motormanSR

no doubt syn. oil will give you so much more protection. yes..it will cost more. but your engine will last a whole lot longer.i recomend doing the engine flush before changing over....and take in easy for the 1st 1k miles or so...it's that transition period that can really meet up your seals....welcome to the world of synthetics

AutoXer

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by motormanSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">.i recomend doing the engine flush before changing over....and take in easy for the 1st 1k miles or so...it's that transition period that can really meet up your seals....welcome to the world of synthetics </TD></TR></TABLE>

Not true. Using a synthetic will effectively 'flush' your engine on it's own. It's designed to clear deposits and varnish in the engine that dino oil can leave. There is no transition period between synth and dino, as soon as the oil is in there and cycling, it's protecting the engine.

Oil protects the engine by coating the spaces between the contact surfaces with a film to lubricate. That's there as long as oil is in the engine and circulating. And the whole thing about switching over, seals and leaking etc, etc... is from when syn first came out 30 years ago. Some seals weren't compatible, and some of the oil formulations sucked. In a modern engine with modern oil, there should be no problems whatsoever; assuming it's a healthy, maintained engine.

Here's some refrences:

http://www.bestsyntheticoil.com/amsoil/seals.shtml

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

http://neptune.spacebears.com/....html

98mugenferio

i agree. any oil that calims to last for more than 5k miles is utter bull ****

AutoXer

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 98mugenferio &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i agree. any oil that calims to last for more than 5k miles is utter bull ****</TD></TR></TABLE>

If you think so, check out the last link I posted. I'm not saying I go over my recommended milage, but for what it's worth:

http://neptune.spacebears.com/....html

Now you can also buy Castrol Syntec Group IV full synthetic (only in 0W-30 though) from Castrol Germany in stores as well.

I worked in the auto industry for a while, and it's widely known among engine engineers that if they could get people to use only synthetic, the service intervals could be greatly increased. There's liability concerns though, and not to mention the fact that people who buy a civic don't want to pay $50 for oil changes (even if it's increased to 3x it's normal 7500 service limit).

Redline96LX

5k miles is bullshit??? you gotta be kiddin me. 5000 miles for regular oil is FINE, why do you think my d16y7 says 7500 mile intervals for oil? thats why 5000 for synthetic is not only great, but overkill almost.

motormanSR

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EX_AutoXer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Not true. Using a synthetic will effectively 'flush' your engine on it's own. It's designed to clear deposits and varnish in the engine that dino oil can leave. There is no transition period between synth and dino, as soon as the oil is in there and cycling, it's protecting the engine.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

AutoXer... you are right about oil protecting components as soon as it is placed in...but there is an issue with the seals.as the name suggest, synthetic oils are man-made. conventional motor oil is a product of crude oil. both have additives and you may match the grade (ie 5w30..measure of viscosity) but they are not the same substances... the seal in a engine have been conditioned with conventional motor oil and are effective against leaks of conventional motor oil but they are not used to the synthetics. when i changed over (back in the day) i had leaks up the wazuuuu....as with any new component that you place in a car there is a break-in period

AutoXer

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by motormanSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

AutoXer... you are right about oil protecting components as soon as it is placed in...but there is an issue with the seals.as the name suggest, synthetic oils are man-made. conventional motor oil is a product of crude oil. both have additives and you may match the grade (ie 5w30..measure of viscosity) but they are not the same substances... the seal in a engine have been conditioned with conventional motor oil and are effective against leaks of conventional motor oil but they are not used to the synthetics. when i changed over (back in the day) i had leaks up the wazuuuu....as with any new component that you place in a car there is a break-in period</TD></TR></TABLE>

Absolutely, I never meant to imply that across the board, nobody will ever have a problem. What I meant to say was that there used to be problems with seals and leaks. Now manufacturers are designing engines, gaskets and seals with synthetics in mind.

I've changed back and forth repeatedly on newer vehicles, with no problem whatsoever. When I bought my current car, I had trouble finding the correct weight oil in full synthetic, so I bought whatever blend or dino was available. Now I run only full synth (since it's becoming common to find 5W-30), and have not had a single leak.

Of course this is for a well maintained vehicle as well. If your motor is all sludged up, the cleaning of deposits can cause seals to fail, jut like flushing a motor at 200K for the first time.