Today I saw myself quoted on an email list about a customer who had been up-sold synthetic oil at another shop. Sounds like a good topic.
If your car’s manufacturer specifies synthetic oil that’s what you must use. When we service the car we put in the oil specified by the car’s manufacturer at the minimum. In many cases we put in a better oil.
In this case it was an older car that didn’t require synthetic oil. The customer went elsewhere where they were up-sold a certain brand of synthetic oil. The shop even put a real official looking sticker under the hood that said “only use x brand synthetic oil”. The customer had no idea they had used synthetic oil but remembered the oil change was “really expensive”.
In this case the use of synthetic oil will not likely add significant life to the car. It’s driven mainly in the city and regularly changing the oil will add more value. When synthetic oil first came out there was talk about not changing back to conventional oil because it would cause seals to leak. Wives’s tale or truth; I don’t know but we’ve never been able to attribute a leak to switching back. That was a long time ago, today the oils are without a doubt compatible with each other.
Synthetic oil is a better product; if you want to use it start when the car is new. Switching over in a high mile car won’t make it a low mileage engine. We removed the bogus sticker and put our oil in.
This is where it gets more complicated. There is a third oil, called blended or synthetic blend. It has some of the properties of synthetic and a price closer to conventional oil. We stopped using conventional oil several years ago. Our most basic service comes with blended oil. At most shops and the quick lubes this is an upgrade or add on. At Hometown it’s just part of the “Old Time Value” we put in every job.
If you have any questions about motor oil or what your vehicle takes; send us an email.
