What is Synthetic Blend?

[Cabrera]

I currently use conventional oil in my '02.
I hear synthetic will give you better mileage & performance.
I went to Walmart to buy oil now for 5w30 I saw my conventional,
Synthetic, then I saw synthetic blend?

1. What is synthetic blend?
2. Is it better to switch to the blend the to full or directly to full synthetic.

Hey I'm old school I've always changed my oil every 3k or 3 mo.
thats why my 74 bug has 248K on it, but I wat to make sure I do right by my Trac

 

[eXcali]

Go with full synthetic. The blends can be anywhere from 15% synthetic -50%. At walmart you can pickup the 5qt jugs of Mobil1 full synthetic thats guaranteed for 15k miles for like $27. Get yourself a good filter and change the filter and top-off every 3-5k miles.

Your wasting your time messing with synthetic blends as far as I'm concerned.

Oils today are far superior than the old days, even your bargin basement oil will out perform your leading oil of 30 years ago.

 

[aldive]

Forget the "blend". There is no control on how much synthetic is in a blend.

Its a complete waste of money in my opinion.

 

[eXcali]

Forget the "blend". There is no control on how much synthetic is in a blend.

Its a complete waste of money in my opinion.

Exactly my point, there is just no way to know how much synthetic is mixed in with regular oil. Some people sware by synthetics like Amsoil, but I find changing the oil once a year with Mobil1 is enough reward for me.

Also, don't expect your mpg and performance to shoot off the charts, it takes adaptive driving styles and many other factors to pull the numbers aldive gets.

 

[Cabrera]

Also, don't expect your mpg and performance to shoot off the charts, it takes adaptive driving styles and many other factors to pull the numbers aldive gets.

I already am pulling in decent numbers with my Trac 1st by not driving nuts <lol> also I have put in a cold air intake, a set of Fusion Platinum IR plugs ( which exceeded my expectation they are excellent), new rubber & an oem bed cover. Currently I am doing 18.7 city 22.9 hwy (according to my scanguage 2 & hand calculations). I figure with changing all my fluids to synthetic (she has 77K ) I will eek out a little more.

Thanks for the heads up. I was concerned that I could not go directly to full synthetic.

Aldive, when you get a chance please drop me a PM I would like to ask you some questions about your alternate fuel experiments. Josh said you are the man to see!

Thanks again

 

[eXcali]

.....
Thanks for the heads up. I was concerned that I could not go directly to full synthetic.
...

Thanks again

Yes, don't believe the urban legends that say you can't go straight to full synthetic or switch back to regular after doing so. Full synthetic molecules are much smaller than regular oil, mixing them will have no ill effects, although it will limit the special abilities of the synthetic and contaminate the synthetic oil causing it to break down faster than normally.

I compare using a blend to filling 1/4 tank with 91 octane and then topping off with 87.

 

[nitro71]

Penzoil makes a cheaper synthetic. If you don't want to go Amsoil or other that stuff is pretty decent.

 

[Rofocowboy84]

Quick question while we're on the subject. I have a small oil leak, I'm not quite sure where it's coming from, it's nothing substantial, just a few drops on the driveway every day. I'm hoping it's something easy like the pan gasket or something. But either way, should I wait to get that fixed before I switch to synthetic?

 

[aldive]

If it leaks berofe using synthetic, it will leak with synthetic.

 

[jrford]

There is one Semi-Syn i'd recommend Valvoline MaxLife. On the 'other truck' a heep that at the time was about 10years old and with 80k, i had a small minor 'rear main seal' leak common issue withe 4.0L. After using it for the last few years and now at 14years and 150k, no engine leaks whatsoever.

 

[eXcali]

There is one Semi-Syn i'd recommend Valvoline MaxLife. On the 'other truck' a heep that at the time was about 10years old and with 80k, i had a small minor 'rear main seal' leak common issue withe 4.0L. After using it for the last few years and now at 14years and 150k, no engine leaks whatsoever.

I've used that Maxlife before full synthetics were widely available, it just acts like regular oil with motor honey added to it. Just about any engine honey can help fix minor leaks because it is MUCH thicker and tends to harden in the gap basically creating a gasket patch.

I do agree with aldive, the leak needs to be located and fixed, even if you don't switch to synth. It could be just drips while its in the driveway and a steady stream while on the highway.

If it was an Army vehicle I'd tell you oil drips are a good sign, you start to worry when there are no drips cause it means it's out of fluid.

 

[Rofocowboy84]

I've used that Maxlife before full synthetics were widely available, it just acts like regular oil with motor honey added to it. Just about any engine honey can help fix minor leaks because it is MUCH thicker and tends to harden in the gap basically creating a gasket patch.

I do agree with aldive, the leak needs to be located and fixed, even if you don't switch to synth. It could be just drips while its in the driveway and a steady stream while on the highway.

If it was an Army vehicle I'd tell you oil drips are a good sign, you start to worry when there are no drips cause it means it's out of fluid.

Lol, know what you mean. I know it's not a major leak, because my oil level pretty much stays the same and I've measured it when changing it (okay, I used the new bottles to store the old oil, lol) and it seemes like only a small amount was missing, not enough to actually affect it..

When I get the X on a lift I'll take a look. I'm hoping that's all it is, because that should be an easy fix...