Why Synthetic Is Better Than Conventional Oil

BTW, no matter who Takes Offense at this fact, it is still a fact:
NO OIL IS ZERO PERCENT CONVENTIONAL AND 100 PERCENT SYNTHETIC UNLESS IT SAYS, ON THE BOTTLE, SPECIFICALLY, "`100 PERCENT SYNTHETIC."
"Full Synthetic" is NOT 100 percent synthetic, by law. I have not researched what cheap balance of dinosaur vomit and 100 percent synthetic oil it is, but it is not required by law to be 100 percent synthetic, or it would say so.
"Synthetic blend" is just laughable. One molecule per bottle of synthetic oil make is a "synthetic blend."

 

Marketing or lying?

 

The video is informative to the person not familiar with all the issues involved with oil properties and formulating to meet SAE and OEM requirements. However, modern base oils are so highly refined using Hydro-processing that there few if any benefits to synthetics over conventional base oils anymore. The engine test program required to certify all engine oil formulations are so severe that the base oil and additive systems used must be exceptionally high quality just to meet the requirements.
As stated in the video, the reasons for changing oil are more related to contamination of the oil than degradation of the base oil. Water and unburned fuel from combustion contaminate the oil (especially under cold start conditions in winter in northern climates, think Minnesota at -30°F).
As a former engine oil chemist, I formulated oils for all types of applications from HD trucks to IMSA endurance races, Formula 1, HD trucks and both synthetic and conventional passenger car oils. In my field-testing work, I compared the performance of very high quality synthetic and conventional oils at 10,000 mile drain intervals with low quality oils at 3,000 mile drain intrvals in NY City taxi cabs, the most severe service condition for cars known. The low-quality oil at short drain interval outperformed the best oils at extended drains (but still at some OEM's recommended drain interval) showing that it is far more important to change your oil than worry a bit about the quality of the oil. Just use a name brand that has the latest SAE and OEM approvals (DEXLOS for example) and the oil will be more than adequate to protect the engine as long as it is changed regularly.

 

As the old school goes change oil and filter every 3,000 miles and you can't go wrong. Forget those extended intervals as the detergents in the oils breakdown.

 

Detergents. They are there to keep water suspended in the oil. It makes me wonder how it would work to just throw in some detergent every so often. Way back, in an article I read, a motor oil industry guy said "HD oils mean both heavy duty and high detergent."

Detergents work by having two sides: an oliophilic side and a hydrophilic side. While in washing machines, etc., the idea is to have those things grab onto grease/dirt combination (as much dirt on people's clothes tends to be oil-allied) and transport them through the water by being attracted on the other side to the water.

In an engine, it can turn out to be the opposite, with a similar effect; water-bound dirt has the hydrophilic side of the detergent attracted to it, and the other side is attracted to the oil.

The detergents have different shapes when they are added to the mixture of oil and water.

Some detergents form a package around the oil and completely encapsulate it.

Other detergents form a tube around the oil and encapsulate it in an ever-elongating tube that has the oil at its center and the water on the outside of the detergent molecule tube.

I guess in a car, the tube or droplet would be inverted as to which side faced outward.

Just like Hu Jintao being "escorted" out of the Chinese gov't congress, (just lately in China as of 10/22/2022) the detergent escorts the water or oil-based dirt out of the washing machine or engine.

 

Ah, but is there any proof or legal requirement for minimum amounts?

 

It makes me wonder.

A crisis at Pennzoil! The guy with the eyedropper that he uses to add the ten drops of synthetic oil to the massive oil tank was not found! Their claims of being "full synthetic or synthetic blend" were about to be made into a lie without him there to add the ten drops of synthetic to their 10,000 gallon tank of oil!

"Now we can't sell this as ANY part synthetic!"

Pennzoil stock prices plummet, economy tanks, another great depression, all because the Pennzoil Oil Dropper guy didn't show up to put some synthetic oil in the company's supply tank! (He used Amsoil, generally, as it was the easiest place to find actual synthetic oil.)

 

Marvel Mystery Oil?