Synthetic Oil in Vehicles

[areacode201 4]

My car starts and runs noticeably better with any synthetic oil, especially in the cold weather.

[Murphy4570 15]

The most important thing is to change it frequently. I have a friend who was sponsored by Bel-Ray (one of the top performance lube companies) back a long time ago. The cool thing was that he had to send a oil sample after every oil change, which he did after every single race in the car. Of note, after a race at Bridgehampton (a track long gone that was on Long Island) a track that was very sandy, the oil analysis showed a high level of silica (sand) in the oil. What we sometimes forget is that besides the combustion contaminates in the oil there are things that come through the intake and passed the air filter. So what you have in your oil, if you run it for a long time, is a nice polish wearing down the parts. So nothing is better than frequent oil changes, IMHO.

 

Here's another one for you! When was the last time you changed your brake fluid? It seems to be the one thing that people never change. I do it in my sports cars every year and trucks at least every two (worst case) and race car every event or two. Brake fluid is hygroscopic meaning that it absorbs water very quickly. This causes two problems. First it reduces the "boiling point" so if you ever needed to really use the brakes hard for an extended time (e.g. Going down a very steep hill) you can boil the fluid and loose your brakes. Second, the water in the brake components will start to rust and can cause your calipers to seize or fail eventually.

 

As a mechanic, I fully agree. I tell people all the time that regular maintenance is a LOT cheaper than repair. Brake fluid, coolant, axle fluid, transmission fluid, power steering fluid, etc etc should all be changed at regular intervals. Nobody ever does, however, and problems eventually arise.

 

Personally, I bleed the brake fluid in my vehicles every few years, change the coolant every 4-5 years (Motorcraft Gold hi-life stuff, mixed with distilled water), change the oil every 5K, etc etc. I changed the trans fluid at 50K in my truck, that stuff looked nasty! Same for the transfer case. Regular maintenance is the key to making your car last a long time.

[average joe 5]

Really,   the best oil for your vehicle is CLEAN oil.   That said,  I use Mobile 1  because, if i am going through the trouble of doing it myself, why not get the best oil I can afford.   Its only a few dollars more,  and I change my oil about every 7k.     Most of all I get piece of mind ,  if  it really  benifits or not.

[Bob2222 317]

I have a 2007 Toyota 4runner V8 with 110,000 miles.  So I guess I am asking, do you think it is worth an extra $20 every time I get an oil change (the V8 is 6 quarts). 

 

 

No -- not after 110,000 miles on dino-juice.

 

This from a guy who has Mobil-1 (or Castrol) synthetic in all cars right now. And uses Mobil-1 on his guns, too.

 

I've heard tales about late-life conversions to synthetic resulting in oil leaks and/or oil burning. Are the stories true? Dunno. I had an older Porsche bought used and I didn't take the chance. I kept it on dino.

[AdamM 42]

There certainly was an issue with oil leaks when switching to synthetic oil when it first came out.  The issue was that regular oil kept the gaskets/seals swollen and they kept their seal.  The synthetic oils did not do that and when the seals shrank, they leaked oil like crazy.  Since then they have added special additives to prevent that from happening.  I'm not so sure that this is really an issue with the modern synthetic oils.

[Clintoon Eastwood 2]

I use rem oil

 

[ReadDude 0]

No -- not after 110,000 miles on dino-juice.

 

This from a guy who has Mobil-1 (or Castrol) synthetic in all cars right now. And uses Mobil-1 on his guns, too.

 

I've heard tales about late-life conversions to synthetic resulting in oil leaks and/or oil burning. Are the stories true? Dunno. I had an older Porsche bought used and I didn't take the chance. I kept it on dino.

 

That is kind of what I was thinking. It seems like the horse is already out of the barn. I bought the 4runner with 90K miles on it, so I don't actually know what they put in it, but it was dealer serviced. From my experience they don't seem to do synthetics very often unless it is called for in the owner's manual (and it is not for that vintage Toyotas of any type.)

 

I have noticed that a lot of the "high mileage" oils are often synthetic blends. That would seem to reduce the likelihood gasket leaks. That high mileage stuff is usually about as expensive as full synthetics.

 

All this talk of fluids made me check on the other items in the owner's manual. The only state to change coolant at 100K miles or 10 years!  Nothing else but oil changes are specified!

