oil discussion

[lord flashheart]

so i was talking with my fiance's father, and we were talking about synthetic vs syn-blend vs conventional.
now i was always taught to start your car off on conventional oil till you pass 20K mark so the engine can properly break in, then switch to synthetic to keep the wear at a minimum and then stay there till it starts burning oil then syn-blend and then later conventional till the engine is done for. and once you go to conventional you shouldnt go to synthetic. however synthetic blend is ok.
he was saying an engine should have synthetic regardless of milage or engine wear.. and if you have conventional you could switch to syn blend and then synthetic but you cant go strait to full sythetic.

i just wanna see what everyone else thinks.
if its any consolation i use synthetic blend. due to the higher milage
to me the 'synthetic is good for every car regardless of milage or wear' is propaganda.

[Yamazaki]

My Impreza STI and S401 both are supposed to have synthetic according to the owner's manuals. So that what and why I use it.

[mike-tracy]

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/
- more than you ever wanted about oil. These guys are as fanatical about oil as we are about Subbies. :smile:

[jey]

All the engine builders I've talked to say you can switch to synthetic after a couple oil changes, no need to wait until 20k. I run synthetic in my Subaru.

My other cars get conventional because they have been running it for a long time.

[Huffer]

I run all three depending on cost and who's driving it. Wife's car get full synth, mine gets synth blend, rest of family get conventional unless they want to pay for semi-synth. My favored mechanic uses semi-synth in ALL the cars he services, usually doing 3-4 oil changes per day (imports, domestics etc).

General rule of thumb for a new engine is conventional for the first 1000, then a change to new oil, and then switch to whatever you want after 3000miles. You can switch to semi-synth, full synth, back to conventional whenever you want. My wife's Accord got the full synth at 130k, and hasn't leaked a drop.

[green97gt]

i dont know alot about new engines as by the time they are in my hands they are well past broke in.

but i DO know that if you have an older engine is is NOT a good idea to put in synthetic as if it had any minor leak with conventional, and you put synthetic in it, get ready to clean your driveway.

[Huffer]

^^ not completely true. IF an engine has a leak, then it's not a good idea to switch back and forth between oil type, brand and viscosity.
If the engine does NOT have a leak, switch to whatever floats your boat. Just don't switch too often.

[SilentRacer]

It's my understanding that the reason you wants to run conventional oil for the first 3000k is that the particles left over from production float it the middle of the oil and come out with the oil change. Afterward, you can run full synthetic to make dirt particles stick to the bottom and the oil itself is cleaner due to the its refining process. The reason I run full synthetic is that you can change it every 5k instead of every 3k due to how clean it is. Stuff like redline was claiming 10-15k miles on one oil change.

[Huffer]

^^ except that manufacturers like Toyota are now hot running (breaking in) engines prior to installing them into their vehicles, meaning you can drive pretty much how you would right from the dealer. They are still recommending the first oil change at 1000miles, but that's mainly because a vehicle might have sat for awhile before being sold.

As for the extended oil changes...you have to have a good oil filter as well. AMSOIL is the only oil maker I know of that has 10-15k on one change, Redline is new to me.

For my old late 90s engine, I'll still be using 3-4000miles as intervals, and a brand name oil. It's peace of mind for a few pennies I reckon.

[2.5GT]

It all concludes, oil is oil. Change it often and you shouldn't have a problem.

I run synthetic hehe

[jockstar]

i use amsoil and only change every 13k :grin:

[ouch1011]

Many of the myths about synthetic oil are just that---myths. Keep in mind that when many of these myths came about from the OLD synthetic oils back when they first came out. It did cause problems on the old engines of that day. Since then, synthetic oils have improved to be more compatible, and modern engines are better designed than they used to be. So far, I've used synthetic oil on 4 of my own cars...one I switched at 60k or so, one I bought brand new and switched at 1500mi, one was an 80s era car and I switched at about 175k, and one is my Subaru and I switched at 151k when I bought it. The 1st one I ran synth for about 45k miles and it was fantastically clean when I tore it down and had basically no wear, and burned only about a pint of oil every 3000mi. 2nd was my Mazdaspeed3 I bought new. These cars are notorious for having turbo seal failure and many conjectured that it was due to oil coking on the bearing and causing wear. They were failing extremely early. Mine had 30k miles of hard driving when I sold it and it used about a quart every 5k miles. The 3rd is my 300zx. It consumes quite a bit of oil, about 1qt per 1k. So I stopped using synthetic because its too costly to put 8qts of oil into the engine every oil change. It consumes the same amount on regular dino oil. And on my Subaru, it uses about .75qt per 5k.

I use synthetic oil because it offers a slightly extended oil change interval even without using a secondary oil filter and it offers better protection against the oil breaking down from heat and it flows better when cold. That's important for me because I don't have time to wait for the engine to warm up fully before driving, and I do enjoy the occasional hard drive, which cooks conventional oil.

BTW, synthetic blend is a joke. Unless you have researched the specific oil you are using, you are probably wasting your money. There is nothing out there that says how much synthetic base the oil maker needs to use in order to call it a synthetic blend. They could use 5% synthetic base and 95% petroleum base and still call it a synthetic blend. And if you think that oil makers wouldn't rip you off like that, consider these are the same basic companies that were gouging us for $5/gal of gas not too long ago. They are more than happy to rip you off and will do it however they can.

