Regular vs. Synthetic blend motor oil

[Ktulu]

Please excuse my ignorance but what's the difference? I'm having no luck with google. I'm up for an oil change and was curious about this stuff. Is it used like a synthetic or like regular oil. Is there any benefit at all to using this or is it all just marketing?

 

[Arkaign]

No, it's really better.

Goes like this :

Best = Paraffin-based (Amsoil, Royal Purple, etc)
Better = Regular Synthetic (Syntec, Mobil 1, etc)
Good = SynBlend (Syntec Blend, etc)
Ordinary = Major-Brand non-synthetic
Questionable = Mystery-Brand non-synthetic

How many miles, and what kind of vehicle do you have? That will greatly help us make a recommendation. Also, how long do you want to keep it (miles/years).

 

[Vette73]

You do better to "blend" your own. most blends don;t have that much syn in them. So buy 3 qts of reg oil and 1 syn and add to car will come up with a higher blend then the blends pre-mixed.


But most reg oils will do 5k easy for most cars today. So use the cheapest oil that meets the current specs (like havoline, shell, motorcraft, etc...) and a good filter (not fram) and you should be ok.

 

[Arkaign]

Oh yeah, check my thread here

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2173274&enterthread=y

To see my recent experience, and feedback therein, for using a full-syn (not paraffin) oil change .

 

[Ktulu]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
No, it's really better.

Goes like this :

Best = Paraffin-based (Amsoil, Royal Purple, etc)
Better = Regular Synthetic (Syntec, Mobil 1, etc)
Good = SynBlend (Syntec Blend, etc)
Ordinary = Major-Brand non-synthetic
Questionable = Mystery-Brand non-synthetic

How many miles, and what kind of vehicle do you have? That will greatly help us make a recommendation. Also, how long do you want to keep it (miles/years).

5.3L Silverado with 40K.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: Ktulu

Originally posted by: Arkaign
No, it's really better.

Goes like this :

Best = Paraffin-based (Amsoil, Royal Purple, etc)
Better = Regular Synthetic (Syntec, Mobil 1, etc)
Good = SynBlend (Syntec Blend, etc)
Ordinary = Major-Brand non-synthetic
Questionable = Mystery-Brand non-synthetic

How many miles, and what kind of vehicle do you have? That will greatly help us make a recommendation. Also, how long do you want to keep it (miles/years).

5.3L Silverado with 40K.

Man, if you're going to keep that sucker for a long time, I'd recommend going with Amsoil. Those V8s sound great with it, and you should get a marginal improvement in fuel economy/power to boot.

If you're going to sell it @ 100k miles or whatever, then a decent regular oil (changed regularly), or a syn-blend will do just fine.

 

[Ktulu]

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: Ktulu

Originally posted by: Arkaign
No, it's really better.

Goes like this :

Best = Paraffin-based (Amsoil, Royal Purple, etc)
Better = Regular Synthetic (Syntec, Mobil 1, etc)
Good = SynBlend (Syntec Blend, etc)
Ordinary = Major-Brand non-synthetic
Questionable = Mystery-Brand non-synthetic

How many miles, and what kind of vehicle do you have? That will greatly help us make a recommendation. Also, how long do you want to keep it (miles/years).

5.3L Silverado with 40K.

Man, if you're going to keep that sucker for a long time, I'd recommend going with Amsoil. Those V8s sound great with it, and you should get a marginal improvement in fuel economy/power to boot.

If you're going to sell it @ 100k miles or whatever, then a decent regular oil (changed regularly), or a syn-blend will do just fine.

I was planning on passing it on to my son (not yet born). I had heard or read that switching to full synthetic in your vehicles later years wasn't a good idea. Is there a preferred time frame to switching?

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: Ktulu

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: Ktulu

Originally posted by: Arkaign
No, it's really better.

Goes like this :

Best = Paraffin-based (Amsoil, Royal Purple, etc)
Better = Regular Synthetic (Syntec, Mobil 1, etc)
Good = SynBlend (Syntec Blend, etc)
Ordinary = Major-Brand non-synthetic
Questionable = Mystery-Brand non-synthetic

How many miles, and what kind of vehicle do you have? That will greatly help us make a recommendation. Also, how long do you want to keep it (miles/years).

5.3L Silverado with 40K.

Man, if you're going to keep that sucker for a long time, I'd recommend going with Amsoil. Those V8s sound great with it, and you should get a marginal improvement in fuel economy/power to boot.

If you're going to sell it @ 100k miles or whatever, then a decent regular oil (changed regularly), or a syn-blend will do just fine.

I was planning on passing it on to my son (not yet born). I had heard or read that switching to full synthetic in your vehicles later years wasn't a good idea. Is there a preferred time frame to switching?

The conventional (lol) wisdom is that the earlier, the better. That said, I put Schaeffer's (paraffin) into a Buick with 200k on a 3.8L motor, and it didn't burn/leak any, and ran notably better.

