Synthetic Oil: Enhancing Your Car Engine's Longevity

The Best Way to Maintain Your Car’s Longevity

Cars are quite a bit like the human body.  The quality and type of food you ingest determines your physical health years down the road. The same is true with the grades and types of fluids you use to maintain your engine and transmission.  You don't want to pay expensive replacement costs for your radiator, head gasket, transmission, or engine only 75,000 to 100,000 miles into your ownership?  There are protective measures you can take now to avoid those kinds of problems later.

While you can't always choose your driving environment and road conditions, you do have control over the types of oils, transmission fluids, and coolants you use.  Your engine and transmission’s longevity are prolonged by using high-grade synthetic oils and premium transmission fluid products.

One of the biggest advantages of using synthetic oil versus conventional oil is that synthetic oils are more resistant to breaking down at extreme operating temperatures of your engine.  This becomes even more important if your car has a turbocharger.  An additional benefit to consider, synthetics last longer between oil changes.  And they offer improved oil flow with cold engine start-ups.  The same fact holds true regarding synthetic transmission fluids.  Using the correct synthetic transmission fluid is vital for proper vehicle operation and performance. 

In order to keep your engine running at optimal temperatures, oil helps equalize the engine's temperature.  But oil isn’t enough.  That’s where antifreeze comes into play.  The engine coolant, while isolated in its own system, works in conjunction with engine oil to help keep the engine temperature as low as possible. If the wrong type of coolant (or improper level) is used, your engine may overheat.  Additionally, it can affect your car's seemingly-unrelated air conditioning system.  If the engine is running at too high of a temperature, the air conditioning system’s refrigerant isn’t able to transfer the ambient engine heat away, potentially causing warm air to be vented into the passenger cabin.

While it is true that quality synthetic oils, transmission fluids, and high grade antifreeze solutions can cost slightly more than conventional formulas, the higher price point should not be viewed as an expense, but an investment in protection.  The added protection saves you time and money in the future.

Using the right synthetics may oftentimes allows you to reach a vehicle mileage well into the 200,000's, as proper service intervals are observed.  Even if you aren’t the type of driver to keep a vehicle for more than a few years, keeping good service records and maintaining your vehicle's health helps ensure top resale value for your trade-in or sale.