I brought my car in to service a few days ago for a routine oil change. While I was thier I inquired about runing synthetic oil. The service writer said it should be no problem and they switched me over. That was Thursday. I can still smell burning oil now even after a decent amount of driving since then.
Any suggestions or comments as to what the problem might be or what I should do.
__________________
Jon Baker
Leaking oil? No thats just sweat from all the horsepower...
Originally posted by JonBaker99 I brought my car in to service a few days ago for a routine oil change. While I was thier I inquired about runing synthetic oil. The service writer said it should be no problem and they switched me over. That was Thursday. I can still smell burning oil now even after a decent amount of driving since then.
Any suggestions or comments as to what the problem might be or what I should do.
I don't think it's possible that after switching to synthetic oil, your engine starts burning oil. Well, based on my experience, synthetic doesn't burn as much as regular engine oil. If you smell oil burning under the hood then most likely there are oil spill near around the oil cap and valve cover. If you lose any oil, try to check for any leaks underneath the car.
Funny....when I switched to synthetic I would smell oil burning especially after some hard driving. I stored my car this winter and this year since I have never smelled it again. Maybe coincidence...I don't know. Maybe something dried.......
It's most likely oil spilled not on your valve cover, but on your flex pipe (exhaust). It's pretty much directly below the oil filter, so when the filter is removed it tends to splash and splatter all over on its way down. This is completely normal and should burn off in a few more days or so.
__________________
If it didn't rattle, would it be a Prelude??
I'm sure it's just oil spilled somewhere....they spilled oil on my valve cover one time....actually on the silver spark plug cover....when I was drivin home I could smell oil burning an I could actually see it smokin from under my hood.....that was all it was.
i smell burning oil after i get my oil changed all the time due to the fact the exaust sits under the oil finter and when someone takes it off the old oil spils on the exaust and they sometimes donot clean it off and it will smell for a few weeks if they clean it off it will smell for a few days.
Originally posted by xtal Yeah, I've had smoke after an oil change and a hard run through the twisties.
Why bother with synthetic? Honda says 5W30 is fine; just change it twice as often, and you still come out ahead.
Steve
Why bother with synthetic? I'm not going to tell you traditional petroleum based oil is bad for your car. It isn't. But the fact is, synthetic oil protects and lubricates BETTER, and some people just want the best for their cars :shrugs:
__________________
If it didn't rattle, would it be a Prelude??
Originally posted by pearlude
It's most likely oil spilled not on your valve cover, but on your flex pipe (exhaust). It's pretty much directly below the oil filter, so when the filter is removed it tends to splash and splatter all over on its way down. This is completely normal and should burn off in a few more days or so.
That is what I was gonna say. I always do it when I change my oil. I know it is easy to avoid by putting covering up the pipe, but it doesn't really matter and doesn’t bother me.
Another point is how many miles has the car done? I know that it is not a good thing to switch from mineral to synthetic after the car has done a lot of miles. I don't know how "a lot of miles" is defined though.
Originally posted by JonBaker99 I brought my car in to service a few days ago for a routine oil change. While I was thier I inquired about runing synthetic oil. The service writer said it should be no problem and they switched me over. That was Thursday. I can still smell burning oil now even after a decent amount of driving since then.
Any suggestions or comments as to what the problem might be or what I should do.
Two things:
1) spilled on the backside of the engine.
2) drained on the weaved metal pipe that is between the lower header and the cat.
The latter will smell for a while until it all burns off.
I generally cover it in aluminum foil to keep it from getting soaked in oil when changing the oil filter.
i don't know for sure.........but some dude told me not to swith to synthetic after say 40-50,000 miles; said something about the synthetic molecules are much finer and can get by rings and seals in the moter after being driven on petro-based oils....but i'm sure you could find alot more info on this if you search the web. i decided to stay with the regular stuff.
Originally posted by xtal Yeah, I've had smoke after an oil change and a hard run through the twisties.
Why bother with synthetic? Honda says 5W30 is fine; just change it twice as often, and you still come out ahead.
Steve
Synthetic oil is superior in every fashion than regular motor oil.
Honda brand motor oil is crap. It's the cheapest stuff they can get for the buck.
Synthetic oils have better additive packages and last longer. The better additives prevent gum, varnish, and sludge build up.
They also have at least 1/2 the coeffecient of friction of petrolium based motors oils. Some of them have even less friction, such as RedLine or AMSOIL. All of them burn at a higher temp than standard oil.
If you want your engine to last longer, then synthetic oil is the way to go.
There is only 1 reason not to use synthetic motor oil: You don't drive your car at least 45 minutes a day. Why? Water vapor. If you car stands still and never comes completely up to normal operating temp for at least 30 minutes a day, they'll be water in your oil. Then, and only then, it makes sense to change your oil every 3000 miles with standard motor oil.
Otherwise, you should get a good oil filter, such as a Mobil 1, K&N, Hastings, AMSOIL, or STP and change you sythetic oil every 5000 or so miles.
The fact is that synthetic oils will last at least 10000 to 15000 miles in a Honda, but you need to change your filter every 5500 miles.
I've been sending my oil out to an independant test lab, and I've got the results to prove everything I've typed.
Oils to use:
AMSOIL
RedLine
Royal Purple
Mobil 1
Valoline Synthetic
Oils not to use:
Quakerstate (non-sythetic)
Castrol Syntec (lab tests show this stuff is crap)
Castrol Synthetic Blend (also crap)
Mobile 1 vs Castrol Syntec
In the early 1990s Mobil took Castrol to court. Castrol was marketing their Syntec as a fully synthetic motor oil. It turns out that it was 50% Hydrocracked Group III Base stock (very cleaned up normal motor oil). Castrol was saying that the "cleaning" (hydrocracking) process really constitutes a final synthetic product. Obviously, if you have a really clean motor oil based on a petrolium product that is not completely re-engineered, then you just have a really good normal motor oil. Due to a technicality, Castrol won and Mobil lost... Interestingly, Mobil decided that if you can't beat them, join them. Mobil 1's TriSynthetic Oil is actually - 1/3 Group III Hydrocracked basestock, 1/3 Group IV basestock, and 1/3 Group V basestock (the last two are actually synthetic oils).
