Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimenez61
Did you use full synthetic right away. Or did you use blend for a while before using full. I was told to use blend for about 2 oil changes and then change to full
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Most engine builders will tell you that using conventional motor oil for at least the first 2000 miles or 30 minutes on a dynometer at low RPM is best for allowing piston rings to properly seat for minimal oil consumption. Here are the technical details:
Sealing the piston rings when breaking in an engine requires allowing the rings and piston skirt to carefully wear down the peaks (called asperities) on the cylinder wall.
Although a new or freshly honed cylinder appears smooth to the naked eye, it contains microscopic peaks and valleys. If the valleys are too deep, they collect excess oil, which burns during combustion and leads to oil consumption.
The sharp peaks, meanwhile, provide insufficient area to allow the rings to seat tightly. That means highly pressurized combustion gases can blow past the rings and into the crankcase, contaminating the oil and taking potential horsepower with it.
“Controlled wear” helps flatten the cylinder-wall asperities, providing increased surface area for the rings to seat tightly. The result is maximum compression (i.e. power) and minimum oil consumption.
In my case, Ford does not mandate full synthetic for the PowerStroke TurboDiesel. This is my second oil change so it had conventional heavy duty diesel motor oil from the factory and the same at its first oil change.
I will now likely do my own oil changes using full synthetic that meets the Ford spec specific to the PowerStroke.