Skip to footer

Is synthetic engine oil better than conventional for your car?

The safe answer, of course, is to read your car's owner's manual and follow the automaker's directions. But there's more.

Our pal Jason Fenske at Engineering Explained addresses one of the most commonly-asked questions about car maintenance: should you use synthetic motor oil or conventional motor oil in your car?

The safe answer, of course, is to read your car's owner's manual and follow the automaker's directions. However, as Jason explains, there's more to it than just picking a fancy oil for a car. In this brief film, he takes a look at two Pennzoil motor oils—one formulated specifically for vehicles with high mileage and another billed as a flagship synthetic.

At the Canadian Grand Prix this year, Jason had the opportunity to sit down with some of Pennzoil's engineers to learn just what it is that one of the world's largest petroleum products manufacturers recommends for every vehicle.

He clarifies quickly just what an oil's viscosity rating means and how that applies to your vehicle, and then he tells us about the differences between conventional and synthetic oils. The video, like all of those in his Engineering Explained series, is easy to follow and informative. It's definitely worth a watch before you do your next oil change, so you may want to grab a pen and a pad of paper to take some notes!

This story originally appeared on MotorAuthority.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Is synthetic engine oil better than conventional for your car?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Saving-Money/2016/0709/Is-synthetic-engine-oil-better-than-conventional-for-your-car
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe