trey

My car has about 6k on it, is it ok to switch over to synthetic oil now?

burgerking

i think so, i switched around 1200mi

rocktboy

i would wait till >10k mi before switching to full synthetics. it takes a while for your engine to "properly" breakin. basically your piston rings and the cynlinder walls needs to wear and "mesh" with each other over time. if you use full synthetics too early you are preventing the proper wear from happening and you might have cylinder sealing (loose HP) problems in the future. you can use synthetic blends which provide a slightly better level of wear protection but still allow some necessary and proper wear on the piston rings and the cylinder walls.

I think I know a crude and rough way of telling when the engine is fully broken-in. If you don't smell anything burning (like oil burning) after racing or driving your engine really hard, it's broken-in. If you still smell stuff burning, it's not fully broken-in yet.

Any of you engine experts feel free to correct this if I am dead-a$$ wrong

Quicksilver

iTrader: (1)

What about vehicles that come from the factory with synthetic oil? The break in with dino oil is a myth, IMHO...

FastMax'02

I Changed my at 3750mi.
So far so good.

VMaximus02

iTrader: (1)

Since the VQ's series engine is microfinished and molybdenum coated from factory, you may not need to wait that long before switching to synthetic oil. From my research, most switched to synthetic oil at 3000-5000 miles. During the break in period, you do occassionally need to check the oil level 'cause some engines will burn oil.

rocktboy

you mean the porches and the mercedes AMG engines. those are handmade engines with precision tolerances and/or special cynlinder wall coating treatment. they come with mobil 1 straight from the factory and requires no break-in. They are actually already broken in at the factory dyno. the car manufacturer will usually tell you how much if any breakin is required. someone mentioned burning oil, that's exactly what happens when the piston rings didn't seal correctly and let oil in the combustion chamber to burn.
again, test try my crude test, if you don't smell oil burning after driving really hard, your engine is broken-in.

Quicksilver

iTrader: (1)

And Corvette engines, which are massed produced...and Viper engines, which are relatively massed produced...

jjs

Huh? Isn't this a self-contradictory idea? I mean, if you drive really hard you have already done the damage that the break in is supposed to prevent.

In other words, you want to check to see if an engine is broken in. OK, so the test is actually an action that can actually cause the problem it is looking for...not a good empirical approach. And what if you DO smell burning oil...what is to say the test didn't cause the engine to do this rather than its condition on its own??

rocktboy

true...true. i did say my test was crude
it is definitely not a non-destructive testing

greekmax2k1

iTrader: (6)

wats so good about synthetic oil... i have no idea... i have heard of something called purple something... supposdly increases horse power

Quicksilver

iTrader: (1)

I would definitely do a search before asking that question. There are literally thousands of posts here about the pros and cons of synthetic oils and dino oils. And it's Royal Purple...