Mobil Claims New Motor Oil Can Save You Over $400

April 6th, 2008 by Benjamin Jones · 2 Comments

Ever wondered if using a certain kind of oil could actually help you use less oil? With the recent introduction of its “Advanced Fuel Economy” 0w-20 and 0w-30 motor oils, Mobil is saying yes to this question.

For years, auto manufacturers have been building engines that use lighter and lighter weight oils in order to reduce friction and increase fuel economy. Most notably, the late Honda Insight was built to use 0w-20 motor oil, which is the lightest motor oil I’ve ever seen used in an auto engine. As of writing, most vehicles seem to have moved to 5w-20 or 5w-30 oil weights, something manufacturers like to claim saves a small (~1%) amount of fuel.

Now, according to Mobil, they have developed a new formula that can increase fuel economy up to 2%. For a 20mpg vehicle paying $3/gallon of gasoline, this translates to a $441 savings over a 150,000 mile lifespan. This “low friction,” synthetic motor oil is designed to be used in engines that are marked for thicker oil weights. This means that your new Honda Civic, which would normally take 5w-20 motor oil, will operate just fine on Mobil’s lighter Advanced Fuel Economy 0w-20 oil. For cars running 5w-30, you can make the switch to the 0w-30 version to try to pick up your 2% savings.

According to Mobil, this oil eliminates friction in 4 key areas:

1. Valve Train - Being lighter, the oil flows more quickly to the camshaft and valves to prevent friction at startup.
2. Piston & Cylinder - Lots of friction occurs between the pistons and the cylinder walls, some of which is reduced by Mobil’s new Advanced Fuel Economy oils.
3. Oil Pump - It is more difficult to pump thicker oils through the oil pump, and low viscosity oils reduce some of these losses.
4. Crankshaft - Friction at the connection between the rods and the crankshaft is constant and important - lower viscosity oils reduce the amount of friction in this location.

So, this new oil is definitely interesting, but is it revolutionary? Not really. Do I believe the claims? Perhaps, 2% isn’t much of a huge claim, but it’s also so small that no one is likely to try to quantify it. Perhaps Mobil is going to push this new oil banking on the fact that no one will ever try to verify its claims.

What do you think?

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2 responses so far ↓

1 GenKreton // Apr 6, 2008 at 4:42 pm

Will it be worth the increased price tag if the claims are true? That’s the tougher question. Mobil gains nothing by saving you from buying their gas. They gain everything with good marketing though. If this wasn’t making them more money, the finance guys would’ve never let it out.
2 vz893 // Apr 29, 2008 at 7:32 am

Since most people don’t own their wehicles for 150,000 miles, cost savings at the 50,000 mile mark is much more relevent. According to Mobil 1, by using the 0w20/0w30 fe oils, at 50,000 miles, you will save $147. With a 5 quart jug costing about $25 at Wal-mart, doing an oil change every 7,500 miles, the new oil adds up to be $175 over 50,000 miles. With the money saved on gas by using the new fe oil, the cost of Mobil 1 0w20/0w30 oil over 50,000 will only be $28. I like using full synthetic oil for the protection and not having to change the oil every 3,000 miles, so the money saved on gas is just a bonus. Just my take on it.