic oil was required, you would be right. It would be conjecture.
The presence of the requirement for synthetic oil in the owner’s manual means the requirement is backed up by science. That is all the proof anybody should need.
My car uses regular oil. As long as I change it often, it will remain just as clean as using synthetic oil.
While this may be conjecture, I concur—I also would never go back to dino oil. If synthetic isn’t better, why then is it required in turbocharged engines (like VWs), and recommended in engines prone to sludging (like certain Toyotas)? If it’s better and you care about your engine, why not use it? Personally, I’ve noticed that my engine runs smoother, and the oil stays cleaner much longer with Mobil-1. And it uses no oil using synthetic, while it used to use a couple quarts between changes on dino oil.
If synthetic isn’t better, why then is it required in turbocharged engines (like VWs), and recommended in engines prone to sludging (like certain Toyotas)?
Synthetic oil is required in turbo charged engines because turbo charged engines put more heat stress on the oil. Synthetic oil holds up to these heat stresses better than dino oil. Synthetic oil is also sometimes recommended for air cooled engines for the same reason. A functioning liquid cooling system in a naturally aspirated engine negates this benefit.
I have personally recommended synthetic oil to people whose cars are prone to sludge because of neglect. I have a friend who abuses his car by not maintaining it. For him I recommended synthetic oil because it lasts longer. If he would just change his oil on time, sludge would not be an issue.
If it’s better and you care about your engine, why not use it?
Because the cost outweighs the benefit (per mile). In a naturally aspirated car with a liquid cooled engine, it basically allows you to double the miles between oil changes. Unfortinately, it costs more than twice as much as dino oil.
And it uses no oil using synthetic, while it used to use a couple quarts between changes on dino oil.
“High mileage” dino will also solve that problem and it won’t cost as much.
The color of the used oil is not an accurate way to gauge its quality. Only a used oil analysis will tell you if your oil is spent.
But, what the heck. If synthetic oil gives you peace of mind and you can afford it, keep using it.
Gee, if you’ve got zero oil pressure what does it matter what kind of oil is sitting in the oil pan not getting circulated?
Synthetic oil is neat stuff, but lets not go nuts.