switch to synthetic oil for my autos? Any pros or cons? If I do
switch to syn oil, can I switch back without harm to the car? Thanks.
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
