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Synthetic Oil switchover at 77,000 miles? OTM question

The OTM that I recently received is just about to hit 78,000 miles, and it is a 1995 model. It has always been serviced with dino oil, as far as I know.

Would you, (the group), switch to synthetic oil on a car of this age and mileage? I was considering Mobile One in 10W-30W.

The mileage seems low enough to do this, but I wonder about the possibility of having the synthetic oil start to seep since the seals are older than is typical for a car with this few miles.

Right now, it does not leak or burn a drop of oil between changes from what I can tell. The used oil with 3,000+ miles on it still has a golden color instead of black, it is barely darker than when new. My turbo Miata, with less than 50K miles on the engine, turns the oil black in less than 2,000 miles.

I am tempted to leave well enough alone, but with synthetic oil currently running not that much more per quart than regular oil, I am also inclined to go ahead and use it if it increases the engine efficiency at all, as long as no problems are likely to result from it.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks!

Pat

Reply to
pws
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I see no need to use synthetic oil in any normal passenger car, unless it's boosted. It's cheaper to use dino, and change it frequently. Yes, synthetics lubricate somewhat better, but not enough to matter in engines that aren't being pushed past their design envelopes.

Reply to
Lanny Chambers

One HUGE advantage of synthetic oil and one that's usually overlooked is that it's a sale point if you ever plan to sell the car.

"Always used Brand X Synthetic, have all service records" looks good in an ad. It might not get you more money but it could be a deciding point if there are several for sale for similar prices.

Other than that, there really isn't any "real world" advantage to synthetic, contrary to popular believe it will NOT go longer between oil changes because the major reason to change oil is contamination and the type of oil makes absolutely no difference in amount of contamination.

All of the above is of no consequence, Pat deserves to be whacked multiple times with a Miata lug wrench for re-starting the DREADED OIL THREAD!

And to put the discussion to rest, here's the summary of every oil thread ever started in any newsgroup:

Oil is good, you should have some in your car!

Reply to
XS11E

Nah, it is all mucho help, though I agree with XS11E that resurrecting the oil thread should be punishable by a good beating. :-)

Thanks,

Pat

Reply to
pws

What more can you say?!

FWIW Pat, I think I'd stay with what's been working so well. Kind of like a proper working old automatic transmission, don't mess with it ;-)

Chris

99BBB
Reply to
Chris D'Agnolo

Actually, I think the summary should be -

Oil is good, you should have some in your car's engine! ;-D

Iva & Vixen

2004 Classic Red No more winkin' Miata
Reply to
Iva

Or, merging with the British car thread:

Oil is good, you should have some under your car!

Reply to
Lanny Chambers

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