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. 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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