Dufferent brands or grades of oil? Is there really a difference. I know that many cars are comming to market with computer gas milage tracking, so this would be very easy to track. Anyone actually see a difference when switching grades or brands of oil, or is any change so insignificant, it is good only for marketing?
Has anyone actually logged a gas milage increase between different oils
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I keept carefull records for about 4,000 miles. Vehicle was a 1995 Jeep GC 4.0L engine. I ran the factory type HDEO 10w30 oil for about 10,000 miles. The gas millage was 19.9 +/-0.3 mpg. I switch over to Mobil1 10w30 engine oil AND changed the differental to Mobil 1 7590 gear oil. The millage improved to 20.3 +/- 0.3 mpg. Fuel consumption was measured my everyday back and forth to work and was with only very minor variation. By changing to a full synthetic in the engine and differental I increased my millage by 0.4 mpg. That to me is a real world and beliveable figure reqardless of advertising claimes.
I have logged every tank of fuel for the past 3 years. Mine is an '01 F-150 4x4 and I have seen no difference whatsoever in mileage when comparing dino-oils and synthetics. I have used 0w-20 all the way up to 10w-40 with no mileage difference at all. The same goes for fuel; Chevron, Shell, Union, ARCO, Texaco and Mobil used in all grades...even Mom-and-Pop gas, no change in mileage.
Mileage is lousy by the way 15 city, 17 hwy.
Mileage is lousy by the way 15 city, 17 hwy.
Have kept records for 6yr and can find no difference from oil changes, however I had a 10% increase in mileage when they removed the "special blend" requirment following the Katrina disaster. Amazing how they screw up stuff to save me from myself. I've never understood how burning more fuel is good for the enviorment, it made some sense with carburators, during warm up,but not with computer fuel injection.
Smoky
Smoky
I have an 02 Malibu with a 3.1 and was getting around 19 mpg in the city. This car is my Daily Driver and it does 95% city driving. When I switched from Dino(GM 5w30) to Amsoil 5w30(XLF) the mileage increased to almost 23 MPG and has since leveled out to around 21 mpg.I have used the XLF for about a year now. Could be my driving habits. I noticed better engine response as well. I have since switched to Redline 5w30 and I will be keeping track of the mileage to see if there is a difference.
Just a lurker to say "no".
Have noticed changes due to wind, seasons, speed, short trips but not oil.
Have noticed performance improvements with appropriate oils for the season... eg thicker in the summer... but can't ever scientifically nail the oil down as a sole contributor to MPG.
Have noticed changes due to wind, seasons, speed, short trips but not oil.
Have noticed performance improvements with appropriate oils for the season... eg thicker in the summer... but can't ever scientifically nail the oil down as a sole contributor to MPG.
I get more variation between drivers (me and my wife) then I do different engine oils. My wife is harder on gas, brakes and oil.
My wifes Camry went from a combined MPG of 27.5-28 up to 29.5-30 when I switched from dino to syn. Have ran 0-30and 5-30 in it but noticed no difference between the syns.My 01 chev z-71 picked up about 1MPG from what I can tell. Have a 750 Vulcan bike that there was no milage change but it did shift and run quite a bit cooler.
I do all the oil services for my grandparents, parents, my one uncle, myself and a few friends. I have use any different oils over the course of well over 100 oil services on just on road vehicles. I have used 0W-20 all the way up to 20W-50. I have only seen in on vehicle a change in fuel milage. So I have to say I don't see any changes in fuel milage. The only time I seen a change was in a 1993 Chevy 1500 Z-71 4x4. It had a 4.3 litre vortec V6 with a five speed manual transmission. It has 265,000 miles on it now. It uses about a quart ever fifteen hundred miles. It has bad valve seals. My friend bought it with 215,000 miles on it. I have done all the oil services for this vehicle. He had me use Valvoline 20W-50 in it with a Ac Delco filter. And changed it every five thousand miles. at 245,000 miles I put in Pennzoil LL 15w40 and he said his milage went up 0.75 mpg. Other then that vehicle I haven't seen any increase or decrease in fuel milage based on changes in oil weight.
KC
KC
I lost about 4 mpg (38 to 34 roughly) by using 5w50.
Same here for me, Darkdan. Some years back I had an 83' Toyota Tercel, 1.5L, 5-speed man. gearbox, which I kept for 15 years and 215K miles. It called for 10w30, with a 7,500 mile OCI. The car seemed to do OK with that oil, but with a 5K mile OCI. Due to the Florida heat I decided to do the engine a favor and switched to 20W-50 oil. Immediately I noted a routine 3 to 4 MPG drop in mileage, for the next two OCI. After that, I dropped back to using 10w30 and immediately observed a 3 to 4 MPG increase. With that experiment of one, I thought it seemed more important to keep an eye on the change in oil viscosity itself rather than the brand, and maybe even between synthetic vs. mineral oils. Although I did experience about a 1 MPG increase when I switched the same car over to Texico Havoline Synthectic oil a few years later. So yes, at least with that car there was an observed difference.
