<VV> Re: Synthetic Oil Lesson - No Corvair

[Jim Burkhard]

Garth Stapon wrote:
> Hi:
> 
> I recently completed a road trip with my new car. (It is not a Corvair) 
> Up until now, I had been running dino oil (conventional 5W20) which is 
 > Up until now, I had been running dino oil (conventional
 > 5W20) which is called for in the owner’s manual.
> called for in the owner’s manual.
> I treated it to some Mobil 1 - 5W40 during the last oil change. I filled it to the full mark.
> As my road trip progressed, the oil level that showed on the dip stick increased.  
 > (One liter above the full mark buy the end of the trip).

This might be painfully obvious, but I'm grasping at straws...

Are you taking all the readings with the engine at the same 
temperature?  Violating this will usually this will make the 
hot readings look low, but maybe your car is different...

Are you wiping the dipstick and reinserting, THEN taking the 
"real" reading?  If you don't do this with the hot readings, 
they will often look "high" because some oil gets pushed up 
the stick a little when the engine is running.

> This leads me to assume that the synthetic oil was able to clean and 
 > suspend some of the dino oil that had deposited in the 
motor and
 > return it to the oil pan.

Sorry, not a chance. Synthetics have some good properties, 
but nothing this profound.

> The car ran fine despite the higher level although I plan to change the oil in the next day 
 > or two.

A high oil level usually means that you are leaking gasoline 
or coolant into the crankcase.  Is the coolant low?  Does 
the "oil" smell like gasoline?  Leaking gasoline in is hard 
to do on a modern electric fuel pump equipped car (easy on a 
mechanical pump Corvair though) without sticking an injector 
and then you usually hydrolock the engine. So, I don't 
consider this likely, but check anyhow...  Coolant can get 
into the oil if you have a headgasket leak or a cracked 
block/head.  Unlikely, but not impossible on a brand new car.

> Thoughts????

Lemme ask you one thing, though...  I don't think it is the 
cause of your problem, but if the owners' manual specifies 
5W-20, why are you putting in 5W-40?  I'm a big fan of 
synthetics, but use the grade that is recommended, at least 
until the car is out of warranty.  (No I don't put 
straight-30 in my Vair, but technology has changed, since 
the car was built.  Yours is a new car, right?  If it's 
5W-20, it's probably either a Honda or a Ford, right?)

Let us know what you find out! My bet is that you've got an 
error in measurment somewhere.

Good luck!

Jim