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Under the Hood
Super Slippery Synthetics
If synthetic lubricants are good enough for aircraft engines, they're good enough for RVs
By Bill Farlow
Printed in Coast to Coast Magazine
November-December 1999
FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS, SYNTHETIC LUBRICANTS HAVE RECENTLY attracted a lot of attention. For one thing, synthetics have proven to be, for want of a better term, more slippery. With so much emphasis on increased miles per gallon, anything that can reduce friction and increase fuel mileage has come under serious consideration. Less has been said about decreased wear from using synthetics and even less about a factor that may be the most important, the ecological implications. Today we'll take a look at the possibilities of decreased wear and the ecological implications of using synthetic lubricants.
With the almost complete shift of military and commercial aircraft lo jet and turbine engines several years ago, lubrication engineers were faced with new problems. These engines ran at considerably higher temperatures than conventional engines, and moving parts ran at much higher speeds. Too, the engines were very expensive, and anything that could be done to increase engine life was welcome. Conventional lubricants simply weren't up to the heat and pressures found in jet and turbine engines. Synthetics proved to be the answer. Synthetics could laugh at temperatures that killed conventional lubricants, and pressure also had little effect.
Synthetics have been used in military and commercial aviation for decades, but only recently have they been seriously looked at by owners of cars and trucks. One reason was simple economics. Synthetics are expensive. There has been little doubt that they offer superior lubrication and longer engine life, but are they worth the extra cost when the vehicle will be disposed of in 100,000 miles or so? The answer for most car and light-truck owners has been a resounding "No." But suppose synthetics cost no more than conventional lubricants. Would you then be interested?
As petroleum engineers investigated their own products, one tiling became increasingly clear. Petroleum lubricants, particularly engine oils, tended to pollute themselves. The combination of high temperatures and oxygen caused a breakdown of engine oil. Also, even with the best petroleum-based engine oils, there's significant wear to engine parts. These small wear particles and unavoidable contamination from handling continued to circulate through the engine, with the oil causing more engine wear. True, engine-oil filtration was doing a pretty good job of removing particles over 20 microns, but smaller particles continued to circulate.
Why not make the filters finer so they could remove these smaller particles? At first it was felt that the smaller particles did no harm. That has recently been proven false. Some engineers even claim that these smaller particles—1 to 20 microns in size—cause the most wear. But the main reason for not increasing filtration effectiveness is that engines use a full-flow filtration system. That means that, as oil is circulated through the engine, it all has to pass through the filter. Making the filtration medium fine enough to remove smaller particles would restrict the flow of oil too much, and critical parts would experience increased wear. Coupled with the fact that conventional oils tended to oxidize, it was decided that it was better to simply drain and replace engine oil every 3,000 to 7,000 miles, depending on engine type and use.
If your engine held six quarts of oil, and you had to add a quart every 1,000 miles and you changed oil every 4,000 miles, that meant you were using nine quarts of oil every 4,000 miles or nearly three quarts per 1,000 miles, something that no one wants to think about. No one wants to think about the necessity of finding someone to change your oil every 4,000 miles or the service charge for the change. Also, no one wants to think about how that used engine oil is disposed of. Yes, the EPA requires it be disposed of properly. That means it is supposed to be cleaned up and converted to some sort of product for reuse. But a tremendous amount of used engine oil is simply poured on the ground or on a gravel driveway to be picked up by the next rainfall and carried into our drinking water.
For the past 20 years or so, there's been a rumor that by using synthetic engine oil you could stretch oil changes lo 25,000 miles. Many owners have played with the idea, but most get a bit chicken after a while and start worrying about their engines and go back to short changes of conventional oil. But a small group has been doing something else. They've been eliminating oil changes almost completely.
Synthetics don't oxidize. Keep them clean, and they can be used for extremely long periods. How do you keep them clean? You can't reduce the filtration size of full-flow filters to less than 20 microns. But you can add another filtration system. It's called a bypass system, and it uses a filter that removes particles down to 1 micron or less. The bypass filter simply allows a small portion of the engine oil to pass through as it circulates. All oil will pass through the bypass filter every few minutes. The engine continues to get its full flow of oil, and the oil is cleaned of virtually all contaminants. Synthetic engine oil can be used almost forever with such a system.
Well, maybe. Even with the best of lubricants, some engine wear is going to occur. Also, there's always the possibility of something going wrong inside the engine. Maybe a copper bearing cracks or a small chip falls off or any of a thousand things goes wrong. With conventional oil changes, these small particles are removed with the used oil, and you never know about them. With synthetics and no oil changes, they're removed by the filters, and you would still never know about them until something goes seriously wrong. Not to fear. There is an answer.
Draw off a small sample of engine oil every 10,000 to 20,000 miles—you set up the interval that you're comfortable with—and have it analyzed. The lab will send you back a thorough report showing the amounts of a wide variety of contaminants and a suggestion to either continue using the oil or replace it. Contrary to conventional procedure, you know what's happening inside your engine, and you never need to change oil until the lab finds a problem developing.
How soon is that? That depends on a lot of things. But there are reports of cars and trucks going hundreds of thousands of miles without changing the oil. One over-the-road truck went over 400,000 miles without changing the oil. Then, out of curiosity, the engine was torn down and the pans were carefully inspected and measured. All parts were found to be in nearly new condition and didn't need replacement.
The conclusion, I think, is clear. Use a top-quality synthetic engine oil with a quality bypass filtration system, change filters at normal intervals, have the oil analyzed at regular intervals by the same lab, and you may never again have to change oil. You start with a full crankcase of oil, add a quart as needed, and that's it. You've cut your engine-oil use to just replacement, and you have no used oil to dispose of. You've brought the cost of synthetic engine oil down to about the same or a bit less than conventional oil, and gotten rid of the need to dispose of your used oil. Also, you've increased engine life because of better lubrication. You may also have increased fuel mileage because of decreased engine friction.
If you want to go all-synthetic, you can find lubricants for transmission, differential, and all grease applications including wheel bearings. Synthetic transmission lubricants are especially interesting because they not only decrease transmission temperatures but also withstand high temperatures much better than conventional fluids.
Where do you find all these things? You can find synthetic engine oil at any auto-parts store or counter, but you won't find synthetic diesel engine oil there, nor will you find the necessary bypass filters. Again, not to fear. One of the early developers of synthetic lubricants for the military was Amsoil of Superior, Wisconsin. Today, Amsoil is the leading supplier of synthetic lubricants to people like us. They have kits for installing bypass filters, and they perform analysis of oil samples. Amsoil has a specialized synthetic for every application. I'm using Amsoil's 15W40 diesel synthetic and bypass filters in my latest truck, Big Red. But Big Red isn't my first truck to get the Amsoil treatment. I've used it since 1991 with excellent results.
If you decide to try synthetic engine oil, I have a couple of suggestions. Start a new engine with the first oil change. When you install the bypass kit, put a T-fitting in the line from the filter back to the engine. Run a piece of tubing with a shutoff valve off the side of the T-fitting. That makes it easy to get your samples. Amsoil has two sampling kits. One goes to its own lab. The other goes to a lab in Cleveland. I prefer the Cleveland lab for no reason except that I think it gives me a bit more objectivity. I suggest that you start sampling at 10,000 miles and change to 20,000 miles after you're comfortable.
I believe in synthetic lubricants, and I believe that Amsoil is presently the best place to get them.
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