why use synthetic when Dino is so good

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Oil isn't an absolute on/off thing, like cinderella where one day at a particular mile it and suddenly turns bad. It degrades over time.

So for a particular OCI while Syn and Dino are both serviceable, at the end of the OCI, the synthetic "good enough" should still be better than the dino's "good enough".

Combine with the cost differential being very minor, then the costs synthetic may pay for it's costs.

The question you should ask, is is there any downside besides the cost for Synthetic? I think all the rumors about it causing leaks are busted, and everyone here will just about agree that if the two products were the same price they'd choose the synthetic.

Say the difference in oil costs is about $4.
That's about 1 gallon of gas or say 20miles. If over the whole OCI, and especially near the end of life, the synthetic stays slightly better and eeks you out 20 extra miles of distance then indeed it has paid for itself.

If you go down this route though, you can also see that oil costs are the least of your costs of ownership; so it is illogical that are people so sensitive to the oil price differences.
 
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Synthetic makes some people sleep better. I usually buy oil on clearance and build a stash. Or I use what's on sale
 
I use dino because Toyota says 5000 mile OCI for my vehicles. Synthetic would be a bad value play.
 
According to the troll who started this thread we should all use brand X dino and drive baffed out Ford Escorts, which are "good enough" as well.
 
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
According to the troll who started this thread we should all use brand X dino and drive baffed out Ford Escorts, which are "good enough" as well.

Hmm, we should ask him when he buys in 10yrs a car that will probably have turbo charger.
Just bcs Dodge in 90's was making 100+hp out of 5.9ltr, does not mean other manufacturers were not been able to produce much more efficient engines that also need syn. oil.
 
Buying higher quality synthetic on sale with rebate results in lower cost than Dino. The key is to buy in advanced and stock up a little bit.

Example: I recently bought 2 (5-quart) jugs of Mobil 1 EP for about $48.00 and received a $24.00 rebate a month later, essentially getting one jug at almost no cost.
 
In my area, the so-called full syn costs significantly more than that of conventional oil (like Vavoline white, PYB or QStateGreen), by a rather significant margin.


Granted, I've been having consistently good results when servicing/running utilitarian grade automobiles using the latest spec national name brand conventional oil, I do not see the need to pay more to get that same kind of "satisfaction".

Q.
 
OP,

I wouldn't drink Ford's or anyone's kool-aid for 10K OCI on dino. They want to sell you another car sooner instead of later. Same thing can be said about 3K OCI recommendations for oil companies who want to sell more of their product. A good compromise is to use synthetic if you are allowed up to 10k OCI for additional confidence the oil remains serviceable that long.

Another advantage for syn is that from product specs it seems that syns are always lower viscosity at cold or luke-warm temps than a dino of same weight or grade. Maybe there is potential fuel savings for short trippers
 
HerrStig said:
According to the troll who started this thread we should all use brand X dino and drive baffed out Ford Escorts, which are "good enough" as well. [/quote
]

Troll? Really?? Maybe you should grow up its a serious question. For an average daily driver why would it matter? People all the time says that dino oil can go 10,000 miles under good conditions well I wouldn't never go farther on oil anyway synthetic or not so how does synthetic make sense? Black stone says they don't notice any wear benefits from synthetic vs dino. So besides the obvious extremes how is it a better product for the average Joe.
 
Synthetic oil almost always has a lower volatility % than it's conventional equivalent. With GDI engines this is more important to reduce intake valve deposits and to deal with greater fuel dilution (which increases volatility).

Then throw a Turbocharger on a GDI engine and I want the maximum protection. Your motor oil is used to lubricate and cool the turbochargers (some are now being water cooled too which helps, but they are still hard on the oil).

The minimum requirements for my Eco-Boost is semi-synthetic. It isn't much more to go full synthetic. In fact where I get my oil (NOT Wally World) at Amazon.com, I can get full synthetic Castrol or Mobil 1 for cheaper than the OEM Motorcraft Semi-Synthetic.
 
Not all engines, maintenance intervals, driving styles, ... are safe with conventional.
Mis-engineering, owner neglect/abuse, cold or hot temp issues, oil consumption from coked up rings, vvt, DI, turbos, sump size... are some things to consider. Know your engine and driving style.

I always use synthetic. But, there are plenty of good engines out that have no problem with conventional. I've had a driveway full "class actions".

For example... synthetic since new on 2.2/3.0 Toyota and Mopar 2.7L sludge monsters. Mine stayed spotless.

Synthetic since new on 2.4/2.5 Toyota oil burners...known ring issue.... mine never consumed.

Synthetic since new on THetaII 2.4GDI, currently 2 class actions for chronic engine failures... not worried.

Synthetic since new on 2.0/2.4/3.0/3.3/3.5 Nissans... never had timing chain/tensioner issues, did not have oil drain back issues from clogged passages,...

