- Pf alright, one of the most common questions
when joining a new car group on the good old Facebook
specifically for the car that you just picked up to own,
it's going to be something like this.
Hey guys just did a thing today.
Here's a picture of my new car.
What oil we runnin'?
Stop.
For the love of god just stop alright.
Like I get it, you know,
you're excited.
(whoo sound)
So you wanna start a conversation,
but like it did get us thinking a little bit.
There has been a lot of changes
to our own motor oil throughout the years,
and one question that seems to get paired
with the previous one that we just talked about,
is whether or not they should be running
a conventional oil versus a synthetic oil.
So what is going on everyone?
Gels from Fitment Industries,
and today we are going to be talking about just that.
Synthetic versus conventional oil,
and whether or not one is better than the other.
On today's episode of Myth or Fact.
(engine revving)
Real quick though,
before we go ahead and get into the nitty gritty
of today's episode,
don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already
and make sure to hop on over to FitmentIndustries.com.
You know, check out if we have some holiday deals goin' on.
It's around that time if you've been lookin' at gettin' some
wheels, tires, suspension, now's the time.
Right now.
Alright.
You're not gonna wanna miss out.
Anyway, what it really comes down to nowadays is
whether or not you are running
synthetic or conventional oil in your car.
So let's go ahead and start breaking down
the properties and key differences of each one.
First up we have the good ol' conventional oil.
Derived from crude oil back in the late 1800's.
What we know as conventional oil nowadays
was used in the earliest of engines.
And if you ever picked up a history book here and there,
you would know that is has caused, you know,
quite a bit of issues around the early 1900's.
But other than that, you know,
its done its job pretty well.
Keeping our engines lubricated,
running for like hundreds of years,
you know, just war.
Huh, right.
The only thing you really-
(laughs)
the only thing you really had to worry about
was like the viscosity or grade of your oil,
and what you were going to be using.
Like I said, it did the job,
but could it have been done better?
Synthetic oil, believe it or not,
is not anything new.
That's something that we keep going back to.
Again, bringing back the little history lesson here.
War tends to accelerate technological advancements
and innovation.
During World War II, the Germans were moving
as fast as they could with development of new tanks,
new planes, other vehicles that required oil,
however their supply of the natural mineral crude oil
could not keep up with the demands of the war.
German scientists in the late 30's and early 40's
ended up developing the first mass produced quantities
of synthetic man-made oils.
And this oil brought some other
surprising advantages with it as well.
The main one being that it was able to stay fluid
and operational at freezing temperatures.
The cold climates of the battlegrounds of the eastern front,
World War II paired with the colder temperatures
had high altitudes and aircraft made synthetic oil
a very practical solution to a problem
they never thought of.
Throughout the 50's and 60's synthetic oils became
more and more popular within the aviation industry,
and by the end of the 1970's it was finally approved
for commercial automotive applications.
So surprise, surprise.
It's been around for a long time.
So here we are today and I guess the best thing to really do
would be to go over the advantages and disadvantages
of a synthetic oil versus a conventional oil.
First up, the advantages.
As we just talked about synthetic oils
blow conventional oils out of the water
when it comes to operating in colder temperatures.
It doesn't thicken up nearly as much
which allows for easier starting during cold weather,
and it's better for your engine overall.
It also doesn't evaporate nearly as quickly as
conventional oils either.
Meaning that it will reduce the risk
of oil sludge and buildup,
which is one of the reasons as to why you can run
a synthetic oil for a longer period of time
in between oil changes and not have to worry about it.
We see now oil changes that are advertised
to last 10,000, even up to like 15,000 miles or longer.
Which is absolutely incredible.
Synthetic oil also has additives and other properties
that will help your engine last longer too.
There is a ton, and I mean a ton,
of tech and development that has gone
into the oil that we add into our cars today.
And it is especially present in synthetic oils.
However, with everything there's always that downside
or that little bit of a draw back.
Unfortunately, synthetic oils just aren't
the best for all platforms.
Older vehicles and engines that were designed for
the use of conventional oil back in the day
don't always see the same advantages
when switched over to a synthetic oil.
Specifically, engines that use roller lifters
are intended to run on a leaded gasoline.
With engines that have roller lifters,
due to the decrease of friction that synthetic oils provide,
the rollers will tend to slide instead of roll
like they were designed to do.
This type of oil also doesn't hold lead either,
which can cause problems with the older cars
and older engines that require lead content
in their gasoline.
So to really make like a long story short here,
older platforms that were intended to run on
a conventional oil will more than likely respond
negatively to a synthetic oil unless
they are specifically adapted for it.
They just weren't designed back the day to run on it.
But even with all that as we know today,
synthetic oils pretty much taken over the market
for most of our vehicles.
You can go to the parts stores and all the synthetic oils
are promoted versus the conventional oils
kinda just left sitting on the shelf.
Newer cars and newer engines are being designed and built
to run with synthetic oil and it's just been proven
to have a better effect on engines
and helps them last longer.
I believe that this is a pretty well known subject
for the most part and a lot of people do see the benefits
of a synthetic oil versus a regular conventional oil.
However, the question that seems to pop up all the time,
is that if I have a car
that is currently using a conventional oil,
how do I know for sure if I can run a synthetic oil?
Every case here is different
and yes it is kind of a tough question to answer.
For the most part if you have anything newer
than a 90's car you should be okay.
However, it's always best to do
at least some sort of research on the subject.
It's really not that hard to find.
Just a quick Google search on the ol' internet
should lead you to where you want to be.
So there you have it.
Let us know your thoughts
down in the comment section below as always.
And please of course don't forget to like and subscribe.
It helps us out more than you know.
Of course do not forget about
the wheel, tire, and suspension deals
that we got goin' on right now for the holiday season.
Right over at FitmentIndustries.com,
you can go check it out over at the website,
or click the links down in the description below.
But thank you guys so much for watching.
We really appreciate it.
I'm Gels, from Fitment Industries.
We'll see you later.
Peace.
(upbeat music)