I have searched here for synthetic vs conventional dino oil, looking for any mileage differences between the two. I have yet to see any comments about it. I used to be a big advocate of full syn. But todays oils are refined pretty darn well not to mention todays engines too. You just don't hear about any oil related failures anymore.

So, all things being equal, I have done my oil shopping at Walmart of all places. And their generic name oils at that! The way I look at it, their oils meet all the latest ratings, SJ, SH etc. what ever thay may be now. They don't actually make their oils, I have read that Shell makes them.

A 5 quart jug of their full syn is about $22 here in the Connecticut area. Not sure of the exact price of dyno but I think it is around $10-12 for a 5 quart jug. If there is a measurable difference in mileage using syn I will go for it. But if not...??? So lets here it from you all.

 

Does it really make a difference? The cost difference is .002 cents a mile. (Assuming 5000 mile intervals)

 

idk how much of a diff it makes, i have heard u get 2x milege on synthetic, idk tho, i will be swotching over after i use my 6 "free" oil changes i got wen i bought mine

 

Amsoil synthetic has a 25,000 mile drain interval. If you drive 25000 miles in a year, you could save 4 of your 5000 mile oil changes by changing the Amsoil synthetic once per year. There was a new thread where a car owner posted two different oil analysis lab reports on Amsoil synthetic that was used for one year between changes. Both reports showed that the oil was in perfect condition for continued use. It had the correct viscosity with no depletion of anti-wear additives, and no contamination from fuel or coolant. THAT THREAD was removed by forum staff because of a FALSE SPAM complaint. If the thread were still here, you could read the test results for yourself.

 

Using Mobil's SAE publications they found that Mobil 1 oil lubrication qualities were good for 25,000 miles and conventional hyrocarbon oils of paraffin based stock were good to perhaps 7500 miles in 'routine' use. Not suprisingly, napthene based oils had only 5500 miles before viscosity or film strength failed to have good lubricating quality. (viscosity reduction and reduced film strength are the principle reasons any lube oil fails)
Based on 50 years 'playing' with engines and chemical composition analyses of drained oils for metallic and acidic chemicals we finally decided
that synthetics were good to 5000 miles at least and conventional hydrocarbon oils were good to 3000 miles. Using those limits we have never had an engine failure from lubrication issues in the modern oil era (since synthetics were common).
Interestingly, Consumer Reports found some years ago that few oil filters lasted 7500 miles, meaning the last part of the oil change period the oil was circulating without filtration. Some filters gave up at only 3000 miles as I remember. That of course was one reason why the original manufacturers recommended oil change was 3000 miles under 'normal' duty and why a new filter was insisted. Back then marketeers didn't lie so much.
So our recommendation is change synthetic oils and filter at 5000 mile intervals; change conventional oils and filter at 3000 miles if you want a long lasting well performing engine. See the 'pay now or later' ad was correct.
And incidently, the synthetic oils do have better lubrication, less friction, so power curves are higher than for conventional oils, The difference is usually only a couple % but it counts.
All lubre oils have many additives from friction improvers to antiwear to metals supenpsions to viscosity stabililizers. They are recipes just like gasoline.
cheers.

 

I just switched to Mobil 1 a week ago right around the end of my last tank. So far it "seems" that I am getting a little bit better mileage, however I can't be certain until I fill up again. But I was around 195 miles at the halfway point when usually I'm at 175ish. I haven't been doing much driving since school is over but I'll come back and give an update when I fill up next. Most MPG I've gotten with my driving on regular oil was 34. If it's significantly higher this time then I'm sure it will be due to the synthetic.

 

Your driving habbits have an effect of oil life. If you run your engine agressively, of course the engine oil is going to wear faster. Also note that some oils do have friction modifiers which probably help you get 1 to 2 mpg more while protecting the engine at the same time.

