When can you change over to Synthetic Oil?

[godale03]

Hey Guys,

I bought a new truck the begining of November and now I am getting ready to change the oil for the first time.... well as soon as I can walk! I was curious as to wether or not I should run another cycle of conventional oil first, before making the switch over to fully synthetic oil? Does anyone happen to know? Thanks guys.

Tom

 

[jon2]

Its just a matter of making the decion at your next oil change. Once you change over its permanent change and you can no longer use the standard oil. The synthetic oil bonds with your engine metal. Be sure of it. I personally don't use it. I like the standard stuff. I normally do al the work to my cars so I am old fashioned.

 

[WoodiE]

godale03,

My father is a mechanic and I've asked this question at one time as well, however being the forgetful person I am, I already forgot what he said.

If I'm not mistaken I do remember him saying something about you'd want to get a couple thousand miles on the engine before switching as the conventional oil helps break in the engine better. After which you can switch over, but as Jon2 said once you do there's no going back.



-Michael

 

[godale03]

Yeah, I have heard that too a while back. I just wasn't sure how many miles you needed to have on it before you would consider the motor "Broken in". I have not driven the truck much in the last three months and I only have 2200 miles on it so far. I was going to change the oil at 3K with another round of conventional and then switch to the synthetic after 6K. My 2000 Celica ran full Synthetic and I loved the stuff. Every time I changed my oil I took a sneak peak inside the fill whole just to get an idea of how the engine looked and it looked bran new inside. Even the oil cap was clean inside. I changed my oil every 7K miles and never had a problem. Thanks for the info guys, I just wanted to get an idea of what I should be doing. Take care.

Tom

 

[WoodiE]

godale03,

Just to be on the safe side I'd stick with conventional for more change, then go syn.



-Michael

 

[godale03]

Thanks for the advice Woodie and Jon2, I think you are right, I will do one more run with Conventional and the make the change. Take care guys, off to start the break in of the CRT!

Tom

 

[.21Rc10GT]

I was kinda wondering this myself. I have a '98 dodge ram 1500 with 315,000 miles (second engine and 3rd tranny). I have thought about switching to synthetic oil for a long time. Is there anything else required to run it (ie filters/gaskets/etc?)? I think i have enough break in miles... lol

 

[SumoDethRat]

A while ago engine masters did a facts and myths of synthetic. While they found that it makes no difference which oil you use to break in with (many high performance vehicles come from factory with synthetic) they feel they've been doing conventional first for breakin for so long why change( 95% of race engine builders use convential, so they go with whats worked in the past). You can swap to synthetic whenever you want (I swapped at about 3k). And things you heard about leaking and incompatibility with gaskets were eliminated long ago. And obviously you'd just swap in a new filter(no special filters needed) and fresh oil.

Synthetic oils begin with straight mineral oil broken down and reassemble to have better heat and lube properties.

And directly from engine masters "Yes you can switch back and forth between synthetic and mineral" but they recommend you stay with line of oil.

for filter info

http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilterstudy.html

 

[SpitFireV12RR]

Its just a matter of making the decion at your next oil change. Once you change over its permanent change and you can no longer use the standard oil. The synthetic oil bonds with your engine metal. Be sure of it. I personally don't use it. I like the standard stuff. I normally do al the work to my cars so I am old fashioned.

My dad is stupid i guess then...we just got a new Gas trimmer and he's running synthetic through it the first tank and then swiching to conventional oil.

Does the not being able to swich back affect 2 strokes?

Sorry to hijack you thread godale.

 

[godale03]

My dad is stupid i guess then...we just got a new Gas trimmer and he's running synthetic through it the first tank and then swiching to conventional oil.

Does the not being able to swich back affect 2 strokes?

Sorry to hijack you thread godale.

No worries man, not jacking. I didn't think they made 4 stroke weedeater motors. If they do, and your father is using synthetic to break it in and then use conventional... based on what I have read he should be just fine.

Tom

 

[robriguez]

Godale, I only use good regular engine oil and my 98' Maxima has its oil changed every 5k religously for the last 160k miles and it still looks brandi new on the inside. Outside is a diff story but inside is gorgeous. When I took her in last week for her annual at the dealership the Shop Manager was amazed at how well she still runs. I dont beat on her but I dont drive miss daisy neither. I'm betting she lasts another 160k easy.

 

[Monkey Wrench]

My dad is stupid i guess then...we just got a new Gas trimmer and he's running synthetic through it the first tank and then swiching to conventional oil.

Does the not being able to swich back affect 2 strokes?

Sorry to hijack you thread godale.

Man, why do you feel the need to slam your Pop like that? Not cool to do that publicly, in my opinion. He may seem like a dink to you now, little man, but he'll be the first one you turn to for advice when you buy a house, a car or think about getting married!

 

[SpitFireV12RR]

Man, why do you feel the need to slam your Pop like that? Not cool to do that publicly, in my opinion. He may seem like a dink to you now, little man, but he'll be the first one you turn to for advice when you buy a house, a car or think about getting married!

It's all in good fun. My dad does have is mouments though. He thinks he takes better care of his engines! You should see my dirtbike and R/C engines compared to his trimmer engine and generator!

