Normally ....I don't use synthetic....but over the weekend I changed the oil and used Mobil 1 ...and damn....the ride is so much smoother.....those who haven't tried synthetic should give it a shot.... (oh... i also changed the fuel filter...damn now thatz a ***** to replace.....)....

-sergio.

 

..I like the mobil1 tri syn alot...smoothed out the rough edges.

 

I didnt use synthetic too but after reading on threads here i gave it a try so what i did was replaced the old oil with regular new oil, drove the car for couple of days then drained all the oil out and put Mobile 1 tri-synthetic with oem nissan filter...It made tremandous amount of difference in gear shifting...b4 i use to feel the gears shift and feel little jerk when it did but after replacing with mobile 1 the ride is smooth as hell and i dont even feel the shifts and revs so much better....if anyone who hasnt dont this yet, you should....can't wait till i flush my tranny and put some mobile 1 ATF....

 

Besides price and the fact that you have to use it over and over, are their any disadvantages to using synthetic?

 

That once you put in the synthetic oil you cannot repeat cannot put regular oil back in it will f@ck **** up.

 

I use Valvoline Durablend. Half Synthetic and half natural. I change my oil every 5000 miles also. When you are using oils of todays standards, there is no need to switch at 3000 miles. I think it is a waste of money and the oil is still light in color.

 

Really? Care to elaborate or better yet, post a link to an article that supports that? I don't think it really matters if you switch back and forth. The real question is why?

 

That's a proven fact. Don't attempt to do it. YOU WILL BE MAD.

 

I think what happens is that since it is synthetic it puts a small coating of oil on everything that is a synthetic coating, and when the regular oil is mixed in the regular oil doesn't get to the internal parts of the engine, kind of like if you take some water on say a plate and pour cooking oil on it and they separate each other, just my guess as to what happens but then again that is just what I heard about synthetic and non.

 

I've switched back and forth several times: NO PROBLEMS.

 

I don't think so as most synthetic oil makers state their oil is compatible w/ normal oil. It's not like oil vs water. They are both oil, just that one is man made and the other isn't.


Darthswan: Don't attempt it? Exactly why not? More speculation?

 

Doesnt make sense to me? Whenever you change oil in your car, ATF, whatever, you never can get it all out, really. If you get a system flush, maybe.. but just a drain and fill? Youll always have residues of the last few types of oil you used.. so i really dont think switching back and forth makes a difference..

 

Also, synthetic is better for winter driving. It's stays more "loose" when cold than normal oil.

 

During my short 3 years in the car industry, wholesaling and retailing, I have ran across a lot of mechanics who say you won't initially see a problem, but over a period of time you'll notice a difference. What you are doing is basically mixing 2 different kinds of oils. It's kind of similar to us breathing pure oxygen(O2) and the air outside. You keep doing that enough times you'll notice a difference in the way you breathe.

K

 

That makes no sense to me. There are alot of myths out there and just saying you heard a mechanic say this or that just isn't valid. Hell in the 70's mechanics were saying sythetics were "bad" and not to use them.

As far is "different" oils, what happens when you change the oil every time? ie.. use different brands? Each brand is formulated different correct? Thus = different oil? As far as synthetic being different than dino oil, oil is sitll oil, just that sythetics are man-made and the dino is not.

It's probably worse to use different octane gas every time than using synthetic and switching back to dino.

 

Hey, while we are on topic of oil changes, I was wondering if you guys change the crush ring (from the oil pan drain bolt) every time you change your oil...I know that supposedly over time this can cause slight leaks if the ring wears out?
Other question is this: I live in the city and have had the Mobil 1 synthetic in my car for 6 months now but have only driven about 1800 miles over the course of 9/00 to 4/01...I know that I don't qualify for the 5000-7500 mile oil change since my trips are always short...
how does this work into oil changes?
should I change it every 6 months? Since I know for me to drive the 7500 miles would take me literally 1 full year in the city...

I was just curious about this, since when we always talk about oil changes it is spoken in terms of miles driven but never in terms of "time period"--
and I wonder how a driver like myself would factor in this.

 

If you feel unconfortable w/ the age of the oil, then you can go ahead and change it once a year. The only reason I say this is because the short trips you mention. I would think it's unnecessary but once a year is not very often at all. I would buy a couple of crush ring and change it if you notice some leaking from the bolt before you drain the oil.

 

Well, whatever type of oil you guys use, stick to 5w30 and don't add oil treatment to it. Oil treatments are a joke. I tried this stuff thinking I was giving my Toyota Pickup more protection and almost destroyed my oil pump.

 

Non-refutable evidence......glad that's cleared up....


I'm gonna go out to my car that's had dino for 34k, then Mobile 1 for 40k, then dino for 30k, and now Amsoil for 4k to hurry up and die so you'll be right......


I could say something factual and reference the oil analysis spreadsheet, but that would be a waste of time......