So if this is the case, why is Castrol Syntec such crap? The additive package. Mobil 1 may have sold out, but the additive package is superior to most oils.
Originally posted by JonBaker99 According to my maintence record from Honda they used a synthetic Penzoil. Looks like for now on I may try goin somewhere I can get Mobil 1.
Penzoil and Quaker State are now the same company.
However, not all of their products are actually the same. Also, I believe that any synthetic products they produce are not horrible like Castrol Syntec is. Quaker State normal oils tend to have higher parafin (wax) content... which is not good for your car.
Syntec is basically an anomalty as far as synthetic or even partially synthetic oils are concerned. It's just absolute crap according to lab tests.
What's even more interesting is that Castrol GTX is better than Syntec!
I'd be interested in knowing your methology here if you care to share.
It doesn't matter what % dino the oil originates from. For highly hydroprocessed mineral (Dino) oil can be call synthetic because the mineral oil had been chemically changed drastic enough.
Quote:
Originally posted by Gerhard
Synthetic oil is superior in every fashion than regular motor oil.
Honda brand motor oil is crap. It's the cheapest stuff they can get for the buck.
Synthetic oils have better additive packages and last longer. The better additives prevent gum, varnish, and sludge build up.
They also have at least 1/2 the coeffecient of friction of petrolium based motors oils. Some of them have even less friction, such as RedLine or AMSOIL. All of them burn at a higher temp than standard oil.
If you want your engine to last longer, then synthetic oil is the way to go.
There is only 1 reason not to use synthetic motor oil: You don't drive your car at least 45 minutes a day. Why? Water vapor. If you car stands still and never comes completely up to normal operating temp for at least 30 minutes a day, they'll be water in your oil. Then, and only then, it makes sense to change your oil every 3000 miles with standard motor oil.
Otherwise, you should get a good oil filter, such as a Mobil 1, K&N, Hastings, AMSOIL, or STP and change you sythetic oil every 5000 or so miles.
The fact is that synthetic oils will last at least 10000 to 15000 miles in a Honda, but you need to change your filter every 5500 miles.
I've been sending my oil out to an independant test lab, and I've got the results to prove everything I've typed.
Oils to use:
AMSOIL
RedLine
Royal Purple
Mobil 1
Valoline Synthetic
Oils not to use:
Quakerstate (non-sythetic)
Castrol Syntec (lab tests show this stuff is crap)
Castrol Synthetic Blend (also crap)
Mobile 1 vs Castrol Syntec
In the early 1990s Mobil took Castrol to court. Castrol was marketing their Syntec as a fully synthetic motor oil. It turns out that it was 50% Hydrocracked Group III Base stock (very cleaned up normal motor oil). Castrol was saying that the "cleaning" (hydrocracking) process really constitutes a final synthetic product. Obviously, if you have a really clean motor oil based on a petrolium product that is not completely re-engineered, then you just have a really good normal motor oil. Due to a technicality, Castrol won and Mobil lost... Interestingly, Mobil decided that if you can't beat them, join them. Mobil 1's TriSynthetic Oil is actually - 1/3 Group III Hydrocracked basestock, 1/3 Group IV basestock, and 1/3 Group V basestock (the last two are actually synthetic oils).
So if this is the case, why is Castrol Syntec such crap? The additive package. Mobil 1 may have sold out, but the additive package is superior to most oils.
Originally posted by vi_ I'd be interested in knowing your methology here if you care to share.
It doesn't matter what % dino the oil originates from. For highly hydroprocessed mineral (Dino) oil can be call synthetic because the mineral oil had been chemically changed drastic enough.
It's my understanding the dino oils that are hydroprocessed are simply processed to remove impurities. In otherwords, produce a very clean dino base stock.
I think the issue is really a meer technicality. Various motor oil manufacturers claim that hydrotreating a dino oil makes it a synthetic oil. One could claim that a purer dino oil has been synthesized, but it does not make the dino a group IV or group V basestock...unless it's been completely broken down in a chemical process and re-engineered into a new hydrocarbon such as polyalphaolefin (AMSOIL) or polyolester (RedLine).
What we basically have is a marketing deception used to claim certain products have the same higher chemical properties of classical non-dino {aka synthetic} motor oils.
It is my opinion that the deception by Castrol is unfair to consumers. It is based on lab results that I believe their supposed synthetic Syntec is absolute crap.
If you want to see some of the lab tests take a look here:
damn,didnt know amsoil even made filters,and after reading this thread I'm thinkin bout changing my damn oil even though i just put it in 600 miles ago,my cars got almost 3600 miles,put in castrol syntec at 3000 miles cuz I thought it was the good stuff
Originally posted by hustler904 damn,didnt know amsoil even made filters,and after reading this thread I'm thinkin bout changing my damn oil even though i just put it in 600 miles ago,my cars got almost 3600 miles,put in castrol syntec at 3000 miles cuz I thought it was the good stuff
What you could do is change the oil and send a sample to Blackstone labs.
Just about any oil is good to 3000 miles.
The difference between dino motor oils and synthetic motor oils is the difference between high colesterol foods and low colesterol foods: If you eat nothing but high colesterol foods your entire life, you arteries will clog up and you'll probably suffer severe circulatory complications. Synthetic is cleaner and does a better job for your car over time.
So run you oil to 3000 miles, and then change it and the filter!
