Why Synthetic Is Better Than Conventional Oil

Discussion in 'Dodge Challenger General Maintenance' started by SRT-Tom, Oct 13, 2022.

  1. Moparisto

    Moparisto Full Access Member

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    Oh, okay.

    Never thought of just mixing up some oils in an alchemical fashion. :D

    But, in its trip through the engine, the hottest the oil is going to get is when it cools the piston domes from the underside. Also hot will be oil in contact with the exhaust valve stem and roof of exhaust port. Obviously, the film of oil facing the combustion chamber on the cylinders will be hot.

    I wonder which oil location in the engine would most directly benefit the lubricating properties by being aggressively cooled. The oil film in the plain bearing must get rather toasty, if only momentarily, due to the pressure and friction, such as on the cam bearing, and the crank bearings as they do face some high loading in addition to the highest RPM of any part in the engine (other than the oil pump?)

    Oiling is not a really heavily-parsed system even as of yet. The "state of the art" thus far is just throw a dry sump and a thermostatic cooler on it and call'er done. The problem being, of course, with dry sumps, is that all those additional scavenger sections that suck up the oil spray and evacuate the air from the crankcase consume power that is not returned to the engine during normal usage. If I recall correctly the F1 engines are mandated to have a dry sump system, last rule set I read through. At 15,000 RPM, that makes even more sense, though I'm not sure they have higher parts linear speeds in and F1 engine due to the super-short strokes.

    If one could super-cool the oil just moments before it hit the most heat-stressed portions of its travels, one could save some energy from being needlessly wasted.

    BTW, oil spray cooling the valve springs can help with their longevity to reduce from the heat they generate due to the springing action costing some internal heating due to hysteresis.

    Titanium springs are very low-hysteresis and low weight, but oy, they just don't have anywhere near the longevity of the good ol' spring steel. Great if you are drag racing and have a huge budget. Not so great if you don't.

    By cooling the oil, you can reduce its peak temperatures to better suit its purposes. As with many things, just adding massive oil cooler capacity can really assist, keeping your oil from hitting peaks that are too high.

    Also, as one user pointed out above, just changing it more often to avoid breakdown of its best properties.

    Also, why not use a catch can to keep the stank oil out of one's intake system?