Synthetic oils

I switched to synthetic oil during the early 90s. I hate changing oil and being able to go twice as long was the appeal to me. I was raised to change oil at every 2,000 miles by my dad. Arguments over overkill went on and on. The secondary motivation was that I wanted to get away from reliance on oil. Synthetic seemed like a good solution at the time.

One observation of mine is that older cars that don't run well after switching to synthretic, start running better. One car used less oil after a switch. I think that the differences start showing up once the odometer starts turning over. My 93 van turned over for the second time last summer. Performance and mileage hasn't degraded as one would expect. The engine hasn't been overhauled either. I still don't use much oil and I believe my long term use of synthetic is the reason behind this.

I just check the oil regularly and change it as needed. If the oil is dirty, I change it. Sometimes it happens at 7,500 miles and other times it occurs at 15,000 miles. I follow my car's cues.

I've wondered since the gulf war, is what if all Americans were to switch to either synthetic or ssynthetic blends. How much less oil would be be used each year? What impact would that make on our economy and consumption of oil? Would be nice if synthetic furnace oil were to be in existance.

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