ChevyTuffD.A.

What is the real differance between dino oil and regular oil. I am gettin ready to start up my new engine and i heard to just use plain el' cheapo motore oil. So i went to WalMart and bought this cheap crap 10W30. $4.88 for 5 quarts. Is this oil gonna be ok??

SVT Killer LV

dino=dinosaur in other words oil made from dead animals, in other words conventional oil

you got the right stuff for your cam swap, just some of the cheapest stuff you can find, it won't be in there very long

Chris 96 WS6

As said above regular = dino oil....same stuff.

However, most people think synthetic isn't made from crude oil...actually it is.

The difference is it goes through a much more complex refinement process which creates an oil that has almost perfectly consistent molecules througout with very little difference in size.

So technically its all dino oil, but for sake of simplicity dino=regular=conventional motor oil.

Chris 96 WS6

This was on Mobil 1's website:

Conventional oils come from crude oil that is pumped from the ground. Crude oil is made up of a twisted and jumbled mass of carbon atoms that form chains and rings of different sizes and shapes. Long chains of carbon atoms produce a thick viscous fluid that flows slowly. Shorter chains produce fluid that flows more readily.

In an oil refinery, crude oil is separated into various stocks. These become the basis for lubricating oils and fuels. Thick tangled masses of carbon chains become asphaltic materials used in roofing tar and road work. Very short chains and ring compounds of carbon are volatile and can be refined to produce gasoline and other solvents.

While petroleum refining is an advanced science, small amounts of contaminants, such as sulfur, reactive hydrocarbons and other materials cannot be completely removed from petroleum, and may end up in motor oil base stocks.

All motor oils are made up of base oils and additives. In general, fully synthetic motor oils contain non-conventional, high-performance fluids, such as polyalphaolefins (PAOs). Semi-synthetic oils (also called "blends") usually use a small percentage of non-conventional, high-performance fluids in combination with conventional oil.

To meet the demanding requirements of today's specifications (and our customers' expectations), Mobil 1® uses high-performance fluids, including polyalphaolefins (PAOs), along with a proprietary system of additives. Each Mobil 1 with SuperSyn™ viscosity grade uses a unique combination of synthetic fluids and selected additives in order to tailor the viscosity grade to its specific application.

TraceZ

So where does the term "parafin based" apply to oil? I've heard my dad and his friends use that term.

93midnightta

from everything i've heard/read break in the engine with dino oil and then switch to synthetic. i know that dodge puts synthetic in from the factory and i believe the vette comes like that to but it's better to have the "friction" of the dino oil to seat the bearings better.

Injuneer

People get sort of confused when they see the word "paraffin". It has several meanings. Most people think of "wax", and there is indeed a "wax" that can be recovered from crude hydrocarbons, which is called "paraffin". It is typically a paraffin based hydrocarbon, of the form CnH(2n+2) where n is between 22 and 27... a big, heavy near solid hydrocarbon molecule. It is easily removed from crude stocks.

But paraffin, as used in the refining industry refers primarily to:

A non-aromatic saturated hydrocarbon with the general formula CnH(2n+2).

That means the typical components of crude gas/oil as it comes from the ground.... methane (n=1) CH4, ethane (n=2) C2N6, propane (n=3) C3N8, butane (n=4) C4N10, pentane (n=5) C5N12,........ octane (n=8) C8N18..... etc.

So.... when oil is made from "paraffin hydrocarbons", it doesn't mean it contains "wax" or is made from "wax"..... it means its made from a crude oil that started out mainly as non-aromatic saturated hydrocarbon with the general formula CnH(2n+1). Recognize that when you start with raw paraffinic crude oil, and distill it to break it down into the compnents to make gasoline or oil, or whatever, there are always trace amounts of every component that was ever in the raw crude in each of the products. So its conceivable that a poorly formulated lubricating oil made from crude oil could contain some "wax", but not a lot.... just a trace.

Think of "synthetic" oil molecules as "designer" molecules. They are designed for a single purpose, and they all look alike. They are not distilled from crude oil. But they are typically "constructed" by altering the structure of the crude oil. Each molecule looks the same as all the others (at least until they put additive in) and there are no "trace" quantities of other hydrocarbon molecules.

Chris 96 WS6

There you go, thanks for the clarification! Point being that even synth oil comes from crude.

They've made oil out of corn in labs (as well as tires) but it doesn't hold up very well (neither do the tires).

Injuneer

I believe they can also start with ethylene as the feedstock, and that would mean it could be made with natural gas as the starting point, since ethylene can be made from either crude oil of naturla gas.