Your car manufacturer is perhaps the best source of information to identify the best motor oil type for your car. Regular oil changes are the single most important part of vehicle maintenance ; they can save you money and add more years to the life of your car as well.
Come to Aloha Auto Repair for an oil change to help protect your engine and improve the environment by reducing the carbon put into the air from worn, sludgy oil. We can help guide you through the process of picking the best oil type, so your car runs smoothly for years to come. Facebook Twitter Instagram Facebook Twitter Instagram. What happens if you use the wrong motor oil in your engine? Burning smell. Oil Leaks. Engine Noises. What happens when you add synthetic oil to conventional engine oil or vice versa?
What happens when you add a thicker oil to a thinner oil or vice versa? This generally means they're less volatile, so they evaporate far less, which reduces oil loss and increases fuel economy. These oils are popular with drivers of pickups or SUVs who want extra protection for activities that put more stress on the engine, such as hauling heavy loads.
They're also much less expensive than full synthetics—sometimes just pennies more than a premium conventional oil. Higher-Mileage Oil : Today's vehicles simply last longer. If you prefer to pay off your car and run the mileage well into the six figures, you have another oil choice:, oils formulated for higher-mileage vehicles.
Almost two-thirds of the vehicles on the road have more than 75, miles on the odometer. Consequently, oil companies identified this as an area of customer interest, and have new oils they're recommending for these vehicles. When your vehicle is somewhat older and has considerably more mileage, you may notice a few oil stains on the garage floor. Engine seals such as those around the crankshaft may have hardened and lost their flexibility, so they leak and may crack, especially at lower temperatures.
Higher-mileage oils are formulated with conditioners that flow into the pores of the engine seals to restore their shape and increase their flexibility. Most rubber seals are designed to swell just enough to stop leaks, and oil refiners pick their "reswelling" ingredients carefully.
Valvoline showed us the performance data of one of their seal conditioners that caused most seal materials to swell while reducing the swelling of one seal material that tended to expand too much from the ingredients found in some other engine oils. You also may have noticed some loss of performance and engine smoothness due to engine wear on your higher-mileage vehicle. These higher-mileage oils also have somewhat higher viscosities.
Even if the numbers on the container don't indicate it, there's a fairly wide range for each viscosity rating and the higher-mileage oils sit at the top of each range. They may also have additives to improve their viscosity index. The result? They seal your pistons better against their cylinder walls and won't leak as much through larger engine bearing clearances that have worn down with time. They also may have a higher dose of antiwear additives to try to slow that wear process.
If you have an older vehicle, these features may mean more to you than what you might get from a full synthetic at a fraction the price. Although a higher second number is good, the oil also has to be robust , lasting for thousands of miles until the next oil change.
Oil tends to lose viscosity from shear, which is the sliding motion in the tight clearances between metal surfaces,such as those found in bearings. So, resistance to viscosity loss—called shear stability—is necessary to enable the oil to maintain the lubricating film between those parts.
Unlike antifreeze , 95 percent of which is made up of one base chemical typically ethylene glycol , petroleum-based engine oil contains a mixture of several different types of base oils—some of which are more expensive than others. Oil companies typically pick from a selection of five groups, each of which is produced in a different way and in different viscosities.
The more expensive groups are more highly processed, in some cases with methods that produce a lubricant that can be classified as a synthetic.
The so-called full synthetics contain chemicals that may be derived from petroleum but are so altered that they're not considered natural oil anymore. For example, one custom blend contained 10 percent polyalphaolefins PAO , which is the most common type of chemical used as the primary ingredient in a full synthetic oil. The base oil package in any oil makes up anywhere from 70 to 95 percent of the mix; and the rest is composed of additives.
Some base oils have natural characteristics or ones that derive from their processing, which reduce or eliminate the need for additives. Although some additives make improvements lubrication, they don't necessarily have great lubricity on their own. The ingredients in an additive package differ in cost, but price is just one factor. Some additives work better in certain combinations of base oils.
Likewise, some less expensive base oils are a good choice for a blend because of the way they perform with popular additives. Bottom line: Every motor oil has a recipe. Refiners come up with a list of objectives based on the needs of their customers including the carmakers themselves and formulate oils to meet those goals as best they can.
Keeping an oil from thinning as it gets hot while it takes a beating from engine operation is one thing, but it's also important to keep oil from becoming too thick. Using less volatile premium base oils to prevent evaporation is one approach. But really, thicker oil is not good for your engine. Your engine was built to specific tolerances - spaces between the moving parts. So the recommendation for a specific grade of oil is deliberate.
The oil needs to be able to coat those surfaces, but it also needs to be able to flow into all of the tight spaces in a modern engine that has been engineered to be smaller and lighter weight, and with tighter tolerances.
The best grade of oil for your engine is the grade recommended by the manufacturer. Is it okay to switch grades of motor oil, say, from 5W to 10W? With that in mind, some manufacturers suggest only one grade of motor oil for use in a particular engine, while others set a range of grades based on the climate in which the vehicle is driven.
How about 5W instead of 5W? Again, although both of these examples are 5-weight oil when cold, they have different properties when warm. Using oil that is thicker than recommended may lead to a decrease in fuel economy, a higher load on your engine, and even a shorter life for your engine. Conversely, using thinner, lighter-weight oil than recommended can cause excessive wear and shorter life. This reservation of rights is intended to be only as broad and inclusive as is permitted by the laws of your State of residence.
View Quotes View my tire cart. Menu Call Us Find Us. Mobil 1 FAQs. Contact Us. Engine Oil Types, Weights, and Viscosity - Frequently Asked Questions With all of the options available when it is time to purchase motor oil , how do you decide what to buy? Send ». Stay Connected Contact Us. Email: [email protected].
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