Conventional to synthetic

Hello TW, Kind of new here so bare with me, I have a 2009 Tacoma TRD Sport w/ 4.0 v6, 90,000 mi. I just bought it back in March w/ 87,000 mi. on it so I'm getting ready for my first oil & filter change. Is it safe to switch over to a synthetic oil with 90,000 mi. on it or is it better just to keep running it with 5w-30? I had a 99 TRD Off Road that was recalled because of the frame issue and back then a Toyota dealer told me "if it has conventional oil in it stay with that and don't switch to synthetic" but lately I have been hearing about people switching over to it. I've always used Pennzoil with a Fram filter every 3 mo. / 3,000 mi. on my other vehicles over the years and have had good luck. Just seeing if anybody has done this and was there any advantage to it. Thanks for the help, scross61

 

Oh boy.. Here we go..

 

I switched t synthetic with 141,000 miles, never a problem, 112,000 later still sings like a bird and is oil tight...

 

Mobil 1 full Synthetic with OEM filter. /thread.

You are about to be inundated with responses on this. Fram filters are shit by the way. OEM filters cost $5 at the dealer and have proven to be the best so far. Hit the search function at the top for more information.

 

Go for it

 

sounds like I opened a can of something, Thanks for the input

 

I use an OEM Filter and I switched to Castrol 5w 30 Synthetic Blend at 130,000 in my 2005 without any issues.

 

I use Mobil 1 and an OEM Toyota filter. It shouldn't make any difference if you choose to switch to synthetic for your truck. Use a good filter ( a VERY good comparison of filters here http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/te...made-thailand-vs-competition.html#post2389585 ) and change at whatever mileage you feel comfortable with ( some will tell you 5k miles...some will tell you more..I change at 5000 with synthetic and 3000 with dino oil).

Just remember...at the end of the day it's YOUR truck. Do what you feel comfortable with as far as mods and improvements. And welcome to the forum !

 

I switched my 2009 4.7L I4 to AmsOil synthetic at 70,000 miles with no problems. I've never seen a problem switching an engine in good condition to synthetic. Good condition meaning clean, no sludge, good compression, and low oil consumption. My truck had been serviced by the dealer before I got it.

 

Mobil 1 synthetic and an OEM oil filter every 5k since I started doing my own changes at 20K. I'm at 80K as of this morning, and my little truck continues to soldier on.

 

i bought my 06 dclb with 143,000 on it did the first oil change with regular oil then after looking on here what everybody was saying about it i changed to mobil 1 syn 5/30 and haven't looked back

 

Mobil 1 synthetic 5/30 and an OEM fiter.

 

You can switch to synthetic without issue. Your truck will run and continue to run fine on any decent oil providing you use the proper weight and keep up with your maintenance intervals. Sure, there are premium oils out there that might be better for your engine but there are a lot of people with very high mileage vehicles running whatever was on sale that day at their local auto parts store and crap filters. As long as you keep up with maintenance and whatever oil you're using meets the service requirements listed in your Owner's Manual, you'll be just fine.

 

You can switch anytime. There was some old "advice" from many years ago that said not to switch for higher-milage engines. From what I understand that was based on the higher milage engines being switched, then, with the synth, the oil cleaned out some internal gunk and/or found some loose seals, that then allowed the engine to leak some oil.

Personally, I would not hesitate to switch in your scenario.

 

There ya go

 

You guys still changing the oil every 5k with synthetic? I've always heard the stock filters don't last as long as the synthetic oil intervals.

 

Mobile 1 full synthetic here as well. Started it with the last oil change and no problems here either.

 

I switched over to Mobil 1 synthetic w/ Mobil 1 filter a couple of days ago. No problems also added a fumoto and a drain hose. Next change will be a breeze

 

I bumped up to 7,500 mile intervals if all I was doing was commuting. If I did a lot of towing / hauling or a lot of stop and go driving then would have stuck to 5k mile intervals. The oil still looked decent even with the extended interval.

 

Yep, I'm doing Mobil 1 myself. I tow a lot but I still don't usually get to my changes until 6 or 7k miles. Not on purpose, just works out that way. Oil still looks fine no matter how late I change.