Is 30k miles too late for synthetic?

[MetalMat]

I was wondering is 30k miles is too late to switch from regular to synthetic oil?

 

[fstime]

No.

 

[OUCaptain]

It's never too late for synthetic.

 

[bruceb]

Go ahead and make the switch over. Your engine will last
a lot longer with synthetic and you can extend the oil change
interval to about 6000 miles, unless you do a lot of city stop / go
driving in heavy traffic or do a lot of towing. I like Castrol Syntec
or Mobil 1 full synthetic. Quaker State also has a decent one.
On average, expect to pay about $5 - $6 per quart depending
on the store. If you see it on sale, stock up.

 

[CptCrunch]

No, ZV switched several cars beyond 100k to synthetic. Switched my 2006 corolla to synthetic with 24k miles

 

[woodie1]

Your engine is nice and broken in now so it is the perfect time to convert.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Synthetic is over rated or it might be better to say dino oil is under rated. Engine last longer bah. Unless you are planning to drive the same car for 400k miles or so you it wont matter. You will wear everything else out way before the engine using the cheapest oil you can find as long as you change it when you are suppose too. Longer change intervals are nice but dino oil can handle 6k miles or more in a lot of cases anymore and most people change it way more then they need too. Synthetic is nice in really cold areas, high performance engines, and forced induction engines. Not saying you shouldn't run it but don't think of it as liquid magic either. I run it in both of mine but they are both turbo charged.

 

[thecritic]

Synthetic does not always extend your service intervals. Your oil still becomes contaminated from fuel, condensation, etc so the intervals are not always extended. Synthetic does outperform conventional when oil temperatures are over 305F, or if you are operating the vehicle under extremely cold conditions. This is why GM uses Mobil 1 in the Corvette. It allows them to eliminate the oil cooler from the vehicle and still make the vehicle "track ready". If you notice, the service interval with the GM Oil Life System is the same with the Corvette as it is with the other GM vehicles that do not spec synthetic.

But to answer your original question, it is safe to switch.

 

[steppinthrax]

I don't understand it when people say synthetic extends the life of your engine. This is the problem. I've seen cars that have run straight oil go for more then 100 to most of the time 200K if taken care correctly. I think by the 200K mark you would consider trashing the car. My saturn ran for 212K with just straight oil and I would race the engine as a teen.

So how long does the car need to last. I mean if your dirt poor and you can't purchase a car anytime within the next 10 years then I maybe could understand. But before synthetic or before it became pretty common a lot of cars ran straight oil and had thousands of miles....

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: steppinthrax
I don't understand it when people say synthetic extends the life of your engine. This is the problem. I've seen cars that have run straight oil go for more then 100 to most of the time 200K if taken care correctly. I think by the 200K mark you would consider trashing the car. My saturn ran for 212K with just straight oil and I would race the engine as a teen.

So how long does the car need to last. I mean if your dirt poor and you can't purchase a car anytime within the next 10 years then I maybe could understand. But before synthetic or before it became pretty common a lot of cars ran straight oil and had thousands of miles....

I generally agree with this. For a non-turbocharged, liquid-cooled, street-only car I see no real reason to go with synthetic since any modern conventional oil will be more than adequate over a reasonable life for the car. With a turbocharged engine, the turbo puts some very high heat loads on the oil and the benefit of synthetic is that it doesn't coke as easily which can extend the life of the turbo. In air-cooled engines, the oil takes a large amount of the cooling load and also sees higher temperatures, which is again a reason to go with synthetic. For cars that are taken to the track, stresses are obviously higher. In most street-driven cars though, the liquid cooling keeps the oil from having to absorb high temperatures and even conventional oil won't break down much.

Any modern street car using conventional oil should last 200,000 miles or more. I've known a lot of mechanics and I still haven't found one who has seen a properly-maintained engine that wore out from conventional oil. (Note that this doesn't include people who went 20,000 miles with conventional oil, or who let the oil get low, etc, as those are maintenance failures not caused by the oil.)

