Semi synthetic oil, mainly derived from base mineral oil stock.
1970 seems a little early for the use of synthetic oil, my earliest recollection is Mobil 1 from the mid 70's. It didn't do much for my Honda 250 which expired whilst running it.🤣
Yes, Toby, I was going to post that. Synthetic oil is still mainly made from that dirty stuff out of the ground isn't it? I'm sure these guys know more than me here, though.
I only use synthetic oils now (I service and repair 4 family cars) but in my opinion regular changes are far more important than synthetic v mineral as long as the oil is a trusted brand with the correct general spec.
I only use synthetic oils now (I service and repair 4 family cars) but in my opinion regular changes are far more important than synthetic v mineral as long as the oil is a trusted brand with the correct general spec.
The reputation for shoddy exports went from Japan to Korea to China over sixty years or so. Now some Chinese stuff is top-notch -- even Harbor Freight's picked up their socks some -- so I wonder who the next great purveyor-of-junk-until-they-start-making-real-coin-with-decent-goods will be.
I've been tempted by some Vevor offerings but haven't ordered anything yet. The one person I know who does order gear from them has been happy enough to keep buying
1970 too early for synthetic oil?
AGIP Sint2000 was the first comercially available engine oil with a high sythetic content. It came to the market much earlier than Mobil SHC. In vintage Alfa Romeo cars you should find a sticker with "Alfa Romeo recomends Agip Sint" and the SAE grade.
At its start, synthetic oil was a strategic product, giving jet engines highly extended intervalls between rebuilds. Without it jet engines would not have developed into such a common product. Mineral oil simply breaks down in jet engines. When the production was extended, it was used in car (race) engines instead of castor oil (The name "Castrol" comes from castor) and then, with SAE grades, marketed for "normal" cars with the Italians being pioneers.
AGIP Sint2000 was the first comercially available engine oil with a high sythetic content. It came to the market much earlier than Mobil SHC. In vintage Alfa Romeo cars you should find a sticker with "Alfa Romeo recomends Agip Sint" and the SAE grade.
At its start, synthetic oil was a strategic product, giving jet engines highly extended intervalls between rebuilds. Without it jet engines would not have developed into such a common product. Mineral oil simply breaks down in jet engines. When the production was extended, it was used in car (race) engines instead of castor oil (The name "Castrol" comes from castor) and then, with SAE grades, marketed for "normal" cars with the Italians being pioneers.
Castor oil went out before WWII.
It was used in once through systems, the oil passed out of the engine and spread on the road. It turns rancid and lumpy very fast.
Some castor oil based compounds were added to mineral oil based stocks, and Castrol is a trade names from those days.
Castrol are among the big buyers of used oil here, recycling it and using in their product, collecting from garages.
Mineral based oils are in use since before WWII.
Synthetic oils : from the net, no ties...
1. 'Synthetic lubricants are composed of oil components that have been manufactured synthetically by reaction of a few well-defined chemical compounds (although often petroleum-based) rather than refined from existing petroleum crudes or vegetable oils.'
2.'Synthetic oils are typically created from chemically modified materials such as petroleum components, but the base material is almost always distilled crude oil. Synthetic oil is a man-made lubricant that consists of artificially made chemical compounds.'
Jet engines run at 30,000 rpm, and the bearings are HSS (High Speed Steel), a material commonly used in drill bits, for example.
So yes, that requires a different quality of lube, and also bear in mind that the atmosphere is below zero at 30,000 feet, even over the desert at times, the oils must have nearly zero wax, and a wide operation temperature brand.
The need for synthetic oils comes from changes in engine design, the engines made now have much tighter tolerances than those made say 50 years ago in Europe.
And the new fuels, insisted upon for emission control, have their own requirements.
GDi, and earlier CRDi, have required very clean fuels, the injection systems need low residue fuel.
Technology has evolved, so the lubes must also stay up to date...
It was used in once through systems, the oil passed out of the engine and spread on the road. It turns rancid and lumpy very fast.
Some castor oil based compounds were added to mineral oil based stocks, and Castrol is a trade names from those days.
Castrol are among the big buyers of used oil here, recycling it and using in their product, collecting from garages.
Mineral based oils are in use since before WWII.
Synthetic oils : from the net, no ties...
1. 'Synthetic lubricants are composed of oil components that have been manufactured synthetically by reaction of a few well-defined chemical compounds (although often petroleum-based) rather than refined from existing petroleum crudes or vegetable oils.'
