I have heard from a few Viper owners and tech's this summer about putting in regular 10W30 in new motors instead of Mobil One synthetic for about 500 to 1000 miles so the ring seat in.
I just changed the oil a few weeks ago in my ACR and wondered next time if this would be a good idea or it really wouldn't matter at this point since it already has 1100 miles.
This leads to the question of...when does a Viper engine be considered "broken in" using synthetic?
The oil has been changed at or around 200 miles, 600 miles, and just recently at 1100 miles.
I guess at this point I don't need to change the oil so often and just follow a regular schedule.
Engine builders/people in the know...please comment.
If it is...it would be very minimal/none as I do not see any indication.
The oil is at the same level,clean as when I put it in and no smoke out the back.
I have owned a few SB Chevy engines in my time and I do remember when they were first run they would smoke a bit for the first few miles and the oil would be as black as night even after 100 miles. I had always used regular oil too.
I am just not well schooled in how synthetic oil works with internal parts during break in.
The whole thing about using "dino" oil for break in is an idea that goes back to the introduction of synthetics. Supposedly non-synthetics would soak into the seals and other soft bits better, but if you pursued it, nobody was ever actually able to explain why.
The idea is pretty much history now. The only vehicles I'm aware of which have good reason to avoid synthetics are motorcycles with a wet clutch -- the synthetics are too slippery and you can get clutch slippage.
I look at it like this -- if the combined engineering talent of Daimler-Chrysler, BMW, Dodge, GM, and Porsche are all ok with shipping engines from the factory with synthetics from day one, it's probably a safe bet.
The main reason I have always used dino oil for break in is purely cost related. I mean when building a motor you want to change the oil after the initial 30min breakin, then drive it for a couple hundread miles and change it again. Using synthetics can get very expensive when your dumping 8 quarts at a time. I believe there is some truth to using dino oil on breakin when your talking about a flat tappet cam/lifter, but with rollers it shouldn't really matter.
Usually contacting Tom Lord of the Fuels and Geek Realm over on the Morgue will give you the technical answer or you could just fly me out to the east coast to drive it around for say...a month or so? [img]/images/graemlins/laughing.gif[/img]
Larry Macedo recommends dino oil for the first few thousand miles on his motor rebuilds, then back to Mobile 1. I actually think he requires it for his warranty.
Usually contacting Tom Lord of the Fuels and Geek Realm over on the Morgue will give you the technical answer or you could just fly me out to the east coast to drive it around for say...a month or so? [img]/images/graemlins/laughing.gif[/img]
Actually I had a very long e-mail exchange with Tom on this subject, and several others. It got quite detailed, and what it boils down to in his opinion is that there is no important significant difference between modern "dino" and synthetic oil.
He runs diesel oil in his Viper, even for racing, and in all of his other vehicles. The short version is that diesel oil is now suitable for all engines mainly due to the requirements of large corporations with very large vehicle fleets that involve diesel trucks and gasoline cars and small trucks. They wanted one oil for everything, so the oil companies responded.
And it's: Tom, Fuel & Lube Geek-of-the-Realm. [img]/images/graemlins/smiles[/img]
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