Synthetic Oil ??

To answer your question with a question.....

If you do change from dinosaur oil to synthetic (at four or five times the cost) what do you hope to gain? Increased engine life? Cooler running? etc etc?

>

Synthetic oil is great stuff. In the three Toyota's we have we don't use it at all. Changing your oil every 3k - 5k miles depending on conditions should be plenty.

If you've a turbo engine or some other high-performance stressed out engine, then I'd use synthetic even if the mfr. did not recommend it.

I think you'd be wasting your money on it, and its not going to clean up any sludge, real or imagined.

at all. Changing your oil

then I'd use synthetic

sludge, real or imagined.

Syn is great in areas with temp extremes. Here, in Alberta, where we bottom out in winter at -40 all too often, 5W-30 kicks ass....car can sit all day long OUTSIDE, not plugged in, and start in an instant as there is no drag caused by thick, cold dino oil.

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Synthetic oil is the best in extreme climates in regular car engines as it doesnt even BEGIN to thicken until ambient reaches -45*F.

You can imagine how well this will lubricate your engine on cold starts wherever you live.(Instant lubrication )

However having said that > it has been reported that synthetic oil will start leaking gaskets because it dissolves the crud that is sealing the gaskets.

If your car , regardless of mileage has been neglected for regular FREQUENT oil changes over the years I would hesitate to use synthetic at this point in its life

Synthetic WILL dissolve all the crud in your engine and may cause MORE problems than you can tolerate.

I would use dino oil and change it every 1000 miles for the next 3 changes to dissolve all the crud in your engine and drain it out with each oil change .

Then I would start a REGULAR oil and filter change program under the "severe service " designation of your owners manual.

Hope this helps

I was told to use dino for the first 24,000 kilometres, and THEN switch to syn. It was suggested to delay too long before switching to syn could result in gasket leaks.

10,000 kilometers (6000 miles) is more than enough time to wait to switch to synthetic.

In the old days, synthetic oil could cause gaskets to leak. But that is not a problem anymore.

The problem now when switching too late is that excessive engine wear may have already occurred, and the slippy synthetic oil will slide past the piston rings too easily.

== see: auto-rx.com

The 1996 engine is not a Low Emissions Vehicle (LEV) rated engine. It runs cooler than the 97+ sludge makers and are less likely to sludge up than Toyota engines produced after 1997. In fact, the 96 even has an oil cooler. How cool!

The concern is with sludge on the bottom of the cylinder head, and that's seen only when you pull the valve cover. At around $15 you might want to do that. Just follow the Haynes manual. If you do any maintenance work it's a 10 minute job with a large socket (30/32mm?) and a few dabs of RTV (sensor safe, 99 cents at your local 99 cent store). Yeah I know, Camrys are worth it ;-)

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syn. It was suggested to delay

THIS IS WHAT PUZZLES ME ? I KNOW VEHICLES HAVE TOP BE "BROKEN " IN ,BUT WHY DO SOME CAR MANUFACTURERS INSTALL MOBIL 1 SYNTHETIC RIGHT AT THE FACTORY ? (PORSCHE, LAMBORGHINI, FERRARI ETC.AND I THINK MERCEDES.Also I heard Chrysler was using it in the Viper Sorry about the caps , lock was stuck.

Since 1999, all US BMW cars have come with synthetic oil, and the previous recommended change interval has doubled.

Tom K.

Because their high performance engines require synthetic oil, and the warranty requires it. Therefore, they could hardly put in conventional oil for first fill if they required owners to use synthetic.

Modern engines no longer need the regular break-in period. At least for better cars. So the factory-filled synthetics in VW, BMW, etc can easily go 15,000 miles with oil sensors telling you when to change (as low as 12,000 miles).

Just don't play the extended drain game in a Toyota. It's small filter and crankcase size aren't designed for extended drain intervals.