[ReadDude 0]

I use rem oil

 

someone had to say it :-)

[halbautomatisch 60]

Something else to consider........the oil companies claim that you will get 4-6% better fuel economy by using synthetics over conventional oil. If true, and considering that you can stretch out the oil change intervals with synthetics, you will probably save money running synthetic oil over conventional oil.

[olderguy 0]

The only state to change coolant at 100K miles or 10 years!

I only saw that once, and I don't recommend it.  Very nice light chocolate colored stuff came out, just a little thinner than Hersey's syrup.

[Malice4you 627]

I run Mobil 1 on my Mercedes, usually changed every 7-8k instead of the 10k in the manual.  I've got 186k on the clock and still running just fine. 

 

I would suggest Mobil1/synthetic for most new cars, but I probably wouldn't suddenly start using synthetic in a car over 90k miles unless it had always run synthetic.  I'd consider a synthetic blend or high mileage oil, but it might be better to just do conventional and more changes, and probably cheaper...Blends are usually only about $1 less than full synthetic, and still about $2-3 more than conventional per quart.

 

I miss the days when Pep Boys used to put Mobil1 on sale...

[ReadDude 0]

I only saw that once, and I don't recommend it.  Very nice light chocolate colored stuff came out, just a little thinner than Hersey's syrup.

I came across a 1997 Pathfinder with 130K on it. Let's just say no one every touched the coolant on that vehicle. Without a complete new set of freeze-plugs, radiator, clamps, etc. that car was shot. I didn't have the time, patience or skill to fix that one. Even then, I am not sure it was fully recoverable.

[Malsua 1,422]

I never changed the Radiator fluid in my 1992 Honda Civic.  I sold it to a friend in 2008, he didn't change it until the bottom of the Radiator rusted out.   It was still bright green and tested to -30 below.   Of course when I sold it in 2008, the vehicle had 37,500 miles on it.   When the radiator rotted out, it had around 80k miles on it and that was in 2011.

 

I guess my point is, is that mileage seems to be what destroys the coolant rather than time because at 80k miles and 19 years, it was still just fine.

[Krdshrk 3,877]

I miss the days when Pep Boys used to put Mobil1 on sale...

 

Your best bet is Walmart.  5 quarts for like $26.

[raz-0 1,259]

No -- not after 110,000 miles on dino-juice.

 

This from a guy who has Mobil-1 (or Castrol) synthetic in all cars right now. And uses Mobil-1 on his guns, too.

 

I've heard tales about late-life conversions to synthetic resulting in oil leaks and/or oil burning. Are the stories true? Dunno. I had an older Porsche bought used and I didn't take the chance. I kept it on dino.

 

I've seen it happen, but I'm not sure that it actually has anything to do with age. Age certainly isn't the only factor. I like turbo charged 4 bangers, and I only do quality dino juice now and I stick to 3500 mile intervals. Last one got only synthetic after the first few oil changes, and it burned through oil way faster once I did. The current one, I saw lots of forum posts where people were blowing through oil and getting some smoke on hard acceleration with synthetic, so I didn't do the synthetic switch over. The car is none the worse for it so far. Classic style or synthetic, none of them stand up to small turbos for long, and everything in NJ is severe duty cycle. 

[71ragtopgoat 23]

I run wal mart synthetic Oil with WIX filters in my honda accord(165K) ever 10 K miles and I Just bought a Used 2011 mustang GT that will be getting the same treatment.

I do the trany every 60 K but I must admit I never have changed the other fluids.

[ryan_j 0]

I run conventional oil in the accord. The sienna runs 0w20 synthetic per the owner's manual. I put 10w30 synthetic oil in the generator.

[acuevo 0]

The most important thing is to change it frequently. I have a friend who was sponsored by Bel-Ray (one of the top performance lube companies) back a long time ago. The cool thing was that he had to send a oil sample after every oil change, which he did after every single race in the car. Of note, after a race at Bridgehampton (a track long gone that was on Long Island) a track that was very sandy, the oil analysis showed a high level of silica (sand) in the oil. What we sometimes forget is that besides the combustion contaminates in the oil there are things that come through the intake and passed the air filter. So what you have in your oil, if you run it for a long time, is a nice polish wearing down the parts. So nothing is better than frequent oil changes, IMHO.

