Does synthetic heat up quicker?

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Someone told me today that one of the benefits of synthetic is that it gets up to operating temperature quicker than regular oil. Is this true? I've never heard that before...
 
Information from this website indicates that 'lighter' weight oils may heat up slightly faster than 'heavier' weight oils. But I have seen no data to indicate that a synthetic oil would heat up any faster than a dino oil of the same weight.

Did he explain his reasoning?

DEWFPO
 
I think the opposite is true.

Synthetics of the same viscosity generally have lower friction and will hence take somewhat longer to warm up.

Likewise, thicker oils will generally warm up faster than thinner ones for the same reason.
 
I'll put my vote with DEWFPO. Coefficient of friction is irrelevant to how inherently fast a substance will heat when exposed to an outside heat source. A higher viscosity liquid, however, probably has superior insulating quality than a lower viscosity liquid and will come up to temperature more slowly when exposed to an outside heat source. I doubt, though, that the relative rate of temperature change of the two fluids, if even measurable, will result in any meaningful difference in how quickly, if ever, the universe implodes back on itself in another "Big Bang"... Of more immediate concern is how many angels can dance on the heads of two identical pins - one wet with SuperTech 5W-30 conventional motor oil and the other wet with Mobil 1 0W-30 SuperSyn motor oil?

[ April 07, 2004, 08:54 PM: Message edited by: Ray H ]
 
Higher viscosity oil has a higher intrinsic frictional coefficient that thinner oil. So a heavier oil will theoretically generate heat faster than a lighter oil because the engine has to work harder during warm up. Synthetic base stocks have a higher specific heat value than conventional oils. So theoretically, synthetic oils would allow heat to distribute faster between the warmest and coldest parts of the engine. However, I really doubt that this would be a significant factor in warm up time relative to exhaust gas temperature and the mass of the moving parts and coolant.
 
All things being equal (and they never are), a lower viscosity oil provides less protection against metal-to-metal contact in marginal, high RPM, heavy-duty operation, so the inevitable heat of friction in high stress applications will result in the lower viscosity oil film heating up faster. (just prior to the engine seizing and the hapless driver exiting headfirst through the windshield...)
 
quote:

Originally posted by Ray H:
All things being equal (and they never are), a lower viscosity oil provides less protection against metal-to-metal contact in marginal, high RPM, heavy-duty operation

That is not true. I'm no expert but look at the xw20's out there with great UOA's.
 
quote:

Originally posted by Dr. T:
I think the opposite is true.

Synthetics of the same viscosity generally have lower friction and will hence take somewhat longer to warm up.

Likewise, thicker oils will generally warm up faster than thinner ones for the same reason.


Dr. T is correct. A synthetic will not make your engine get to operating temperature more quickly.
 
My A6 Biturbo has an oil temp gauge and is running German Castrol 0W30. It DOES have an oil cooler BUT it takes FOREVER to get the oil to a temp range I like.
 
My friend's '01 A4 2.8Q also has an oil temperature gauge, and at first I thought it was broken because it sat over to the left for so long. Takes forever to get the oil hot...
 
I wondered about our gauge when we first got the car; I am glad the cooler is so efficient and the 7.3 qt sump doesn't hurt when it comes to initial heat inhibiting, but there are times when I just want to spin up those turbos quickly
grin.gif
!
 
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