Will Switching to Synthetic Oil Give You Better Gas Mileage?

by Brian Carr on October 13, 2006

Today’s tip is a very subtle way for you to help increase your car’s gas mileage and fuel efficiency, will more than likely help increase the life of your vehicle, and, over time, will help you save some money.

Switch from conventional motor oil to synthetic oil.

The reason synthetic oil will probably help you achieve greater gas mileage is due to the fact it tends to lubricate your car’s engine better than conventional motor oil.  Because of the better lubrication, there tends to be less friction within the engine, which causes the engine to run more efficiently, helping you achieve greater gas mileage.

The only real down side is you probably won’t see an imediate “return on investment” after switching from conventional motor oil to synthetic, mostly because of the increased cost of synthetic oil.  However, over the life of your car, you should expect to see a savings thanks to the reduced wear and tear on your car’s engine. 

Also, you tend to be able to get more miles between oil changes when you use synthetic oil.  Most manufacturers recommend oil changes every three or four thousand miles when using conventional motor oil, while recommending changes every five to six thousand miles when using synthetic oil.

So, if you’re looking to get a slight boost in gas mileage, you might want to take a look at switching from conventional motor oil to either a synthetic blend or straight synthetic oil.

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Synthetic Oil - Does It Increase Gas Mileage? ~ The Blade by Ron Schenone, MVP
June 8, 2008 at 1:31 pm

{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

Pal June 8, 2007 at 2:06 pm

I have a Scion xB which has a 5k interval for regular oil changes, but as I use synthetic and change my own oil and filter it’s every 10-12k, as the oil is rated for 15k. It’s more expensive yes, but done half the time so not quite so bad.

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Earl July 5, 2008 at 10:33 am

I have a question,is Synthetic Oil made with out any real oil being used??
Thanks

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Big C July 12, 2008 at 3:20 pm

Synthetic oil is still made with the same organic chemicals (hydrocarbons) as conventional oil. The main difference is that each of the particles of the conventional petroleum are broken down and then reassembled so that every single particle is the same size. This makes the oil much more stable in the long term even with the accumulation of soot (what makes the oil dark).

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Earl July 13, 2008 at 5:56 pm

With oil at the high prices today. Would it make sense to have all autos run on Synthetic oil? Would this save oil? Also, why don’t we have all cars run on one type of gas? If the gas formula is change for air quality issues, why don’t we just use this formula all the time and save money at the front end of the chain?
Big C thanks for the response to the 1st question.

Earl

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Michael Montemayor January 5, 2010 at 8:45 am

I drive a 2003 Ford F150 with a 5.4 Triton V8 with 97,xxx miles on it. My father started using synthetic oil months ago. I drive at a constant 50 miles per hour, and only use premium gasoline. and i always get 19.5 miles to the gallon or better. when i drive on the highway I can get at the most 26 and thats doing 80.

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