Full synthetic for 5K OCI's under "severe" service

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mozart

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I've been on this forum for a while and have seen the predominant opinion remain that "there is no reason to use synthetic oils for short (5K mile) OCIs". Admittedly this is an unscientific polling of this forum.

However, many of the oil companies tout the benefits of using synthetic oils in terms of fuel efficiency and "performance" (power, engine responsiveness, etc).

I know many will suggest I'm imagining things, but I have always found my vehicles all run smoother and have more "pep" on Pennzoil Platinum vs conventional Pennzoil. I do lots of short trip and stop and go driving on Toyota and Honda vehicles.

So I guess I want to see understand why so many people feel using synthetic oil for 5K OCIs (like many car manufacturers have recommended in the past in the owners manuals) is a waste of money. Do most people feel there are no performance or fuel efficiency benefits with using synthetics?

Not trying to start a war of words here, I really am curious.

Thanks
 
Performance and fuel efficiency, maybe very marginal differences. Synthetic will thicken LESS as the temperature drops, so you may have very slight MPG and "performance" differences. Nothing that you would be able to notice on the butt dyno though IMO. However, for short trips and severe service, I believe that a name brand "walmart" synthetic (PP, M1, VSP, QSUD etc..) are perfect for a 5K interval. Thats exactly what I do in my Accord.
 
It's your money at the end of the day. If you want to run synth for 5k between drains that's fine. Can it go longer? Sure. My dad runs M1 in his jaguar and changes it every 5k.
From a lay persons perspective, such as myself, dino oil was what was available when the first internal combustion engines were made, it came from the ground and was a good lubricant, it still is. Synthetic oil on the other hand was engineered with the intention of lubricating an engine.
Just my 2 cents
 
Starbucks is waste of money to me. But synthetic oil is a must have. You do not spend 5 dollars every day for your car' engine, true you do not get to have the image out by running synthetic.
Besides what is the difference between syn and Dino in dollars? 10?
 
I dont see any harm whatsoever in using synthetic oils for shorter OCIs, especially in stop and go city traffic or extremely hot environments. A LOT of people here will disagree, but who cares. Just because you can run an oil for 20k miles doesn't necessarily mean you should. Synthetic oils will have better lubricity and cleaning properties, which will result in better engine performance, protection and better gas mileage(the increase in gas mileage can be substantial!) If you want to run 5k mile OCIs, the oil selection really depends on how much you can justify spending. I would recommend an oil that is relatively inexpensive and widely available (can be found at walmart.) I would have no problem running Mobil 1 or Pennzoil Platinum for 5-7k miles. The Escape in my signature gets Royal Purple API every 7k miles on the dot. I prefer Royal Purple and operate under the mindset that oil is cheap and motors are expensive. It may be overkill, but I like to protect my investment. If your vehicle is not under warranty and you don't mind spending the extra money, look into Royal Purple HPS with synerlec. Great oil and it isn't much more than the API series. Good topic, which will undoubtedly turn into a heated debate directly!
thumbsup2.gif
 
A lot of people actually do run synthetic at 5k intervals. Probably not BITOGers but lots of people do it.

The reason why it's a waste of money is because the oil is usually still good after 5k. It's not because dino is equally good. It's because you're throwing away good oil!
 
Originally Posted By: camrydriver111
A lot of people actually do run synthetic at 5k intervals. Probably not BITOGers but lots of people do it.

The reason why it's a waste of money is because the oil is usually still good after 5k. It's not because dino is equally good. It's because you're throwing away good oil!


I see your point. However, my owner's manuals say 5K max even with synthetic. To know for sure how long the synthetic could run I would have to pay for several oil change analyses.
 
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Some of us do on certain engines and vehicles as a "testing the water" measure.

