Motor oil is designed to serve many different purposes within a car engine. While the primary function is simply to lubricate all moving parts and provide protection against wear and corrosion, it is also intended to keep the engine cool and free of small pieces of debris.
Conventional motor oils are made from crude oil that is pumped out of the ground and then processed in a refinery to create a base oil. The additives are then mixed with the base oil to change the oil’s viscosity, protective properties, and heat degradation levels.
Synthetic oil is also created in a similar way to conventional motor oil, using a base oil combined with a number of additives. The difference lies in the fact that synthetic motor oils are created using a specially “synthesized” base oil in which the size of the oil molecules are all of an ideal weight and of a constant size. While a conventional motor oil, despite refining processes, is made up of different sizes of molecules that mix together, along with various waxes and impurities, a fully synthetic oil is made to provide a much purer base oil, with fewer waxes and a uniform ideal particle size to help increase the viscosity level of oils. To this ideal base oil is added a combination of additives that are technically more sophisticated than those used with conventional oils.
The additives that are used in the production of synthetic oils can help create an extremely stable motor oil that will maintain the correct viscosity levels over a wide temperature range and will flow properly at lower temperatures compared to conventional oils. Additional friction inhibitors that activate at lower temperatures than conventional oils are generally included in synthetic motor oils to provide enhanced protection for the engine from the moment of start-up.
This means that synthetic oil is designed with improved lubricating properties and improved viscosity to provide superior protection against engine wear, reduced heat breakdown volatility for lower oil consumption, better fuel efficiency, more engine cold start. easy and a reduction in engine deposits.
When deciding whether to use synthetic or conventional car motor oils, it is always best to take the age of the vehicle into account, as problems and oil leaks can occur when switching to a full synthetic oil with an old engine. This is because there can be a build-up of waxes and sludge left behind by conventional oils over time, which can mask worn engine seals. The introduction of a synthetic oil can cause the detergents in the synthetic oil to break down and clean out this protective build-up that is holding the seal, this will result in oil leakage through the engine seals as the oil thins as it rises. it gets. hot.
Semi-synthetic oils are an alternative to purchasing a pure synthetic oil. These combine a certain amount of synthetic base oil with a conventional base oil to provide a high quality oil that can be used to get some of the protective benefits of a fully synthetic oil for slightly older vehicles. However, semisynthetic motor oils typically do not include all of the advanced synthetic oil additives.
While older vehicles tend to make better use of conventional oils due to engine seals, newer cars that experience normal daily use with their short trips, traffic jams, extreme temperature changes, etc., can benefit from the protection additional offered by synthetics. , but it is always safer to consult the manufacturer’s recommendations before making any changes.
