MonkeyBoy7805

Hey guys, Monkey here.

Just got to changed my motor oil for the first time. Previous owner was using synthetic I believe, then used regular oil for a while. I was not aware so I went ahead and did an oil change with synthetic, felt pretty good and smooth at first then I heard these rumors and what If im low on budget and might want to use regular oil...is this BAD?

What if I want to change back to regular Mobil 5000 oil instead of synthetic? I hear that it will mess up my entire engine. I have asked around and they all have difference answers. People such as Acura dealers, Autozone, co workers and etc.. Is this something I should be cautious for when doing an oil change coming up? Any procedure I shall take before switching back to regular? It has 130K, DC2, 10w 30 Mobil brand

Any opinions and personal experince or facts would be great.

vtaker

you can switch back without a problem. i wouldn't do it all the time though.

MonkeyBoy7805

Thanks for the feedback Vtaker, im surprise I only got 1 reply after 75+ views though, DOUCH!!

You you personally done this to your car? Yeah, I made a mistake using synthetic because they didnt sell the regular oil I want from mobil. wtf happen to mobil clean5000? Whats the replacment for this? I love that oil man!

MonkeyBoy7805

Would you recommend using mobil 1 synthetic all the time? I have 120k on my 96 integra ls

1998GsRIntegra

Honestly I wouldn't use anything other than mobil 1 synthetic. If your on a tight budget get it from walmart. Believe it or not, walmart is actually the cheapest place to buy it from.

Its almost opinion based as to what oil you use really. Some people buy oil based on the grade it has on the bottle and others buy based on manufacturer. Its kind of a toss up. I personally prefer using a fully syntheitc oil because it is slicker(terrible word choice but you get the idea) than a conventional oil.

My gsr is pushing 190,000 miles on the original motor. I bought it with 160k and the previous owner had owned it since 50k. He said nothing but mobil 1 syntheic was used and that is all I have used as well. It burns very little between oil changes. I change the oil every 4k miles and the motor sees 7k rpm on a daily basis. In 4k miles it maybe burns 1/4 of a quart of oil if that. I dont credit mobil 1, but to have a gsr motor pushing 190k miles and only burning a negligible amount of oil is kind of unusual.

Any way thats just my opinion and my experience with it. I'm sure you will be fine with what ever you use. Best of luck.

EJ1_CRIS_909

A friend of mine goes from conventional to synthetic all the time and his car still runs amazing. Its a 1997 Honda civic EX with approx. 17x,xxx miles. No burning oil, no oil leaks, Nothing. And i would know cuz im always helping him do oil changes, tune ups, and all that.

So switching shouldnt hurt your car at all. From what i heard, it was a myth put out by syn oil companies so u can keep buying their more expensive products. Sounds about right, considering the money theyll be making.

vtaker

No, but I am considering it and have done a bunch of research. My car burns 1qt/3000mi, which is not excessive for a GSR with almost 200k, but still. I'm pretty sure the previous owners used conventional its whole life. I got it at 170k and switched to mobil 1 10w30 syn and have been using that ever since. I probably should have just kept it on conventional since it's an old engine. It was only up until recently that the car started to use this much oil between changes.

BG29PGSR

It depends on the quality of the oil and filter. Do some research on different filters and brands of oil and filters. You get what you pay for. Sometimes even the dealer buys cheap oil and filters, I know cause the Honda dealer I was at did.
I personally sell Amsoil and I'm a big fan of their engine/transmission flush, which will clean up your engine and will give you a fresh start. Whether you plan on going syn or not - Its good to stick with the same oil.

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

No it will not hurt the engine. My car's oil history:

- Original owner used Castrol GTX 5w-30 up to 89K miles when I bought it.
- I switched it to Mobil1 synthetic 5w-30 after 89K, used that for about 20K miles, changed every 3K (huge waste of money)
- Switched to Valvoline MaxLife at about 110K, went back and forth between 5w in winter and 10w in summer (pointless), used that for 170K miles, changed every 3K.
- Switched back to Mobil1 synthetic at about 280K miles, but this time 0w-30, and now going 6 months/6K miles between oil changes.

My original engine and transmission has over 300K miles, and I lose maybe 1/2 qt in 3K miles, or maybe a full quart in 6 months/6K miles.

If you take care of your engine it will take care of you. I switched back to synthetic because I wanted to go longer between oil changes, and it's actually cheaper than using the Valvoline MaxLife changed every 3K miles. Also I wanted the to go to 0w-30 because 80% of engine wear happens during cold startup (engine below 100 degrees F), and the 0w is thinner when cold than 5w or 10w oil, yet still the correct 30 weight viscosity at operating temperature.

MonkeyBoy7805

Damn you guys make me feel like a tiny fish swimming with all these big gsr fishes in the water lol. I have an LS....

I totally agree, wal mart is the cheapest place to buy oil. I used to buy mobil clean 5000 or GTX there all the time.
You make me feel better now that I know there are others using synthetic type of oil for their high mileage cars lol. Im so new to the integra community.
Feeling good because after hearing and reading all this stuff about its not recommend to go synthetic for high mile cars.

