by Tammy Williams
VehicleMD Staff Writer
Originally published in Summer 2010 Issue

Cold ice tea, sunglasses, bare feet and grilling steaks are some of the simpler things in life that remind you summer is here. However, a sign of summer not to be forgotten is the dreaded sunburn. When your skin starts tingling, it’s a telltale sign that tomorrow you might be red instead of tan. And, if you’re like me, this fact alone has you layering on the sunscreen.

As it gets hotter outside, the temperatures also rise inside your engine. Summer heat can send temperatures inside your engine to more than 200º F—some spots can even reach as high as 500° F, literally oven hot! It isn’t hard to see that this summer heat can be potentially devastating.

Just like sunscreen is meant to protect your skin, synthetic oil protects your engine, especially in hot weather. Synthetic oil is more temperature stable than conventional oil in terms of maintaining viscosity. This means that conventional oil is more prone to thinning out in high temps than synthetic. As motor oil thins, it loses its ability to protect critical engine components.

Luckily, synthetic oil has plenty of protection to offer. The components of synthetic oil tend to be more robust than conventional oil. This means that synthetic oil is more resistant to attack from the contaminants that enter your motor oil from regular, everyday driving. Because synthetic oil fights off all those things attacking your motor oil, they do not get a chance to create deposits and sludge. This helps your engine stay cleaner and last longer.

Did you know you can use synthetic oil at any time, as long as there is no restriction in your owners manual? And as far as we can determine, there are very few instances that happens. Also, did you know there are many vehicles that come from the factory already filled with synthetic oil? If yours is one of these, more than likely your auto manufacturer will specify you keep using synthetic oil throughout the life of your vehicle.

But what if you’re using conventional oil; does that mean that you have to hold off on the benefits of synthetic oil until you buy another car that comes factory-filled with synthetic? In a word, no.

“You can switch back and forth from conventional to synthetic as often as you like and whenever you want,” said Tim Miranda, senior engineer for BP Lubricants. “Plus, there’s nothing special required to do so. There is no flushing and no extra long draining to get every last drop out. You just have to change your oil as you normally would—but don’t forget to ask your technician for synthetic oil when you do.”

To protect your engine as summer rolls on simply follow this piece of advice, borrowed from a notorious song that debuted a decade ago: Wear sunscreen.

And while you lather yourself up with sunscreen this summer, make sure your engine has that same protection. If you don’t, that’s one sunburn that will sting for a very long time.