synthetic oil

[greynine]

I have a vw with a roller crank motor, is it a good idea to run it with synthetic oil? help

 

[Bert is my name]

Is the cam roller too? One of the big issues with synthetic is the lack of high pressure lubricants such as moly and zinc. I personally don't run synthetic unless the manufacturer or engine builder designed the engine for it. Check out bobistheoilguy on Google. He has more information on oils than you could ever need.

 

[JP_JCM]

Is the cam roller too? One of the big issues with synthetic is the lack of high pressure lubricants such as moly and zinc. I personally don't run synthetic unless the manufacturer or engine builder designed the engine for it. Check out bobistheoilguy on Google. He has more information on oils than you could ever need.

very very common misconception about additives such as zinc, is that more is better when in fact anything over 1500ppm is useless. zinc and phosphorous fight for surface area and dont allow other additives such as moly to cling the part and do what is intended to do.

Synthetics are a MUCH better oil than petroleum oils in every aspect. stick to an Amsoil or Maxima oil as lucas a nd gibbs are having additive package issues right now. all other oils aren't in the same league currently.

 

[Bert is my name]

The main reason we got away from zinc and moly is catalytic converter contamination from burned oil. I do agree that an over dose of zinc and moly is not good. But in 20 years of building engines and repairing cars I have seen a lot of flat tappet camshafts fail due to wrong or improper lubrication. Typically if I am assembling an engine for a hot rod or performance application I go with what the cam manufacturer suggests. I personally use Schaeffer lubricants almost exclusively. In a race only application the debate between synthetic or conventional oils may not mean a whole lot if your program includes tear down between races. On long races thermal stability of the oil is probably the main concern. If it breaks down due to heat cycling then the ability to properly lubricate is lost.

 

[scottm]

True, true. Air cooled engines can use the benefits of synthetic oil, but modern passenger car oil does lack enough zinc zddp for flat or sliding tappets. Synthetic race oil will have enough, as does 4-stroke motorcycle oil. A vw race engine needs all the help it can get, so a top quality synthetic race oil is the expensive but best way to go.

What's the story with zinc and camshafts???