Is synthetic worth it

[2003f7]

Is it really worth the extra cost?
Lets say you buy a new car or truck that takes 6 quarts of oil and keep it for 200,000 miles. Most people will not drive the same car this long but it is a easy number to use
With a OCI of 5000 miles you will need 240 Quarts of oil over the life of the truck.
If you use M1 @ $6.99 = $1677.60
If you use Havoline @ $2.99 = $717.60
The dino oil will save you $960
I don't think the retail value of a truck will be a grand higher just because it was fed synthetic oil.
The prices are from the AAP website and I think a 5000 OCI is a common one.
I have done the math and still use synthetic but that might change soon.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Try Super Tech synthetic

 

[2003f7]

I have ben using NAPA I bought on sale @ $2.99. I just wanted to use common oil prices. Not sales or WM jugs.

 

[lipadj46]

For mobil use the walmart price, 1 quart = $22/5 = $4.40/quart and bump up your OCIs to 7500 miles = 160 quarts for a 6 quart sump over 200,000 miles. Total cost of syn = $704

Not sure who pays $7 per quart for mobil 1 with all the sales and the walmart jugs.

 

[RedByrd]

I don't think you can make an accurate comparison between conventional and synthetics using the same OCI. The main benefit of synthetics, as I see it, is from longer drains. I would run a syn oil much longer than 5,000 miles, especially a newer model vehicle.

Personally, I don't use synthetics - don't put the miles on quick enough to need 'em.

 

[heypete]

Considering the advances in modern oils, the performance gap between synthetic and conventional oils is narrowing while most brand-name synthetics cost 2x or more than their conventional counterparts.

Unless the manufacturer specifically calls for synthetic oil, you're going for extremely long OCIs (e.g. 15,000 miles with Mobil 1 EP), or your car sees unusually heavy loads (e.g. racing, heavy towing, etc.), an engine fed quality conventional oil will likely outlast the rest of the vehicle.

While I'm trying out synthetic oils for an informal experiment I'm conducting, I'll likely stick with a quality conventional oil (e.g. Pennzoil, Havoline, Mobil Clean 5000, etc.) for the life of the car.

With the price of Motorcraft synthetic-blend being only a small amount more than quality conventional (Pennzoil = $9.50/5qts at Wal-Mart, Motorcraft is $11.50/5 quarts), that might be worth looking into if you're interested.

 

[drg]

I bumped my changes from 3000 miles to 7500 miles and syn comes out to cost less. I know I can go longer .

 

[cos]

"Common" oil prices really should include Wal-Mart jugs.

If you use syn oil (Wal-Mart jugs) for 10K OCIs with one oil filter then it's less expensive then using dino and a filter every 5K.

Now if you get your syn oil for $1- $3/qt after a healthy rebate, as many of us here do, then it's really a no brainer.

 

[Pablo]

Easily worth it if you hate being a slave to oil changes and couldn't be bothered with changing the oil in nasty weather. Change it a 11K or 14K, good synthetic oil doesn't really care. Don't see why you would change M1 at 5K.

Easily worth it if you see the piston rings at 200K.

Much more worth it if you change at 10K miles plus (I rarely/never do less that 10K OCI) so doing that makes it a wash.

BTW Same vehicle used $30000 in fuel during that 200K.

 

[Gary Allan]

Let me state it differently than Pablo.

If you're not going to get the extra mileage or utility (someone starting in -40 doesn't need to justify anything) ..then NO synthetics aren't worth it.

Your whole premise (formula) clearly had to lead to that conclusion. What else could one conclude from it?

Now if you had said, "I'm paying double for synthetic and I'm doubling my OCI, do you think I'll make it to 200k?" ..that would not be a "done deal" question.

 

[crazyoildude]

I use dino in everything at the shop sometimes we have a motor that requires syn and we use that but only on engines that specifically call for it..
Todays oils are refined better than ever

 

[tig1]

Your all wrong. Your price for M1 is way high.
5000 miles on M1 is way low. I have done 10,000 OCIs with M1 for ever. 32 years.
Lets see, anything else that needs to be corrected?

 

[Jakegday]

as stated above, for 5000 mile OCIs, its not worth it. i went from 3000 on conventional to 7-8000 on mobil 1. i have more then doubled the life of the oil but have not doubled the price. COMPLETELY worth it. i actually save money by using synthetic.

 

[2003f7]

10,000 miles would take me over a year. This was meant to be me as the example. I still change my oil every 3 months due to very short trips. I looked at the UOA section and found some of M1 UOA around 5000 miles.

 

[rewote500]

Originally Posted By: lipadj46
For mobil use the walmart price, 1 quart = $22/5 = $4.40/quart and bump up your OCIs to 7500 miles = 160 quarts for a 6 quart sump over 200,000 miles. Total cost of syn = $704

Not sure who pays $7 per quart for mobil 1 with all the sales and the walmart jugs.


+1.... I do not pay $7 for a quart of M1......

 

[tig1]

10,000 miles would take me over a year. This was meant to be me as the example. I still change my oil every 3 months due to very short trips. I looked at the UOA section and found some of M1 UOA around 5000 miles.

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If you use M1 then I would change once a year since your mileage is low. If using dino then change twice a year.

 

[shpankey]

Just wait for deals and specials and get in on those. I already have stacked stores and stores of synthetics as the go on specials and I'm getting them for like $2.50 ish a quart. It's not that hard really. Plus you drain at a much longer interval. I've seen test run M1 out to 18k and having a UOA done ever 1k and the stuff was still amazingly good.

 

[joel95ex]

Originally Posted By: cos
"Common" oil prices really should include Wal-Mart jugs.

If you use syn oil (Wal-Mart jugs) for 10K OCIs with one oil filter then it's less expensive then using dino and a filter every 5K.

Now if you get your syn oil for $1- $3/qt after a healthy rebate, as many of us here do, then it's really a no brainer.


++1 AND don't forget the convenience factor of doing one syn vs multiple dino changes. Today's dino's are good enough to easily carry a car a long way. I still like the appearance of "clean" oil so even my syn oci's are 5 to 6K---but i only buy syn on rebates

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: tig1

If you use M1 then I would change once a year since your mileage is low. If using dino then change twice a year.

My 1994 LS400 is more than 240k miles, I changed twice a year with dino and once a year with synthetic. Since I bought all oil/filters on sale or rebates, the cost of oil change is less than $20/year while the cost of fuel is more than 50 times that amount.

Why have the same OCI's if you're using synthetic ?

 

[Steve S]

If you understand the advantages of syn oil there could be advantages like for instance extended oil drain intervals. try a minimum 10,000 miles ,with a sound engine. There are people who believe all they read about the advantages except the part of the extended oil change intervals.