Really a price Difference between Dino an Syn Oil?

[ZZman]

Depends on how you look at it.

If you are a 3,000 mile oil changer and drive 15,000 miles a year that is 5 oil changes.

If you buy Syn oil and can kick the 3,000 mile habit and go to 5,000 miles you have 3 oil changes a year. 7500 miles and you have 2 oil changes a year.

5 oil changes of Pennzoil conventional about $ 65.00
3 oil changes of PP about $ 66.00
2 Oil changes of PU about $ 56.00

This does not take into account buying less filters and the hassle factor.

Not much difference is there?

 

[Dave Hess]

thats easy: Dino

 

[cassidy]

Yeah, dino with shorter intervals. I dont care what anybody says, there is nothing as good as draining out the contanimants from your engine and oil is cheap.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Honestly, a few bucks extra on synthetic oil is nothing.

If you want to get analytical, if synthetic costs 2x as much, you could do twice as many changes of dino for the same money...and get a better result.

 

[Dieseldoctor]

I laugh it's been 30 years and oil intervals havent changed in ppls mind just like diesels of the 70s gm killed that for america.. europeans laugh at our unfounded silliness...

 

[Steve S]

Originally Posted By: Dieseldoctor
I laugh it's been 30 years and oil intervals havent changed in ppls mind just like diesels of the 70s gm killed that for america.. europeans laugh at our unfounded silliness...
I do not think the consumers remember that far back.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Originally Posted By: cassidy
Yeah, dino with shorter intervals. I dont care what anybody says, there is nothing as good as draining out the contanimants from your engine and oil is cheap.


I would be going dino at 5k intervals but 5k is coming around too fast for this old boy.

 

[BobFout]

Originally Posted By: cassidy
Yeah, dino with shorter intervals. I dont care what anybody says, there is nothing as good as draining out the contanimants from your engine and oil is cheap.


If only there was a way to determine the condition of the oil in the engine...

 

[jeepman]

Originally Posted By: cassidy
Yeah, dino with shorter intervals. I dont care what anybody says, there is nothing as good as draining out the contanimants from your engine and oil is cheap.


+2

 

[CivicFan]

To me, the time spent on the oil changes is the most important factor. A few dollars difference is not as important (if the outcomes are the same) but the extra few hours spent changing oil with dino is a waste. There are more important things in life like posting stuff on BITOG.

 

[ZZman]

 

[ZZman]

Many people do value their time more than money or equate time with money.

So to many the fewer the oil changes they have to do the better.

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: cassidy
Yeah, dino with shorter intervals. I dont care what anybody says, there is nothing as good as draining out the contanimants from your engine and oil is cheap.


DING,DING,DING !!!!

 

[labman]

Originally Posted By: CivicFan
To me, the time spent on the oil changes is the most important factor. A few dollars difference is not as important (if the outcomes are the same) but the extra few hours spent changing oil with dino is a waste. There are more important things in life like posting stuff on BITOG.


+1 Also longer OCI's may mean less money for our dear friends in OPEC.

 

[fdcg27]

Agreed!
Still, I can usually get oil labeled as "full synthetic", usually meaning Grp III for as little or less than I could pay for oil not so labled on closeout or after MIR.
I change syn-labeled oil every 5K, and oil not so labeled every 4K.
The cost per mile is maybe 1/4 of a cent total either way, including filter.
I agree with those who are of the change it and get the contaminants out school of thought.
If I drove any car a thousand miles a week, I might beg to differ.

 

[Virtuoso]

I'm a cheapass... but I've got four kids, wife in college, two cars and a house to take care of, among other things.

These days I take dino to 7,500 miles when I used to change synthetic at 3-4k. But my driving conditions warrant such OCI's. I'm not paying a penny more than I have to on cars that just disintegrate in the Nebraska winters long before the motor's are toast. Usually rust or the transmission will take care of that first.

Most people change syn wayyy too often. [censored] most people seem to change dino too often... JMHO YMMV

 

[Audi Junkie]

It's different means to achieve the same end.

Sure, some cars are difficult to service, so extending makes sense, and therefore the extra $ on oil does too. Synthetic is actually cost-effective if you are paying for dealer services on top of the oil. I did that for a while, going over 10k on GC. I think it's less cost-effective for DIYers.

You can extrapolate backwards from there. I used to service a lot of family and friend's cars and didn't really get paid back for it, so in that case I wanted to save money on the jobs I did. That's more typical of the average DIY guy.

Some cars actually require synthetic for reasons other than extending intervals, those are rare. Another factor may be the relative value of the car in question. A nice new high end car maybe doesn't ~require~ synthetic, but it's a practical solution to keep the car like new for as long as possible. I fall into that category, but since I have a big stash of synthetic, cost is not a factor. However, I did do the first few changes on dino to keep the ocis short.

Different strokes...but it's good to share your service philosophy so other people can read those posts and maybe find concepts which appeal to them.

 

[rclint]

When comparing conventional to synthetic conventional always gets 3000 mile label for some reason. The problem I have with that is the used oil analysis forum is full of 5000 mile synthetic OCI's so you can be honest all the way around, or you can pick/choose whichever you want to come out on top.

My car gets 7500 mile OCI via owners manual on conventional oil, and I also now run oil filters two consecutive OCI's per owners manual. Going by my manual, and I do using conventional

5 Pennzoil conventional oil changes = 37,500 miles using 3 oil filters (still having one change to go on last filter)

 

[ZZman]

What kind of car?

Man I can just not get over having to change my filter everytime.

 

[jeepman]

Originally Posted By: CivicFan
To me, the time spent on the oil changes is the most important factor. A few dollars difference is not as important (if the outcomes are the same) but the extra few hours spent changing oil with dino is a waste. There are more important things in life like posting stuff on BITOG.


I can do a complete oil change on either of our cars in less than 20 minutes.

Plus it gives me an excuse to hang out in the garage and drink a few beers, so not wasted time IMO.