 

Here's another one for you! When was the last time you changed your brake fluid? It seems to be the one thing that people never change. I do it in my sports cars every year and trucks at least every two (worst case) and race car every event or two. Brake fluid is hygroscopic meaning that it absorbs water very quickly. This causes two problems. First it reduces the "boiling point" so if you ever needed to really use the brakes hard for an extended time (e.g. Going down a very steep hill) you can boil the fluid and loose your brakes. Second, the water in the brake components will start to rust and can cause your calipers to seize or fail eventually.

 

this this this this this

 

i'm a mechanic, and from what i've seen in 6 years is that oil is pretty much oil. change it regularly and often. 3k to 4k miles. most people have no idea how to take care of their cars and then wonder why they need a new trans or steering rack.

 

check the manufacturers maintenance schedule and follow that. honestly i don't think its worth it to spend the extra money on synthetic... i gave up on it long ago, got sick of paying 40 bucks for an oil change.. now i pay 9 bucks with the bulk oil at work LOL.

 

the one thing that MAY be worth spending a little more on is a good oil filter. purolator works great and is not that expensive anyway.

[ryan_j 0]

I thought synthetic was required for some engines that run at higher temperatures.

[mipafox 438]

 

Synthetic Oil in Vehicles

 

 

Only if you drive directly to and from the shop. Otherwise it's 7 years in PMITA prison.

[67gtonut 847]

I thought synthetic was required for some engines that run at higher temperatures.

 

Turbo motors......  

[ryan_j 0]

I have a naturally aspirated v6 that requires 0w20 which is only available in synthetic. I believe however that I can use 5w30 with no issues. They require the 0w20 to meet CAFE standards.

[BD104X 1]

Synthetic oil is definitely better than conventional oil. There is a reason why nearly every race team and hi-performance manufacturer uses or recommends it. Yes, changing every 3k with cheap oil will probably make a car last forever, but if you could use better oil and only have to change it half as often thus doing half the labor and generating half the waste oil to get rid of (or only paying someone else to do it half as often) isn't it a no-brainer??? If you got a great deal on ammo but it made your guns so filthy that you had to clean them twice as often, would you use it?

[acuevo 0]

 If you got a great deal on ammo but it made your guns so filthy that you had to clean them twice as often, would you use it?

 

yes. as long as its not actually harming them.

[AdamM 42]

Synthetic oil is definitely better than conventional oil. There is a reason why nearly every race team and hi-performance manufacturer uses or recommends it. Yes, changing every 3k with cheap oil will probably make a car last forever, but if you could use better oil and only have to change it half as often thus doing half the labor and generating half the waste oil to get rid of (or only paying someone else to do it half as often) isn't it a no-brainer??? If you got a great deal on ammo but it made your guns so filthy that you had to clean them twice as often, would you use it?

Yes, but keep in mind that pro race teams are sponsored and change the oil after every race. There is no way in hell that they are going to keep it in longer. While it is better than Dino oil, if you keep it in too long, you are doing more harm (due to contaminates in the oil). You would be better off with regular oil and changing it more frequently. Of course the only way to really know "how long" would be to have your oil analyzed.

[Stonecoldchavez 92]

I have a 2000 Nissan Xterra with 182,000 miles on it. Runs like a champ; burns no oil. Ran synthetic in it since its first oil change. First Mobil 1 then I switched over to Royal Purple. Change my oil every 5,000 miles.

I use Royal Purple in the front and rear differentials also.

 

S.

[ryan_j 0]

Yes, but keep in mind that pro race teams are sponsored and change the oil after every race. 

 

Forget the oil, I think they rebuild the engine after every race. 

[tom catman 0]

i have had vehicles with over 275k miles on em with any new cheap oil from walmart to kmart.but I change it every 3k miles with new filter.as long as its changed regularly and an eye kept out on the radiator and anti freeze they should all last as long.for classic auto and equiptment that has flat tappet(not hydraulic or roller type lifters)the govt has reduced the amount of zinc and phosphate(zddp) in the motor oils over the last 10 years so that its down to .12 ppm from 1000ppm.this relates to flat tappets having no wear protection and could cause a classic to wipe out its cam in under 1500 miles.....the mobil one msds data sheet shows that the mobile 1 0-40 wt European blend to have the old amount (1000ppm)so look for that for classics and onan generators...

[mipafox 438]

 

If you got a great deal on ammo but it made your guns so filthy that you had to clean them twice as often, would you use it?

 

 

Twice times zero is zero.

 

That being said, I have fired ammo that DID require me to clean my guns, and I didn't like that one bit.