But my main question i ask myself is that they stated it is "not recommended for high mileage cars", and why would they also say we "cannot switch back to conventional after using synthetic"?? Doesn't make any sense is why I am so confused!
For example, Lets say I start using it at 120k then after my milesage reaches a very high milasge its not recommened to use the synthetic so now I have no option switch back to conventional because its not good!?!? Im stuck??

I would like to use it all the time. But when my car reaches its very high point miles, "we are not recommended to use this cause of leakage etc." How will I go back to regular conventional oil? Do you guys understand what I am trying to say!?! BUT, after some and most of you folks said its OK to go back then maybe im just tripping.

Buy my mechanic DID say that the problem would be I will hear these pinging noise on my motor if I do switch back.

MonkeyBoy7805

A myth..lol that sounds exaclty what this guy from the dealer told me

98ekb16

The only thing I've ever heard about high mileage cars and synthetic is you don't want to take a car that already has high mileage and was run on conventional and switch it to synthetic. Reason being is the synthetic oil has more detergents in it, it will clean out any sludge that's built up in the engine that may be plugging cracked seals and now you will develop oil leaks. If the car is run on synthetic oil all its life or switched at lower mileage then it wont matter if you keep using it when the car reaches high mileage.

I had a Buick lesabre that I bought with 120k using conventional oil. First oil change I swapped it to castrol syntec. I drove that car to 197k when the tranny went. I went back and forth between synthetic and conventional a few times and I beat the living **** out of the car the whole time. When I got rid of it it would use a quarter of a quart in 3k miles, made no odd noises, and still ran like new. Wont hurt a thing no matter what you use, anyone that tells you otherwise has no idea what they are talking about or they want more of your money.

Vman455

You can switch back and forth, mileage doesn't matter. If you're interested in a trove of reading on this topic, go to the Viper Club forums (vca.org) and search for posts by username "Tom F&L GoR"--he's a retired Texaco oil formulator who readily admits to switching back and forth between mineral and synthetic oils in his 90,xxx-mile RT/10, buying whatever's cheapest at Wally World. If someone in the industry with a very expensive engine is that nonchalant about it, I see no reason to get worked up.

MonkeyBoy7805

Thanks for the feedback. I am feel more comfortable to switch over now if I was to decide to switch to conventional. It was like a nightmare for me. Knowing I just bought a car that I saved up all my life and gonna ruin the engine with a simple oil change. I was struggling with my previous car and spent lots of money. I then got this dc2 and wanted to baby it by buying an expensive oil with good minerals not knowing the caution of it. Well now I know and seems it doesn't really matter if I would act right now in switching type of oil. Which I might. Or might not depending on my financial.

All I know is its going to be either the current mobil 1 synthetic or mobil super 5000/GTX castrol, one of those. Thanks folks!

Psycho719

I just bought my DC2 with 122K miles and I am thinking of switching to synthetic too. My engine just recently had a valve job done to it and some other work to the engine. So, would it still be recommend for me to switch to synthetic? I'm just worried about oil leaks because I just had my rear main seal replaced under warranty and I don't want something leaking again.

MonkeyBoy7805

Physho719, you must be physho out your damn mind to be switching to synthetic LOL im creating this thread because I WANT TO SWITCH TO CONVENTIONAL OIL from a synthetic but was afraid to. Im Still debating over it...UMMMMMMMMMMMMMm

EJ1_CRIS_909

Synthetic oils are amazing. Im currently using rp synthetic on my b20 with a rp syn oil filter, and its ALOT smoother and quieter than the conventional I have used. Also, it has additives that help with wear on the engine by giving it a lining over moving metal parts to protect it from scraping metal to metal. And when the synthetic oil starts to get old, it dont break down and get thin like conventional. Its additives just wear out.

Vman455

The statement in bold is the only part of your post with any truth to it. I'm going to repost here something I wrote for another forum, and I apologize in advance because it's long:

"All right, this is my first post on this site, but I'm going to jump in here. I'm coming into Civics from Vipers, and as you can imagine, there's a lot of talk amongst those guys about what oil to run.

1. Cold weight is cold weight. A 5W-xx is a 5W-xx. When you start a cold engine, 5W-20 is almost equivalent to 5W-30, is almost equivalent to 5W-40 (I say almost because there are slight viscosity differences if you look up the MSDS on the manufacturers' websites, but they fall within a very narrow range).

2. Similarly, hot weight is hot weight. xW-30 is xW-30 at engine operating temperatures, regardless of the first number.

3. Mineral vs. synthetic: The first question we have to ask is, how are these terms defined? As was mentioned already in this thread, Group III oils are considered synthetic, and badged and sold as synthetic when, in fact, they are highly-refined mineral oils. What, then, differentiates minerals and synthetics? The answer is friction modifiers. These are substances added to an oil to give it the properties of a multigrade oil rather than a singleweight oil (allowing a 10W-40 to act like a 10-weight at low temperatures and a 40-weight at high temperatures). The advantage of synthetics is that they naturally have a wide viscosity range, and fewer friction modifiers need to be added to them to achieve the desired multigrade properties. Why is this good? Because friction modifiers break down over time in the high-pressure, hot environment inside an engine. Fewer friction modifiers=less breakdown=less change in the oil's viscosity over time. Theoretically, this allows synthetics to be run in an engine much longer than mineral oils.

