tjkj2002 wrote:
That is right synthetic gear oil does not last longer in diffs.This is only for gear oil.The reason is synthetic gear oil does not transfer heat like dino gear oil and has been known to burn up pinion bearings if not changed at 12k-15k intervals.
Many high end aftermarket axle builders(Hi9 and Currie) strictly forbid synthetic gear oils in there diffs unless you like changing pinion bearings every 200 miles or so.
I keep reading about this "myth" regarding heat transfer and synthetic oils and I don't buy it. Just like the myth about synthetic being too slippery for engine break-in even though several vehicles have factory fill synthetic oil in the engine rolling out the door. Engine break-in (primarily ring seating) is dependent upon HEAT and PRESSURE due to putting a LOAD on the engine. Pussyfooting around will glaze up the bores regardless of what oil you have.
If a diff is eating pinion bearings, it's due to poor design or poor parts, IMHO. Synthetic oils provide superior film strength and resist viscosity shear (provided that proper additive levels are in the oils). Not all synthetic oils are created equal, either. I'm not a member of the Amsoil fan club, I don't even use any of their products, but the gear oil "whitepaper" they did is informative, if nothing else:
http://www.amsoil.com/lit/g2457.pdf. If the CRD rear end is eating itself, I can bet you that it's doubful the synthetic oil is causing it. It's a lot more likely that Chrysler sourced the cheapest Chinese bearings they could find and probably the gears are from China or India and cast out of rejected manhole covers.
I'm also guessing that Chrysler put fairly frequent diff oil changes in the "severe service" schedule to account for off-roading and the potential for water ingression. In my stint at a quick-lube during college, I changed out a LOT of diffs and saw plenty of gear oil that looked like black driveway tar (and smelled like it), badly foamed oils, and stuff that looked like the filling out of a Milky Way bar or greenish brown mayonnaise.
I'm not trying to start a pi$$ing contest, but I see a lot of misinformation and "urban legend" spewed forth regarding synthetic oils. Maybe someone put synthetic oil in his rear end on an 800 hp 200 mph race car and it burned up. Well, I can assure you that if the rear end didn't have a pump and oil cooler system, it was going to burn up regardless of what was in there.