by Kara Bishop
VehicleMD Staff Writer
Originally published in Fall 2011 Issue

 

Fall is here, which means taking the kids back to school, going to football games, taking road trips to see said football games from time to time, and—after a summer spent on vacations and casual days—diving back into busy schedules.

A common variable for most of us, when we need to get somewhere, is driving. Our vehicles are important investments, because getting somewhere quickly and painlessly is vital to our determination of whether today will be a good day or a bad day.

And no matter how hard we try, there are days where we feel like we’ll never catch up. Didn’t hear the alarm, so there’s no time to warm the car up before driving. That cold start, which causes the engine to experience severe friction for several minutes, will just have to do. When the light finally turns green—because when you’re late, every light seems to be red—we stomp on the accelerator; not because we are wanting to purposefully harm our engines—we’re just running late!

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a product out there that could allow us to be hard on our vehicles without feeling guilty or paying hundreds of dollars in repairs, something that could almost work like an offensive lineman, protecting our engine from heat, cold and all the abuse we heap on it?

Well keep your seatbelt on because such a product does, in fact, exist: synthetic motor oil. Have to make that cold start? No problem—synthetic motor oil has inherent low-temperature flow properties that allows the oil to flow and pump at extremely low temperatures. In other words, it has less resistance to flow when it’s cold outside—and with fall here it soon will be.

But that’s not all. Jeff Hsu, technology manager for Quaker State, explains why synthetic is more beneficial in hotter temperatures—like those you create racing from stoplight to stoplight—as well.

“Synthetic motor oil has a higher resistance to oxidation than conventional oil. When motor oil is exposed to heat and oxygen, it starts to ‘cook’ or oxidize.  Synthetic motor oil retards this ‘cooking’ process, because it doesn’t break down as easy—making your oil last longer, which is why it’s a top-tiered product.”

 Not only do severe driving conditions require better quality motor oil, but many vehicle manufacturers are now having their cars factory filled with synthetic motor oil. New technology and stricter fuel economy regulations have created a need for synthetic motor oil and manufacturers are heavily recommending it, Hsu said.

Want to switch from conventional to synthetic? Not a problem, because synthetic and conventional motor oils are completely interchangeable, Hsu said. In fact, many motor oils offered today are known as synthetic blends.

However, just because it says “synthetic” on the bottle doesn’t mean the motor oil will perform the way it says it will. What the oil does after 1,000 miles may be different from what it has promised to do on the bottle, Hsu said. Ask your auto service technician what quality synthetic oil they recommend, as well as, what’s best for your particular vehicle.

Another important aspect to remember when thinking about using synthetic oil is the additive package.

“Synthetic is not a cure-all. Any motor oil needs to come with a good additive package, too,” Hsu said.

The foundation for synthetic motor oil is good, but in order to make it distinctly different from conventional motor oil, there has to be enough high-quality additives to fully differentiate the two products, Hsu said.

So, next time you get your oil changed, consider using high-quality synthetic motor oil, because of its excellent protective abilities to protect in hot and cold temps, and prevent oxidation stability. Synthetic motor oil really is like an offensive lineman for your car’s engine.