Switch To Synthetic Oil?

I made the switch this weekend

5w30 mobil 1 truck and SUV from walmart = 32 bucks for 6qts of full synthetic and 5 for the oil filter.

Way better that a jiffy lube or the like with conventional oil.

How many miles do you guys go on synthetic between changes? I was thinking around 8k?

 

The Oil can do it.

The filter is a different story.

 

Actually, I think there is: synthetic only makes good sense if you are going to run extended oil change interval (OCI).

It's been said here many times: modern mineral oils are very good and when changed with moderate regularity at under 5K mile intervals Toyota's (and most any other) run great to 200,000 miles + on them. It just makes no sense to use expensive synthetic oil if you aren't also running a 10K plus OCI.

Also, it's a really nice bonus to the environment to reduce the amount of waste oil being disposed of if everyone DID use synthetics with extended OCI's!

 

In general, Mobil1 is good enough that you change it when the additive package is depleted. The oil's good to 15K plus; if you change filter every 6K and add a quart of makeup oil to boost TBN it will go to 20K easily. If you want to make a project of it, do oil an oil analysis at 6k intervals and let that tell you when to do it; some guys run their oil out to 25K plus if it's holding up.

Check out www.bobistheoilguy.com if you really want to know about it.

I do mine at 10k intervals 'caus it works out perfect for annual safety/emissions inspections.

 

AMSOIL!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6ALySsPXt0

 

On the sludge/varnish issue, will the use of dino oil still lead to buildup if changed regularly? I don't plan on switching to synth so the dislodging does not apply, but I always thought frequently changed high-quality dino oil will keep deposits from building up.

 

On a common sense level that's a true statement. If you leave the oil in only for 10 miles, who could possibly argue it isn't!

So the question becomes: what's a reasonable change interval for a given high-quality mineral oil for a specific engine design? I believe much of the bad rap mineral oils have gotten have been on turbo'd engines (especially VW's 1.8T) but there are some others. I think anyone who changes under 5K miles and uses quality oils will do just fine, so long as it's not one of those troublesome engines.

For a 1.8T, go beyond 3K and you're gambling with a $5000 repair job. VW DEMANDS synthetic on their newer 2.0T's or they will void warranty...and they check for receipts if you bring it in with a problem; it's not an idle threat.

The statement about synthetic oils dislodging sludge is technically not true in that it's not the oil that loosens it. Synthetic oils are made for extended drain intervals so they put more additives (detergents, anti-corrosives, etc.) in them. It's that extra strong additive package that causes them to loosen sludge. I imagine it's quite possible to find a mineral oil with a very high additive package too; if you put that in I'd guess the effect could be the same.

Really, go to www.bobistheoilguy.com and you'll get tons of good info on oils and drains and how they work.

 

1) change the filter only and add make up (it's located perfect on the v6!)

2) use the large capacity variant of the filter. Bypass pressure, threads, anti-drain back, every thing is same as the smaller filter, just much larger filter surface area.