For those who went from Conventional to Syn oil...
09-30-2008, 07:38 PM
#1
For those who went from Conventional to Syn oil...
For those who switched to synthetic motor oil from conventional, did you notice any kind of differences? Such as gas mileage, performance ect....
10-01-2008, 09:38 AM
#6
2002 w/ 45k miles. Switched from Castrol Semi-syth to Mobile 1 on the last oil change about 4,000 miles ago. I've noticed no difference in fuel economy. No difference in oil consumption, I still have had to top it off with about an additional half quart. No noticeable performance change.
10-01-2008, 10:08 AM
#7
2-3 mpg difference - but the switch happened after the break-in period. So you can say at the very least that a large portion of that was due to the engine being broken in as much as any reduction in friction due to synthetic oil.
I don't use synthetic for the improvement in mileage but the reduction in wear. My latest leak-down test shows very little wear with the worst cylinder being 1.5% and the best two being ~1.25%. That was taken at 40,000 miles. You really can't get much better than that. My car used a lot more oil during the break-in period than at any time thereafter. I use Amsoil 10W30 (ATM) and my car uses less than 0.25 qt per 5,000 miles.
The two factors that will have the largest influence on your mileage are your driving style and the quality of the fuel you use. I average 24 mpg in the city and around 28-29 mpg on the highway - and I have 4.57 gears. I'm reasonably hard on my car (perhaps a little less than when gas was cheaper), and my car sees multiple redline runs typically every time I drive it.
You can correlate an improvement in HP to an improvement in efficiency. There have been a few tests done over the past 10-15 years to attempt to measure the benefits of synthetic oil over conventional oil. All the dyno tests I've seen show no more than a 1-4 HP difference in performance based on synthetic use - using a V8 test engine. To be honest though - that's within the margin of error for any dyno. Even so, you could extrapolate that to show there would be almost no noticeable difference in a 4 cylinder based on the fact there is more than 2 times the friction in a pushrod V8 than a modern 4 cylinder OHC engine.
Synthetic oil will not save you any more than 2-4% in fuel costs - which will not pay for the difference alone. A quality synthetic oil provides greater longevity and protection conventional oils can't provide at the outer limits of an engine's operating envelope. I consider it a little insurance for the way I drive my car.
I don't use synthetic for the improvement in mileage but the reduction in wear. My latest leak-down test shows very little wear with the worst cylinder being 1.5% and the best two being ~1.25%. That was taken at 40,000 miles. You really can't get much better than that. My car used a lot more oil during the break-in period than at any time thereafter. I use Amsoil 10W30 (ATM) and my car uses less than 0.25 qt per 5,000 miles.
The two factors that will have the largest influence on your mileage are your driving style and the quality of the fuel you use. I average 24 mpg in the city and around 28-29 mpg on the highway - and I have 4.57 gears. I'm reasonably hard on my car (perhaps a little less than when gas was cheaper), and my car sees multiple redline runs typically every time I drive it.
You can correlate an improvement in HP to an improvement in efficiency. There have been a few tests done over the past 10-15 years to attempt to measure the benefits of synthetic oil over conventional oil. All the dyno tests I've seen show no more than a 1-4 HP difference in performance based on synthetic use - using a V8 test engine. To be honest though - that's within the margin of error for any dyno. Even so, you could extrapolate that to show there would be almost no noticeable difference in a 4 cylinder based on the fact there is more than 2 times the friction in a pushrod V8 than a modern 4 cylinder OHC engine.
Synthetic oil will not save you any more than 2-4% in fuel costs - which will not pay for the difference alone. A quality synthetic oil provides greater longevity and protection conventional oils can't provide at the outer limits of an engine's operating envelope. I consider it a little insurance for the way I drive my car.
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10-01-2008, 07:16 PM
#8
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Originally Posted by slipstream444,Oct 1 2008, 10:08 AM
2-3 mpg difference - but the switch happened after the break-in period.
