Synthetic vs conventional oil?

Question

What are the effects of switching to synthetic oil after years of the cheap stuff

Answer 1

youll probablly spring leaks :)

Answer 2

I believe we all agree that synthetic oil is more expensive. But, does it cost more to use than conventional oil?

Not for me at least. I drive all highway miles and use Mobil 1 oil that I change every 15,000 miles. For ease of numbers, let's say Mobil 1 costs $5 per quart and I use 5 quarts at oil change equaling $25 every 15,000 miles. If I use conventional oil at $2 per quart and 5 quarts per oil change every 5,000 miles (recommended in most car manuals) it costs me $10 per oil change times 3 oil changes to get 15,000 miles equaling $30 for the same distance for the oil. Saving me a total of $5 for the 15,000 miles.

I'm an old codger and I've been through many cars (Chevy, Nissan, Ford, Dodge, etc.) and I've been able to achieve on all cars I've owned since the early 80's at least 325,000+ miles before I changed cars. Take a look inside any of those engines (open the oil fill cover or pull a valve cover) and you'd find a clean engine. When I used to use conventional oil I would find gunk build up.

Heck, I even use Mobil1 in my lawn mover!!

Answer 3

I kind of enjoy experminting. I was ready to try synthetic in my high milage honda, I drove the car about 50 miles and immediately changed the regular oil, I read the oil temperature with a good digital probe thermometer and wrote it down, after 10k miles on synthetic I drove the same car the same 50 miles drained the oil and checked the temp. with the same thermometer and it was close to 40 degrees cooler. reason being less friction = less heat. I developed no leaks of any kind and I also had used cheap oil, now I change the oil one time with syn. where I would change it 3 times with reg.

Answer 4

I have heard you do not need to switch oils to synthetic if your vehicle has over 70,000 miles, it could cause leaks. If your vehicle isn't very old or isn't very high mileage, the leaking seals won't be a problem. 70,000 is just a rule of thumb, some people go higher and don't have problems. Some people do it sooner and develop leaks. Synthetic doesn't soak your seals like conventional oil does and if the car has ran a long time on conventional oil then switching to synthetic will cause some of the O-rings and seals to "shrink" and will cause leaks.

Answer 5

No effect. Synthetic is just better oil.

Answer 6

I basically use Mobil-a million it is what the producer recommends.If its no longer cautioned by using the producer, then its all own selection. On mine It reflects while it needs the oil replaced so i do no longer stick to the 3000 mile rule of thumb. For me, it form of feels it needs a transformation at everywhere from 5-6 thousand miles.

Answer 7

My mechanic says that we don't need to change they have been using it in cars for a long time now. He suggested to keep using the same oil I have used in the past in my corvette.

Answer 8

Why pay more for synthetic oil you haven't needed. If you have money to throw away like that throw it my way

Answer 9

I HAVE USED CONV OIL FOR ALL MY LIFE BUT LAST YR I TRIED SYNTHETIC AND I LOVE IT . I HAVE 180000
ON MY TAHOE AND IT LASTS 8 TO 10 THOUSAND BETWEEN OIL CHANGES. WISHED ID TRYED IT YEARS AGO. CASTROL FULL SYNTHETIC NOT PARTLYSYNTHETIC GOOD LUCK IT WORKS

Answer 10

Not a good idea. After this long, why change to a more expensive product? It would be much better to stick with what you are using and change it every 2000 miles or so.