City or Highway - Synthetic or Dino?

[FM2n]

I was discussing with my friend the other day about dino vs synthetic. He has a 2005 Accord Hybrid which calls for 5-30. With his first oil change at 2,500 miles, I asked him if he was using dino or synthetic?

His response was dino, and explained that synthetic is only good highway because you're running at a constant rpm and your engine would need the additional flow and how the operational viscocity of synthetic is too thin which could spring a leak. Also said that there is very little difference in using syn for city driving, which is what we mostly do.

I am trying to figure out which oil is best for which situation? I did a search and came up with very little information. I thought that dino would be useful for breaking in an engine (Havoline), then using synthetic for maximum performance. So besides the extended OCI interval, what other benefits are there with synthetic? Or is there any better reason to use dino over syn (aside from when the car has bad seals)?

He's sticking to Castrol GTX.

Andy

 

[dave1251]

Let him do it. Dont offer him any advice if a fluke mishap where to happen with his Honda he would blame it on your advice.

 

[texasproud]

I believe you should base your decision to use synthetic based on your particular driving style and the length of time between oil changes. If you wish to extend the length of time between changes, a good synthetic may be right for you. If you are uncomfortable with long intervals or don't put that many miles on in a year(like me), you can stick with a good dino or blend and be perfectly safe.

 

[CBDFrontier06]

The 'operational viscosity of synthetic" is actually more stable than any dino oil I can think of...that's part of the appeal. Full synthetics resist thickening when cold and resist thinning when hot, as well as providing superior thermal protection and little or no risk of varnish or sludge which can be the result of high heat and long OCIs. His theory of springing a leak....I don't know what to say about that other than B.S. If you have a bad seal, you have a bad seal, end of story. Synthetic oils have been known to cause very old corroded seals to leak when an old engine has run its entire life on dino oil, but that's the only 'leak' problem you can expect. A 2005 Accord doesn't exactly qualify for that claim. Synthetic oils are good for in-town or highway driving. Stop and go stress, long durations at high speeds and temperatures....all allow good synthetic oils to do their job well. But, you will probably be fine with a good quality dino oil with reasonable OCIs too, so it's a matter of priorities and $$.

 

[AndyH]

quote:

---

Originally posted by FM2n:
His response was dino, and explained that synthetic is only good highway because you're running at a constant rpm and your engine would need the additional flow and how the operational viscocity of synthetic is too thin which could spring a leak. Also said that there is very little difference in using syn for city driving, which is what we mostly do.

---

Your friend needs to educate himself...I'd suggest spending a bit of time reading here on BITOG.

 

[surfstar]

I would think no matter city or highway, if I owned a Hybrid, it would ONLY get synthetic. Some of the hybrid drive systems, allow the gas engine to shut off during various low output demands and then kick back on for needed performance. The best flowing 0w20 syn seems to be the call for a situation like that.

 

[TomJones76]

Synthetic is only cost-effective if your equipment is ridiculously expensive OR specs synthetic in the manual OR you're out of warranty and intending on doing intervals exceeding 10,000 miles per oil change.
Castrol GTX probably isn't a bad fit for him.

 

[Gary Allan]

quote:

---

Originally posted by dave1251:
Let him do it. Dont offer him any advice if a fluke mishap where to happen with his Honda he would blame it on your advice.

---

Yes. Let him do it. You may correct his misconceptions in a "well what about this?" offerings ..to give him the impression that he's clarifying some confusion on your part. As he explores the explanations ..he will get a reorientation of his views. This always worked for me ...and the technique worked on me as well. You just form your challenges in a "Now wait a minute ..I'm

" manner ..and they take care of the rest.

There's no justification for synthetic unless the service is severe enough ..or the length of service is long enough. Otherwise ...dino is the sensible choice.

 

[Nebraskan]

quote:

---

Originally posted by TomJones76:
Synthetic is only cost-effective if your equipment is ridiculously expensive OR specs synthetic in the manual OR you're out of warranty and intending on doing intervals exceeding 10,000 miles per oil change.
Castrol GTX probably isn't a bad fit for him.

---

I might have to disagree with this statement based on not only what constitutes longer engine life (due to decreased wear *facts of independent laboratories and not my idea) and the most important aspect of synthetic over mineral based oils is gas economy. I have a Chevy Lumina that has over 200,000 miles on it now and has 5-30 synthetic oil in it, and it makes around 34.6 MPG on the highway during trips. When I had gotten it and before changing over to synthetic it had the same mfg of oil, but 5-30W in a regular motor oild (mineral or dino). Gas mileage on the average on the road was 32.2 MPG.

