Synthetic or conventional motor oil?

[user 30781]

I went with conventional again because that's what had been being used and I haven't been able to make up my mind yet on if I want to change and to what. Typical for me, I like my ruts.

This is probably a dumb question but do vehicles use more oil on long distance highway driving than just driving in town.

 

[VanFan]

In my opinion, an engine shouldn't "use" oil at all.  Realistically, most engines do burn or leak some though.  Oil does break down (loose viscosity, etc.) and thus needs to be replaced.  Short trips, city driving, hot weather, and dusty roads all contribute to the need for more frequent oil changes.

Watch your stick.  Don't overfill.  I'm old school, and occasionally sniff around the oil cap and look at the inside of it for trouble (such as coolant in the crank case-LOL).  Probably more ritual than benefit, but hey--it's easy and makes me feel better.

 

[highdesertranger]

Just a heads up,

Napa gold filters(their top of the line) are made by Wix filters and "ARE" top of the line. I won't run anything but Napa gold or Wix for all my filters.

Highdesertranger

 

[MGfromBC]

For a few decades I've been using the high-mileage blended oils in all my vehicles.  That's mostly because they have all been high-mileage cars.  I don't really remember the research or conversations that led to this at the time but I do know that at least part of the decision was based on the ability of synthetic oil to cling to surfaces.

I do have a story about synthetic oil clinging to surfaces.  Most motorcycles have a multi-plate wet clutch that is bathed in the same oil as the engine.  Being clever and progressive I did an oil change with synthetic oil, not thinking at all about the clutch.  In the next week I did a lot of highway riding and 3 more oil changes before the clutch stopped slipping.

MG

 

[hugemoth]

Synthetic is just better but it probably won't matter very much. The difference is a few bucks so why not. For the first 250,000 miles on my 93 Toyota pickup I used non synthetic and the cheapest filters I could find then switched to synthetic and still the cheapest filters. At 310,000 it still doesn't burn a drop between changes. I think longevity is due more to engine quality than oil type.

 

[1shemp]

Synthetic blend is a rip off.It may only have 1 drop of synthetic in a gallon of oil.Or less.