Most new European auto's come out of the factory with, and hardly recommend
Mobil 1. I guess they got the rings seating thing figured out.
Bob Allen
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Snow" <mwsnow@COX.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, March 31, 2002 6:05 PM
Subject: Re: Synthetic Oil

>   That said, having converted
> > my dino burning low-mileage (38K) WBX to synthetic when I got in almost
two
> > years ago, I experienced no leaks.  However, I did experience a lot of
what
> > I guess they call "blow-by."
>
> This echoes the experiences of some of my gearhead friends that waited
> too long to make the switch to synthetic.  Ideally, it should be done as
> soon as the rings are properly seated.  This point is easily
> identifiable if you have a quality temperature gauge and are meticulous
> about oil consumption monitoring during break-in.  I don't like to wait
> more than 5000 miles to make the change to Mobil 1.  With my current
> Honda, I had to wait 3750 miles to satisfy warranty requirements, but I
> could have switched as early as 600 miles based on oil consumption alone.
>
> Mike Snow