Will synthetic oil hurt my car?

Question

I recently bought a brand new hyundai elantra, and i just got my first oil change.Since the car is new I had them put in synthetic oil, and now I feel like my car is dragging...Could it be that the car originally had regular oil, and now im messing it up by putting synthetic oil in it?

Answer 1

Check your owners manual. Synthetic oil is an excellent longer lasting and protecting product that helps extend the life of the engine and help to a small degree with gas mileage. Call your service manager and explain your situation. Very unlikely it has anything to do with the sythetic oil.
Advantages
The industry recognizes the following benefits for synthetic motor oils:

Improved viscosity at low temperatures. Mineral oils tend to include wax impurities which coagulate at lower temperatures. A typical 10W-30 oil remains liquid at -50 °C (-58 °F)
Better high temperature performance. Synthetic oils have few low molecular weight hydrocarbons which evaporate at high temperatures.
Higher purity
Decreased oil consumption
Reduced friction and engine wear
Improved fuel consumption through better engine lubrication
Resistance to oil sludge problems
Crude oil doesn't have to be used for the production of the lubricants
Some synthetic motor oil producers offer extended intervals between oil changes (extended drain intervals)
Reduction of environmental impact (due to lower oil consumption)
The downside is the higher cost of oil changes.

Answer 2

Synthetic oil will not hurt your car and changing to synthetic oil is a common practice. Supposedly, with synthetics, you can go longer between oil changes and it helps with wear and tear on the engine. Also, the synthetic oil shouldn't make your car "drag". Did you wait the recommended amount of time before changing the oil? The reason that I ask is because if the car didn't come with synthetic, then you would want to wait until the car engine was broken in with the regular oil. Even with this, your car shouldn't drag. Since it is a new car and should still be under warranty, I would recommend taking it back to the dealer and having them investigate the abnormality. Here are some sites for more information.

http://www.pennzoil.com/

http://www.pennzoilplatinum.com/

Answer 3

No, the synthetic oil is not the cause of your problems.

It IS okay to mix oils, but you just lose the benefit of the synthetic oil when doing this.- you can confirm at Mobil website- go there for other FAQ and their answers.

The only problem I have ever heard from synthetic oils is on older cars. Gaskets tend to let more of the oil leak through than normal due to the average molecule sizes being smaller. This assumes you already are losing some oil.

In this case your spending a lot of money only to have the oil be wasted through leaks.

Answer 4

No, synthetic oil will make your cars engine last longer. It provides better lubrication than petroleum based oil. The only drawback to synthetic is it's cost but I think it's worth it considering the cost of a new car now-a-days. I have driven a Hyundai Elantra and although I think it is overall a good car I noticed that it seemed to "drag" almost as if the transmission was in too low of a gear. The car's owner talked to their dealer. They said it was normal behavior for the Hyundai trans to act this way. You may want to take it to your dealer and ask him to test drive it with you to see if he thinks it is normal.

Answer 5

Most sources I have read suggest waiting until 12,000 miles before switching to synthetic oil.
While the break-in period of an engine, (the amount of miles the manufacturer tells you to drive it easy) might be 600-1000 miles. An engine will continue to loosen up as the parts wear together for the first 12,000 miles.
While the synthetic will do no harm to your car, it may slow down this final wearing-in process.
My suggestion is for you to test drive the same model car as you own, and compare. If the new one doesn't drag, have them check out your car.
If they can't find anything, worst case, have them try putting in regular oil. Keep that in until you total 12,000, then switch to synthetic.
I switched to Shell Rotella T Synthetic, in my Toyota Echo. My gas mileage jumped almost 5 MPG!
Hope this helps.
Charley

Answer 6

No way, get it back to the dealer. A Hyundai is one of the best value cars made and should give you years of trouble free service. I do believe synthetic oil is a waste of money though and only useful in an overheat situation.

Answer 7

From what i know synthetic oil is not recommended for new engines because the rings and mechanical surfaces are basically seating too each others surface so since synthetic oil provides LESS friction it interrupts this process. so, i guess once your motor has been broken in you can safely use synthetic which will make your motor last longer and free up a little horsepower.

Answer 8

Synthetic oil is not your problem. If you are sure it is an oil problem, check your dip stick for oil level. Some new import cars have disposable aluminum oil pan caps. If this is the case with your car and your mechanic did not replace it with a new one (just put the old one back on your car), you might have a leak.

This is a long shot. It does not seem as if your problem is with your oil. It is more likely a problem with your transmission.

Answer 9

No.

You don't want to mix oils - but changing types at an oil change is no problem, and synthetics are quite good so I don't see how that could be the problem.

Answer 10

Synthetic oil will not hurt a new engine or an old engine for that matterThe maintain their viscosity in both hot and cold weather and cold which means they cannot be fried or frozen Every 7000 -10,000 change the filter and refill what is removed in the filter and at 25,000 to 28,000 replace oil and filter