The REAL reason synthetic oil makes some higher mileage engines leak, is because of regular dinosaur oil in the first place.
Why?
As you all should know, oil seals dry out and crack over time. As well, dino oil slowly causes a buildup of sludge to form over these seals. When you suddenly switch to synthetic, the synthetic oil is so much better at being a detergent that it actually starts to clean off and dissolve the sludge. This exposes the cracks and therefore the oil leaks out. Additionally, synthetic oil does a much better job at keeping oil seals moist and flexible...but unfortunately it's too late after they've already cracked.
Don't believe me? You must have never opened up an engine that's been run on synthetic oil all its life (or most of it). It's INCREDIBLY clean. I've also made the mistake of switching to full synthetic on an engine that's been using dino oil for the first 175k of its life. BAD BAD idea. It didn't leak a drop before...after that, I was adding a quart every two days.
Oh, and by the way...
Nope, sorry
cha-ching
Why?
As you all should know, oil seals dry out and crack over time. As well, dino oil slowly causes a buildup of sludge to form over these seals. When you suddenly switch to synthetic, the synthetic oil is so much better at being a detergent that it actually starts to clean off and dissolve the sludge. This exposes the cracks and therefore the oil leaks out. Additionally, synthetic oil does a much better job at keeping oil seals moist and flexible...but unfortunately it's too late after they've already cracked.
Don't believe me? You must have never opened up an engine that's been run on synthetic oil all its life (or most of it). It's INCREDIBLY clean. I've also made the mistake of switching to full synthetic on an engine that's been using dino oil for the first 175k of its life. BAD BAD idea. It didn't leak a drop before...after that, I was adding a quart every two days.
Oh, and by the way...
Originally posted by sleepin
cha-ching
Comment