I just about pissed my pants this morning when I started up my engine to head to the post office. The engine sounded funny because it sounded like one of the noises i've been hearing for a while wasn't there, and then I realized, hot damn, the marbles during cold starts are gone!!! I just about jumped in the street and started dancing, but realized that my neighbors would probably have thought I had finally lost my mind. Too bad I have another oil change due in 500 miles, so I hope the marbles don't come back when I do my second oil change at 3500 miles. I will probably use either Motorcraft Super Premium(whatever that means) 5w30, or Motorcraft semi-synthetic 5w30. When I finally hit 5500 miles, it's getting Redline!

 

ive never had luck with sythetic in my car. if i use synthetic, it burns it, enough to see some blue smoke out the tailpipe. if i use regular oil, its fine. motor is broken in too, 34k miles. i will never put that crap in my car again or any car i get after this one. i know alot of guys swear by it, but i can say nothing good about it judging from my experience.

 

My marbles are gone too.
Just like everyone else,I got the marbles in the can noise right after my first oil change, but a few weeks latter it was gone and I havent heard it since.

I have about another 1000 miles before my second oil change and when that time gets here Im gonna use Valvoline 5-30 full synthetic

Andy G

 

Same here! I used that stuff for years, created leaks and used oil.
Now I use Dino oil and just change it more often. I would rather have clean Dino oil than dirty synthetic oil!

 

With more and more strict engine emmissions and efficiency requirements heading out the door, I honestly think we will reach a time sooner than later in which synthetics might become the factory fill in every vehicle, not just BMW's, Mercedez, Porshe's, Vettes, and Vipers. SLP, which vehicle are you running synthetics on? I do hear that the LS1 SS and firebird engines do have issues with high oil consumption............

 

i have a 97 Camaro SS 6 speed. its the lt1 motor, not the ls1. the car was built with synthetic and burned it from when it was new. switched to regular oil and it took a while but it stopped burning oil. i guess it had to break in, how can it break in with synthetic? so after like 25k miles of driving using regular oils and no problems i changed the oil and went back to sythetic just to see what would happen. sure enough it started burning it again. that was my little test to see if it would still burn it even after motor was broken in. and it did. no more synthetic for me.

 

I used synthetic in my 99 and it smoked at startup. Switched back to conventional and no smoke. I use conventional on my 01.

 

99SVT, how soon was it when you switched to synthetics out of curiosity? My 01 Cobra which Ford bought back had issues with the engine smoking upon startup, but they went away after I passed around 7000 miles. I guess was that since I switched to synthetics at around 3000 miles, it might have been too soon and the rings had not completely seated. On an engine that was built for dino oil, I can understand why you wouldn't want to use a synthetic until it's fully broken in, however what stumps me is that some of you guys are having smoking issues even after the engine should have been completely broken in.

 

I was always a firm believer in Valvoline dino oil. After getting my '01 L and becoming a regular reader of this board I decided to try Mobil 1 because of the good comments it gets here. Using the 5w30 and Bosch filters, I've never gotten any noises or smoking from the L. In my '92 Z28 5.7 TPI I've began using 10W30 with the Bosch filters and where I used to have a little smoke on start-up now I have none. Also, the car used to be about 1 pint down when it came time for the oil change, now it stays on the full mark. This is by no means a scientific comparison, and your results may vary

 

Speedbump, what you have experienced in your 92 is not abnormal. I use only Redline now, but when we had my dad's old 89 Accord which is now gone because some idiot decided to take it for an illegal joyride with it and hit an old lady. The car wasn't damaged, although the old lady was hurt, although she fared better than you would expect of a 92 year old woman. Afterwards, when my dad went to go pick the car up, the tranny went out, but i'm going offtopic


That car had 155k miles on it, and we started running Mobil 1 in it at around 130k miles. At 130k miles, we had started using 10w30(any name brand on sale) and it was smoking a little on startups, and was using about 2 quarts of oil every 3000 miles. We put Mobil 1 in it, and for the first several months, it used a quart every 500 miles, but by 140k miles, it was using about half a quart every 3000 miles. I think it might have to do with the fact that the rings might have been gummed up with sludge not sealing properly causing lots of oil to get into the combustion chamber, and maybe the Mobil 1 washed away the sludge...........just my hypothesis.........

BTW, when we first put M1 in it at 130k miles, it was amazing because the oil turned completely pitch black at 500 miles, which shows you that it's doing it's job very well!

 

But my wife's '99 Bonneville was a different story. It turned black so fast that I changed it after only 1500 miles. After that, it just seems to get dirty at the normal rate. I'm gonna change oil in the L and the Z this week, and drop samples by our shop to be sent in for analysis. I'm wondering what levels of metal they will find, and what the TBN of the oil is gonna be. I've done this once before with the old Mobil tri-synthetic, and I'm wanting to see if this "Super Syn" is gonna make any difference, or is just hype

 

I use Penzoil 5W-30 in my 99. It turns black pretty fast too. I change the oil every 3k miles. I am considering trying Mobil 1 or another full synthetic, but dont want any new oil related problems. I have about 22k on it now and it has always had regular oil as far as I know.

 

Running a full synthetic isn't going to cause any problems on a fully broken in engine that is healthy. You are only going to benefit from the use of a full synthetic. If you plan on running a full synthetic, make sure that it's actually synthetic with a synthetic base stock and synthetic additives. There are many(I mean lots) of full synthetic oils that are not synthetic at all *cough, Castrol Syntec, cough*...........

These types of oils are a joke because they utilize a completely conventional group III base stock which they take and modify along with the addition of a few synthetic additives.

 

I just about pissed my pants this morning when I started up my engine to head to the post office. The engine sounded funny because it sounded like one of the noises i've been hearing for a while wasn't there, and then I realized, hot damn, the marbles during cold starts are gone!!!

My 02 L did the same exact thing. My first oil change and I had the marbles. After a few hundred miles I noticed the noise was gone. Did my 6000 mile oil change this morning..... damn marbles are back. Has anyone been able to find out what is causing this? BTW, I used 820s filter and Motorcraft blend 5w 20 for both oil changes.