What is Synthetic Blend?

[Andy Cabrera]

I currently use conventional oil in my '02. 5w30

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

 

[Todd Z]

Blend is just that 50/50... 50 regular and 50 Syn...



No need to switch to it now, Keep on what your doing and you will be fine and happy..



Todd Z

 

[Jim parnell]

motorcraft syn blend is about the same price as conventional at wally world where I live, you may gain a small bit in protection & mpg for basically the same $$ IMO

 

[Tom Schindler]

I change my oil once a year with synthetic oil. Just turned 100,000 miles on my Trac. That works for me.



You have been using 5W30 every 3000 miles. Your method works for you.



Do what you think is best.





Tom

 

[Andy Cabrera]

Well it's not about cost and although no one likes changing oil, changing every 3 month doesn't kill me. I was basically wondering, now that I understand what synthetic blend is, is it better / worth it to change to Full synthetic?

 

[scott degroot]

cabrera, 7/25/2009 13:57 MT

Category - Fluids: Oil, ATF, Coolant, etc.



I hear synthetic will give you better mileage & performance.

You need hearing aids

 

[EddieS'04]

With syn-blend, I go 5k on oil changes. Always have on all my cars. Never any motor problems.

 

[Michael Cacioppo]

ToddZ are you sure that the blend is 50/50? I can not find the ratios anywhere as to the percentages used in a blend.

 

[John Z]

MikeC: Here is some info about the synthetic blend I found:



Semi-synthetic oil

Semi-synthetic oils (also called 'synthetic blends') are blends of mineral oil with no more than 30% synthetic oil. Designed to have many of the benefits of synthetic oil without matching the cost of pure synthetic oil. Motul (company) introduced the first semi-synthetic motor oil in 1966.[16]

Lubricants which have synthetic base stocks even lower 30%, high performance additive packs consisting of esters can also be considered as synthetic lubricants. Ratio of the synthetic base stock is generally used to define commodity codes among the customs declarations of tax purposes.

 

[Doctor CAD]

3000 miles, what a waste of good oil...

 

[Richard L]

You can get better gas mileage with synthetics, but it is not the synethic oil that improves mileage it's the various friction modifiers that are blended into the oil that give you the added MPG...althought this may be hyped up in commercials. I have always gotten better mileage in all my cars for the past 10 years after switching from dino oil to synthetics.



The advantage of better heat tolerance and longer change intervals with synthetics is what I found worth the switch. You can easily drive 3-4 times as far between oil changes for only about the cost of 2 oil changes with conventional oil...so there is a savings there too.



If you use synthetic oil and changing it every 3000-6000 miles, you are probably wasting your money, and would better off with conventional dino oil.



...Rich

 

[Johnny O]

I use Mobil 1 0w-30 Fuel Economy Formula, for what it's worth. The UOA was fine. I get 22 mpg on the highway at a steady 65 mph but I think most of the credit should go the the exhaust.