Oh about the advice...I would NEVER ask him for advice on getting married!!!

 

[jetmechG550]

You can switch whenever. BMW, MB, Audi, Porsche et all, they all run sythetic oil or blends and come from the mother land that way. I changed out my Pathfinder at the first oil change, actually took the key back from the dealer since he wanted to argue over synthetic oil with me. Nissan's real problem with it is there goes a steady stream of income every 3750 miles. The guy tried to tell me it was actually harmful to a car, so I told him to go drive my BMW over to the dealer just down the street and tell them that and then see if they don't look at you like you have 3 heads.

 

[SpitFireV12RR]

I changed out my Pathfinder at the first oil change, actually took the key back from the dealer since he wanted to argue over synthetic oil with me. Nissan's real problem with it is there goes a steady stream of income every 3750 miles. The guy tried to tell me it was actually harmful to a car, so I told him to go drive my BMW over to the dealer just down the street and tell them that and then see if they don't look at you like you have 3 heads.

The guy at our dealership is like that...money hungry. I would have asked him what he runs in his car!

 

[WoodiE]

I was kinda wondering this myself. I have a '98 dodge ram 1500 with 315,000 miles (second engine and 3rd tranny). I have thought about switching to synthetic oil for a long time. Is there anything else required to run it (ie filters/gaskets/etc?)? I think i have enough break in miles... lol

.21Rc10GT - I drive a '92 Jeep Cherokee which has 216,000 miles on it right now, when it got around 150K miles I had asked my dad if it would be better for the engine even more so now because it's so high in miles and his reply was NOT to.

The reason being is synthetic is a very clean oil and does just that, cleans the engine very well and for a high mileage engine almost to well. Your older, higher mileage engines have more wear and tear and break down. Your conventional oil tends to "seal" those areas if you will as a synthetic oil will clean that junk away thus exposing more of the "bad" engine and thus causing more harm then good.

Now granted I'm not the guy with even a fraction of the knowledge my father has and I'm sure he could explain this far better then I just did but I hope that is a little help. Long story short, I'm still using conventional oil and I still change my oil every 3,000 miles. It costs me about $10-15 to change the oil so doing it that soon is no big deal.

Hope that helps.


-Michael

 

[SVORay]

Well back in the old school days you had to break a motor in with typical oil. If you used synthetic right off the bat, the rings would never seat right. Thus causing issues like buring oil etc. Now days they've inproved the way they Hone the cylinders so you can pretty much start off with synthetics. In most cases now days, they sell new vehicles with synthetic already in them. I'm pretty much an old school type and still let mine get a few miles on them before using synthetic unless it already came with synthetics. I use Moblie one in both My wife's Tahoe and my Harley truck. Now if you don't have the coin to run a synthetic oil, try to atleast run quality oil like Castroil GTX. There is oils out there like Penzoil that you really don't want to use unless you really don't like your car. Just do a search and you'll find tons of information explaining they types of oil and why you want a good one. Also, stay away from crapy filters like Fram or Penzoil. They sux the big fat one is a major way. I use a Moblie one filter or K&N but thats because I use a synthetic oil. It's best to use a higher micro filter on synthetic oils vs a typical oil.

Anyways, The only other thing I can think about related to the subject is high mileage. I've heard from a very informative person that it's not all that good to switch from a typical oil to a synthetic oil on something some what high mileage. He mentioned he wouldn't use it on anything higher than 30k if it hadn't already came with synthetics. I've also heard from other people using it on vehicles as high as 100k would just promote leaks. It's a much thinnner slipery oil and will seep through the seals easier.


Best of luck with the new truck/car
Ray

 

[SVORay]

.21Rc10GT - I drive a '92 Jeep Cherokee which has 216,000 miles on it right now, when it got around 150K miles I had asked my dad if it would be better for the engine even more so now because it's so high in miles and his reply was NOT to.



-Michael

I can't explain it well either but I agree with you/him. Just use a decent typical oil and change it every 3k/3months. Also use a good filter and no frams. Now if you're (21RC10GT) are running an automatic gear box, make sure you change that filter/fluid every 30-60k. I mentioned that since you said it's had 3 gear boxes replaced.

 

[SpitFireV12RR]

I mean it's a two stroke trimmer...I guess they make synthetic 2 stroke mix. It came in the box. I told my dad that once you go synthetic you can't return and he denied it, even though I showed him this and a few other things. He's just arnory...

 

[SumoDethRat]

There is oils out there like Penzoil that you really don't want to use unless you really don't like your car. Just do a search and you'll find tons of information explaining they types of oil and why you want a good one.

I've heard this alot but can never find anything. Also there have been reports of mobile one filters exploding under high pressure. Their oil is good stuff, but their filter is kinda pricey at $10 bucks a pop. There are cheaper alternatives if your willing to research it. And like Ray said avoid frams, supposedly they machine the threading after the filter is assembled, and generally are cheaper quality wise.

Also anyone notice that a lot of high performance engines use Fram Racing filters?

Ohh, I'm pretty sure most if not all passenger car oils have detergents in it.

And a final thing nobody mentioned never ever leave used oil in a car for a long period of time. Combustion by products produce acids in the oil and metal + acid is never good.