RE: Synthetic Oil & Flat Cams

["Brian Shorey" <bshorey@domain.elided>]

> > >>I have heard of more than one case of rapid cam lobe
> > deterioration (in under, say, 10K miles) after switching
> > to synthetic oil from conventional oil on Alfa V-6es
> > with around 60K - 80K miles.

on v6 alfa's i've switched at 40k (gtv6), and 100k (verde).  my other verde
was run on synthetic from new.

the gtv6 now has 67k miles on it, and runs perfectly with no sign of wear on
the cam lobes (although it's been since 60k miles that i had them off).  the
verde got to 150k miles before i parted it out, again the motor was running
perfectly.

i was told once with a merciless bendz that i owned that i could expect cam
lobe wear on the lobe closest to the oil fill cap.  this was due to dirt
getting in at oil change time.  i suspect the alfa v6 is prone to the same
thing, it makes sense to pay attention to how grungy your cam cover is, or
what else is in the area, while you have your filler cap off.

fwiw,

bs

p.s.  the verde that was run on synthetic since new now has 121k miles,
still on the original valve guides, and burns *very* little smoke and uses
very little oil.

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