Motor Oils

Motor Oils

What type of motor oil should you use? There are so many different brands out there today and it can be very confusing. There are basically 3 types, conventional, synthetic blend (a mixture of conventional and synthetic), and full synthetic.

Conventional oils are blended with solvents and are the cheaper of the three. Although they do a good job solvent tends to evaporate under heat at a quicker rate. Therefore if you are using conventional oils it is recommended to change it much more often, example every 3000 miles. Synthetics are made from a man made material, the molecules are smaller and more uniform than conventional, thus they flow much better and are able to get into the smaller nooks and crannies that conventional oils may be hard pressed to do. They are also more tolerant of heat therefore you can safely extend the mileage intervals between changes for synthetic blends and full synthetic, example every 5000 miles and in newer vehicles up to 7500 miles.

Now which one do you use? That is really a matter of preference.

If you prefer to change your motor oil every 3000 miles, then conventional oil would probably be the best answer.

If you are looking for the best bang for your buck then synthetic blend would be the best answer, for instance a 5 quart conventional oil change at $19.95 and an average of 12000 miles driven per year would be four oil changes for $79.80, with synthetic blend 5 quart oil change at $28.05 with a 5000 mile oil change interval would only be two oil changes in 12000 miles for a total of $56.10, a savings of  $23.70. Plus that would be 10 quarts less oil used and disposed of.

If you want the best protection available then the full synthetic would be your choice.