Always thought synthetic oil was a gimmick for ATVs, then I tore down my engine at 500 hours

I bought a 2008 Polaris Sportsman 500 three years ago and ran conventional 10W40 in it because that's what the manual said. Old guy at the dealership in Bozeman kept telling me I was asking for trouble with the high RPMs I was turning. When I finally pulled the top end at 480 hours last month, the cylinder walls had this weird glazing and the rings were stuck in two spots. My buddy runs the exact same machine with synthetic and his internals at 600 hours looked brand new. So I guess that $12 per quart difference actually does something... has anyone else seen a big difference pulling engines apart?

2 comments

2 Comments

emery_craig9d ago

Man... that glazing sounds rough, I felt for you reading that.

jennyh559d ago

Nah, glazing's fine if you know what you're doing, people just overthink it.