synthetic oil

Yes.

Some folks in the Toyota group say no, but I don't see why not. Why do you want to switch? $$$?

The only reason I see running synthetic is not having to change the oil so often. The price is about 2-3 time more but you can use the synthetic for

2-3 times longer. My next oil change will be to synthetic because I do change my own oil and with 4 vehicles to maintain it makes for a long day when I do them all. I need to put space between those days and that alone is worth the money.

1998 Dodge Dakota, 5.2L V8, Club Cab

2000 Dodge Dakota, 3.9L V6, Regular Cab 2000 Dodge Neon, 2.0L 4 cyl. 2002 Dodge >

Don't count on it. The only reason to use synth, in my opinion, is if you are running extremes of temps. Does't thicken as much when cold, doesn't thin as much hot. The extended drain properties are overstressed.

Thats an old argument that just doesn't make much sense. It is true that synthetic does not break down as easy and thus would last longer. However, dirt still builds up in synthetic just the same. Keeping oil clean is every bit as important.

I use it in my new car only because it's supposed to have better lubrication properties. I did set the reminder for 4,500 miles, however. The factory sets it at 7,500! (2005 Scion tC)

The rest of the cars, '88 Supra, '89 Mazda 626, '86 Camry and '85 Corolla GTS (Hachiroku...) get 3.5 quarts of Castrol GTX and 1 quart Marvel Mystery oil. The '85 has been getting this mixture since new and has NO smoke and good oil pressure considering 259,000 miles...

The longest change on the Corolla was 5,500 (of a recommended 7,500 interval) cause it was COLD!!! All the rest were 3,000 to 4,000 miles.

NO repairs have ever needed to be done to that engine!

What weight GTX are you running, and where? I used to use 10W40 in the winter and 25W50 in the summer here in Southern Ontario on Toyotas and had EXCEPTIONALLY good servive from all 600+ I maintained. ANd I didn't use MMO - I've had good luck with MMO freeing up stuck rings and noisy lifters - used to use Rislone for the same problems and it worked well too.

Generally 10W-40. In the '85 Corolla for the past few years I've been running 20W-50, cause it's getting old and the Oil Pressure isn't quite what it used to be.

For the synthetic I use 5W-30 like the Owner's Manual says.

And, in the Mazda is a 3-vavle per cylinder engine with hydraulic lifters, so I use the MMO trick in that car. On really, REALLY cold days they still tick, but not once it's above 20 Degrees F.

Where in S. Ont? I used to go to Oshawa a couple times a year, and hung around Toronto a lot.

Waterloo / Elmira area. Half wat between Toronto and London

OK! Been there just twice.

for better or worse the truck that is my daily work truck has been a guinea pig for extended oil changes. it is a ram 4x4 w/360. i started it out from the first oil change with castrol 20-50 syntec and use only k & n oil filters. the service interval is every 10,000 miles. i drive a lot and have four other trucks to keep serviced so i wanted to see how far i could push one of them.

this truck pulls my camper, trailers with tractors, motorcycles and cars. it has a load put on it almost every day. during the summer it sits and idles while i am out of it working so that the cab will still be cool when i get back in. that means it runs at least 8 hours a day during the summer here in georgia.

after 260,000 plus miles it is still running strong. it has had 4 fan clutches, two water pumps and about a half dozen serpentine belts put on since it was new. i have cleaned the throttle body twice and replaced a few batteries. at 215k i had to put in a new tranny. it had one transmission fluid change at 60k to synthetic fluid. other than brakes there have been no other repairs necessary.

i believe that 260k of hard work with a 10k service interval is a good sign that synthetic oil does its job. when i drop the oil it is black but still has that slippery feel. when the engine finally dies i look forward to tearing it down just to see what it looks like on the inside. michael

p.s. i also put sythetic gear oil in the differentials and they have held up well thus far.