With all that said, there's no functional downside to using synthetic (it costs more, but that's the only potential negative anymore), so if you want the extra piece of mind, there's no reason not to. The stories that talk about synthetic causing leaks are not fully true. Synthetic has slightly better detergency and it flows better, which means that it will make pre-existing leaks more noticeable, but it will not cause new leaks.

ZV

 

[SoulAssassin]

Switched my Jeep to Amsoil at 103k.

 

[StageLeft]

Nothing special about synthetic. I go 5k+ on conventional--which is within the guidelines of my mazda MPV (so why would I do it more?). My maxima gets synthetic because i started with it at 37k and I change every 7500 or so. Benefits of syn over conventional are dubious for most people, just as benefits of every 3k vs what the manual says (which, these days, invariably is far less frequent than that) are just money in the toilet.

A few cars do come from the factory with it so there would be no reason not to use it for those, certainly.

 

[overst33r]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Nothing special about synthetic. I go 5k+ on conventional--which is within the guidelines of my mazda MPV (so why would I do it more?). My maxima gets synthetic because i started with it at 37k and I change every 7500 or so. Benefits of syn over conventional are dubious for most people, just as benefits of every 3k vs what the manual says (which, these days, invariably is far less frequent than that) are just money in the toilet.

A few cars do come from the factory with it so there would be no reason not to use it for those, certainly.

I agree. For example, my owners manual says 7500 in between oil changes with conventional oil. I went with synthetic because my car usually sees an AutoX here and there and because I don't have to change it as often.

 

[bruceb]

The internal engine parts, mainly bearings and cylinder walls will last longer
and the engine will have better compression / power at higher mileage with
synthetic oil. GM for one, specs it and provides it in the engine on the Corvette.
As to when to buy a new car, for me, that depends on if I am tired of the current
design I am using. Or if the body is starting to fall apart. Or if it is needing costly
repairs like once a month. Then, it's off to look for something new.

 

[thecritic]

Originally posted by: bruceb
The internal engine parts, mainly bearings and cylinder walls will last longer
and the engine will have better compression / power at higher mileage with
synthetic oil. GM for one, specs it and provides it in the engine on the Corvette.
As to when to buy a new car, for me, that depends on if I am tired of the current
design I am using. Or if the body is starting to fall apart. Or if it is needing costly
repairs like once a month. Then, it's off to look for something new.

I know an engineer at GM who works on V8 projects. He said the only reasons that synthetic oil was speced was due to the ability to eliminate the oil cooler from the vehicle and still keep the vehicle "track ready." In other applications, the VVT mechanism is more sensitive to oil viscosity, which is why syn oil is used. Otherwise, it has no effect on engine durability or the service intervals.

 

[bruceb]

Every one has their own view. I personally believe it will prolong
engine life and I use it in my vehicle since it was new (now at 169K)
GM 3800 V8 Gen 2 motor

 

[thedarkwolf]

I just rebuilt the engine in my turbo charged caravan last year with 150k miles of horrible treatment and only dino oil that got changed who knows how often by last 5 or 6 owners and all the bearings and cylinder walls looked pretty good. Text I had pistons slap thanks to an engine with a really long stroke and poorly design pistons from the factory, running double the stock boost probably didn't help matters. Synthetic will prolong engine life but everything else will die long before the engine in most cases no matter what oil you use. Even my van could have gone at least another 50k miles or so before I actually needed to rebuild it because of the pistons. I just had it apart for other reasons and figured what the hell might as well.

 

[alkemyst]

most don't know crap about oil and intervals. Many think Mobil 1 is the end all be all oil as well. It's a great oil don't get me wrong, but low on the high end oil totem pole. I use it for my street cars.

The whole 3k/3m change system was created by quick lubes. Most owner's manuals still call out at 5k-10k depending on duty.

Still changing your oil more often doesn't hurt anything (save the environment).

Synthetics made by reliable companies work better than dino oils. Especially in high heat/severe duty applications.

However; it doesn't make sense to use $100 of oil to change out the fluid in an engine that can be replaced for a few hundred dollars in hopes of extending it's life.

My brother has a 996, calls for something like 12 quarts of Mobil 1. The interval is 10k to 15k on his.