2.'Synthetic oils are typically created from chemically modified materials such as petroleum components, but the base material is almost always distilled crude oil. Synthetic oil is a man-made lubricant that consists of artificially made chemical compounds.'
Jet engines run at 30,000 rpm, and the bearings are HSS (High Speed Steel), a material commonly used in drill bits, for example.
So yes, that requires a different quality of lube, and also bear in mind that the atmosphere is below zero at 30,000 feet, even over the desert at times, the oils must have nearly zero wax, and a wide operation temperature brand.
The need for synthetic oils comes from changes in engine design, the engines made now have much tighter tolerances than those made say 50 years ago in Europe.
And the new fuels, insisted upon for emission control, have their own requirements.
GDi, and earlier CRDi, have required very clean fuels, the injection systems need low residue fuel.
Technology has evolved, so the lubes must also stay up to date...
What, so you're saying Agip sold synthetic oils in the vintage period, 1919 - 1930? 😉
No, AGIP sint it simply was the first oil with a high synthetic portion sold for automobiles. Most think that Mobil with SHC was the first on the market.
Old Alfa Romeos, starting 1970, that many so-called specialists say "need mineral oil because of high tolerances, never use synthetic", in fact came with AGIP sint from the factory, just like Ferraris and Lamborghinis. You just have too look under the hood of these vintige cars to see it.
It seems like knowledge not found by Google on the first click doesn't exist any more on the planet. That is why those typical "know all" people on the internet don't know about it.
Old Alfa Romeos, starting 1970, that many so-called specialists say "need mineral oil because of high tolerances, never use synthetic", in fact came with AGIP sint from the factory, just like Ferraris and Lamborghinis. You just have too look under the hood of these vintige cars to see it.
It seems like knowledge not found by Google on the first click doesn't exist any more on the planet. That is why those typical "know all" people on the internet don't know about it.
I last fixed my deep purple record album cover..
Just needed some tape and its fine.... I cant believe it was in the FREE BIN just cause the cover was me$$ed up a little...
Just needed some tape and its fine.... I cant believe it was in the FREE BIN just cause the cover was me$$ed up a little...
Fixed one of my EIZO screens yesterday. Display had a light flickering touch to it. Sold as "first non flicker display" though 8)
Scoping showed some wonky noise on all voltages and PWM, not a lot though, and I was unable to determine the source, it was everywhere.
As this screen only has two PCBs, I went for a replacement (used) PSU board, which costed me less than 15 EUR including shipping. Figured, I hardly could order spare parts for less than that.
So quickly exchanged that PSU after the replacemet arrived - and the screen is happy again, no more flickering.
Post mortem: All the caps seemed fine on a quick test (capacity and ESR fine), desoldered them all before dumping the old PCB, so it would be something more complex to diagnose than I was willing to spend time on.
Scoping showed some wonky noise on all voltages and PWM, not a lot though, and I was unable to determine the source, it was everywhere.
As this screen only has two PCBs, I went for a replacement (used) PSU board, which costed me less than 15 EUR including shipping. Figured, I hardly could order spare parts for less than that.
So quickly exchanged that PSU after the replacemet arrived - and the screen is happy again, no more flickering.
Post mortem: All the caps seemed fine on a quick test (capacity and ESR fine), desoldered them all before dumping the old PCB, so it would be something more complex to diagnose than I was willing to spend time on.
Alesis Quadraverb.
5V rail was shorted to ground, so the unit was dead. After a bit of poking around, I saw that a ceramic disk decoupling capacitor by one of the DRAM chips was burnt up. Snipped it out.... short cleared. So replaced it, and the unit now works again.
The original display is very faded to the point that it is pretty much unreadable. This is a common issue with quadraverbs, but after market replacements are readily available on eBay. So got one on order; once that's fitted it's going to be good to go.
Cheers!
Ant.
5V rail was shorted to ground, so the unit was dead. After a bit of poking around, I saw that a ceramic disk decoupling capacitor by one of the DRAM chips was burnt up. Snipped it out.... short cleared. So replaced it, and the unit now works again.
The original display is very faded to the point that it is pretty much unreadable. This is a common issue with quadraverbs, but after market replacements are readily available on eBay. So got one on order; once that's fitted it's going to be good to go.
Cheers!
Ant.
