Anybody ever switch from Dino oil to synthetic?

[Cliff R]

I have heard this argued in several garages and some of the guys swear by the good ol' dino oil and some guys swear by the new synthetic. I have also heard that you should not change to the synthetic oil if the vehicle has been running dino oil. And lastly, I have heard that it won't hurt a thing. Let me know what you think.



Cliff

 

[FlipTrac_511]

I heard it was okay. So at the (edit) 5000 mile mark, I switched from Motorcraft oil and filter, to Mobil 1 oil and K&N filter. No problems as far as I can tell. In fact, the Trac has been running great, now at over 17K miles!

 

[Mike Wilson]

There is a website out there called theoilbible.com, or something very similar.

This guy is supposed to be a retired petroleum engineer from Great Britian,

or thereabouts. I have referred to this site often and there is much information

on oils, lubricants, greases and even filters. You might find this site helpful!

 

[Gypsy me]

wow Flip you have over 17K already? You got your trac after me! I'm still under 12 Thou lol 14 mo today 8 30 05

 

[ReggieMRegalOne05 Legaspi]

Got mine Feb 28 '05 and now at 12880 miles, 60 miles commute every day with almost every other weekend trip to Brea from San Diego. Switched to Royal Purple 5w30 at the first factory recommended oil change at 5K miles. Will be picking up my third 5 qts of RP shortly.

 

[Larry Phillips]

I've heard that once you go synthetic, you can't go back.

 

[Bill Ellis]

Actually, if you change oil as recommended you can switch as much as you want. All the name brand dino and syn oils are fully compatable with one another and your engine won't care what's in there as long as it hasn't gone past it's service life. In fact, if you do change oil at the recommended intervals, there is little evidence that full syns are of any noticable benefit in terms of improved mpg or reduced engine wear. This is one of those emotional issues for the most part. If you use any oil that meets the service duty specs and change it as recommended, you will never have an oil related engine failure; just doesn't happen.

 

[Richard L]

I had a 2001 Sport Trac that I switched to Mobil-1 after 10K miles and was very pleased with the change over.



So, when I purchased my 2003 Sport Trac, I changed to Mobil-1 at the first 3K mile oil change. And did the same think with my wife's 2003 Saturn Ion. Both have run great and there has been no problem.



Today's oils are the best that they have ever been. Synthetics have a slight advantage by being more heat tollerant, and having a longer life for extended change intervvals.



All modern oils are 100% compatible with each other and you can switch from dino to sythetic and back every other oil change with no ill effects. Although I don't know why you would want to.



...Rich

 

[John Mastrocco]

I switched my 1985 Nissan PU from dino to full syn at 65K miles.

No ill effects.

No problems.

No leaks.

None.

Zip.

Nada.



Since I was only driving it 7K miles/year (all city stop-n-go) I wanted an oil that wasn't t time sensitive (which dino is.) Hence the Syn. Worked out great for the next 55K miles.



Switch whenever and as often as you like.

 

[Deleted deleted]

What I like about synthetic oil is it's easy flowing cold starting. I don't get that 1/2 sec of valves clattering with synthetic oil like I did with dino oil.

 

[Fer Echegaray]

I switched to synthetic at 5k miles, and scheduled changes like it was dino, every 5k. No problems whatsoever.

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

I concur with the above. Running Royal Purple - love it. :wub:

 

[Todd Z]

After a short engine dyno time with synthetic at school we found in the perfect world synthetic gave better mpg,cooler temps, faster startup pressure, and kept the engine cleaner..

On a personal scale, All my race motors were broken in with regular oil, then switched to synthetic... Every one i pulled down to inspect or modify more, had no build up, and the cross hatching in the cylinders was still visible, some after 60K miles or street strip use....

I will continue to use synthetic...

The switching thing is a bunch of junk, switch all you want, but why??, just like running 87 and running 1 tank of 93... complete waste of money..

Todd Z