Topic: Synthetic oil question
in Forum: C3 General Discussion
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Two questions,do I have to do anything special to switch over to synthetic oil.....and will it help with my gas mileage?
Rick
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You don't have to do anything except change the filter. If it does help with mileage, you may not notice it.
Dave
Lifetime Member #116
Dave's '82 
Just keep in mind that synthetic oil will find places to leak that the regular oils don't.
I did some asking around a few years back and decided to stay with the conventional kind.
Kevin
Lifetime MemberLemon Grove, CA - USA
Joined: 10/17/2007
Posts: 2041
Vette(s): 1982 C3 Collectors Edition 44000 miles, sat in the sun most of its life, My wife purchased it for me for Father's Day in 2007 from her girlfriend that had it for 19 years. It is on the road again. I'm retired but it is now my daily driver.
I did some reach and for flat tappet cams engines you need to be concerned with zinc content. Lots of threads on ZDDP content requirement.
Personally I change the oil often enough that synthetic is just more expensive with little if any value when you consider the extra leaks you will have.
ZDDP is the issue you need to be more concerned about. But if you are going to go Synthetic this was put out in 2012 by Mobil
"For older, flat tappet engines where wear may be more
of a concern, we offer a number of synthetic oils which are higher in
phosphorus than API SN/ILSAC GF-5 oils. These include Mobil 1 15W-50
(1,200 ppm), Mobil 1 0W-40 (1,000 ppm) and Mobil 1 High Mileage 5W-30, 10W-30
and 10W-40 (900 ppm). For all newer engines and flat tappet engines in normal
service, API SN/ISLAC GF-5 oils are preferred for better fuel economy and for
the protection of catalytic systems with lower phosphorous (800 ppm)."
Personally I would not run any oil with less that 1,000 ppm & prefer 1,200 ppm but stay below 1,600 ppm as you are getting in the range that is considered to high and will do damage. I do not like to use additives as I cannot determine what the actual ZDDP ppm is.
And yes I know that GM now says that 800 ppm of ZDDP is good enough with the other oil additives that you have in most modern oils. I also know that the IRS says they are not political because that would be against the law, the Easter bunny is dead, etc.
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KDADDY79 said: Just keep in mind that synthetic oil will find places to leak that the regular oils don't.
Isn't that the truth! The synthetic oil will work it's way through those old gaskets and you'll more than likely start some leaks that you don't currently have.
"Let them that don't want none have memories of not gettin' any."
- Brother Dave Gardner
in Forum: C3 General Discussion
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