synthetic oil at 103k

D

Derektri

New member
I recently purchased a 98 civic with 103,000 miles. The car has had its oil changed every 3-5k with dino oil. With this many miles on the engine do you think it is worth it to change to synthetic oil? I am leaning toward synthetic, but I have heard that the gaskets may leak after the change.
 
You can always try it and see what happens. My car is even older and has about equiv. 140,000 miles on it and doesn't use a drop of synthetic oil anywhere. Leaks may occur only because synthetic oil flows easier.



If you find it does seep a bit you could always simply switch back to regular oil the next change.
 
I changed my truck from dino to full synthetic (Amsoil) at about 120,000 km (80,000 miles) and it ruptured the oil pressure sender. Tough to diagnose, as it leaked only under higher revs, so there was hardly ever any oil on my garage floor. Other than that, I would not hesitate to do so again with my next vehicle. My current ride is running dino because I bought it used and I don't plan to keep it much longer.
 
i *believe* that is an old wives tale.....i run Mobil1 in my 91 S-10 and it now has 234,000 miles on it. changed every 3000 miles. Current car has 80K on it with the same type of oil..... I cant see why you wouldnt want to run syn....we now have the technology and i plan on using it!!! Amsoil is an intriguing (sp?) prospect...i have been to there site, read testimonials, and such, but Im not sure i can make that REALLY big tech leap quite yet. i also try to buy good filters (K&N):xyxthumbs
 
Flyby, AMSOIL is good stuff. Usually beats Mobil 1 in tests. I think the biggest advantage Mobil 1 has is you can get it locally. I sell AMSOIL and use it in all my cars.
 
Synthetics are great but they do have strong detergents in them. If you get a leak after using a synthetic, you probably had a leak for some time, but the crud was blocking the hole.



I think keeping the oil clean is more important that the type of oil used. I am sure it was Geekysteve who asked a crankshaft designer what oil he used, he said dino, changed often and hot.



Steven
 
Redline is the brand of lubricants i use but have heard good things about AMSOIL. They're both specialty products for car purists who want the best.
 
How many people does it take to make something said a fact? When it comes to believing synthetic oil actually cleans engine deposits so well the engines develop leaks, well I haven't seen enough documented proof to believe it. I'm not saying that it doesn't or couldn't happen, but I think coincidence also plays a big part in this. You get several dozen people making this claim on the net and suddenly it becomes fact. With that said here’s what I think.



Three of the main advantages of synthetic oils, and there’s more, have over conventional oils are: 1. Its superior flow characteristics at very low temperatures. 2. Its superior ability to withstand extreme engine temperatures. 3. Its superior lubricating qualities. Do you live where the temperatures get very cold in the winter? I’m talking below 0 for long periods. Is the engine turbocharged, in your case, no? How slippery is slippery enough for normal everyday use? Conventional oil has been around for over 100 years and has been refined and improved along the way. Racers use synthetic oils because their engines see extreme running conditions and because synthetics have been documented to reduce drag on moving parts which frees up power.



My wife’s Catera has 122k miles on it and I change the oil every 5k miles with conventional oil. Even after several thousand miles after an oil change, the oil on the dipstick remains very clean looking. I’ll never switch to synthetic in her car. Your car has accumulated 103k miles on it using conventional oil with regular oil changes. The engine was designed to be used with conventional oil by highly trained Japanese engineers. If changing to synthetic oil makes you feel better, and there’s something to be said for piece of mind, do it. I also highly believe in the saying, “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.�
 
dino oil: naturally made oil from fossils etc.

syn or synthetic oil: 100% man made oil, although even the purest have 1 or 2 chains of naturally made chemicals.
 
low said:
sorry for being a noob, but whats 'dino' oil?
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It's just a nickname for "normal" motor oil... don't try asking for it at a store. :D Oil doesn't really come from dinosaurs anyway.
 
Hi,



I'm not sure what '100% man made' really means, everything has to come from somewhere, doesn't it? And in the case of synthetics, then Mobil 1 is synthesised from ethylene, which is a refined from dino crude.... and then there's all those hydrocracked synthetics, which start off as a dino base...



Is the essence of synthetic oils that they contain hydrocarbon compounds not occurring naturally? And if so, is that prima facie evidence that they lubricate better?



These are just questions, not statements. I need a chemist.



Regards, Kes.
 
Here's a recommendation from Transport Canada (my father). If you're gonna use Full-Synthetic oil then also get the filter designed for use with it. If not the filter doesn't always catch everything as the oil flows alot easier than a non-sythetic.
 
If you want to use synthetic first go with a 50-50 mix of synthetic and regular oil. I believe that they had brands of oils that already have this mixed. Once you've done this about three to four times then go ahead and use the synthetic and check for leaks during the time you have it in the car with FULL synthetic. If you experience no leaks out of it then you're good to go.



HTH.
 
4DSC said:
What is this supposed to accomplish? :confused:
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i would have to agree, whats the point????



99% of the issues people have with syn are just wives tails. syn oil is better in every way that can be tested, cept for maybe semi-truck engines, but even they are making the swithc over as well. you can mix and match, do whatever you want to oils these days, just really doenst matter in the sense that one is not compatibel with another......syn doenst make engines leak nor does it wear them out faster. regualar maintainence of the engine with ANY oild will do u fine.
 
Red98gt said:
Flyby, AMSOIL is good stuff. Usually beats Mobil 1 in tests. I think the biggest advantage Mobil 1 has is you can get it locally. I sell AMSOIL and use it in all my cars.
Click to expand...



A lot of the "studies" done that show Amsoil to be superior to another product are sponsored by Amsoil itself! :o I would be wary about using such studies to say that Amsoil is better than Mobil 1 (probably its chief mainstream oil competitor).



-Bob
 
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