I have a 2000 Accord 3.0L v6 and I got it a few months ago and Its time to change the oil. I think it has been using conventional oil all along. Is it bad to just now switch to synthetic at 104,000 miles?

 

dino oil is fine. I go about 5-6 on oil changes on my S and did the same with the accord V6 I had

 

I want to switch to synthetic but want to know if it is harmful at this point in the engines life?(104,000 miles) Ive read that all the seals are used to the conventional oil, but once you switch to synthetic, the seals will shrink causing leaks. Is this true?

 

With Honda's I don't know, but I can say that switching to synthetic was common with people in older Volvos and I've never heard of any seal problems. The one thing to remember though is that when you do change, be sure to do a second oil change about 1,000 miles after the first time you put in synthetic. This is because the synthetic will knock some crud off of your engine (cleaning it up), the oil change at the 1,000 mile mark just gets that out of the way.

After that change you can go to your normal interval (5,000 miles or whatever).

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by chrisff521 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I want to switch to synthetic but want to know if it is harmful at this point in the engines life?(104,000 miles) Ive read that all the seals are used to the conventional oil, but once you switch to synthetic, the seals will shrink causing leaks. Is this true?</TD></TR></TABLE>

No.

Using High Mileage oil can cause your rubber seals to swell to prevent leaks.

Synthetic does not cause this.

You can switch to Synthetic but do you really have a reason to? You're not going to last longer, the change intervals would be the same and the cost is alot more.

Stick with regular oil

 

The synthetic oil has smaller particles so its more prone to gettin through old seals(correct me if im wrong), i switched my acura TL at 200,000km to synthetic when i bought it, it was fine all the way up to 270,000 untill i sold it, not a single leak anywhere, as for oil changes i was able to do like 7-8000kms between changes (even push 10,000 but dont recomend), but always did 5-6000 still, just for the hell of it, it depends on how long u gonna keep the car, cause synthetic might keep it running longer. From reading in the past i think synthetic lubes better on higher RPMs.

 

old thread but I thought I would put in my 2cents.

From experience and some research, I have learned that using synthetic whether full or blend is NOT a good idea on a higher mileage car. My guess is anything over 50k miles to be safe.

Synthetic oil is very efficient in cleaning the metal surface in your engine. If you start using it from day one, I think it will be fine because synthetic maintains the clean surfaces throughout its use. Dino oil however builds some deposits on the surface over use. The engine gets used to these deposits. If you switch, synthetic oil will clean these deposits but it then lessens the tolerances within the engine thus causing leaks. This happened to me 2x already. So, I mainly use dino oil.

 

Save money stay on top of your oil changes and use regular oil

 

Well this all made sense to me so I am going to stay Dino oil and not synthetic

 

to avoid the spread of misinformation refer to Bob is the Oil Guy. best oil and lubricants resource on the web.

 

I've been using Mobil1 Extended use changing every 15K with my 98 EX I4 stick. got it with 98K and hit deer [RIP] at 250K, used 2qt between changes. Always did even with dino. The 2000 SE auto I have now has only used 1/2qt in 7K, got with 198K.

I've always changed to Mobil1, retired 90 LX with 328K. Still ran strong.

 

PS, none of my Honda's never ever leaked with Mobil1. Then again I've never had a leak with any of my Honda's, including my 82 Civic. Good luck or great cars?

 

Every car i own or have ever owned i always put full synthetic oil in them 1991 crx, 1995 hatch, 2000/04 mustangs, 07 300, 2000 accord and now 1995 ex all with royal purple and k&n filter. never ran into any issues.

 

Check the high mileage Accord tread, and you will see how long the Accord lives. I guarantee that most of those people are on Dino oil.

https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-accord-1990-2002-2/how-many-miles-does-your-accord-have-806512/

I still daily drive my 94 Accord, which now has 270k miles. It is my tow vehicle (jetski, motorcycle trailer and utility trailer), my road trip vehicle, and everything in between. I have been using whatever oil is on sale for the past 200k miles, and it still shows signs of being able to outlive my BMW. I have had ZERO internal engine work. I bough the BMW from my friend. In the process of him putting 80k miles on it, he spent $12k on repairs. In the process of me putting 200k miles on my Accord, I have spent $3,614 on repairs. The BMW uses Mobil 1 full synthetic from day 1, and the Accord uses whatever oil and filter is on sale, sometimes, even store brand oil. Looking on the lifetime of these Accords, I can safely say that dino oil doesn't affect them in the least bit, as long as you change your oil every 3,500 miles.