Ferrari Mailing List: Re: All about oil????

[Hans E. Hansen (FList]

On 3/25/08, Peter Pless <ferrarilist [at] pless.com.au> wrote:
> Ok...well that just scared the crap out of me!
>
> I'd still like to know what they'd specify for a 308 if it were made TODAY
> considering the advances in oil technology.
>

Sure, oil technology has come a long, long way.  But viscosity is
viscosity, old or new.  What has changed on the viscosity front
is now there is much less change (particularly with synthetic...)
from cold to hot.  But the measurement system essentially takes
care of that.  The viscosities at the two temps where the two numbers
(10W50, for example) are measured is same now as 50 years ago.
But at temps either much below or much above those measurement
points, newer oil is a lot better.  Plus, older oils would burn up
at temps where synthetics are just hitting their stride.......

One huge advantage to synthetics (and to some extent the 'hybrid'
blends) is that "viscosity improvers" were necessary in dino oil
to achieve a multi weight rating.  Synthetics just naturally have
the characteristics of a multi weight.  For example, a 10W synthetic
has the same viscosity as 10W dino at room temperature, but
when hot the synthetic doesn't thin as much.  So the 10W synthetic
naturally behaves like a 50W (or whatever - example made up!)
dino oil at elevated temps because the hot 50W dino has thinned
excessively.

Hans.