Given the price of gasoline, I would not change back to regular oil if the oil was free to use and change whenever I wanted. At 3.00/gal gas it makes economical sense to use synthetic over crude based oil if you can get extra MPG and longer engine life from doing so.

However, as posted above, each must make his own decision on what brand and kind of oil to run in their vehicles. Gas mileage + reduced wear keep me buying the 'cheap' synthecic (cheap in the long haul

)

edit: BTW Synthetics usually EXCEED waranty requirements of automobiles and some even go so far as to add in their OWN warranty to their product.

 

[sxg6]

quote:

---

Originally posted by FM2n:
how the operational viscocity of synthetic is too thin which could spring a leak.

---

Yeah..its not 5w30, but for 5w-20 oils the synthetic choices are thicker than conventional at operating temp.
http://home.comcast.net/~apexigsx/5w-20synpds.jpg

I'd do the opposite of what he recommends. Dino would be just fine for frequent highway driving, and synthetic tougher city driving.

 

[bighead]

quote:

---

Originally posted by surfstar:
I would think no matter city or highway, if I owned a Hybrid, it would ONLY get synthetic. Some of the hybrid drive systems, allow the gas engine to shut off during various low output demands and then kick back on for needed performance. The best flowing 0w20 syn seems to be the call for a situation like that.

---

True, they do shut off and restart more frequently, but, what's the downtime between restarts? A few minutes maybe? Certainly not long enough for the oil to cool down. Wouldn't the oil still be hot and thin? I would think oil flow wouldn't be much of a concern with hot oil still everywhere in the engine. I doubt it would have ample time to completely drain down in the oil pan....

 

[CBDFrontier06]

Actually, for an engine that turns on and off frequently, I'd want a thicker oil to that might do a better job of clinging to the cams.

 

[JHZR2]

my mother does 5 block commutes with all her books and stuff. Definitely city use. Synthetic produces excellent UOAs, high fuel economy and long life (approaching 100k now!), even with extended OCIs.

While I can only extrapolate, Id venture to guess that we couldnt have all of those things if we were running even a top notch dino like havoline.

JMH

 

[bighead]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Nebraskan:

quote:

---

Originally posted by TomJones76:
Synthetic is only cost-effective if your equipment is ridiculously expensive OR specs synthetic in the manual OR you're out of warranty and intending on doing intervals exceeding 10,000 miles per oil change.
Castrol GTX probably isn't a bad fit for him.

---

edit: BTW Synthetics usually EXCEED waranty requirements of automobiles and some even go so far as to add in their OWN warranty to their product.

---

Um...have you checked a bottle of Quaker State dino oil lately? They offer a 250,000 mile warranty...

 

[bighead]

quote:

---

Originally posted by JHZR2:
my mother does 5 block commutes with all her books and stuff. Definitely city use. Synthetic produces excellent UOAs, high fuel economy and long life (approaching 100k now!), even with extended OCIs.

While I can only extrapolate, Id venture to guess that we couldnt have all of those things if we were running even a top notch dino like havoline.

JMH

---

..but is the oil in her car getting up to full operating temps? If not then of course you'd be better off with a syn oil. They can handle stuff like that better while still being able to go extended OCI's. Nature of that beast, I will agree with you on that.

 

[CBDFrontier06]

She's gonna be replacing a lot of mufflers.

 

[JHZR2]

she still ahs the original exhaust on the car - the whole length!! No signs of deterioration either!

her previous car, a 92 dodge colt, had a great exhaist system that lasted and lasted too! Her car before that, an 85 dodge colt vista, had at least two mufflers. All were kept to about 100k before trading in... the breeze will be kept becase of its size and efficiency... fortunately without needing any new exhaist!

JMH

 

[CBDFrontier06]

Me and my mom (her Accord, my Civics) seemed to be in competition for a while on who could replace the most mufflers. Both our commutes were very short, and that's what Honda blamed it on.

 

[Nebraskan]

....and you think politics can create varied discussion!!! :duh:

I'm new here to the forum but it's great to be here and exrpessing views.

 

[FM2n]

My friend did admit that the information that he received may have been dated.. I did in fact refer him to this site. He is very open minded and I hope I can show him this thread as an educational piece. Now to break in my engine (Honda Fit) with Dino or Synthetic? hmmm.. Maybe another topic for another day.