I did a careful test at 95 km/h, while making two trips up north. 15w40 gave 2 to 3 % lower fuel economy than 10w30. At higher speeds, the difference would have been barely noticeable, since the power to the wheels would be so much bigger than the power used to overcome viscous drag of the oil.
ANY oil syn/blend/ whatever AT most 2-3% over a baseline.
Someone check my math.
Base Mileage
20.0 mpg X 20 gallon tank = 400 miles
3% "better" mileage would be I think
20.6 mpg X 20 gallon tank = 412 miles
saveing of 12 miles/20 mpg = .6 gallon
.6 gallon X $2.50 gallon = saving per tank
of $1.50.
At say 30 tanks a year or about 12,000 miles of driving the saveing would be 30 X $1.50 or $45.
enought for a M1 oil change.
bruce
Someone check my math.
Base Mileage
20.0 mpg X 20 gallon tank = 400 miles
3% "better" mileage would be I think
20.6 mpg X 20 gallon tank = 412 miles
saveing of 12 miles/20 mpg = .6 gallon
.6 gallon X $2.50 gallon = saving per tank
of $1.50.
At say 30 tanks a year or about 12,000 miles of driving the saveing would be 30 X $1.50 or $45.
enought for a M1 oil change.
bruce
I had a noticeable drop in fuel mileage of over 5% when I ran 5w40 in my '99 F150 versus running 5w30 or 5w20 oils. Each was measured over a 1 -year period to attempt to minimize the short term fluctuations of weather and different types of driving. I switched back to a 5w30 and the fuel mileage returned to what I had before. Interesting to see over a nearly 4-year period now.
On the other hand, it hasn't mattered what I've run in my '88 Jeep Cherokee with the 4.0l. Fuel mileage has changed less than 0.5% over several different weights of oil.
On the other hand, it hasn't mattered what I've run in my '88 Jeep Cherokee with the 4.0l. Fuel mileage has changed less than 0.5% over several different weights of oil.
I havent because my truck doesnt change at all with what ever synthtetic i use. The only difference i got is when i added my snugtop lid.
Bruce,
Are you multiplying the tank capacity or actual gallons used? If your multiply by tank capacity those arent actual numbers
Are you multiplying the tank capacity or actual gallons used? If your multiply by tank capacity those arent actual numbers
I changed from Castrol in engine and gearbox to Royal Purple's 10w40motor oil and Syncromax in the gearbox and before my economy was 9.0 litres per 100 km, after i changed got 8.1 in city and 7.6 open road.
i'm chuffed, i would spend the extra money on Royal Purple for the long run to recieve less wear and better protection.
i'm chuffed, i would spend the extra money on Royal Purple for the long run to recieve less wear and better protection.
I've logged every tank of gas on 3 trucks: 2 of those 3 have only ever had dino oil - Delo 400 15w40 in the diesel, and 10-30/40wt in the 22RE.
The 3rd one, a 3.2L V6, I've experimented with a variety of the Havoline oils -
5w & 10w30 Havoline
10w-40 Havoline
10w-30 Havoline HM
5w-40 Havoline synthetic
5w30 Havoline Blend
And I've even ran a few rounds of Rotella synthetic diesel 5w-40 oil
I have only, at most, noted a 1-2mpg increase/decrease - but in the increases came with highway driving, no wind, no load; decreases came from opposing conditions, i.e. heavy wind, top-heavy load, etc.
Overall, I feel the engine has been the quietest with the Havoline blend; but had the best overall power with the Rotella synthetic.
All in all, the mileage difference is not enough for me to say that synthetic is better for miles per gallon.
The 3rd one, a 3.2L V6, I've experimented with a variety of the Havoline oils -
5w & 10w30 Havoline
10w-40 Havoline
10w-30 Havoline HM
5w-40 Havoline synthetic
5w30 Havoline Blend
And I've even ran a few rounds of Rotella synthetic diesel 5w-40 oil
I have only, at most, noted a 1-2mpg increase/decrease - but in the increases came with highway driving, no wind, no load; decreases came from opposing conditions, i.e. heavy wind, top-heavy load, etc.
Overall, I feel the engine has been the quietest with the Havoline blend; but had the best overall power with the Rotella synthetic.
All in all, the mileage difference is not enough for me to say that synthetic is better for miles per gallon.
I had a Chevy S10 ZR2 with the 4.3 V6. I got the same mileage no matter what oil I used. It started out with 5W30 dino, then I went to Delvac 1, then to Redline 5W40 and always got 17 mpg. So Im not convinced that different oils affects gas mileage enough to really worry about.
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