One mechanic (or auto service employee) told me he doesn't use synthetic oil because it doesn't contain as many detergents as conventional oil. As a result, your engine becomes dirtier.
He even said the reason synthetic oil does not need to be changed as often as conventional is because synth oil does not get as dirty since it doesn't have as many detergents to clean the engine!
Another mechanic (or auto service employee) I spoke with had no knowledge of the first employee's claims. It seems if you talk to 4 people, you'll get 4 different answers ;-)
I have heard just the opposite. Detergents cost more than conventional oil and about the same as synthetic. So the manufacturers of synthetic oil can afford to put more detergent in their oil.
Your chances of getting an informed answer at a oil change place are about the same as hitting the lottery. You may hit bits and pieces of the correct answer, but it is not likely you will get the entire answer.
When in doubt, follow the automaker's recommendations. You can also check the faq section at
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They built the car, they know the most about it, certainly more than someone at a quick lube place who has only taken Auto Shop 101, if even that.
Dunno. I think the synthetics have enough detergents to do the job.. Myself, I think "extended" oil change schedules are a bad idea in general. Thats why they started seeing gelling problems, etc.. One advantage to synth oil is you usually don't have to worry much about gelling as long as they change it within a normal period. Also, the cold weather performance is much better. IE: most all people up in frigid Alaska, etc run synthetic oil. I won't let a car go over 5000 miles without an oil change. I also always change the filter every time. Sure, the oil itself doesn't wear out, but the additives do. And to me, one of the primary reasons to change the oil is to clear the dirt, moisture, unburnt fuel,etc, from the engine oil. Oil can get quite diluted after a while. Real bad in stop-go driving where the engine is lucky to get warmed up before being shut off. Being I change my oil fairly often, I was kind of dubious about spending appx 6 bucks a quart for say mobil 1.. Being I'm gonna dump it fairly quick, thats a lot of money to spend over time.. On my corolla which I recently bought, I just did the first "for me" oil change. I compromised... I used the castrol syntec or whatever they call it. Is a blend of dino oil, and synthetic, and is supposed to be pretty good for short trip driving. It was about 3.75?? appx for a quart, so not quite as expensive as all synthetic oil. I'm not sure how it compares to some other brands, but I did notice it made my engine run a bit quieter than the old oil..BTW, I used the standard 5w-30 weight.. Synthetic oil will reduce engine wear over a long period of time, but using dino oil and changing every 3-5k miles will also do pretty well. Most people will get a new car before an engine wears out from using any type of oil, as long as it's changed fairly regular. The only kind of oil I would never use in a modern car is the cheap re-refined stuff.. MK
I took the plunge and switched from dino to synth.
I don't know if it's my imagination, the newly pumped up tires, a placebo effect, or because I was first driving downhill after exiting the dealership's oil bay, but my car seems to be zipping along with a lot less effort.
I meant you would never notice the increase in power. You might notice that the engine makes less noise, starts more easily in the dead of winter (or the dead of spring in the Artic), and oil pressure comes up sooner in the dead of fall in the Artic. If you thread a temperature probe down the oil dipstick tube, you probably would notice that the temperature of the oil is lower, too. My dad had a Peugeot 505, which had a gauge for oil temperature.
The oil temperature was lower with synthetic oil than regular oil.
Well, for babies, natural oil comes from breasts. Synthetic oil comes from a powder or in cans. In this case, natural oil is almost always far better. And the additives are fatty acids that are important for brain development.
Hopefully, the oil filter never needs changing. It is normally, self repairing. If it does, it means a kidney transplant.
== I use Mobil 1 and Purolator Pure One filters.The base gasket construction is excellent. Tried Mobil 1 filter once, and it had this odd characteristic where the base gasket rotated in relation to the housing turning, so the gasket did not move during tightening. Resulted in a small leak for me.
One would expect oils that should meet the same fairly tight standards of friction reduction, viscosity and additives would have fairly similar characteristics - that is, after all, the point of standardisation.
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