Synthetic oil

In reply to Aquatic Tacoma's comments, I'm not meaning to be offensive, but if you had all those problems there were other things going on.

Unless one has a vehicle that has been severely neglected (ie, infrequent oil changes), synthetic oil is just fine, and you can convert to synthetic anytime.

I've never had problems switching a vehicle to synthetic, and I've owned many vehicles over the past 35 years.

Having said that, I don't like to get in the middle of the synthetic vs dino fluids debate. I personally use synthetic....but as long as you perform regular oil changes, either is fine. I prefer synthetic due to several advantages that it has...but it does cost more...BUT I can go for extended drain intervals and the additional cost is well worth it to me.

My 4.3 liter chevy V6 has 308k miles, runs like new, uses one quart of oil every 6k miles, get great fuel mileage, and has never been opened.

peace

 

Hansel, thats my point. My Ranger was a great truck, running on regular oil. I didn't know anything was going on until I cleaned her out. Then there was no gong back. So, since I had a couple ex company Tacomas sitting in the garage taking up space I started driving one full time. Then sold the Ranger.

 

Just a data point to add: '03 Tacoma 2.7L bought with 136K miles on conventional oil, records showed it had been changed at 4K-4.5K mile intervals consistently. I changed to Mobil-1 High Mileage 5W-30 and Toyota filter after buying it in Sept 2011. I picked this oil because my Tundra 4.7L it replaced ran well and no valvetrain tick with it.

Ran that for two changes at 5K intervals, it got black on the dipstick in less than 1K miles both times and I saw small chunks of crusty crud come out during draining.

Last oil change I switched to Pennzoil Platinum synth plus 5oz of RedLine ZDDP additive (SOP for me since API spec SM and now SN reduced ZDDP). Changed to Pennzoil just to standardize...wife's SUV likes Pennzoil synthetic, Mobil-1 made her valvetrain tick a bit at operating temp. One less partial-jug of oil sitting on the shelf.

No leaks, no sweating, no consumption between changes and I run 8K-9K mile change intervals mostly highway usage. Current fill has over 2K miles on it and is just a tad darker amber in color than when it went in.

 

See this is what I'm afraid of

 

You're afraid of bad spelling and lack of engineering familiarity with engine bearing clearances?

 

No, I'm afraid to switch to synthetic, it clean all the buildup out, and then I have leaks from every seal on the engine.

 

Only if your engine has not been properly maintained for the last 10 years.

 

x2. I've switched several vehicles (with thousands of miles on them) to synthetic with ZERO problem and NO regrets.

 

As I posted above, I did mine over 50K miles ago. I suppose it could start leaking from every seal on the engine any minute now...

 

How bad is the engine? Leaks, sludge etc. if there bad keep running conventional, if there good then switch to synthetic. Synthetic could make things worse.

 

Alright, well switched to Mobil 1 high mileage with a Mobil 1 oil filter. We'll see what happens!

 

I bought my truck with 74K miles. It has 97K miles. Since I bought it, I used Rotella 6, full synthetic. is what I use in all my cars. Have yet to have a problem, on either vehicle. I Change the oil once every 12 months (about 8-9K miles).

 

Never updated this thread! Switched and have been running fine! Seems that's oil was a lighter color when I changed it again as well