Working on this Pioneer SX-1000TA. I bought this for about 20 bucks 3 or 4 years ago from a guy at a garden centre (yes, garden centre - he had a room of old stuff at the back where this was). One of the channels had a blown OP transistor (2SC793) so I replaced all of them with MJ15024 since I didn't want there to be mixed devices in the OPS. One of the small signal devices in the power amp stage was also replaced and I replaced its complement in the other channel as well. Tonight I fed the thing from my WiiM into the AUX input- very smooth sound - absolutely fantastic. It is rated at 40W per channel.
The volume pot is not too scratchy via the aux input, but very bad on FM.
The FM tuner has a problem because the left channel is very distorted and at a lower volume than the right channel. I'm guessing its in the MPX circuit board - I'll try to tackle that tomorrow. AM was working when I tried it out about 2 years ago, but I'll tackle that after sorting the FM bit out. It has two phono inputs and a tape input as well - so after that I will check the phono bit out.
I'm really surprised at how quiet it is - not a trace of hum or hiss through the headphones and this is a 1966/67 design, so it is almost 60 years old. I understand they made this model for about 2 or 3 years before changing the FM tuner part (which is tube based on my one) for a solid-state one.
Anyway, it would be good to get this going. I've already told my wife I will hook it up to the Dali Oberons i the living room - it's a seriously cool-looking piece of retro gear IMV. Schematics are attached for those that are interested
🙂
The volume pot is not too scratchy via the aux input, but very bad on FM.
The FM tuner has a problem because the left channel is very distorted and at a lower volume than the right channel. I'm guessing its in the MPX circuit board - I'll try to tackle that tomorrow. AM was working when I tried it out about 2 years ago, but I'll tackle that after sorting the FM bit out. It has two phono inputs and a tape input as well - so after that I will check the phono bit out.
I'm really surprised at how quiet it is - not a trace of hum or hiss through the headphones and this is a 1966/67 design, so it is almost 60 years old. I understand they made this model for about 2 or 3 years before changing the FM tuner part (which is tube based on my one) for a solid-state one.
Anyway, it would be good to get this going. I've already told my wife I will hook it up to the Dali Oberons i the living room - it's a seriously cool-looking piece of retro gear IMV. Schematics are attached for those that are interested
🙂
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The first synthetic motor oil I ever saw was Mobil 1. I read about it in 1972, IIRC and was on the market in ‘73. I don’t know if there was a synth on the US market before that.
BTW the SX-1000 TA I have has a walnut wooden cabinet - very nice looking and still in good condition.
Hi Bonsai,
What I have seen in Pioneer units like this are bad electrolytic caps, the odd bad transistor. This is a simple circuit as decoders go.
Look at C710/712 and Q704. You may possibly see a bad signal diode (connected to R716/717). Don't ignore the resistors, I have seen bad end caps and things like that too.
Good luck! Let us know.
What I have seen in Pioneer units like this are bad electrolytic caps, the odd bad transistor. This is a simple circuit as decoders go.
Look at C710/712 and Q704. You may possibly see a bad signal diode (connected to R716/717). Don't ignore the resistors, I have seen bad end caps and things like that too.
Good luck! Let us know.
Thanks - I was looking at the OA79s and one of them has gone leaky. I can't get OA79s but ordered some OA91s to try. I checked the caps you mention (there's 4 in total in the OPS the MPX) and they look ok, but maybe I should just replace them. The voltages around Q704 and Q705 look good and they test out ok in diode mode. I set the separation pot on the back panel to mid travel for the time being - it hasn't made any difference.
The unit is tuning in very well, but its very distorted on the left channel. The amplifier section is working perfectly now.
I watched this guy - he says the SX1000TA is built like a tank - I agree!
The unit is tuning in very well, but its very distorted on the left channel. The amplifier section is working perfectly now.
I watched this guy - he says the SX1000TA is built like a tank - I agree!
Hi Bonsai,
Any germanium signal diode will work fine there. I use 1N34A or other Japanese diodes I have from years ago. Voltages and currents are very low, check for lower leakage currents. I try to match the forward junction drop. So, all four of these.
Replace the capacitors as a group. On old Pioneer units (and many others), they go open or get leaky. They aren't worth much so may as well.
Any germanium signal diode will work fine there. I use 1N34A or other Japanese diodes I have from years ago. Voltages and currents are very low, check for lower leakage currents. I try to match the forward junction drop. So, all four of these.
Replace the capacitors as a group. On old Pioneer units (and many others), they go open or get leaky. They aren't worth much so may as well.