I hope this doesn't set off a religious debate, but here goes:
I just had the dealer perform an oil change on my '07 Camry (4 cyl) and they used synthetic oil and said it was required. I went to my owners manual and took a quick look and found only grade recommendations and didn't see anything specific about synthetics (I'm not saying it wasn't in there, I didn't do an exhaustive search but checked the places that mentioned lubricants and engine specs.)
A quick google search on synthetics returns an almost overwhelming amount of information and a lot of difference of opinion. Much of this information may be outdated now so I'm not even sure what still applies. My questions:
1) Are synthetics really required for this car or was this just a way for the dealer to pull an extra $14 out of my pocket?2) Do using synthetics prevent going back to using non-synthetic oil at some future point (read this somewhere but again, article was dated
2000, so could just be false or perhaps no longer true)?3) Should you really wait for the engine to break in and seal the piston rings before switching to a synthetic? My Camry currently has
5,000 miles on it.Thanks for any clarification. I hope there is somewhat of a consensus or I'll just get more confused :-)
dc