Any real MPG gain with synthetic motor oil?

[Capa]

Originally Posted By: Jim Allen
Like JOD says, the gains are there but too small to measure without very precise instrumentation. People who do a lot of cold starts and short hops might notice more of an uptick using syn because of the cold flow characteristics. By "cold" I don't necessarily mean winter cold, though it could be. That warmup phase, when the oil is still thick, an area where the syn's cold flow will reduce fluid friction...possibly enough to show on your mileage calcs. Still won't be a lot... if it shows up at all.


+2. The differences are small. I've been recently using 0W oils and have noticed a very slight gain.

 

[KrisZ]

The difference is due to your wallet being lighter

 

[Ken2]

Originally Posted By: exranger06
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
What would make a car require synthetic oil? Marketing ploy (when a car says for instance,"Use Only Genuine *such and such* oil". Especially when there aren`t many true synthetics on the market.


Engines that have high oil temps. Synthetic handles high temperatures better than conventional. Cars that are "high-performance" and meant to race will typically require synthetic. (Racing = high oil temps) I once heard that Chevy had a choice of installing an oil cooler in the Corvette and saying conventional oil would be suitable, or leave the oil cooler out and simply require synthetic. They didn't have any room to install a cooler, so they made synthetic a requirement.

I've never noticed a MPG improvement with synthetic.

Also cars that have a particular hot spot inside the engine or some other problematic thing. The VW turbocharger is one example where conventional oil sludges and VW spec syn oil survives. Even faux-synthetic (Group III) oils have an increased resistance to oxidation vs. conventional oils.

 

[Bgallagher]

I think many many moons ago there was a difference between dino and synthetic in terms of quality but dino has come around and is just as good, if not better then a lot of syns out there. Gas mileage included. I used to be exclusive to syn but as my engines have gotten older and I have gotten cheaper, dino makes my engines purr.

 

[mechtech2]

The "something to that effect" statement on the jug about better fuel economy was probably the energy efficient logo.

Being fully synthetic is not a reason to get better or worse fuel economy. the viscosity [thickness] and additives are what count.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: bepperb
Viscosity being equal probably not.


+1

 

[Jocephus]

In a regular oil change...probably not

When changing all fluids (motor, gears, etc) to full synthetic I've noticed a slight bump in fuel mileage in my escalade and my jeep. Is it enough to warrant the cost? probably not. If I were running a trucking company and had a 3% increase in fuel mileage...different story.