tomcatt

[QUOTE]Originally posted by xviper
[B]My point has always been that "molybdenum" is one of the key ingredients of assembly lube.

Starheel

I don't own an s2k yet, but I own two Hondas: '98 Civic HX CVT and '03 Accord EX. On both cars, I changed the original dino oil and filter at 1000 miles. This is where most metal from the ring-seating process will be suspended in the oil. With fresh dino oil and filter, I let the rings continue to seat/break in until about 3500 miles total. At this point, I change over to Amsoil pure synthetic, and cotton-batting filter instead of the pleated paper (cheap) filter. Afterwards, I change both oil and filter annually. The '98 Civic has 100k miles on it now...6 oil/filter changes I think, and takes no oil, leaks no oil, uses no oil, etc.

Things to remember:

1. Make sure that break-in is complete before switching over to synthetic. If one installs sythetic before break-in is complete, it never will.

2. Synthetic will turn black like dino oil in use, but this is from piston ring blow-by (unavoidable) and has no effect on the viscosity or lubrication qualities. About the only thing that will alter the characteristics of synthetic is heat...but the temp required is so high, that the head would be warped before that point. Why do you think it's used in jet turbines?

3. Do not put synthetic in an engine that has had a diet of dino oil for >50k miles. It will leak through the worn seals. A friend (BSME) who got me started in synthetics, found this out the hard way on his wife's car.

4. It used to take about 10k miles (many years ago) to break in a reciprocating piston engine. But with today's CNC machining and cylinder honing/polishing techniques, it only takes about a third of that.

Then again, I may be full of feces!

ButtonBoy

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Chazmo
[B]"Dino" oil refers to petroleum-based oil... This is in contrast to "synthetic" oil which is not petro-based.

ralper

Vipers, Corvettes and others come from the factory with Mobil1 oil and recommend synthetic. Honda, on the other hand, recommends using regular (non-synthetic) oil in the S2000 until 7,000 to 10,000 miles. At that point, according to Honda, it is acceptable to use synthetic. Its in the owners manual.

xviper

We're talking about S2000's here. Remember which forum you're on?

ButtonBoy

My complaint was the mistaken generalization that no engine will break in correctly unless it has dino oil. Somehow, a few manufacturers don't see it that way, including Toyota (Lexus) and DCX. Perhaps the dyno breakins they do at assembly time help with this process.

Sounds like I should wait until winter to make the synth changeover for my S. Not a big deal, as I still have to stock dino-oil for the pickup & van.

BTW, anyone else who uses M1, I have found good bulk pricing at Costco, and even better sale pricing at Walmart. Look for the 5 quart bottles. (Costco also has a great price on Delo400)

Road Rage

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SiDriver
[B]

From what I understand, the number before the "W" is how well the oil gets to critical parts in LOW temps (the lower the better).

Road Rage

It will take longer for engines to break in with synthetic, although low tension ring technology and better cylinder boring have made this less an issue - Mercedes uses synoil because their oil-change algorithms in their ECM's are based on synoil performance - they jjust settled a rather costly $23M class-action because they screwed up in approving mineral oil for use in their cars in the US.