Should I use synthetic oil for my car?

Question

I have an 03 Corolla.

When I do oil changes, should I use synthetic oil (5w30) or can I go with the generic normal oil? Does it matter?

Answer 1

The main purpose of switching to synthetic oil is the extended life of the oil.

Standard mineral oil will normally last around 3000 miles along with the standard fram or stp oil filter.

Synthetic blended oil will last anywhere from 5000 - 7500 miles, again with a fram or stp oil filter, however this is near the limit of the filter.

Full sythetic oil will last anywhere from 10000 up to around 15000 depending on what brand you use. For full synthetic oil, higher end filters are recommended such as a bosch, mobil 1, or K&N.

The other benefit of the full synthetic oil is that it will keep its weight consistently longer then standard mineral oil. Not all oil is synthetic as posted. Valvoline (white bottle), Castral GTX (white/green bottles), penzoil(yellow bottle) are some of the most common. The Castol green bottles wil be the high milegage and new car formulas that have extra additives.

Mobil makes Mobil Clean 5000/7500 which is a blend but not to be confused with the Mobil 1 or Mobil 1 EP.

The mobil 1 oil will last 10000 miles, the mobil 1 extended performance (EP) will last 15000, and I believe the castrol syntec will last 10000.

These are the ratings normally found on the bottles themselves. The oil will normally last longer, but is not recommended.

Answer 2

Actually the only way a synthetic oil is worth the money is if you choose to drive over 6000 miles between changes. It doesn't break down, and if it stays clean you're safe to 15-16 thousand miles.
You could use a synthetic blend, but it too, will break down.

Answer 3

Got this straight from a diesel mechanic -- if you change your oil every 3,000 miles religiously you can use regular motor oil and your engine will be fine. If you want to try and get more life out of your engine you'd be better off using a synthetic and regular motor oil blend. According to him, synthetic motor oil is better for protecting certain engine parts from wear but much worse than regular motor oil at protecting others, so a blend is the best of both worlds. I asked him what blends are good and he recommended Valvoline DuraBlend. I've been using it in my 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix and I haven't had any problems.

Answer 4

No, the replace oil isn't the reason of your complications. that's alright to blend oils, yet you basically lose the convenience of the replace oil at the same time as doing this.- you may be sure at Mobil information superhighway website- bypass there for different FAQ and their solutions. the in undemanding words problem I actually have ever heard from man made oils is on older autos. Gaskets have a tendency to enable more beneficial of the oil leak by than regularly occurring because of everyday molecule sizes being smaller. This assumes you already are dropping some oil. thus your spending a lot of money in undemanding words to have the oil be wasted by leaks.

Answer 5

Any oil on the market right now that has the API starburst symbol is synthetic.
When the API changed their standard last May to GF-4 everyone selling oil had to go to synthetic to meet the standard

Answer 6

if the owners manual says to use synthetic, you must use synthetic, if it says use conventional, then it doesnt matter, you can use either, but you cannot go from synthetic to conventional. Synthetic oils have bigger molecules, this means that the seals used in the engine are designed to stop the bigger molecules from leaking, but since conventional oil has smaller molecules, youll end up with an oil leak.

Answer 7

Synthetics are much better but you have to ask yourself if they're worth the extra cost on a daily driver. If you plan to keep it forever, then I'd switch to synthetics. If not, conventional oils are more than adequate if changed on a regular basis.

Answer 8

Best oil to use is castrol gtx high mileage with 1 qt lucas oil.