Types of Motor Oil

One of the most important things you can do for your car is to get regular oil changes.  Personally I recommend every 3000-4000 miles, with an oil change after the first 1000 miles you own your car.  Another thing to consider when you are doing this (especially if you are performing this task yourself) is what kind of oil you are using for your car.  This can be difficult to figure out, especially if you’re a new car owner, so let’s take a look at the different types of oils you can put in your car, and why oils are used.

What is Oil used for?

Regardless of the type of oil you put in your car/vehicle, it is used as a lubricant for an internal combustion engine.  Every engine has parts that move very rapidly, and often come in contact with each other.  This causes a buildup of friction.  Oil is used to lessen the friction between parts, as the constant rubbing and grinding of parts against each other is very detrimental to an engine.

Another important function of oil is that it prevents oxidation (or rusting) of engine parts.  By forming a protective film over parts of your engine, the exposure of the parts to oxygen remains minimal, and thus the effect of oxidation is less on your engine.

Finally, oil also works to reduce the amount of heat generated by the engine, another contributing factor to engine wear.

Source: Wikipedia

Now that we’ve looked at the use of oil, let’s take a look at the different types of oil you can use in your car.

Conventional Oil

Conventional oil is the most basic, simple type of vehicle oil.  It is a byproduct of the crude oil refining process.  Made with a petroleum hydrocarbon base, conventional oil is cheaper than other types of oil.  However, due to it’s less complex nature than other forms, it has a higher tendency to wear and has less lasting effects than other types of oil.

Synthetic Oil

Synthetic oil costs more than conventional motor oil, and a main reason for this is that it costs more to make.  Developed from chemicals called PAO, or polyalphaolefins, synthetic oils are much cleaner than conventional oils.  Synthetic oils are able to flow under most temperature conditions, and are much more stable as well.

There are several advantages to using synthetic oils over conventional oils.  These include:

• Better low and high temperature viscocity performance.
• Less evaporative loss.
• Resistance to oxidation, thermal breakdown, and oil sludge.
• Improved fuel economy in certain configurations

However, there are also disadvanages to synthetics as well, which include:

• Less desirable for break-in periods, where more friction is desired for engine wear.
• Much higher initial costs.
• Potential decomposition issues

Synthetic Blends

Synthetic blends are essentially a combination of conventional and synthetic oils.  The main reasoning for developing this type of motor oil is to try to reduce the cost of synthetic oil.  To make synthetic blends, additives are added to conventional oils to help their viscosity over a higher temperature range, and helping it burn cleaner.  While the costs are still higher than conventional blends, this is the happy medium for people who are looking towards synthetics, but are worried about the cost.

In the end, it is really up to your manufacturer or yourself what type of oil you use to lubricate your engine.  The factors to take into consideration are:

• Use
• Cost
• Viscocity
• Manufacturer Recommendation
• Age of the Car

There are other things about motor oil which I will examine in future posts, such as the different grades of oil, and the different designations for types of oil.  All of these are very important in your choice of oil selection as well!

Do you have any other tips for the types of oils that are available?