For every engine that I see that made it to 300k without issues, I've probably seen 100's with
I don't care for blends. The term "blend" has NOT been defined. You could have 2% synthetic and call it a blend. Blend your own!

Hindsight is 20:20
 
Well said across the board on all that. I have used "full" synthetics for over 13 years. I have learned on here that "full" synthetic has kind of not been 100% true. But it still means that highly refined group 3 is a very good choice. But running a good quality conventional like PYB, QSGB, Havoline, Castrol, and Valvoline are good in many car\applications. Though these cars and trucks with GDI and or turbos would be certainly be better suited to run at minimum a group 3 oil.
I am currently contemplating just running PYB in my car
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Why use synthetic?

Because most engines produced today run quite a lot hotter than those engines of years ago. Throw in the very thin oils, and higher-revving 4cyl engines and short trips, and you have a recipe for ruined oil in short order with a typical conventional.
Throw in a turbo, and a small sump... You've just found the Saab and VW "sludge-monsters." Saab recommended a 7500 interval on semi-synth, or conventional (many mechanics ended up putting in dino for the entire interval). And see where that's landed them...

Toyota's 1FS-FE engine, the famous 2.2L, I4 ran a similar interval on dino. Now Toyota faced a class-action against them as a result, since the engines run quite hot on the top end, as a result of tightening emissions regulations. With long intervals, city traffic (where engines get hot) and oil that isn't stable at high temperature (shearing, volatility etc), and you have the perfect recipe for beautiful, black carbon deposits in the engine.

In many of the low-revving I6/V8 engines, such as the Ford 4L I6 or many American V8s, it probably isn't a problem. These engines aren't "hard" on the oil.
But modern vehicles rev more, run hotter and produce a lot more power than these engines did. So they need a better oil.

If Dino were good enough, then why are all of BMW's "LongLife" recommended oils a synthetic product now?
Why are all the European manufacturers who run long intervals recommending synthetic?
Simply because it holds up far better in the modern engine over long runs than Dino.

Yes, my 93 ran dino for at least a while after it was new on the 7500 mile interval BMW specified at the time, as did cars for years beforehand. There is only slight varnishing inside the valve cover. However, I've used synthetic for all three oil services I've done, and the P.O.'s mechanic probably did too, or at least a semi-synth blend.
 
Because the pricing is not all that bad. I suppose if we are talking about fleet vehicles and the drums of oil they go thru, but the average user blows more on a typical weekend on frivolous stuff that it costs to do a complete oil change on their vehicle, even with the most expensive synthetic oil. Seems like money well spent to use a quality synthetic. Hard to figure out why folks will blow hundreds of dollars on de-badging a pickup, lifting it to the moon, dumping stock wheels for some wallet busting fancy wheels, and a myriad of other things, yet they will act like the bean counter of the century over oil for their motor. Just an example. Car owners are just as bad.
 
Your Focus is consuming oil because (A) it's 0W-20 and (B) it's Mobil 1. But that's alright because normal people always follow the owner's manual to the letter and they also use the most popular oil with the number 1 in the brand name. There's another guy in another thread having the exact same issue with his 2015 Camry.
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Now that was a great answer!! I have big concerns over these 4 cylinder motor that run such high rpms even at cruising speed like 70 mph. A motor that turns 3400 rpm cruising vs. Another at 2200 rpm is a huge difference over the lifetime of a vehicle. Talk about exponential math. And the heat is certainly another issue too. But this was a fantastic answer
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Longer OCIs.
Much better cold flow properties.
Resistance against sludge/varnish formation.
Better engine protection under high stress.
For high performance engines dino is not good enough.

Even if you don't have a high performance car do you want to use good enough, or for an extra $15 or $20 get the best oil which also lasts longer?
 
Originally Posted By: TiredTrucker
de-badging


For the life of me I'll never understand why people do that.
 
Originally Posted By: ram_man
I'm trying to understand the benefits. My focus seems to use a small amount of Mobil 1 ep. Where it never used any Dino oil but besides that if an engine can go 300k + on Dino oil changed between 5,000-10,000 what makes synthetic any better? Ford says 10,000 intervals are acceptable on any oil meeting gf5 so in stating that what makes synthetic better for the average people? I understand it used to be able to go longer and last longer but is that really true anymore? And if it is can it go enough longer to justify the costs? Just me pondering things. As always pictures of engines and how clean or dirty they are is always cool.


If your car isn't worth a little extra cost in oil, then don't use synthetic.
 
Originally Posted By: tig1

If your car isn't worth a little extra cost in oil, then don't use synthetic.


So what you're telling the OP is that people who use conventional oil care less about their vehicles even if the OEM doesn't specify a syn or blend.
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