Synhetic VS Conventional oil changes

[champ112]

Okay what does everyne think in regards to this situation. Such as price and is it really woth it. The big question is if you put synthetic oil in the truck then will the oil life indicator sense that there is synthetic oil or do u have to monitor the miles your self. I am stuck on this one. 100 bucks to change the oil and then of course the big question is at how many mile do u change it at. different people give diffeent answers.

 

[snowjay]

Oil life monitor doesn't know what type of oil you are running. It's basing all it's calculations off of the spec'd oil at the time of production. Calculations are things like temp, engine revs, running time and such. There are no sensors in the motor examining the oil. It's all calculated off of engine stats and environment variables. It's using all those variables to estimate ZDP (anti-wear additive) depletion (among some other things) to determine the oils useful life.

I plan on running Mobil1 (as I have in all my past cars) and follow the OLM. Heck, the OLM will have me changing it much later than on any past vehicle (right now it's estimated at 9k and I changed between 5-6k w/o the OLM before). I do my own changes and have never paid anywhere close to $100 for a single change. $50 2-3 times a year (I do 20k/year) is pretty cheap insurance.

If you want to really know how the OLM works then read the first post here:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=130080&page=1

 

[Yuk_Nali_6.0]

< 100 bucks to change the oil >

Holy $hit Batman!! You're getting *****.

 

[champ112]

yea mthe dealer told me $119 to be exact. I guess for the most part you must monitor the miles ourselves.

 

[Conor]

There are a ton of other threads on this topic if you do a search. But one thing you have to remember with a synthetic oil change is that even though you pay twice as much, the oil lasts more than twice as long.

 

[unpredictableacts]

I pay $30 for Castrol Synthetic and the oil filter, and they change it.

 

[Conor]

I pay $30 for Castrol Synthetic and the oil filter, and they change it.

That is pretty amazing because REAL Castrol Snythetic oil costs around $50 for a case of (6) quarts alone. So for you to say that you get someone to change the oil/filter and use synthetic for $30 is hard to believe. I think you might be talking about Castrol Syntech, which is not synthetic oil.

 

[OklabyGodhoma]

Before I retired I spent many years as a Quality Assurance Manager for a military "Motor Pool". Oil use and consumption were always a great concern of vehicles put to the hardest usage. During routine maintenance we tested the oil utilizing an instrument that measured the amount of carbon and impurities in the oil. This is the optimal way of determining if oil indeed does need to be changed. Most people are not going to put out $2200.00 for such an instrument. Other ways of determining when oil should be changed is by actual hours of run time via the use of a "Hobbs Meter", or by mileage.

I have run Mobil 1 since it was first made available for public use; yes the military had it first for a great number of years. I have had a Volov 244 with 286,000 miles with NO oil usage as well as an S-10 with 261,000 miles again with NO oil usage. Currently both of my vehicles (Volvo S70 and 2007 Yukon XL) use Mobil 1 only. NO I do not receive money from Mobil (wish I did) but can attest to how well it works. Unlike parafin based oil synthetics do NOT break down from wear nor do they change viscosity and the "boiling point" is almost 400 degrees greater than "normal" oils.

Now for what you want to know. Your type of driving plays a great part in how often you change your oil, if you are using Mobil 1 a good rule of thumb is if most of your miles are from city (stop and go) then change your oil and filter every 10,000 miles. On the other hand if your miles are mostly highway then every 15,000 miles for oil and filter. I have personally tested Mobil 1 in a lab after 15,000 miles and found that if I were to filter the oil through a 6 micron filter I could put the oil right back in the vehicle. Remember, the carbon from combustion and other impurities are suspended in the oil and this causes your wear.

Also I use only WIX filters, more filter media and constructed so the flow thru utilizes all of the filter. I urge anyone to take the time to cut filters apart after they were used with a hacksaw and you can see exactly what I mean.

I do wish there was a way to specify the type of oil in use for the DCM to be more accurate....but lets face it, everyone here can do basic math. Boomer Sooner!

 

[unpredictableacts]

That is pretty amazing because REAL Castrol Snythetic oil costs around $50 for a case of (6) quarts alone. So for you to say that you get someone to change the oil/filter and use synthetic for $30 is hard to believe. I think you might be talking about Castrol Syntech, which is not synthetic oil.

Synthetic.....and yes, hard to believe, but very true. I have a poker buddy that is also a Manager for a local lube shop......I did not see where I could not promote the local "hook up"? He does my wife's Element for $20.

 

[Z15]

Make sure you trust the quick lube shop you use. There are some that are very unscrupulous who will charge you for one brand but really put in a cheaper brand. Its a growing problem and some oil companies are putting tracers in their oils to be able to catch these shops who may be doing it. I recently read an article in a trade journal about it.

A local shop here lost their company affiliation and all signs because it was discovered there were adverting one brand but they were not installing that brand, they were bargain shopping for the cheapest oil. People assumed they were getting brand X because the shop prominently displayed those signs but they discovered they sold more oid than the had purchased.