So… oil gets hot and is subject to carbon. The more you run it the darker it gets, at some point it’s so full of carbon that it becomes sticky and unable to flow into the spots it needs to lubricate.
Car oil is designed to use this deterioration in favor of the car, by making a black slime that traps any metal debris, this slime falls on the bottom of the oil tank where it confines any metal debris until an oil change removes it and the debris.
By changing the oil at correct intervals, you make sure to remove all the slime and debris and replenish the engine with oil that can repeat the process while being thin enough to go in small gaps and lubricate those contact areas.
For this reason you need to use an oil that is specific for your climate temperatures and engine type. You want the carbon to form in a controlled manner, and the oil to be thick enough to make a hard lubricant film on the moving parts, and thin enough to get into those parts.
Synthetic oil is a slightly more expensive oil that does all of the above better, in wider temperature ranges, and for longer, compared to mineral oil.
Synthetic oil is mineral oil that was chemically modified to improve the behavior.
Synthetic oil doesn’t rot or expire, same for mineral oil. The lifetime of the oil is dictated by how many hours it has been exposed to the engine operating temperatures.
Note: the biggest difference in duration is that mineral does make more carbon, lasts less, and even when is new, it doesn’t like to flow cold and doesn’t resist to high temperatures. Synthetic oil when brand new can flow perfectly at a wide range of temperatures. But when it is used past its deadline of engine time, it loses this property and becomes unable to adapt to temperatures, then it behaves like a wrong mineral oil, it gets too thin at high temperatures or too thick at low temperatures, or both.
In all cases, following the deadlines will guarantee a long lasting engine. For every dollar you save in your oil changes you probably do 10 dollars of damage to the engine.
So… oil gets hot and is subject to carbon. The more you run it the darker it gets, at some point it’s so full of carbon that it becomes sticky and unable to flow into the spots it needs to lubricate.
Car oil is designed to use this deterioration in favor of the car, by making a black slime that traps any metal debris, this slime falls on the bottom of the oil tank where it confines any metal debris until an oil change removes it and the debris.
By changing the oil at correct intervals, you make sure to remove all the slime and debris and replenish the engine with oil that can repeat the process while being thin enough to go in small gaps and lubricate those contact areas.
For this reason you need to use an oil that is specific for your climate temperatures and engine type. You want the carbon to form in a controlled manner, and the oil to be thick enough to make a hard lubricant film on the moving parts, and thin enough to get into those parts.
Synthetic oil is a slightly more expensive oil that does all of the above better, in wider temperature ranges, and for longer, compared to mineral oil.
Synthetic oil is mineral oil that was chemically modified to improve the behavior.
Synthetic oil doesn’t rot or expire, same for mineral oil. The lifetime of the oil is dictated by how many hours it has been exposed to the engine operating temperatures.
Note: the biggest difference in duration is that mineral does make more carbon, lasts less, and even when is new, it doesn’t like to flow cold and doesn’t resist to high temperatures. Synthetic oil when brand new can flow perfectly at a wide range of temperatures. But when it is used past its deadline of engine time, it loses this property and becomes unable to adapt to temperatures, then it behaves like a wrong mineral oil, it gets too thin at high temperatures or too thick at low temperatures, or both.
In all cases, following the deadlines will guarantee a long lasting engine. For every dollar you save in your oil changes you probably do 10 dollars of damage to the engine.
Latest Answers