 

I'll be switching to synthetic at my first oil change as well. If you catch sales, you can get synthetic for about the same price as dino oil. Pep Boys puts Penzoil on sale after rebate all the time, I stock up when they do. I have 3 cases of it sitting in my garage right now, sadly though its not the correct weight that I need for the Fit, so I will be finding a way to return it for credit or something.

 

I think that thread was taken down because that was an Amsoil dealer, could be wrong... You can also use ANY full synthetic oil for 25,000 miles, if your engine is tight. That is the beauty of syn oils. The oil itself does not wear out. But, if you are like most of us our engines are under factory warrantee. I don't think Honda would cover ANY oil related failures if you did not change your oil per the maintenance minder.

If you are going to use a full syn take a look at Walmarts. Made by shell, meets all the latest ratings etc. And only $22 for a 5 quart bottle. There dino oils also meet all the latest ratings. As long as you use the ratings that the factory recommends your warrentee will be covered.

 

From what I have researched, running your engine aggressively is not the prime factor that wears out your oil. Cold oil is the biggest factor. The less your oil is cold the better. That is why letting your engine idle to warm up is one of the worst things you can do for your oil/engine. It is also why short trips that do not warm up your oil which in turn burns off contaminates is also considered "severe duty" by the manufactures. Then they want you to change your oil every 3750 miles, not 7500 miles.

Your maintenance minder keeps track of these factors. If you have a lot of short trips you will be changing your oil more with fewer miles. Mostly highway driving you will change it less with more miles on the oil.

 

You are right about synthetic oils be quality, but you cannot say that ALL synthetics are made the same. Since 1999 (IIRC), after Mobil1 lost their case against Castrol for the wrongful use of the term "synthetic oil", everyone and their dog started labeling everything "synthetic" that could be distinguished from a regular dino oil. Still, there are differences between all of these "synthetic oils."

As many of you probably already know, there are different groups of synthetics. I will just summarize and say that most synthetics (READ: "watered-down" versions) fall under Group III. The TRUE synthetics are in Group IV. As far as I know, Amsoil, Royal Purple, Redline, German-made Castrol (usually found in 0w-30), and a couple of others are Group IV. Mobil1 may CLAIM that they are just as good as the Group IV products, but lab tests, UOA results, etc. all say otherwise. Their website doesn't state anywhere that they are, in fact, Group IV synthetic. Anyway, Pennzoil, Valvoline, Castrol, etc. are all Group III. They still protect the engine well, but just won't have the quality of the Group IV oils. And honestly, if you're going to go synthetic, go full synthetic.

But to answer the OP's question, if you are going to keep a strict oil change schedule, I don't think it will matter too much either way. If you don't want to hassle with the change too much, I'd go synthetic. I found that dino oils are pretty safe to 5,000 miles (based on UOA). Synthetics are good to 10,000+ miles. All this rubbish about 3,000 mile intervals is based on the old oil technology, and oil companies, Jiffy Lube and etc. all engrain "3,000 miles" into people's heads for what? Yes, so they can make a killing on profit. Just switch to synthetic, do a UOA (Used Oil Analysis) at ~5-6,000, then again at 7,500, then at 10,000 and see how it's holding up. They can tell you if your oil is still doing its job. Also, get a good filter. Puralator (seen them at Pepboys), WIX and Amsoil Ea are all great filters. Do not buy the orange crap. Sorry for the long post.

 

It's hard to say how much of a mileage boost you really get from synthetics. Any additional mileage is lost in the changing variables.

I do know that with running such a light weight oil as the Fit recommends, I'd rather trust a good synthetic over a conventional for shear resistance and thermal breakdown.

As mentioned above about the the Group III synthetics, they are actually highly refined dino oil. Castrol came out with it first and was sued by Mobil. Mobil lost and decided to come out with their own. It's still very good oil, but it leaves you (me at least) feeling jipped.

The real savings is the extended drain. Run an analysis every once in a while to make sure the engine is ok.

There is another post summarizing "The Motor Oil Bible". A conventional and synthetic oil comparison that is full of good information. I suggest downloading the entire article. Gee, I hope it doesn't mention any name brands, that could be considered spam!

