About oil change, and the synthetic oil

[Msmith]

Sorry if it is a Q.

Do you use synthetic oil for oil change in your car?

I have this link here about oil change: http://www.edmunds.com/car-care/top-...motor-oil.html

But the technical terms are a bit too technical for me.

[BlackOp]

Originally Posted by TEX

I use synthetics in my vehicles from the start and change every 10K. BUT you should not switch to synthetic oil if u have regularly changed your oil in an older vehicle with 75k + miles. Your seals and gaskets can start leaking.

This is the common sentiment in the vintage Porsche forums I belong to...It's not a good idea to cross pollinate. If you have been using traditional oil..stick with it.

[Buehler445]

I use Deere 45-15 on my pickup and trail blazer. It happens whenever I get a little time. I would say it averages 4-7 K. My oil light rarely comes on.

I do put the 5-30 in the wife's car. And that usually happens about 4 K

[Buehler445]

Oh yeah. It's because the Deere oil is WAAAAAAY cheaper because I get it in bulk. That and my tractors work way harder than my pickup so I'm not worried about it.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by MTG#10

I'm glad this was brought up.

I recently purchased a 2011 F150. I've always changed the oil in every vehicle I've ever owned every 3-4k miles but I'm at 3000 now and the truck's computer is telling me it's "oil life" is still at 75%. Should I listen to it or change the oil anyway? According to the manual I should base oil changes on the system info (computers) recommendation. I know for a fact it has regular oil in it, not synthetic.

Brought that up with a dealer one day when I took it in for other routine maintenance... the manual says "at least once per year" or when the computer says so, a lot of people say 5k or even 10k is fine these days, the computer says I'm at 60% life.... and they still tried to convince me that it's strictly every 3k, of course so I could have them do it for some stupid price.

And even then, 3k is so ingrained, I kind of felt bad waiting for 5k, and even then the computer's still at like 40% remaining.

New car is 15k or one year, and I'll definitely hit one year first.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by BlackOp

This is the common sentiment in the vintage Porsche forums I belong to...It's not a good idea to cross pollinate. If you have been using traditional oil..stick with it.

That is ridiculous. Almost half the oil you can buy at any store is a dino/synthetic blend.

Dino oil is largely alkane-based and synthetic is largely composed of alkenes and carboxylic acid derivatives. The compounds do not disturb one another in any way.

Essentially everything else you put in your car is also a mixture of various chemicals rather than a pure compound.

[BlackOp]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

That is ridiculous. Almost half the oil you can buy at any store is a dino/synthetic blend.

Dino oil is largely alkane-based and synthetic is largely composed of alkenes and carboxylic acid derivatives. The compounds do not disturb one another in any way.

Essentially everything else you put in your car is also a mixture of various chemicals rather than a pure compound.

It's not ridiculous....I get my advice from people who race these cars and have 20 years of experience with repairing them. Many people have experienced oil leaks after switching to full synthetic. Then again I use really expensive dino for my car...20w/50 that you cant get from AutoZone. You do understand that my model is 25 years old. For whatever reason..the seals dont respond well to it...could be that my model requires such a heavy oil.