Under 50k is a no brainer. After 2-3 changes of full syn, the ashy carbonized deposits of the conventional oil will pretty much be cleaned out, leaving nice clean surfaces inside.

 

[Ktulu]

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: Ktulu

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: Ktulu

Originally posted by: Arkaign
No, it's really better.

Goes like this :

Best = Paraffin-based (Amsoil, Royal Purple, etc)
Better = Regular Synthetic (Syntec, Mobil 1, etc)
Good = SynBlend (Syntec Blend, etc)
Ordinary = Major-Brand non-synthetic
Questionable = Mystery-Brand non-synthetic

How many miles, and what kind of vehicle do you have? That will greatly help us make a recommendation. Also, how long do you want to keep it (miles/years).

5.3L Silverado with 40K.

Man, if you're going to keep that sucker for a long time, I'd recommend going with Amsoil. Those V8s sound great with it, and you should get a marginal improvement in fuel economy/power to boot.

If you're going to sell it @ 100k miles or whatever, then a decent regular oil (changed regularly), or a syn-blend will do just fine.

I was planning on passing it on to my son (not yet born). I had heard or read that switching to full synthetic in your vehicles later years wasn't a good idea. Is there a preferred time frame to switching?

The conventional (lol) wisdom is that the earlier, the better. That said, I put Schaeffer's (paraffin) into a Buick with 200k on a 3.8L motor, and it didn't burn/leak any, and ran notably better.

Under 50k is a no brainer. After 2-3 changes of full syn, the ashy carbonized deposits of the conventional oil will pretty much be cleaned out, leaving nice clean surfaces inside.

Awesome, so it will definitely help the life of the engine. I guess I'll be making the switch.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: Ktulu

Originally posted by: Arkaign
No, it's really better.

Goes like this :

Best = Paraffin-based (Amsoil, Royal Purple, etc)
Better = Regular Synthetic (Syntec, Mobil 1, etc)
Good = SynBlend (Syntec Blend, etc)
Ordinary = Major-Brand non-synthetic
Questionable = Mystery-Brand non-synthetic

How many miles, and what kind of vehicle do you have? That will greatly help us make a recommendation. Also, how long do you want to keep it (miles/years).

5.3L Silverado with 40K.

Man, if you're going to keep that sucker for a long time, I'd recommend going with Amsoil. Those V8s sound great with it, and you should get a marginal improvement in fuel economy/power to boot.

If you're going to sell it @ 100k miles or whatever, then a decent regular oil (changed regularly), or a syn-blend will do just fine.

Meh, unless he's really, really stressing the engine, there's no need to bother with synthetic. Regular dino oil in all of my family's normal cars and they've all gone well over 200,000 miles.

My blanket recommendations:

Street-driven, water-cooled, non-turbo, non-supercharged: Regular oil, changed ~5,000 miles.
Air-cooled, turbocharged, or supercharged: Synthetic, changed ~5,000 miles.
Car that is raced occasionally: Synthetic, changed ~3,000 miles.
Car that is raced often: No blanket recommendation, varies by vehicle.

Modern dino oils will do just fine if changed regularly and will not affect the longevity of the engine. I have never seen an engine that died because regular oil was used, only because the oil wasn't changed often enough. Many, many other things will fail long before damage from oil comes into play.

ZV

 

[Arkaign]

I agree to a point, but he's talking about giving the truck to an as-yet unborn son. That's ~16 years away or so, and the truck has 40k miles on it. Well taken care of, a truck w/syn can last long indeed. Our family F250 lasted over 500k miles with ease, and the only reason it died was because my bro overheated it severely.

It's not much more expensive in the big picture (a full-syn oil change costs him probably the same as filling the truck up with gas, which happens every few hundred miles, not every 5k), and provides a little extra ease of mind.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
I agree to a point, but he's talking about giving the truck to an as-yet unborn son. That's ~16 years away or so, and the truck has 40k miles on it. Well taken care of, a truck w/syn can last long indeed. Our family F250 lasted over 500k miles with ease, and the only reason it died was because my bro overheated it severely.

It's not much more expensive in the big picture (a full-syn oil change costs him probably the same as filling the truck up with gas, which happens every few hundred miles, not every 5k), and provides a little extra ease of mind.

It does provide some peace of mind, but I really don't see a necessity for it. There will be many, many other problems that occur before synthetic vs conventional oil becomes a meaningful difference. Still, as you say, it's not much extra and it can't hurt. :beer:

ZV

 

[desy]

I put synthetic in now because
A I'm choosing to go longer between changes
B It gets to 40 below zero around here and start-up is where synthetic shines.

 

[fstime]

Dino is fine for most applications.

Acura recommends 7,500 mile intervals on dino.

