Does used dino oil smell different than synethic blends and sythetics?

[Scott M]

I did a search of "oil smell" didnt find exactly what I was looking for.

Here is whats going on and a little background.  I personally have not used regular oil in any car or truck I have owned in my short period of owning cars ( I am 25 and inexperienced I currently change my own oil on my f350 6.0, mercedes diesel and my 78 gmc, my past experience on previous cars I have always run synthetics). 

Well as some of you might have seen awhile back or on my build thread I dropped a zz4 i had rebuilt by a performance shop into my 78 gmc.  My machinist suggested a few brands and weights of oils to run for the first 2000-3000 miles and I went with Castroil 10w-40 and napa gold filters.  I performed the break in changed the oil and filter after the break in and 20 miles, looks like it went good just a small amount of very very fine metal that was on the end of the magnetic plug.  I was not too concerned and was told that it was common to have a very small amount from the break in and thats why you change oil and filter after break in.

I recently changed the oil for the 500 mile mark.  There was no metal on the plug so i wasnt concerned about that, however just being myself (always smell oil just to see if it smells burnt) even on my diesels I smell the oil and it had a very slight smell of being a little on the burnt side.  I did check the level before I emptied the oil and it had not used any or anything so i went ahead and changed it.  The color slightly darker my previous synthetic oil changes in past vehicles im use to but did not really concern me. 

The question I am wondering is does used dino oil just smell a little stronger on the burnt side since it does not have some of the properties of synthetics. I have about 800 miles on the motor now and check the oil just about every trip I make for level to insure I dont blow up my investment. 

Is everything sound pretty normal or should I be alittle more concerned?  I figured some veterans would know what Im talking about.  i realize its hard to talk about smell without actually smelling it or looking at it.  and i did not have an oil  analysis done.

any input would be appreciated!

thanks for reading!

[Scott M]

Was it a dumb question?

[jaredts]

Not a dumb question.  I'll try my hand at assuring you that you are fine.  First of all I would say that yes, regular oil has kind of a foul smell after not too many miles.  If it is a strong and pungent burned smell than I would be concerned. Being still in a break in period I would also expect rings to still be seating, although that should be pretty much there by now.  I would give it one more oil change and evaluate then.

[Kren420]

Not a dumb question at all, I just have never used synthetic oil before so I can not chime in on the difference. 

[Scott M]

Ahhh thank you! Yea It was just a different smell just not what I expected.  being that oil and filter is relatively cheap I will change one more time between the 500 and 2000 mark. As much as I drive the thing could be a year before I get to the 2000 mark.  Ill give it either to 1200 miles or 3 months whichever comes first and see what Im working with then.  I do plan on switching it over to synthetic after the 2000 mark. Thanks for yalls input it is pretty much how you described it slight foul odor.