Synthetic Motor Oil?

[KD1977]

For or against?

Details?

[Rockcrawler]

ran synthetic blend in my toyta corolla and lost millage, i run royal perple in my dodge magnum and it helped but not much just make for longer times between oil changes and i put 25k each year so that helps. In a bronco II i wouldnt waste the money. I never run it except for high travel milage rigs.

[tekatlarge]

If I were just running around like I do now, I say use a good standard grade of oil and keep the oil and filter changed religiously. Pocket the difference in cost and smile.

If I had a vehicle that was used for long runs at freeway speed and not local I might use the synthetic then again maybe not. My 05 Magnum gets a good grade of regular oil with a few key ingredients present. I also would only use synthetic in a engine from NEW and not try to use it in an used engine.

This is just my personal preference. I have used Synthetic before and found all I ever gained was a higher cost for oil changes. I bought a car a guy had started using synthetic in at high mile time and I almost went broke trying to keep oil in the engine.

If I were building a Top fuel motor or something like that yes I probably would use it.
For everyday stuff No Thanks.

[Ruffinit]

I run 35K/year just commuting, so find I do oil changes quite often. I've been running the FoMoCo Synthetic Blend for years, both in my high mileage '95 Cougar, our '00 Neon and my "new" '03 Ranger. The Ranger specifies the 5w20 synth blend for oil, so that's all it's ever had. I recently tried it (Kendall) in the '84 BII with no problem. I don't run purely synthetic as it's too costly, but a 5qt jug of the FoMoCo synth blend (red jug) is only 11.50 at Wally World and you can get individual quart bottles in many places. I think the blend has the best of both worlds. With the Ranger, Ford specifies the synth blend with 5000 mile oil changes (and it only takes 4 quarts).

[KD1977]

Right on. Hey thanks to everyone for the replies so far.

Ruffinit - You nailed it. I was eyeballing those Motorcraft Synth-Blend quarts at Wal Mart alright. I'd considered just biting a bullet and going full on w/ Mobil One awhile back, but the prices greatly outweighed any hope of magically getting 200k out of the 2.9 in my '89 BII.

And from what I know of the benefits you can get from oil changes, or the mojo of brand name or ingredients/additives: All my uncles are mechanics. One in particular started working for the DOT and had a long commute. He bought a little Hyundai for the daily drive and left his pickup at home. He changed the oil in the Hyundai every 2,000-2,500 miles, and had no regime for brands of oil or filter. Just whatever conventional petro-based motor oil or filter that was cheapest or on sale. Name brand, house brand, whatever. He now has a little over 300,000 miles on that Hyundai and it still runs great. Granted these were mostly highway miles, but still. Proof is in the pudding!

[Ruffinit]

Well, I can tell you about high mileage, I had 3 Neons, I commute 140 miles/day. The first I sold at 245K with nothing what so ever wrong with the drivetrain, the second we still have and it's pushing 196K, the third only quit and was sold because it got sidelined by a Buick, it had 170K. My '89 BII ran strong until I pushed it a lot too hard and blew a head gasket between two of the cylinders, it has 169K on it and I sidelined it because it's rusted so bad. (SALT) My '95 Cougar is now with my daughter and has an easy 200k on it.. Most of this mileage has been highway mileage and I had a report a few years ago that said if your mileage is 90% highway then you can get more mileage out of your oil, instead of changing it at 3K, change it at 5K.. I did that in the Cougar and it didn't seem to affect it. I've always used quality name brand oil and good or better filters (fram or wix). I believe that if you don't bandaid these vehicles then you'll get more life out of them. I once saw what 150K miles did to a city driven car that had normal oil changes with religiously Quaker State and have never used it since. I've always wrenched on my own cars and I drive 'em. My brothers say I drive them hard, but I've rarely had engine failures. Sorta like physical fitness, if you run, then you can run, if you don't run you could hurt yourself if you do. I've never gotten rid of a car because it was worn out and I don't run imports. I don't believe that there is anything made in this world that America can't make as good or better.