Provides Superior Heat Protection
Heat is a major enemy of any engine. Heat produces friction, and friction produces wear, and wear reduces the life of your engine. The uniformly smooth structure of synthetic motor oil, free of the contaminates found in conventional petroleum motor oil, provides superior protection against heat, friction, and wear on your engine.
Provides Superior Start-up Protection
Petroleum motor oils contain waxes and paraffins which can thicken when exposed to cold temperatures. Cold petroleum oil makes it difficult for the oil to get from the oil pan to the moving parts of your engine during cold-weather start-ups. Meanwhile, until the oil heats up and is fluid enough to circulate through your engine, damage is occurring to your engine, which over time can reduce the life of your engine. Synthetic motor oil on the other hand, does not contain these waxes and has fluidity properties that allow it to get into your moving parts almost immediately, providing greater protection for your engine.
The Test
It has already been determined that synthetic oils are cleaner than petroleum oils and have less damaging effects on the motor. We have also learned that synthetics -because they are cleaner- provide better lubricity for the motor. With this in mind, wouldn't you think that there would be another advantage to switching to synthetics? If the motor, transmission, and rearend are working easier because of the lubricity of synthetics, shouldn't we get more horsepower to the rear wheels?
We called up Stillen in Costa Mesa, California and made an appointment to take our '07 Toyota Tacoma down to its tech center and have the lifeblood of Average Joe changed over to Synthetic. Stillen's tech center is equipped to handle anything from suspension modifications to any motor upgrades you can think of. For a small fee, we used Stillen's chassis dyno to show the difference between petroleum oil and synthetic oil.
1. To change all the fluids, Sam started draining the engine oil, then the transmission oil, and finally the differential oil. and 145.21ftlb of torque. That is a gain of 3.79hp and 4.47ftlb of torque and we are happy with that. That can be as much as some air intakes.
2. Starting with the differential we filled it with three quarts of Royal Purple's Max-Gear SAE 75w-90-gear oil. Moving back to the motor, Sam replaced the oil filter with K&Ns Performance Gold filter and filled the motor with 5.5 quarts of Royal Purple's SAE 5W-30 motor oil.
3. Our Toyota came with the four-speed automatic transmission, so we were only able to drain about half of the oil in the system. In order to flush the system we refilled the transmission started the truck let it run, shifted through the gears for a few minutes, then drained the transmission again. At this point, there is less than 25 percent of the original oil left in the system. We could have repeated the process one more time, but at ten dollars a bottle, it could get pricey very quick. Once this was done, we started the truck and let it get up to operating temperature and checked to see if anything needed to be topped off.
(4. and 5.) Finally, it was time to see if our theory was correct. Before we changed the oil, the first round of dyno pulls scored us 129.17hp and 140.74ftlb of torque. After the oil change, we did another series of dyno pulls and we made 132.96hp and 145.21ftlb of torque. That is a gain of 3.79hp and 4.47ftlb of torque and we are happy with that. That can be as much as some air intakes.
Conclusion
Most conventional petroleum motor oils will provide adequate protection for your automobile's engine, but wouldn't you like your car, one of the most expensive investments you'll make, to have the absolute best protection available?
The Lowdown
Parts Used: Royal Purple synthetic oils
Parts' Cost: $188.79
5w30 motor oil - 6x$6.49 per quart
Max ATF transmission fluid - 12x$9.99 per quart
Max Gear gear oil - 3x$9.99 per quart
Company: Royal Purple
Contact Info: royalpurple.com
Company: K&N Engineering, Inc.
Contact Info: knfilters.com
Installation: Stillen
Contact info: stillen.com, (866) 250-5542
Approximate Installation Time: 1.5 hours
Skills required: Minimal
Tools used: General mechanics tools, oil filter removal tool, funnel, and shop towels