About oil change, and the synthetic oil
 

Sorry if it is a Q.

Do you use synthetic oil for oil change in your car?

I have this link here about oil change: http://www.edmunds.com/car-care/top-...motor-oil.html

But the technical terms are a bit too technical for me.

we use synthetic in our trucks, changing at 10k.

10,000 on synthetic is good. I do this, but I change the filter every 5000.

I use synthetics in my vehicles from the start and change every 10K. BUT you should not switch to synthetic oil if u have regularly changed your oil in an older vehicle with 75k + miles. Your seals and gaskets can start leaking.

We do too. We only change our oil in our big trucks once in the winter when things slow down at work. They usually have 4000 to 6000 miles on each one by this point, though.

This is not true for anything past the earliest versions of synthetics.

LMAO. not true.

I switched my 09 ram to synthetic at 150k because apparently when a dealership says "oil changes for life" it's only their life. She's now at 205k leak free and running hard.

All of you have testified that after using the synthetic oil, your car last a long time. But how do you know if you use the regular oil that would not achieve the same result?

I think it was originally thought that Synthetics had detergents in them, and overtime, would remove buildup around seals that weren't leaking soley because they were blocked up by said buildup.

I have no idea if that is, or ever was true.

Wear protection aside, I use synthetic because I get twice the mileage out of it vs conventional.

I heard this, too.

WIth proper maintenance the car will last the same time, just with synthetic you require less oil changes.

If it starts leaking, it was already leaking. Synthetic will make an existing leak much more obvious.

Probably, yeah.

Though Synthetic has been proven to hold it's viscosity better than conventional.

If you live where there is cold weather in winter and your car sets outside syn is for you also.

I'm glad this was brought up.

I recently purchased a 2011 F150. I've always changed the oil in every vehicle I've ever owned every 3-4k miles but I'm at 3000 now and the truck's computer is telling me it's "oil life" is still at 75%. Should I listen to it or change the oil anyway? According to the manual I should base oil changes on the system info (computers) recommendation. I know for a fact it has regular oil in it, not synthetic.

Seriously? How?

If I had a leak, I wouldn't use synthetic because of the higher price.

You can do 5000 on conventional.

Heh. Pretty much

Listen to your vehicle.

Because it's better oil and will squeeze through gaps more readily than conventional oil. You don't always know you have a leak. When I began running synthetic, a leak that might leave a drip on my driveway every two days turned into a gusher.

I use Mobile 1 synthetic and Mobile 1 filters. Best I could find via research and word of mechanic mouth. Never any problems and engine purrs like a kitten.

Thanks guys ... hadn't realized this.

I believe synthetic is more expensive ... Correct??? If so how does that play into the mix?

I change mine ever 5K ... coz almost all my miles are on the interstate.

It is, but since most people change synthetic oil every 10k, the added cost is nil.

This. I like Mobile 1.

Ah, that makes sense.

fully synthetic ....changed every 5K miles. easier to keep track that way....105k, 110k etc.

You're just wasting money. May as well use conventional. What is so difficult about remembering to do it every 10k? 110k, 120k, 130k...

I take my 07 Silverado with 85K mi and my 03 Suburban with 218k mi to Firestone and they get the Kendall Synthetic Blend around 4k mi

The 03 Saab 9-3 gets Ful Synth Mobil 1 around 9-10k

Interesting. The stuff you learn here...

My FIL ran Royal Purple in my car and changed the oil every year since the car didn't get driven 3k in a year anyway. He is telling me to still use Royal Purple (which is fine) and still change every 3k anyway. He's also one of those old quirky guys who just likes to stay busy and that doesn't make much sense to me. Thoughts? Every 5k for that engine (4.6L) for a Mustang GT (15k miles)?

My 98 Jimmy has 260,000 miles and still gets conventional. **** synthetic. Shit's too expensive.

I don't care one way or the other, but what's the cost difference between using conventional and changing it every 3000 vs using synthetic and changing it every 10,000?

This thought process is in conflict.

The point of synthetics is you have less wear on the motor, therefore less stuff in your filter, therefore no need to change the filter before the oil.

Its not just that the oil "last longer" it last longer because there isn't crud in it.

How about heat?

How do you change a filter without changing the oil?

Unscrew the filter, screw a new one on. Very similar to the procedure for changing the filter when you change the oil.

This. So much this. It gets real cold where I live and using a light weight synthetic helps a lot.

Today's oils (conventional oil too, not just synthetic) are so vastly superior to oils made even 20 years ago that yes, you are ok to believe what the truck computer says. Yes, modern oils are that good.

A lot because I don't change every 3,000. 10,000 is fine.

Jesus. You are cheap.

More like lazy. Why do more work than I have to? It's clearly not hurting the longevity of my engine.

Perspective man. I never keep a car past 3 years. Don't give a shit about oil changes. I do it once a year. Which is twice per car.

And it's BS that my current car requires a change every 2500. The number goes down all the time, while engines get better and better.

Scam.

Many manufactures have a schedule of 10-15k on good quality synthetic. Suspect a little of that number may be due to the maintenance programs included with new cars. Have read some arguments on performance cars that you may be driving hard so you should change every 7.5k but many say 10k is fine if you are not doing stuff like tracking it.

This is the common sentiment in the vintage Porsche forums I belong to...It's not a good idea to cross pollinate. If you have been using traditional oil..stick with it.

I use Deere 45-15 on my pickup and trail blazer. It happens whenever I get a little time. I would say it averages 4-7 K. My oil light rarely comes on.

I do put the 5-30 in the wife's car. And that usually happens about 4 K

Oh yeah. It's because the Deere oil is WAAAAAAY cheaper because I get it in bulk. That and my tractors work way harder than my pickup so I'm not worried about it.

Brought that up with a dealer one day when I took it in for other routine maintenance... the manual says "at least once per year" or when the computer says so, a lot of people say 5k or even 10k is fine these days, the computer says I'm at 60% life.... and they still tried to convince me that it's strictly every 3k, of course so I could have them do it for some stupid price.

And even then, 3k is so ingrained, I kind of felt bad waiting for 5k, and even then the computer's still at like 40% remaining.

New car is 15k or one year, and I'll definitely hit one year first.

That is ridiculous. Almost half the oil you can buy at any store is a dino/synthetic blend.

Dino oil is largely alkane-based and synthetic is largely composed of alkenes and carboxylic acid derivatives. The compounds do not disturb one another in any way.

Essentially everything else you put in your car is also a mixture of various chemicals rather than a pure compound.

It's not ridiculous....I get my advice from people who race these cars and have 20 years of experience with repairing them. Many people have experienced oil leaks after switching to full synthetic. Then again I use really expensive dino for my car...20w/50 that you cant get from AutoZone. You do understand that my model is 25 years old. For whatever reason..the seals dont respond well to it...could be that my model requires such a heavy oil.