Mine has synthetics in the transmission and rear axle but not the engine - until the next change. Just did the water pump with ease and success. My

2000 is getting read to be traded in on a 2006/7 Dakota though. I really like that body style. I see a lot of other manufactures do too because they modeled their vehicles after it's body lines. As I said before, the next oil change for any of my vehilces will be to synthetic.

260k miles is a lot for any vehicle but if it is taken care of properly it should last. You've done very well and I commend you.

at present i have.

1972 dodge dart 318 w/auto, a/c, power steering, power brakes. unknown miles. it is fixing to be torn down and recieve a 383, 727, dana 60 and paint.

1969 dodge camper special 383, 727 dana 60 posi unknown miles and may become the donor vehicle for the dart. (unless i decide to shoehorn one of the spare hemi's around the shop into the dart)

1991 dodge dakota 2wd, v-6, auto, air. odo broke years ago at 177,000 miles don't have any idea how many actual miles. 5,000 mile service interval with conventional castrol 20-50

1993 dodge dakota 4x4, v-6, manual, air

215,000 miles 5,000 mile service interval with castrol 20-50 semi-synthetic

1996 gmc topkick, caterpillar 3116, allison auto, 40' high ranger bucket

278,000 miles 5,000 mile service interval with rotella t

1997 dodge ram 4x4, 360, auto, air

260,000 miles 10,000 mile service interval with castrol 20-50 full synthetic

2001 dodge ram 4x4, cummins diesel, auto, air

150,000 miles 5,000 mile service interval with rotella t

2 1970's h-d flh's lots o miles

3,000 mile service interval with castrol 20-50 full synthetic

2007 h-d road king

6,000 miles 3,000 mile service interval with h-d brand 20-50 full synthetic

i get lots of miles out of everything i buy. i don't trade vehicles, i just buy new ones as the need arises and the older ones just get passed down into lighter duty service. by the time i get through with them the trade in value isn't worth getting rid of a good truck. except for the one gmc (dodge doesn't offer a 26,000 lb gvrw truck) all of the 4 wheeled vehicles are dodges. i have not have a single major except for the 215k tranny replacement in the 97 ram. i cannot complain as all of these trucks are have been worked hard. eventually i am going to have some engines fail and when it does i am going to tear them apart just to see what they look like inside and try to determine what role a particular oil played in their lifespan. michael

I talked to an old farmer here in the midwest and he changes oil according to mfg. specifications (7,500 miles) and uses regular oil, not synthetic. He's been doing this for years and years, and his vehicles run as long as anything else does, well into the 200k range -- and these are farm vehicles no less. I'm inclined to wonder how anyone 'knows' that you should change oil more often than the manufacturer dictates, since pretty much no one ever lets it go anywhere near that long anyway. If I was running a turbo I might consider a synthetic if it afforded less coking.

My rule is to change it only when it's so dark that I have trouble reading the hash marks on the dip stick. I never have problems where oil is concerned. My miles will vary greatly on each vehicle too. I am going to synthetic on the next change though just to see if it does last as long as they say. As I said I have 4 vehicles (all Dodge) and I do my own oil changes. After one of those shops cross-threads a drain plug on you - you never go back. I would like more time between changes and synthetic oil may give that to me.

Abby Normal wrote: "My rule is to change it only when it's so dark that I have trouble reading the hash marks on the dip stick. I never have problems where oil is concerned. My miles will vary greatly on each vehicle too. I am going to synthetic on the next change though just to see if it does last as long as they say. As I said I have 4 vehicles (all Dodge) and I do my own oil changes. After one of those shops cross-threads a drain plug on you - you never go back. I would like more time between changes and synthetic oil may give that to me."

********************************************* If you just go by whether the oil is dark enough to see the hash marks on the dipstick -- and the synthetic stays clean longer than conventional oil -- that wouldn't exactly be a plus IMO, for obvious reasons. :-) It will be interesting to see if that's the case, though. Post the results if you think of it.

I hope we all live long enough! ;)