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Synthedic oil vs the conventional oil

C

cuby

Member
Which is the best for the vehicals/equip of today and what do you guys use? I havent used any synthedic oil as it is some higher priced. Is there some benefit to this oil?

This may have been brought up before ,but I missed it.

Sorry and Thanks
 
I will only use synthetic now, but then it's also not unusual for us to get down to -40F in Winter. Synthetic has the advantage of a much wider temp range. For folks in the south, not sure if there's any real benefit.
 
The higher and higher standards for oil today have greatly reduced the gap for synthetic and conventional oil.

Where most people get the advantage is cold weather starting because as mentioned it covers a larger temperature range. Other than that unless you are running a high performance engine really really hard, there really isn't an advantage.

Personally I use it in everything because I like the cold weather starting in my pickup and tractor, my motorcycle requires it, and I didn't want to have 5 other grades of oil so I have just one oil for everything.
 
There is just as much reason to use it in a hot area as for cold. In the paper mill we started using it in gearboxes that ran hot and saw a dramatic improvement in runnability. We use it in our motorcycles because they are air-cooled.
 

Today.. there a lots of mixtures of simi-synthetic oils that are GREAT oils. There are also very expensive fully synthetic group 5 ester based oils, and there are single weight junk waxy and sulfur group1 and group2 oils...

More important is a good additive package, with a simi synthetic base oil, and this will give you the service you need!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


If you operate in -40 degree extremes, you will need a special oil or fully synthetic group 5 oil.

As a rule of thumb.. go with the owners manual recommendation, on any modern car, will do just fine.

Single weight non-detergent oil should NOT be run in any engine build after 1930. Early engines had a very soft bearing material and it was a poured Babbit material, into the journals. Modern additives/detergents oils will actually clean the soft babbit from the journals and destroy the engine.

You can buy modern single weight oil with additives and detergents, but a multiweight will give superior performance when cold, so there is no practical reason to purchase a single weight detergent oil, and NO reason to purchase a NON detergent oil for engine use.


NON detergent oils are for sewing machines,typewriters, and door hinges.
 
My 3 GM products get Dexos, the one Buick doest require it, but since the oil change is the same price, it gets it. My sons Ranger gets Ford semi synthetic, again since the price is the same. My Mustang only get synthetic, and the dealer only charges 10 bucks more for it. My tractors and mowers get plain old Rotella 15/40.
 
I use Rotella 15/40 and 10/30 in tractors, trucks and lawn equipment. New generator and snow blower use synthedic oil. I tried synthedic in my new car and it used a quart every 1000 miles. I switched it to conventional oil and it doesn't use any oil between changes.
 
The only difference is synthetic lasts longer than conventional oil. If you do timely oil changes it doesn't matter. Where I live there is usually a lot of dust in the air that gets into everything. I use conventional oil and more frequent oil changes that is what is suggested because of the dirt.
 
Read this for a better understanding.

http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/29113/base-oil-groups
 

How is anyone here going to know better than what the vehicle's or machine's design engineers had printed in the operator's manual ?
 
The makers put in lubricants that were the best at the time. The reason we have very long lived engines (300,000 miles and more) is the change in lubricant, the change
away from Lead, and better metallurgy, in that order. I cant get whale oil anymore (at least enough to light my lamps) With no malice, Jim
 
I tend to use the oils specified by the manufacturer, or exceed those standards. With that, all the farm equipment I use and own is over 20 years old, and I use today is better than when that equipment was originally manufactured. In my vehicles, I generally will run a synthetic oil. The only one I do not use a synthetic oil in is close to 300k miles and I don't think it makes a great difference in the longevity of that car. I like the better pumping ability and flow in the cold winter months especially. I do have one car clearly specifying Mobil One synthetic. That is the only vehicle which "consumes" some oil. I have found on various forums, this is a common occurrence with that engine. There are also some modifications to be made to the crankcase ventilation system, which will aid in fixing this. The one key benefit I have noticed from the use of synthetic oils, is the easier starting in the winter and I have also seen the auto batteries lasting a great deal longer since the switch to synthetic.
 
My owners manual says to use oil of a specific weight (10W-30) and that meets the manufacturers standard for example, MS-9xxx specification. You can find oils that meet those 2 criteria in conventional , semi-synthetic or full synthetic at most any store. So the customer needs to decide which oil to buy because all 3 types oil can meet the manufacturer's recommendation.
 
One thing of note, when an oil is specified by an OEM the engineering department might have said ABC oil is the best. But the marketing and legal departments might say "yea but we have a deal with XYZ oil company so we are going to call out their oil."

Marketing and legal are the departments that make changes to things, so don't think the OEM is giving you the best information from their engineering department, there are a lot of variables.

Just keep to the viscosity and the ratings to what the OEM wants or better and you will be fine and it will cover you with warranty. Don't put stock into use XYZ brand oil because that is what we recommend.

Oil is pretty damn good today compared to what we were dumping in 30+ years ago.
 
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