Will Switching to Synthetic Oil Give You Better Gas Mileage?
October 13th, 2006 | by Brian Carr |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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5 Responses to “Will Switching to Synthetic Oil Give You Better Gas Mileage?”
By Pal on Jun 8, 2007 | Reply
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.
By Earl on Jul 5, 2008 | Reply
I have a question,is Synthetic Oil made with out any real oil being used??
Thanks
By Big C on Jul 12, 2008 | Reply
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).
By Earl on Jul 13, 2008 | Reply
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