[stu-nami]

personally i've always drove higher mileage vehicles compared to most growing up in the open wide state of wyoming here's my point of view:
Oil is oil, the biggest difference is going to be HOW you DRIVE your car, I'd use synthetics if RPM's are going off the charts so you don't want it to break down...we've always used Mobil 1 and notice a 1.5-3 mpg difference compared to a conventional oil when drving on the interstate in our pontiac vibe and gmc sierra..and my dad works on the railroad so he is a hardA** on upkeep of vehicles...only other oil we use is castrol syntec
those 5k, 7500, 10k oils are bull there's no reason to run your oil that long personally, and as for blends i couldnt give you much of a response on that
I think your biggest concern should be your oil filter...best ones out there are NAPA GOLD, Puralator, and believe it or not JOHN DEERE if they can fit your application

Since people judge one another on "status" coming to your car, home, toys, etc. so many people just throw in a 15 oil job from wallyworld, or grease monkey with a 3$ paper filter....why wouldn't you spend an extra 10-20 bucks to get the best performance out of your vehicle to later prevent future problems and to make your car more reliable??? to me the extra money on synthetics are worth it since many nascar,formula 1, programs like that put them in theirs (BMW< MERCEDES<PORSCHE<FERRARI), so why wouldn't you do the same cuz your car should be just as valuable to you as theirs is to them

[Reason]

I agree with ouch, most of that crap is myths. I've run conventional, syn blend and full send in my 87 GT. WHEN I did have a small leak, it didn't leak anymore or any less with the full syn. It did how ever with the lighter weight oil. And Full syn oil seems to run a little thinner than conventional. I use now for the past 4-5 years full syn only now. It seems to make the engine a bit more quiet and run a little smoother. And no matter what I use, I always change my oil at 3k. I may have been guilty going over a few hundred, but I use Royal Purple and a K&N oil filter. My next change will be all AMSoil stuff to check it out.

[rougeben83]

I'll preface this beforehand and say I've never been a fan of "botique" motor oils, like there's some sort of magic imbued in these $8+/qt oils that the major brands don't have (RP, amsoil, redline, etc.). A few of them aren't even approved by API.

KN filters are just an overpriced Mobil 1 filter with a nut on it, and Mobil 1 filters are overpriced for the amount of filtering media you get, and both share the basic design as the SuperTech oil filters (all are made by Champion labs) :razz: RP is notorious for shearing down to a lower weight oil after a few thousands miles -its great for drag engines and the like that only sees a few passes before an oil change, but not for street cars that will put any appreciable amount of miles in between oil changes, especially if you go with a synthetic oil change interval (which is the main reason most people go with synth- to change their oil at 5-6k instead of the usual 3-4k.), at least that's what the BITOG guys have been talking about for a while now.

Not saying you shouldn't but there are definitely better choices for the money out there.

If you're changing oil at the "severe service" schedule, which is 3750 miles, on a relatively stock engine, a good conventional is plenty good. On turbo engines, subaru automatically puts you in the above schedule anyway, but those owners run synthetic mainly to keep the turbo happy.

[ScaryFatKidGT]

I thought now adays full synth was plain better, didnt break down as fast and protected your engine better then conventional thats why I switched to it. I want my car to stay lubricated when I take it to redline, But if your running full synth i dont really think name brands are worth twice the price its all full synth. I have no clue about synth blends.

I'l second reason on thinking my car ran just a bit smoother with full synth vs. conventional

[Kraziken]

I used to just run fully synthetic on my Subie and the wife's Lexus, but since my Suburban sits for long periods of time, I decided to just run Synthetic across the board.

I figure it is less likely to break down over time since it is sitting. As for break in, the newest car I ever bought was a 2000 Civic SI, and even that car already had 3000 miles on it. I think I just used Castrol regular, not synthetic.

I don't know, I think the quality of the oil even in regular non-synthetic can make a difference versus the cheapest oil you can buy.

This is why I do my own oil changes. The quick lube shops seem to think synthetic is made out of gold. I still can't contemplate how a $30 oil change becomes $80 when you ask for synthetic.

[ouch1011]

This is why I do my own oil changes. The quick lube shops seem to think synthetic is made out of gold. I still can't contemplate how a $30 oil change becomes $80 when you ask for synthetic.

Because they lose money on the $30 oil change, and they figure if you are wanting a "premium" synthetic oil, they can charge you a premium price to make up some of their loss. Same reason they try to get you to replace the air filter, fuel filter, transmission fluid, and add a $50 additive to every fluid in the car every time you get your oil changed.

[AlanV]

The semi-synthetics are a joke. The ford motor company uses a "semi-synthetic" in all their cars out of the factory now. It only has about 2% synthetic.
A new trend with the impreza owners here in memphis, TN, is using shell rottella t 15w40 diesel to combat oil consumption. *pulls hair out*
I use castrol edge full syn. i use about .5 qt per 3k miles. Once upon a time, I used Royal Purple because it was "the best thing for your car". Well a few autox's later and an oil change I found that the oil had foamed inside my motor. Very disturbing when the oil draining out of your car can have a head of foam like your beer sitting next to you.
BTW, I love my subaru. Just thought I'd share.

[Reason]

I just got a case of 5w30 full syn AMSoil