I say theoretically because there are other considerations than a change in viscosity. All oils contain additives: to resist breakdown, to trap dirt, to prevent wear, etc. Additive packages among passenger car oils also do not differ appreciably between minerals and synthetics, or even manufacturer to manufacturer (I know I'll get flamed for saying that, but so be it. In the real world, it doesn't make much difference), but they do between type (passenger car vs. European passenger car diesel vs. heavy diesel). Mostly. For an illustration, skip to #6. Also, additives are used up or break down over time, necessitating replacement of the oil in our (or any) engines. When your oil turns black, it's a good thing, because it means it's doing its job--trapping soot, carbon, and dirt so it doesn't form deposits in the engine where you don't want it.

4. Yes, you can switch back and forth between mineral and synthetic oils with no adverse effects.

5. An engine will not run "smoother" on synthetic oil than it does on mineral of the same viscosity. As I said before, oil weight is oil weight. It's the additive package that matters.

6. Consider this example: My first Viper was a 2002 GTS, with an engine block designed in the early 1990s. Factory fill was Mobil 1 10W-30. My second Viper-powered vehicle was a 2005 Dodge Ram SRT-10, with the same aluminum block design (bored and stroked), but this time with Mobil 1 0W-40 from the factory, as all 2005 model year and higher Vipers use. Why the change? When the block was designed, the additives used in motor oils were very different; in particular, under API classification SG (1989-1994), levels of the anti-wear additive ZDDP (zinc dialkyldithiophosphate) were nearly twice what they are under the current SM (1200-1300ppm vs. 600-800ppm). The switch by Dodge from 10W-30 to 0W-40 was not made because of the oils' viscosity--Vipers are impossible to drive in the snow, and 10W oil is good for cold starts well below 0F anyway; a thicker oil at high temperatures, while solving some oil-starvation issues in high-g turns, actually robs horsepower slightly. The reason they switched was because of the additive package--Mobil's 0W-40 is a European formulation, and does not meet API SM (which limits ZDDP). In fact, the 0W-40 contains 1100ppm ZDDP, very close to the oil the Viper engine was originally designed to use. Tellingly, this switch was made for the 2005 model year, which began production in September 2004--two months before API SM went into effect. Moral of the story: The additives are what matter!

7. If you don't believe me, look this stuff up for yourself.

Sorry to be so long-winded. I just get tired of seeing the same misinformation repeated over and over, again and again, on various forums."

EJ1_CRIS_909

Well the statement about the protective film is true too, if u were to do some more research you could have seen that. Its called MOLY i believe. Yes, alot of engine oils have it, but synthetics i believe have more than conventional. And about it running smoother, its because it is lubricating moving parts better which quiets down the engine:

"Moly has the extraordinary affinity to stick to metal, especially if rubbed in. It does not dissolve in oil or grease, It is not possible to grind Moly so small, .35 micron (one micron equals a millionth of a meter0 that the particles remain suspended in liquids, such as oil, grease, glycol, water and alcohol. When the treatment is added to crankcase oil, temperature and pressure cause instantaneous reaction between Moly and bearing metal, and a low friction solid film is formed to keep the bearing surfaces from actually touching. This plating is firmed by thermo-chemical reaction and it is continuously supplied to the friction surfaces of the engine or equipment parts by being suspended in the fluid lubricant. The Moly solid film friction plating is extremely durable-probably the only method of removal is to grind it off. Because Moly is a lubricant, it is possible for two Moly plated parts such as a bearing and a shaft to run for an indefinite period of time without a fluid oil. Although little advertising has been done to educate the general public, it certainly is not an idle product. Major oil companies and most large industries are depending on oils and greases fortified with Moly to extend the service life and reduce maintenance on aircraft, trucks, compressors, tractors, ships and automobiles. Properly used it can double the operating life of equipment and reduce maintenance as much as 60%. Another small plus for Moly in these days of fuel prices, is that an engine treated with Moly usually obtains 10% to 25% better fuel mileage. Moly reduces friction in an engine up to 60%. It is used by the Army and Navy and most major development laboratories, armament test centers, atomic energy, rocket and jet engine plants in the country. It has been found capable of jobs no other lubricant can handle."

MonkeyBoy7805

As long this statement is true, its cool with me.

Vman455

Which oil brands are you implying use molybdenum disulfide in their synthetic oils? Royal Purple? (I ask because they do not list their additives on their product data sheet).

EJ1_CRIS_909

Yes sir, Royal Purple. And others. But i do know that there are other synthetics that do not use molybdenum such as amsoil. I was just backing up my statement because you said i was wrong about it, but no i was not. An oil with moly does keep the engine lubricated better and did quiet down my engine compared to conventional i was using before or i wouldnt have stated so. The last thing i want to do is state wrong information.

tam4511

iTrader: (1)

you can switch oils whenever you want how ever often you want, the quality of the oil aside, it will never cause a problem. Its all a myth.