Amazing after almost 40 years of synthetic oil there is so much mis-info still floating around out there.
Dino oil to properly break in a motor is rubbish. Old wive's tales. Some of the utter BS I have heard from the mouths of service personnel is really appalling! ....So, what your service guy is REALLY telling you, is that you NEED to have an oil break down sooner, in order to ensure proper motor break in. No, it doesn't make sense at all, does it?!! If it did, then the really short life you get with old-fashioned Group I Dino oils ought to make your motor break in REALLY well. Yeah, right!!
The old wives tale of break in has been debunked years ago. Auto manufacturers add synthetic at the factory with ZERO mileage on them:
* Acura RDX
* Aston Martin
* All Bentley Vehicles
* All Cadillac Vehicles
* Chevrolet Corvette C6 and Z06
* Chevrolet TrailBlazer SS
* Chrysler 300C SRT-8
* Cobalt SS S/C Coupe
* Dodge Caliber SRT-4, Charger SRT-8, and Magnum SRT-8
* Jeep Cherokee SRT-8
* Mercedes-Benz AMG Vehicles
* Mercedes SLR
* Mitsubishi Evolution
* Pontiac Solstice GXP
* All Porsche Vehicles
* Saturn Ion Red Line and Saturn Sky Red Line
* Viper SRT-10
Don't take any ones word read the spec sheets for yourself on the oil you are using and a comparable synthetic.
I just checked a popular DINO oil against a popular SYNTHETIC and the numbers don't lie.
Flash point on DINO oil was around 400 degrees F.
Flash point on SYNTHETIC was around 500 degrees F.
Pour point DINO oil -24 C
Pour Point synthetic -45 C
So there you have it, Synthetic will always win hands down on the numbers alone. Now as far as all the other things like longer change intervals etc. are a bonus.
Because a synthetic oil's molecules are much more consistent in size and shape, they are better able to withstand extreme engine temperatures. By contrast, the unstable molecules in conventional oil can easily vaporize or oxidize in extreme heat.
An 0W-30 synthetic oil is capable of pumping easily at -62 degrees F and flowing at even lower temperatures. Conventional oils are essentially frozen solid at that temperature, so there's simply no conventional equivalent to this new grade. There are 5W-30 conventional and synthetic oils, but even here, the synthetic has a real-world advantage: Mobil 1's 5W-30 will pump at -58-degrees F, compared to about -35-degrees F for a conventional oil.
Because a synthetic oil is chemically produced, there are no contaminants in the oil. By contrast, conventional oils contain small amounts of sulfur, wax, and asphaltic material that can promote detonation as well as varnish and sludge buildup. With no wax, synthetics will flow at much lower temperatures than conventional oils.
In terms of peak numbers, Car Craft found that the engine gained nearly 7 hp with the thinner conventional oil, and was up nearly 10 hp with the synthetic. No peak torque gains were observed by changing from 20W-50 to 10W-30 conventional; however, the synthetic was up 15 lb-ft of torque at the peak. Looking at average numbers helps explain where the gains occurred--both the thinner conventional and synthetic oils broadened the torque and power bands overall, but the thin Mobil 1 showed the greatest improvement under 4,700 rpm, indicating that the thinner oil provides less initial drag for the engine to overcome.
However, thinner oil also translates to lower oil pressure: The 0W-30 oil developed 10 psi less than the baseline 20W-50. Only 46 psi was on tap at 6,200 rpm--kind of shaky as most gear heads like to see at least 10 psi per 1,000 rpm. Still, the engine ran OK, and the bearings looked fine on teardown, seemingly verifying synthetic manufacturers' claims that their products' greater shear strength more than makes up for lower viscosity. Is 10 hp and 15 lb-ft worth paying two to four times more for a quart of oil? Or the potential for extended engine life? You be the judge.
What did you use before synthetic was around? Did your engine/s get tore up because of cold starting? Did you use synthetic during engine break in time?
