Synthetic Oil

No, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes...

With that high mileage on the '96, I would do as you've done... Works great! "If you do as you've done, you'll get what you got." Some times a tiny buildup keeps the cylinder/pistons thight. That is my experience.

Conversley, on the '04 I'd go synthetic;

- the oil stays on the cylinder walls so the morning start is not "dry"... A bad time for little engine. Con: Cost. (I buy a five quarts at Wal*** for under $20.-)

And yes, you can switch back at any time.

Regards,

H.

Being the cheap bastard that I'm the plan is to run dyno most of the time, but use sysnthetic every once in a while for its purgatory action. Think of it as an industrial strength cleaner for the engine.

It will remove varnish from internal engine parts(that's why it always looks so black - keeps varnish in solution better) - but I dunno if anyone has proven that varnish coating to be harmful. 'Dino' oils and modern engines are both much better than they used to be - but I use synthetic to just give me an edge, if I'm 700 miles over on my oil change schedule because I was ill or veru busy, or I'm near a change but need to make an urgent trip to my my daughter's place in Colorado, I know I don't have to worry. In my wife's OBW, I know I have a slight edge due to the short trips and many xtra starts the engine gets(severe service) and in my WRX I know the turbo bearing is slightly less likely to 'coke' with syn oil. Plus, I can afford it. I rationalize that changing it myslef saves me the price difference over paying someone to put in dino oil.

lots of interesting reading about engine oil over at

Carl

Hi,

My limited experience tells me if synthetic oil's performance ever even comes close to the advertising hype, it will surpass sliced bread on the list of the world's greatest inventions!

I would look at each engine as a case in itself: does it burn oil, does it leak oil, are the seals relatively new, or ancient? What kind of driving do you do? Where and when? How much money are you willing to spend on this experiment?

IME, synthetics handle heat better than dino oils, holding oil pressure better, not burning off as fast IF the engine's tight, and sometimes helping the car either run cooler, or return to normal temp faster after a run that heats it up a bit. They DON'T improve fuel economy enough to notice, they DON'T reduce oil consumption in a loose engine, and they DON'T CAUSE oil leaks, but DO manage to find any existing ones! Others may have different experiences.

On the higher mileage car, you might want to start with Wally World's house brand, Super Tech synthetic. It's far cheaper than the brand names (Mobil 1, Castrol Syntec) at about $12.50/5 qts locally, and is claimed to be formulated for higher mileage cars with the "usual" seal conditioner claims. I currently have it installed in my two Toyotas: an '88 pickup that only has 74k miles (so you can imagine what the inside of that engine might look like--I don't know, got it at 63k a few months ago) and a '92 Camry V-6 w/ 234k miles.

On the pickup, oil consumption dropped from approx 1 qt/3000 miles to around 1 qt/4500 miles. Nothing else can be noted. On the Camry, which suffers the "standard" Toyota V-6 leaky valve cover gasket on the rear bank, the leakage has diminished ~some~ as determined by the "stink factor." Otherwise nothing else can be noted.

I tried an experiment w/ Mobil 1 on my Subie once, and all it did was empty my wallet a little faster: the engine had approx 250k miles, and ate some oil. It ate Mobil 1 as happily as Castrol GTX. No benefit could be noted.

About now someone will revive the "only Mobil 1 is true synthetic cuz it's got a PAO base" arguments. Listen to them if you wish. Chuckle a little if it makes you feel better. Dino oils for diesels, such as Rotella and Delo 400, are tested to one MILLION miles and pass just fine. I've read the second highest mileage gas engined car in the Guinness book is supposed to be a Honda Accord, around '90 or '92 IIRC, w/ approx 1.2 MILLION miles on the ORIGINAL engine. No teardowns. Castrol Syntec. So take the stories for what they are worth. Until I have the money to buy a fleet of otherwise identical cars and run them on different oils to test wear and stuff myself, I shall remain a believer that cheap dino oil, changed every 3000 miles, will do about as well as expensive "synthetics" of any flavor. But I could be wrong: my Subie, which had dino oil for all but 3000 miles I know of (the Mobil 1 experiment), blew up at 360k miles. So maybe that dino stuff IS bad!

Rick

I second that. At $3/qt Mobil 1 used to be a bargain but at $6/qt it hardly is now.

I buy my Mobil 1 at Wal-Mart. 5 quart container for $21.89 or about $4.37 per quart. I do a 5-6,000 mile OCI so the cost per dollar is not too bad considering what I feel is a very good safety margin over the

Same here, but I have local stores that match or come very close to the WM price.

FWIW, I don't buy the 25,000 mile hype and all of the "network marketed" brands oil claims. I do see Mobil 1 as an honest product with a long track record and very little hype compared to many of the smaller brands. I do my own oil changes with Mobil 1 for the same price as having someone else do it with bulk oil. I see faster oil pressure after the 3-5 days my vehicles sit between uses on cold starts, and better oil pressure in hot weather traffic jams.

On another note, I own and fly small aircraft, home of the $30k air-cooled 4 cyl., "low performance", 2000 hour between overhaul piston engine, and see little hype, argument, or disagreement around hangars about synthetic motor oils. Folks simply use it because they feel it works. We use an Aeroshell Synthetic 20w-50 product at about $6 qt. Remember, these engines get borescoped, compression tested, etc... at least once a year, and every 100 hours in commercial service, and oil analysis at many oil changes. Aircraft also sit long periods between uses, just like some of my vehicles.

You spends your money, and you take your chances...