Mercedes recommends 10,000 miles/1 year with Mobil 1 0w-40 w/ the fleece filter.

 

[redly]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
No, it's really better.

Goes like this :

Best = Paraffin-based (Amsoil, Royal Purple, etc)
Better = Regular Synthetic (Syntec, Mobil 1, etc)
Good = SynBlend (Syntec Blend, etc)
Ordinary = Major-Brand non-synthetic
Questionable = Mystery-Brand non-synthetic

How many miles, and what kind of vehicle do you have? That will greatly help us make a recommendation. Also, how long do you want to keep it (miles/years).

Curious where Walmart Synthetic sits on that list (forget the "brand")

 

[ponyo]

Little OT but Costco has a box of Mobil 1 synthetic for $30 minus $8 off coupon for final price of $22 for 6/ one quart containers. Limit 2 boxes. I picked up a box today even though I won't need oil change for another year.

 

[thecritic]

The Silverado uses the GM Oil Life System that was validated using conventional oil. Use conventional oil and service when the change engine oil message appears or once a year, whichever comes first. You may be able to go as long as 12k between service under optimal conditions.

There's no need to use synthetic oil unless you operate your vehicle under very cold temperatures constantly (< 0F) or take your vehicle to the track every weekend. Synthetic oil does not always extend oil life as it is equally susceptible to contamination from blow-by, fuel dilution, condensation, etc. This is why the Corvette's oil life monitor, despite requiring synthetic oil, does not allow for longer service intervals than most other GM vehicles.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: redly

Originally posted by: Arkaign
No, it's really better.

Goes like this :

Best = Paraffin-based (Amsoil, Royal Purple, etc)
Better = Regular Synthetic (Syntec, Mobil 1, etc)
Good = SynBlend (Syntec Blend, etc)
Ordinary = Major-Brand non-synthetic
Questionable = Mystery-Brand non-synthetic

How many miles, and what kind of vehicle do you have? That will greatly help us make a recommendation. Also, how long do you want to keep it (miles/years).

Curious where Walmart Synthetic sits on that list (forget the "brand")

It is a Grp3 syn (Tech2000), same as castrol syntec and most other syn oils now. Not the best syn but I have used it before and would again. Same goes for the Tech2000 oil filters.

 

[eplebnista]

I just use regular "high-mileage" oil in mine (both have over 150,000 miles on them).

 

[mooseracing]

Originally posted by: Ktulu
I was planning on passing it on to my son (not yet born). I had heard or read that switching to full synthetic in your vehicles later years wasn't a good idea. Is there a preferred time frame to switching?

It's an old wives tale to a point. Basically Syn will find leaks easier because of it's viscosity it also will break down teh sludge that conventional oil has built up and then form a leak.
There is also some places that state syn is better for longevity of gaskets.

 

[Xcobra]

This is what I was wondering too. Is it really necessary for older vehicles that have 150000+ mileage? I have a 96 altima and I am debating as to whether to go syn or not. How about for the transmission?

 

[dirtboy]

When in doubt of what kind of oil to use, follow the manufacturers recommendation in your owners manual. Unless it specifies synthetic, just put regular oil in it. Save the money you were going to spend on synthetic for something else.

 

[chucky2]

OK, I'm not a salesperson or affiliated with this company in any way, so don't think I'm ePimping their product for them for their or my benefit, because I'm not.

If you want to prep your higher milage ride for a switch over to synthetic, then do it right. Go over to Auto-RX.com and get the proper amount of bottle of Auto-RX, use a good dino and good filter (Wix, NAPA Gold, Purolator, Motorcraft...not Fram), and follow their application instructions. After the last rinse, run one 3,000 mile OCI of dino again, and then do your switchover to synthetic.

Not only will your seals have been prepped for synthetic use, you'll have cleaned up your engine oil system and ring pack (better gas mileage, more pep).

Again, not a salesman, don't benefit in any way if you do this or not....go on over to BobIsTheOilGuy.com Forums in the Oil Additive's sections and do your own research...this product has been proven so many times it's basically the defacto standard over there.

Chuck

 

[thedarkwolf]

So its Marvel Mystery Oil only 3 times as expensive? Won't hurt but you can just pour synthetic in without doing any of that.

 

[chucky2]

Originally posted by: thedarkwolf
So its Marvel Mystery Oil only 3 times as expensive? Won't hurt but you can just pour synthetic in without doing any of that.

No, it's nothing like MMO...which there are threads over at BITOG as well. It is not synthetic motor oil either. I can attempt a general explanation here if you want, or you can read up on it at both/either the BITOG Oil Additive forum or Auto-RX's own forum.

And I'll say I realize that 99.999% of engine/gas additives do basically nothing but waste your money...but this one is different. The folks over at BITOG call BS on many products, and are a tough crowd to please....there's no way this product would have the following it has over there if it didn't measurably deliver on what it says it will deliver.

Chuck