What makes an engine require synthetic oil?

[Chris142]

It it for longer oci? Specific type of timing chain? Any other things?


Our 2013 can am calls for a synthetic 5w40 year round. Imo I'd rather use a 10w-40 in it or maybe a 10w-30. Why can't I use a non synthetic in it?

 

[goblin]

Providing stable oil characteristics in a range of conditions from say X to Y, for Z amount of miles. That's about it.

It's like your drill sarge telling you that you have to be able to do 50 push-ups beacause he knows you'll have to crawl through a X-long minefield without dropping your belly on the ground. Mineral oil won't be bad per se, it's just that it won't hold the whole field and will drop the belly at some point. Which won't automatically trigger a mine, but might.

 

[dubber09]

I think I'm lame terms synth oil provides better lubrication and slower degradation so it lasts longer with useful properties and doesn't sludge up as fast as dino oil.

 

[brandon9715]

Heat for one. Engines that run hot and turbos are hard on oil. Synthetics handle heat much better.

 

[eljefino]

Just as an example, the Corvette had an oil cooler for a while, then they took it away and printed "Use Mobil 1" on the cap. The availability of synthetic allowed the engineers (bean counters) to push the boundaries further.

Of course what about those of us who want an oil cooler and synthetic? Tough noogies.

 

[spasm3]

What makes an engine require synthetic oil?​

The manufacturer.

I'm not sure there is a particular reason mechanically , other than it will hold up better, especially in turbos. This may lead the manufacturer to require it for warranty.

There were complex engines, turbos, that ran on non syn before syn was mainstream. But if you are the manufacturer, and syn is better for the engine , why would you not require it esp during the warranty period ?

Which engine are you referencing ?

 

[Glenda W.]

This is an interesting question. If you stick to approvals like Dexos 1 G3 syn blends are on the approval list. So they at least meet the minimum requirements.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

It it for longer oci? Specific type of timing chain? Any other things?


Our 2013 can am calls for a synthetic 5w40 year round. Imo I'd rather use a 10w-40 in it or maybe a 10w-30. Why can't I use a non synthetic in it?

Oxidation resistance over the recommended OCI. You can't go 10k miles on conventional.

 

[goblin]

I've mentioned it in a different thread. Here's the US manual for our new little Kia:

And here's the international manual for the very same engine:

Magically, mineral is OK if nothing else is available, as long as the severe usage OCI is used. And viscosities become sane again.

 

[Chris142]

Oxidation resistance over the recommended OCI. You can't go 10k miles on conventional.

I wouldn't even think of doing that.

 

[Whimsey]

Our 2017 Explorer 2.3L EcoBoost "recommends" Motorcraft 5W-30 Premium Synthetic Blend motor oil with Ford Specification WSS-M2C946-A. It also looks like any oil that meets that specification is ok to use. I find it interesting that for a turbo charged direct injected engine they don't spec a synthetic oil, especially since the oil life monitor can run up 8,000 miles or more. I guess they put a lot of faith in their specification. It started life using plain Mobil 1 and now Pennzoil Ultra Platinum, both 5W-30. Both are fine, it doesn't burn oil or GAIN oil, no gas in oil smell.

 

[Zee09]

Chevrons policy on their synthetic blend is to follow the manufacturers change interval.... sort of like MC synthetic blend.

 

[dbias]

Heat and supposedly more uniform oil molecules that don’t shear down as quickly. I can see the heat advantage but my eye sight isn’t good enough to verify the molecular uniformity claim.

 

[Insertcoolname]

my 2021 nissan versa
natural inline 4
requires 0w20 with no change as towards mileage.
it says every 5K miles or 6 months
(my old car wanted conventional and same drain interval)

i cannot find the page, paragraph, sentence, nothing...
referencing what the older models said ; that suggested 5w20 or 5w30 is also acceptable for those of us on a budget.
any oil change would b better than none. lol
things have really been changing slowly but surely.

 

[2.7ecoboostFordBronco]

Our 2017 Explorer 2.3L EcoBoost "recommends" Motorcraft 5W-30 Premium Synthetic Blend motor oil with Ford Specification WSS-M2C946-A. It also looks like any oil that meets that specification is ok to use. I find it interesting that for a turbo charged direct injected engine they don't spec a synthetic oil, especially since the oil life monitor can run up 8,000 miles or more. I guess they put a lot of faith in their specification. It started life using plain Mobil 1 and now Pennzoil Ultra Platinum, both 5W-30. Both are fine, it doesn't burn oil or GAIN oil, no gas in oil smell.

They recommend that because it’s inexpensive for them to use for free oil changes that come with new cars and likely very profitable for them to sell to out of warranty costumers in their service department. Don’t mistake their syn blend “recommendation” to imply that it offers any benefit over “full synthetic”; there is evidence to the contrary.

 

[SC Maintenance]

API standards test for shear stability. So presumably any blend that met spec would be acceptable wouldn't it?

"synthetic" is mostly marketing at this point no?

 

[goblin]

... my eye sight isn’t good enough to verify the molecular uniformity claim.

And blessed you are for not being able to see it, Sir !!!

Decades ago I was asking the kind souls at Maxima Oils how on earth were they able to make an oil that is both 1) Lower viscosity while still stable and 2) still able to shift the transmission smoothly. It was of course motorcycle oil for engines with transmission combined.

The answer was that while the oil is lower viscosity, they use sacrificial long chain molecules specifically for the transmission part.

For weeks I was agonizing about the fate of those long chain molecules. To this day, I shiver for their sacrifice. I keep imagining all those nasty esters, sacrificing those poor long chain molecules.

It so happened that it occurred right around the time when I saw Apocalypto for the first time, then read Orson Scott Card's "Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus". I had dreams of barging in on a molecule sacrifice, screaming "I am One Hunahpu !!!"

Troubled times.

 

[2.7ecoboostFordBronco]

API standards test for shear stability. So presumably any blend that met spec would be acceptable wouldn't it?

"synthetic" is mostly marketing at this point no?

The question is, are the testing conditions a good representation of the TGDI engines in common use today? Sequence VIII

 

[SC Maintenance]

The question is, are the testing conditions a good representation of the TGDI engines in common use today? Sequence VIII

OK. But how would you know for example if Blend brand X and "synthetic" brand Y both meet the same specs - that the synthetic is actually better? If both oils meet the same specs - can you infer one is better simply because it says "synthetic" on the label?

I am not referring to oils that meet stricter specs - like some of the stricter Euro specs which likely a blend would not meet?

 

[goblin]

The question is, are the testing conditions a good representation of the TGDI engines in common use today? Sequence VIII

Sounds decent ?
143 Celsius is 290 Farenheit. That's some solid heat, for so many hours.