Tech article by Todd Henderson (74bronc)

If you’re like me, the idea of religious 3,000 mile oil changes has been crammed into your being ever since you began learning about cars. This philosophy is undoubtedly a result of decades of 3,000 mile oil/filter changes and the “Quick Change” oil establishments that continue to promote this mentality. While oils of the past and some modern oils need to be changed frequently, today’s oil technology has changed so much that the 3,000 mile oil change should be completely forgotten.

During the last few decades, more effective ways to maintain modern automobiles have been proven using modern lubricant technology. Why do we still insist upon changing our oil so frequently? It’s because most of us still use petroleum-based oils in our gasoline and diesel engines. These oils are prone to speedy breakdown because of the harsh environment that they live and labor in. As all of their additives are used up and as their molecular structure is broken down, they become less capable of doing their job effectively. Old-school car fanatics and some uninformed mechanics will still tell you that you HAVE to religiously change your oil every 3,000 miles in order to avoid catastrophic engine failures. The fact of the matter is that even car manufacturers are recommending much longer oil change intervals than they used to.

For example, my 1996 Honda Civic has a recommended oil change interval of 7500 miles, the 2002 Cadillac Seville has a 12,500 mile interval, the 2001 LS-6 Corvette has a 15,000 mile change interval, Porsche recommends a 15,000 mile interval and all new BMW’s use a computer to calculate when the oil should be changed and the interval usually comes out to 10-15,000 miles. A myriad of other car companies have also raised the recommended oil service interval significantly in new production vehicles and much of this is due to the introduction of synthetic lubricants. While it is perfectly okay to follow the old school of thought and flush your money and time down the toilet by doing frequent oil changes, you have another option.

History

Synthetic lubricants have been around for decades but they have not been widely accepted or used in the automotive industry until recently. Synthetic motor oil was first introduced to the automotive industry in 1972 when Lt.Col. Albert Amatuzio, a jet fighter squadron commander, used jet engine synthetic oil technology to develop a fully synthetic motor oil that exceeded API specifications for use in motor vehicle engines. Amsoil Inc. was born and has been supplying top quality synthetic lubricants to racers and automotive enthusiasts ever since. Mobil Oil Company released its version of a fully synthetic motor oil in 1975 (Mobil 1) but their product didn’t become popular until the 90’s as a result of an aggressive marketing campaign. Many other top quality fully-synthetic motor oils are available now including Redline, NEO and Royal Purple. Even the major oil companies have jumped on the synthetic bandwagon by releasing their versions of synthetic products such as Castrol Syntec, Valvoline SynPower, Quaker State Full Synthetic, Pennzoil Synthetic with Pennzane, Exxon SuperFlo Synthetic and others. Some of these products are marketed as “synthetic” oils, but in reality, the definition of “synthetic” was changed to better meet certain companies’ definition of “synthetic”, which differs from what a true synthetic motor oil really is. When choosing a synthetic motor oil for your engine, you need to make sure that it is a true synthetic and not a re-defined, reformulated petroleum product, which will not protect your engine as well as a pure synthetic motor oil will.

So why don’t more people use synthetic motor oil? The answer is because of price and misinformation. I believe that synthetic motor oils will be the lubricant of choice in the future for a variety of reasons. The benefits of synthetics far outweigh those of petroleum motor oils. You will be hard pressed to find anything negative said about synthetic motor oils anywhere because most people agree that they are superior in every way to their dinosaur-based competition. While the initial cost of investing in synthetics for your vehicle may seem a little high to begin with, you must first understand the long-term benefits of changing over to and sticking with synthetics.

Amsoil was the first company to introduce the term “extended interval” oil changes, which means that they did away with the 3-5K mile oil change interval mentality. Through thorough research and testing, Amsoil discovered that synthetic oils resist the breakdowns commonly associated with petroleum based oils which allows synthetics to be in service much longer than petroleum oil. Their research indicated that it is possible to go up to a 25K mile change interval in an automotive engine or even longer with the proper filtration setup installed on the engine. This is done while retaining a consistent oil filter change interval but still using the same oil in the crankcase. By replacing the filter and topping off the crankcase, you reintroduce the additives that are used up over the course of the filter change interval, rendering the oil useable for many more thousands of miles. The only way to really tell if oil has destructed to the point of being unusable is to do an oil analysis, a common practice in the trucking and aviation industries. This independent laboratory test determines which additives are still present in the oil and decides if the oil can continue to be used. Oil analysis companies report the facts surrounding the oil without a hidden agenda. This means that your oil is either suitable for continued use or it’s not.
Oil manufacturers enjoy the 3K mile oil change mindset of the American public because it continues to provide them with job security. If oil change intervals significantly increased in duration, much less motor oil would be required which would directly affect the oil companies that manufacture petroleum motor oil. If top quality synthetic motor oil is used with a good filtration system, we would virtually eliminate mechanical wear in engines and other components, obviously making automobiles last much longer.

Much of the technology that we have in the automotive industry is derived from the aviation industry because of the demand for perfection and durability in aviation. Aviation engines have to be as reliable as mechanically possible because there is no easy way to pull over and investigate a problem when you are miles up in the sky. Automotive synthetic oil was created from jet engine oil technology, which means that automotive synthetics are based on oils that have proven themselves in the toughest of conditions in jet engines over many years of reliable service. There are many benefits to using synthetic lubricants in your classic ride and most are summed up as follows:

1. Synthetics stand up to heat and breakdown much better than conventional oils (engine stays cleaner on the inside)
2. Synthetics have the ability to flow at incredibly low temperatures which better protects the engine on startup in cold climates
3. Synthetics lubricate much better than conventional oils because of their molecular structure
4. Synthetics tend to cling to metal parts better than conventional oils which means they help protect the engine on startup
5. Because of their added slipperiness, synthetics help improve gas mileage, HP and torque
6. Synthetics are home grown which means dependence on Middle Eastern Oil is lowered
7. More environmentally friendly than petroleum based products
8. Longer change intervals which offsets the additional cost of Synthetic
9. Help the engine to run cooler
10. Higher film strength which keeps metal-to-metal contact to a minimum

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 8th, 2009 at 9:39 am and is filed under Engine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.