 

According to the American Petroleum Institute and my ChE memory
Mobil 1 is polyalphaolefin based stock just like Amsoil; both group IV's. Note BTW that groups are for types of chemicals, not performance.
Group III is highly refined mineral oil modified with hydogen pressurization to produce semi-synthetic chemicalsthat have much in common with polyaphaoplefins.
Group IV are polyalphaolefin based syntheic lubricants
Group V are synthetic esters, diesters, or polyolesters, etc.
Any perence for performance would be based on individual recipes rather than based on chemical superiority.

Like gasoline, lube oils are recipes of various compounds (chemicals) that together yield a desired result. In this case the most desired results are high shear strength under high temperatures and pressures and low friction ditto. The lab tests I was party to didn't have much difference in those characteristics for accepted recipes and I won't claim which had better results (same for gasolines)
Do have to comment on your choices of filters as we haven't seen significant differences between Fram, Purolator, or any major brand of oil filter in our filtration tests either in efficiency or capacity. (the CR tresting was a while ago and it appeared all filter manufacturers responded). Tearing them down didn't show anything significant either in construction.
We have seen incorrect threads on both Fram and Purolator but only one of a thousand or less.

Do have to comment on the wearing out as well. Synthetic oils do wear out just much slower. One good way to see it is measuring viscosity of the oil with service. There comes a time when the shear resistance begins to fail and the friction between parts spells increased wear.
Cold oil is NOT a good lubricant. The viscosity is higher than desired and the oil does not reach into the tiny crevices as well between rotating parts. Wear on engines occurs mostly on startup (which is also why manufacturers went to smaller oil filters so oil pressurized the engine oil galleries quicker) because of low oil pressure and low ability to reach the fine crevices in the engine. The proof is why engines run for long periods last longer than short trip engines (diesels, BTW, have lives of a million miles despite much harder service conditions because they run days at a time). The industry uses a cold-start test wher engines are started, run for a minute, shut down and recooled, restarted repeatedly to judge wear of rings etc. That is the worst service you can get for an engine.
When you start your car don't wind-er-up cold but do warm it up without babying (lugging) for the first mile or two. Your engine will thank you.
Its also why when you've been on-track letting your engine ease down on the cool down lapalso rewards you. Up a gear and ease up.
cheers.

 

I do agree that cold oil isn't good for the engine. But I'm talking about wearing of the oil, not engine. I would think that if I ran my motor cruising at 6K RPM compared with cruising at 2K. I would have to circulate oil 3 times as fast and run my spark plugs 3 times more. With each combustion occuring, wouldn't you think a significant proportion of the oil would be burned off with each spark? Oil does three things in an engine: lube, seal, and burn up. I would think that the more sparks/combustions generated by the engine burn up more portions of the oil. But then, I can be wrong because some brands might add compounds to the oil, which resists burning. So many factors to look at nowadays.

 

I switched over to Mobil-1 synthetic at 25,000 miles and have never looked back (I'm at 52k now).

I change it every 8000-10,000 miles. I let the oil life indicator get down to 0%, reset it to 100%, then once it gets down to 10 or 15% again I change it.

 

at first i used mobil 1 synthetic and then i was like hmm...there is a better oil then this i know it.

then i switched over to royal purple...and man oh man what a difference that is. smoother, feels like it accelerates faster.

i dont think ill be using mobil 1 anymore.

 

Has anyone ever tried Honda Synthetic oil??

 

If their car oils are the same as their motorcycle oils, Honda synthetic oils are slightly different formulations of rebranded Mobile 1 oil.

In discussion with another post above: Everything I have seen, except from Amsoil and other competitors websites, has had Mobile 1 as a Group IV base stock, not Group III. This was the reason for their lawsuit in the first place. However, maybe they have switched to a lower grade base stock since then?

If this board is anything like most of the moto boards I frequent, this oil thread should hit 5 pages easy. Haha, people sure are passionate about their motor oils!