Quick Question??

[XCross69]

On my new exhaust system I have noticed the drive side tailpipe stays pretty clean while the passenger side one gets the black smuck build up....is this something I should be worried about...it seems in a days time (i do mostly highway drive-n) it builds up. Is this the sign of burn-n oil? if so what can I or should I do about it? Anything you can put in your oil to fix this? I now burn a synthetic blen..do I need to go full synthetic? Thanks for any help!

[Heraclid]

Interesting. My stock exhaust gets a ring around the tip, but it takes quite a while to accumulate. I think the VX tends to run a little rich. But if you get a lot of change in one day's worth of driving, something sounds a bit off. Not sure how to fix it though, but someone here will know. By the way, just looked at your gallery pic of the exhaust again - cool license plate.

[XCross69]

Thanks Heraclid, not only do I get compliments/comments on the VX as a whole, I get many on the plates alone.

[Virus-VX]

XCross69,
I’m not sure why one side tailpipe stays clean while the other side gets build up, but for your question regarding oil use, I would definitely go with the fully synthetic oil. I personally do not understand why people use blend oil!? Also, I would check spark plugs and would switch to higher octane grade fuel. :yesg:

PS: BTW- do you feel any vibration at idle?

[SGT.BATGUANO]

You never mentioned if your duals incorporate a crossover or X-crossover pipe. If they don't it is a sign that something is going on in that cylinder bank. As for the higher octane, it's not needed unless you experience detonation or have increased compression. Higher octane actually burns slower to help prevent detonation.

[Jolly Roger VX'er]

Originally posted by Virus-VX
I personally do not understand why people use blend oil!?

I read somewhere a long time ago (not saying I believe it!) that supposedly conventional oils are better detergent-wise at keeping you engine clean by suspending dirt particles and passing them through the filter for entrapment; and, that synthetics are better at withstanding high heat and also flowing better during cold temps. Thus, this was the argument for blended oils (i.e. Valvoline's Durablend) where supposedly you get the best of both worlds through a marriage or blending of both lubricants. I personally think it was a marketing ploy because expensive synthentics didn't sell as well as cheaper conventionals did so they created the mid-priced blends to attract consumers to "buy up" some of the synthetic market. I personally used Durablend in my Grande Cherrokee from 36k to 95k miles and it ran good and didn't burn oil when I traded it in for the VX.

[Virus-VX]

Originally posted by Jolly Roger VX'er
.... I personally used Durablend in my Grande Cherrokee from 36k to 95k miles and it ran good and didn't burn oil when I traded it in for the VX.

Jolly Roger VX'er,
Jeep engines are durable and strong enough to accept everything even spring water (I’m kidding about water of course ... ) …

Anyway … My thought is that the mineral petroleum oil is the mineral oil and fully synthetic (cracking-processed/molecularly-equalized) oil is fully synthetic oil and contains non-conventional, high-performance fluids, such as “polyalphaolefins”. Mixture of both types, as oil industry called it “blend” or “semi-synthetic”, will not benefit over the regular mineral oil. If you really want synthetic oil – go with the fully synthetic motor oil, but if you want something in between, I would say - do not waste your money and stick with the mineral oil. No point to use “surrogate” synthetic as I realized after my personal research on the dilemma “what oil should I use for my SUV, driving habit/behavior, potential geographic and climate condition where I can be, desirable for me oil change interval ?, and so on ….”

[ScubaSteve]

just some info...

higher octane fuel doesn't burn slower, nor does a slower burn prevent explosion. actually what happens in the cylinder is called deflagration. the higher the octane, the more a fuel/air mixture can be compressed before it ignites (pressure+friction=heat). all engines have a compression ratio. I think our trucks are like 9.1:1 or something (dont have the manual handy but it's in there). Lower octane fuel will ignite at a lower pressure than higher octane fuel. That's why if you get a knocking in your engine, they suggest switching to higher octane fuel - the knocking is the combustion of the fuel/air mixture due solely to pressure, instead of combusting due to the firing spark plug. this is also why higher performance engines require higher octane fuel - the engines have higher compression ratios, so they need fuel that won't combust until it's supposed to.

just some food for thought. http://www.howstuffworks.com is a gold mine!