downsides to synthetic oil

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Originally Posted By: tom slick
If you drive in moderate conditions, use the OEM spec oil, and change your oil every 3000 miles you'll see no benefits to using a synthetic. Synthetic shines when you move away from moderate.


However, if you use synthetic and take advantage of the extended drain intervals at the end of a year you will find more money in your pocket.... changing your oil every 3000 miles gets expensive.

If you are a high mileage driver (i.e. courier, expediter, etc.) and want to keep your vehicle for years, then there are probably many advantages to using synthetic.
If you drive < 12,000 miles a year and trade your vehicle in ever 4 years.... why bother?
 
Something I read that I was not looking for was that additives in synthetics wear out at the same rate as additives in regular oil. Whether or not it is true I don!t know.
 
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However, if you use synthetic and take advantage of the extended drain intervals at the end of a year you will find more money in your pocket.... changing your oil every 3000 miles gets expensive.


In most cases, you end up about the same cost wise.
 
Originally Posted By: BrianWC


You let work and family come between you and bitog? For shame....


Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.
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Originally Posted By: Thundercraft
Originally Posted By: tom slick
If you drive in moderate conditions, use the OEM spec oil, and change your oil every 3000 miles you'll see no benefits to using a synthetic. Synthetic shines when you move away from moderate.


However, if you use synthetic and take advantage of the extended drain intervals at the end of a year you will find more money in your pocket....


IME with the fleet at work, that's simply untrue. Even with somewhat less maintenance time, you don't get enough more out of the 'synthetics' off the shelf to get to cost equivalence in most cases. There are some potential exceptions, but generally not.
 
We use the words 'cost', 'better', 'extended', 'severe', 'exceptions', etc. How much do synthetics cost? Are we talking about a $60 amsoil sso oil change or a $25 PP oil change? Are we comparing that to a regular price dino at $15-20 per oil change or one of Bill's wickedly cheap $10 (or less) oil changes? What products are we talking about? What are we defining as an extended oci over conventional oci? What is considered severe and/or an exception?

You could make an argument either way (dino versus syn) depending on how the above statements are presented and defined. It's like watching a dog chase it's tail
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At the end of the day, use whatever makes you feel good. You don't have to justify it to anybody.. unless you think you have to
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The real answer to your question, to find what is "best", is to have oil analysis done frequently to develop trends. Have Terry Dyson interpret your analysis and he will be able to tell if an oil is making your engine perform "best".

Do you only eat the "best" food? Drink the "best" coffee?
 
Originally Posted By: Bryanccfshr
You wiull notice I am running PP in my truck. THe reason being is I am in the middle of a relocation and the truck may go beyond the regular OCI and the temps are lower where I am moving. Seeing how busy life can get in a relocation I put in a quality synthetic before I started this personal challenge that may lower my priority for a timely oil change.


Your last two sentences is why I run PP or any synthetic. I want to be able to go on vacation without worrying if I happen to go over. Or as in last weekend when I had run out of town with the MIL in hospital.. went a little longer than I wanted to. Granted dino could do the same but I feel a little better with synthetics in there.
 
The synthetic vs. dino thing is for me is psychological. I put synthetic in with the full intention of running it for maybe 10k miles. However, once I get to about 5k I start wondering about all the unburned fuel, water, depleted additives, scary monsters, etc. and I chicken out. Therefore, I've gone back to dino changed every three months.

I can't help it even though my brain tells me that synthetic is better all around.
 
I hear you!!!! The mind tells the body to get under the car and drop that oil! Whats helped me is to read through all the posts here of people fighting the monster and letting that oil stay to 10,000 miles or 1 year. Some brave souls go even longer, try a UOA it might help!

Frank D
 
I think I've been brainwashed by all the Jiffy Lube "every three month or 3000 mile" propaganda. Who said advertising doesn't work?

I'll have to break down and do a UOA one of these days.
 
I hear ya. Up until BITOG I wouldn't change brands of oil, used Fram filters, and if the oil was in the crank case for more than 3,000 miles I would stress and stay awake at night. I recently switched to 6 month OCI's in 2 of my 3 vehicle fleet, changed filter brands and switch oil brands now. One vehicle has done 1 year OCI's and I still drive it to talk about it.

Frank D
 
I knew this topic would cause the anti-synthetic people to freak out. Take out the cost argument.......and they still talk about cost.

"You don't need it" is not a downside unless we're talking about cost which we're not.

I have and always will run synthetic in the TL. To offset the HUGE cost of the Amsoil ACD I will skip the morning Starbucks one time.
 
[quote Todays oils are not the oils of the 1960s [/quote] I agree . But so many people still use the 1960's OCI . Marketing is a powerfull thing .
 
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Rotary engines are not "spec'd" for synthetic. Mazda recommends mineral oils only.

People actually become angry and insulting when this topic is discussed (RX-8 enthusiasts).

I know, an example so small that it's almost irrelevant.
 
upside to synthetic oil: better lubricity properties, has higher resistance to breaking down, most synthetics like mobil 1 have high detergent content which means a cleaner engine
downside: it is thinner than conventional which means if your seals are slightly worn it will make the leak even greater. if it is being used in a high mileage it can also burn off faster than snake oil.
My facts are based on experiences. A good Snake oil is castrol GTX and a good synthetic is mobil!
hope this helps
 
No downside to synthetic oil. It flows better at low temperatures, it protects better at elevated temperatures, and generally provides longer OCI. Synthetic oil only is recommended for my BMW 740 and I won't use anything else. I also switched from dino to synthetic in my Ford Explorer once I learned more about the benefits of synthetic. Synthetic oil is better than dino. End of story.
 
Originally Posted By: grease_monkey
upside to synthetic oil: better lubricity properties, has higher resistance to breaking down, most synthetics like mobil 1 have high detergent content which means a cleaner engine
downside: it is thinner than conventional which means if your seals are slightly worn it will make the leak even greater. if it is being used in a high mileage it can also burn off faster than snake oil.
My facts are based on experiences. A good Snake oil is castrol GTX and a good synthetic is mobil!
hope this helps




Now with 259,000 miles on my Civic, using the SSO, it burns no noticable oil. The sump is full when I change it at ~3,000 miles.
This wasn't the case when I used Castrol 5W-30 GTX, I could count on burning through a quart or so in those 3,000 miles.
 
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