petroleum to synthetic~

[1stgentibs]

i'm just about at 100k, and have been cosidering a switch to synthetic oil, now, should i flush the engine first, what brands are truly good, and what weight should i go for?
i have a 97 tib w/ stock internals..
i'm thinking no, , 5w30..

[1stgentibs]

stupid question i guess, nevermind

[i8acobra]

Not a stupid question. You don't have to do anything special to switch from petrol-based to synthetic. Just drain the old oil, change the filter and fill with synthetic. I use Castrol Syntec 5W-50 synthetic.

[Shadohh]

Just remember. Once you go synthetic, your gaskets expands. Cause synthetics have bigger molecules. And so you can never go back to dino oil again. well, untill you change every seal in the engine.

So you need to becareful and ask yourself this question 1, do I need it? which would meanyou are doing a lot of high rev racing or forced induction or N20.

Then you need to ask yourself. WIll I alwasy be able to afford this for the life of the car.

Nice thing is, its more expensive but can last longer.

I would goto pep boy and pick up an engine flush and run that through, then drain it and put synthetic in.


for a 100k miles you might wanna think about a combustion chamber cleaning.

[98tib]

your comment about syn oil is entirely incorrect. molecules in syn oil are actually smaller the conventional oil and they are are the same size. molecules in conventional oil are all different sizes. syn oil does not blow up your seals, they do make an oil that does blow up seals for higher mileage engines that might need it ( called high mileage oil or 75,000 mile oil).
if you could not go back to conventional oil from syn oil why would they make a syn blend?
it does not last longer either, if you call the company that makes syn oil they will tell you that they do not recommend going more than 3000 mile on syn oil, depending on location that is.
i do agree with cleaning the combustion chamber tho. engine flush at that mileage is an iffy thing as well as switching to syn oil.

when using syn oil you need to keep this in mind, all the molecules are are the same size and they are also the size of the smallest molcule in conventional oil, which means that it flows thru the engine faster gets to the top of the engine faster when first starting up. some people say it causes leaks, not true, being as it flows faster and has those small molecules it actually just "finds" the leaks you already have and seaps thru.

Originally posted by Shadohh
[body]
Just remember. Once you go synthetic, your gaskets expands. Cause synthetics have bigger molecules. And so you can never go back to dino oil again. well, untill you change every seal in the engine.

Nice thing is, its more expensive but can last longer.

[/body]

[i8acobra]

I changed oil on cars for Thrifty Car Rental for 2 years, trust me, don't use an engine flush. All that stuff does is thicken your oil to trap the contaminents in it, so when you drain your oil all of the contaminents will come out of the engine. You never get all of the flush out, so when you fill the engine back up, you'll still have some flush mixed in with your new oil. Just drain the oil, change the filter and re-fill with synthetic.

[1stgentibs]

thank you all so kindly. i've decided that i will most likely go with synth. redline might be my pick. however, if i choose to stay with regs., would it help much to add Lucas oil to it?

[Spiffywerks]

You don't have to do anything special when going from conventional to synthetic. However, synthetic oil might clean clogs in your system and end up releaving leaks that you had which the conventional oil had clogged for you. Synthetic is great for your engine. It's always the way to go, just keep in mind, at 100K, you might notice small leaks after changing to synthetics, it's only because the synthetics were doing their job. Don't let that scare you from it though, plz, just giving up a heads up is all.

[1stgentibs]

thanks, but leaks from where? i have changed the valve cover gasket, but know there is other leakables to worry about.oh, and i'm definately not doing another engine flush. had it done at about 90gk, once is enough. so if i switch, what should i check periodicly?

[i8acobra]

Check the ground for puddles of oil. If there's nothing, you're good.