I have bout 5300 miles on my 08v6 Accord. Should I wait one more oil change to switch over to synthetic, or is there no harm on doing it now. I have about 30 quarts of amsoil 5w-20 id like to start using.

 

Just a suggestion, after having owned cars/trucks for 30+ years and working on all of them. The next oil change, use a semi-synthetic for 1 oil change, than the following one go to full synthetic.

When I buy a car/truck with a new engine, I change the factory oil to semi-synthetic at about 500 miles, then change the oil to full synthetic at around 1000 miles on the block.

The non/semi synthetics are not as "slippery" and allow the correct amount of seating at the valvetrain and crank bearings- very, very, very slight, but you still need to get some seating. This is also why you do not want to push an engine hard for the first few thousand miles.

I have no doubt kids on this site will argue every knid of angle. I have found many of them can't even do medium-hard repairs, but they sure as hell are experts when it comes to oil!

I have been working on engines for 30+ years, and have built a few in my time. This is what I recommend for a new engine (I know some very well trained mechanics who do the same- semi-synthetic for the firts oil change, then full synthetic after a while). I must admit I know nothong about Amsoil. Wrenchy

 

If you switch over to synthetic then stick with it rather than switching back and forth. I'd check with the dealer to see what he says first though.

 

Here is from a earlier post on synthetic oil.It might help in your oil choice.
http://www.animegame.com/cars/Oil%20Tests.pdf
Mark

 

INteresting article. Too bad it was with Australian brand oils, would be interesting with our off-the-shelf oils and compare the dino-oil, semi-syn and full syn. Maybe take the top two of the cheaper oils and see how they compare to the full gamet of full-syn available: Mobil 1, Redline, Royal Purple, Amsoil, etc.

Anyway: I concur with Wrenchy. Myself also having 25 years of playing around with cars and several cars that have had synthetic run in them since near new, a synthetic engine is MUCH MUCH cleaner than a dino oil engine after 100k+ miles. THis is point one of why I use full synthetic.

Point 2: Major performance cars come from the factory with synthetic and run extended intervals: Corvettes, BMW's (12.5k mile just filter and oil & filter at 25k intervals), Cadillac, etc. Virtually any SCCA club racer you can find will race only with synthetic.

Point 3: Actually can cost LESS short term too. USe synthetic and a good filter and, if under warranty, stay with the standard oil recommendation of 7500 miles. This equates to 2 changes in 15k miles or about $60 ($6/quart, 8 quarts total, $6 filter). Using regular oil and the needed 3k mile changes, 5 changes in 15k miles equals $80 ($2.50/quart, $6 filter, $16 per change). If you take it someplace, the cost savings is even higher due to the labor cost at each change.

Point 4: Not sure which of the synthetics is THE BEST but from the report mentioned above, Royal Purple looks pretty good and is a racer's choice oil. Not sure how Amsoil compares but they due GUARANTEE 100% synthetic oil. Due to a legal battle that Castrol won, oil companies only need to have 1% of the base stock as man-made or man-modified to claim the oil as 100% synthetic. This could explain in the test report why some "semi" synthetics outperformed their "FULL" synthetic brother oils. As for semi sythetic, the same 1% legal ruling applies - only 1% of the oil has to be "FULL" synthetic, the rest can be regular oil. If this is true, then you would be better off mixing YOUR OWN SEMI-SYNTHETIC. Buy some Royal Purple and mix it with a good brand of regular oil. This may be the best bet as Wrenchy explained above: start with a 25/75 mix of syn/regular oil for an oil change, then go to 50/50 for another, and then a 75/25 for one more and then you will be up to a 100% synthetic oil.

 

make sure that the synthetic oil is of the same weight as honda's recomendations for the car otherwise don't use it

 

I've switched to PP back in August on my 1995 Accord. I've experienced somewhat of a leak, and after researching, some say that it should go away after awhile due to the deposits building back up.

Can anyone give any insight?

 

Amsoil acutally is the best synthetic oil in the US. Alot of oil test analyisis have shown it. The big test was posted on s2ki.com

 

leaks just don't go away, you gotta FIX THEM. looks like you need some new seals

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by YeuEmMaiMai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">leaks just don't go away, you gotta FIX THEM. looks like you need some new seals</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well dammit.

Everytime I have a leak and fix it, somehow it seems to always come back.