The Camry in my fleet maybe sees 5k a year these days, because of its aging senior owner. That being said, a lot of cold starts, heat soaks, and city driving takes its toll on an engine that already has a questionable reputation. Plus, I can't stand the sound of VVT-i equipment and lifters that are noisy because they ran conventional for 7.5k (later revised to 5k)

At $60 a year, it keeps me sane

Want to call me wasteful?
Go right ahead......
 
Yea, right! Try this, go to the UOA sub-forum and read down the front page and count up how many UOAs are done with ~5k OCI on synthetic.

Originally Posted By: camrydriver111
A lot of people actually do run synthetic at 5k intervals. Probably not BITOGers but lots of people do it.
 
You really have to do what you are happy doing. I put only 3000 miles on my truck last year. I use synthetic and change oil and filter once per year. 95% of my driving is short trips around town. Opinions are like, well you know what I am trying to say. Its your money and your car, so do what you want, not what somebody else tells you to do.
 
Originally Posted By: oilpsi2high
Does anyone read their owners manual anymore?


Jeep Patriot

My Chrysler manual says to use the same oci for syn and conventional oil. 6000 miles, 8000 max.
 
Something is only a waste of money of the person paying the bills is not happy with what they are doing. Many folks "waste" a lot of money on a lot of things in their lives. Not using a full synthetic to its maximum potential hardly rates in the top 10. Only if someone is buying and using high volumes, like a commercial user with many vehicles, is it even worth worrying about. For the average user, no negative for the environment due to recycling, and no appreciable negative for the wallet compared to all of the other things in their lives that would be more cost effective to cut back on.
 
Originally Posted By: TiredTrucker
Something is only a waste of money of the person paying the bills is not happy with what they are doing. Many folks "waste" a lot of money on a lot of things in their lives. Not using a full synthetic to its maximum potential hardly rates in the top 10. Only if someone is buying and using high volumes, like a commercial user with many vehicles, is it even worth worrying about. For the average user, no negative for the environment due to recycling, and no appreciable negative for the wallet compared to all of the other things in their lives that would be more cost effective to cut back on.



Right.
It's not like people are fighting wars for the stuff and people are dying for it.

Wait a minute.......
 
I do because.. wait for it.... Owners manual.


Requires Syn 0w20, 6000oci, 3000mi severe service oci.

I'd say 1mile trips in the winter at -5f is severe.

The summer OCI I do go close to 6000 on.

Some cars are just not for extended oci. If I still had my 2007 focus out of warranty I'd go 10,000 mile oci and not think twice.
 
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Hello, I suppose the "Solomann-like" response would be to ask for UOA's and chuckle fraternalisticly if none were produced.

I look at it this way: Oil is lovely stuff which becomes filthy dirty in use.
I like basic synthetics because they don't have the wax you see in cold pour footage.
I like PAO synthetics because I'm told they're super oils.

The turbos in the family turn oil nasty real fast.
5,000 miles on a panful of Mobil1 0W-40 European is OK by me.

Changing oil filters a little early is OK by me too since you never know when they'll develop a tear in the medium.

Throwing $ at UOA's is OK but spending that $ on slightly accelerated OCI's is OK too.

Paying for UOA's to let me knowledgeably extend OCI's to the point where I save money is something I should've started doing when I was 16.

I just read the above post. "I'd say 1mile trips in the winter at -5f is severe."
Couldn't agree more. Kira
 
I'm pretty much at that level in my Pilot. It only makes it about 6,000 miles between 100% and 10% on the MM. I use M1 0w20 as it makes REALLY short trips daily.
For $26 every 6 months I'm cool with it. Now that's it out of warranty I may do an analysis on it just for fun.
 
I feel the same way but I must admit I was brainwashed by working in the quick lube industry. I would change full synthetic at 3k miles because I had easy access to it, it was very cheap(about 5 bucks a quart) and I had a facility that took the waste oil and filter. Now that I don't work in the industry anymore and my driveway is my facility, I feel comfortable going 4 to 5k miles and a change using a Fram Ultra which I change every time. Also the majority of my driving is city driving and I would say it's 65% city/ 35% highway.
 
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