190k Any reason to switch to SYNTHETIC now???

1998 Accord V6. 190k. Always used Castrol 5-30 regular or high
mileage. No leaks, no smoke, no nuthin'...ever. Any reason to switch
to Full Synthetic at any point...especially now? Thanks.

kevin

 

Dino oil works great. You obviously know how to take care of your car;
synthetic would be a waste of time and money.

 

1. there's not many true synthetics out there, regardless of what it
says on the bottle. mobil is the only main stream one.
2. i was running mobil 1 on my 89 civic earlier this year. i was
interested to note that not only did the car perform better, but fuel
economy picked up a little too. in the range of 3% - 5%. that may not
sound like a lot, but if you do the math, you only need just under 3%
for the much greater cost of the oil to pay back in fuel savings. i'm
also pleased to report that there were no issues with oil leaks. i'm
not running it right now because i've recently changed the head gasket
and am still in "flush" mode, but i intend to return to it shortly.
3. castrol is great conventional oil. i've used it for decades with
great results. i occasionally try other oils just for the sake of
experiment, and with the exception of mobil 1, have always been
disappointed.

 

----------------------------------

If you happen to live near the Arctic Circle, that would be a GREAT
REASON. I don't live too close, but close enough.

'Curly'

 

One can google on the prudence of switching high mileage
vehicles to synthetic. A lot comes up. It seems there are a
tiny number of such vehicles that experience leaks after
such a switch. Most seem to do fine or even better on the
synthetic, though.

 

Only reason I can think of would be to reduce the number of oil changes
you do every year. Synthetic *may* increase your mpg by a little bit,
adding economic value.

I use Mobil 1 synthetic in all my cars because of the local temperature
range and number of cars I look after. I use 5W-30 in all of them and
can report the same results as you, no leaks, no smoke, no oil-related
issues of any kind. Usually get better than EPA mpg ratings.
Been using Mobil 1 since 1987.

YMMV

 

not really, no. maybe if you want to extend your change interval a bit,
but other than that? nah.

 

I switched the wife's 04 MDX to synth a few months ago. Computer did
not show any increase in mileage whatsoever.

I use synth in my lawnmower. High stress, non-pressurized, gets real
hot in summer (especially if the air fins get blocked by grass
trimmings at times). $2 worth of oil in a $200 lawnmower once a year.
That's extravagant, but probably more useful than synth in a car
engine.

 

Most of the stuff I have read indicates that you don't really get to extend
your change interval using synthetic. One reason to change oil is
contamination: from fuel, combustion by-products, and water. Synthetic
doesn't change how fast that happens. Another reason is gelling of the oil,
which together with contamination creates sludge, which is Real Bad Stuff to
have in your oil pan. Responsible oil change intervals and practices, such
as draining the oil when hot or at least warm, prevent gel formation with
dino oil.

You can't leave synthetic in there forever, so you have to come up with
another reason to use it.

Earle

 

Include me in the group with no troubles. 94 VX started
on Mobil1 at 190,000. Now at 205,000 with no leaks or
trouble.

 

Always good to have another data point.

 

My data is as follows...

'01 EX-V6 Accord. Bought new in 6-01. Use the cheap dino oil they carry at
CarQuest. Change oil at approx 7,000 miles. Vehicle now has 161,000 miles
and still running strong!

Thinking I might trade it in when the new Civic GE comes to N.Y.

 

Funny you should mention a lawn mower engine. Against the express
instruction not to use synthetic oil in my lawn mower engine, I've been
running synthetic in it for about 15 years now. Engine's the only part
of the mower still operating good as new. I can't recall when I last
changed the spark plug; starts with one pull. (Since I use syn. in my
cars, I'm able to squeeze a bit more oil from every quart by draining
"empty" bottles overnight. I recover almost a quart every year and get
to fill my lawn mower engine for "free.")

 

Poink!

92 Accord wagon. When purchased early this year, the car had 141K and a
belly full of fresh dino oil. Changed at 144, switching to M1 syn. At
nearly 150K, no leaks or other issues whatsoever. Burns/leaks < 1/2 qt
per 5K miles. Oil is finally starting to darken and will be changed
sometime in the next week or two. (Running syn ~6k seems a reasonable
balance, IMO.)

-Greg

 

bobistheoilguy's web site contains lots of oil analysis reports that
say just the opposite.

One reason to change oil is

Synthetic oil handles these impurities differently than natural oil.

Another reason is gelling of the oil,

Synthetic oil does not break down and wear out like natural oil and it
is nearly impossible to make it gell in an autombile AFAIK.

Responsible oil change intervals and practices, such

Changing dino oil prevents gellling, nothing to do with changing
warm/cold although changing warm/hot oil is a better practice.

Synthetic oil is typically good for at least twice the duration
compared with dino oil under the same operating conditions according to
the oil analysis reports I've seen.

In very cold climates, synthetic oil is the only stuff that flows. In
very hot climates, synthetic oil does not suffer heat related
break-down and lubrication failure like dino oil. (All race engines run
synthetic oil partly because of its stability in high temperatures.)

The current crop of natural oils is very good but they are not the
equal of synthetic oil. However, as the OP demonstrates, dino oil can
produce excellent results.