1st Oil change, free but $38 more to change to Syn oil!! Is it worth it??

My 5000 mile service is coming up real soon. I wanted 0W-20 conventional oil but I don't think it's made. I looked at O'Reilly, NAPA, CarQuest, Auto Zone, WalMart, and the Base Exchange Auto Pride - nothing. I looked on tundrasolutions.com too - nothing. The only 0W-20 out there is synthetic, so that's what I'll pay extra for, because I really want the added cold starting protection of the 0W grade oil.

 

Change it yourself and become an Amsoil prefered customer or dealer. Most "synthetics" are not synthetic, they are conventional oil with additives. Amsoil or Royal Purple are true synthetics and make a large difference on how well an engine will run. Amsoil is a must for anyone who wishes to take care of their rig.

 

There is no such 0w-20 conventional.

 

I inquired about the synthetic also and turned it down too. They told me something like $42 extra. I figured if I was going to pay that then I could do it myself for about the same cost. So much for the "free" oil change.

 

According to my dealership, I get 2 years free and it includes synthetic.

 

They told me that the 4 bangers got the syn. not the V6's?

 

Your oil cap will tell you.

 

So are you saying that some V6's get syn. and others don't? Because they told me the V6's were not engineered for syn. Not sure what "engineering" has to do with it but that's what they said.

 

The only way the extra cost for synthetic is EVER worth it is if you're extend drain intervals. So, if you're gonna stick to the 6000 mile oil change interval for warranty then no it's not worth it.

Also, any extra MPG you get you couldn't measure.

 

I guess I'm wrong as well as the salesman (who knew?)... it still is 5w-30 for the V6.

 

I think the 4 cylinder Tacoma that comes with 0w20 is full synthetic.If you look in the book I think it says the 4 cyl. requires full synthetic.Not recomended but required.If you put dino oil in and have a problem expect to get your engine waranty canceled.I have a Prius that requires synthetic with oil changes at 10,000 miles but I think the Tacoma says 5,000 with synthetic. In my V6s I always used synthetic and changed at 7,500 miles.

 

That is a misunderstanding... synthetic is NOT required. What is required is it be ILSAC GF4 or better and 0W20 (and I'm not positive about the 0W20 part). Thing is, 0W20 GF4 oil only comes in synthetic. For now...but if someone made a mineral oil 0w20 and certified it to GF4 it would be perfectly acceptable and meet warranty requirements.

Only a few years ago you couldn't get 5w20 mineral oil and it's now very common.

 

Changed the oil in the Porsche this weeked. The oil filter is $25 and it holds 8 quarts of Mobile One!!!

 

Most shops don't take customers parts to use, even for oil change, less headache for them if anything bad happens with the vehicle afterwards

 

I've never had any difficulty... they just caution you they won't warrant the part. Which seems fair... but that means they won't warrant their labor either unless you can prove it caused the part to fail.

I never had difficulty with using my oil either.

 

My understanding is that a truely conventional oil (Group II) cannot make the 0W weight due to the way that 0W is defined (can't find a link to the details right now). Only oil that can make the 0W weight definition is a Group III or Group IV base oil, which, in the US, means an oil labelled as "synthetic". BTW, pratically everywhere else in the world would label a Group III oil as a "blend". A Group III oil is actually a more refined dino oil, not a true synthetic, although some Group III oils actually have some amount of Group IV oil in the blend.

 

The whole argument about whether or not gp III is synthetic is way overblown; besides, focusing on a name ignores what's important and that's how does it perform. For a long time gp III synthetics, especially gp III+, have performed as well PAO gp IV, that's all that matters.

The arbitrary decision to exclude gp III from being called "synthetic" is pretty much an EU thing, Germany especially.

What I've read is gp IV doesn't dissolve additives very well. A good passenger car motor oil needs to have a long service life, that means a healthy additive package has to be dissolved into the oil. I think that's one purpose for the gp III oils in the blend: help dissolve the additive package.

 

I pay around 70/75 bucks for a Mobil 1 change at the local Speedee Oil and Lube...worth it to me as I go 10XXX miles between changes.

 

$75 for an oil change?? Even for M1 that seems excessive!

 

I'm not arguing that a Group III oil is not fit for purpose for any OCI of 10k or less, my beef is with the labeling. I have no problems with group III oils and definitely run one of them for my 5k OCIs now (and that is still overkill), but I'd prefer to know what I'm buying and in the US, I can't. It's all Castrol's fault