 

i heard about synthetic not being compatible with regulare oil awhile back also. I think it was juss a myth that got started and everyone belived it. I switch from syntheic to regular before and have had no ill affects...i havent seen any real evidence to prove its bad for the car yet.

 

That's strange... for you to witness a noticeable improvement in shifting smoothness just by changing to synthetic oil? I used synthetic during the first 10k miles of my car's life. Then I heard from two independent mechanics that I was wasting my money. "The benefits of synthetic oil is obtained with racing or high revving engines." So I went back to regular oil (Castrol, Quaker State). Didn't notice any difference. I have a 5 speed, so I don't know if that had anything to do with it.

But yes, I've heard changing the oil at 3k miles is a marketing gimmic and a waste of money. The highly machined engines of today are better on oil and 5k miles is very achievable without introducing additional wear (as stated in this thread earlier). I'm at 100k miles and running like new, with oil changes every 4-5k miles or so.

As far as switching back and forth, I have heard of some concern. In most cases, using an engine flush treatment should eliminate any harmful oil conflicts. But be careful with higher mileage cars, as the seals might be compromised a bit if the engine cleaner is strong.

 

I always use the same oil. That lies another problem. Consistency is good, if you have noticed that by now. Yall do what you want with your oil, but I just gave you all what I know.

 

Less wear? How much less? What did it translate to? Something equivalent to a 10,000 mile gain? State some numbers.

"Amsoiled, sir..." "Well then, go and change your armor!"

(just kidding)

~Gary

 

If you follow the story link in my sig, it explains it pretty well.

Basically, Amsoil was run for 60k with nothing more than filter changes and showed less wear than oils that had 3k change intervals.

Whether it was less wear or the same, that's some pretty damn good oil.

Main reason to use synthetics is temperature extreme performance and longer change intervals. That's it.

 

Well I want to know is how "proven fact" turns into "what I heard from some mechanics". Yeah in the end, we do what we want w/ our oil and oil changes but we really need to cut down on the myths and half-truths. I can back up pretty much all my claims w/ articles while most seem to back up their claims w/ what they hear from others. If you can dig up an article on the net or whatever, I would be glad to read it. I have an open mind about most stuff. I really want to stir up discussions but everytime I ask for the same type of evidence I provide, it turns into an arugument.

 

I'll make sure i get you that information, quickly.

 

Most mechanics I've met are full of opinions then turn around and butcher the cars they work on. They dont notice when they overtighten things or leave out shims and destroy bearing, so how the hell did they come to this knowledge of oils? They dont even pay attention to whats infront of them, much less some statistical trend of synthetic oil vs dino.

I'm sure there are professionals (I havent met many at Nissan dealerships) that do know of what they speak, but given what I've seen I will believe what I see on spreadsheets and wear-checks.

 

It's interesting that most of the "change your oil at xxx" or "don't do this or that with synthetic" are backed up by "I heard it from..." or " I was told by...."

Let me give an example on how synthetic and dino are fine together.

My father's 94 Mazda MPV... has 150k miles on it. In it's life, it's had many changes between synthetic and dino. In other words when I changed the oil, I used Mobil1, when he did, it was dino juice.

That being said... ever read the back of the bottle of Mobil1, where it says "...compatible with regular oil..."

Anyways...

oil change at 3k is a waste... and synthetic is fine with dino.

-Shing

 

Do your homework before you mix. Here are a couple of sights for you. Please don't believe everything you read either. Here are just a couple, since I have to go into a meeting, I'll have to continue later. But please read.


http://205.233.108.142/code/motoring...etic_oils.html

http://www.bmwscruz.com/tech/tech003.html

http://www.student.kuleuven.ac.be/~m9309093/tip042.htm



K

 

This is not a shot at you bill99gxe but these companies try to get people's money by trying to prove that their product works better than another. I read in Consumer Reports about a test they did on different types of oils by weight and type about 4 years ago. They did this test with NYC taxi cabs. I think they had 25 cabs in all and they broke up the fleet by running some cabs with different weights of synthetics and different weights of normal oil. Then they broke up each of those groups into mileages to changed the oil and check for proof of wear. The mileages were 3000, 5000, 8000, 10000 and a few were 15000, 20000. After tearing down these engines after running about 20 hours a day of stop and go traffic, along with the heat of Manhattan in the summer time(for those who know what I am talking about), they found that no oils did any better than the other. They also found that when they tried Slick 50 and other types of protectants, these didn't make a diffence either.


When I read this article, it changed my mind about all the hubub about what is better. I guess it all depends on the application in which you are using these oils for.

Personally, I think if you are going to go with a synthetic, stay with it all year around. They are designed to take on the engine heat of the summer and stay loose enough to lubricate the engine quickly in the cold months.

 

http://205.233.108.142/code/motoring...etic_oils.html

Okay this one agrees with my statements

http://www.bmwscruz.com/tech/tech003.html

This one is about additives. I think most agree that additives are not worth it.

http://www.student.kuleuven.ac.be/~m9309093/tip042.htm

This one deals w/ mixing oil w/ additives. Again not a good idea.

But again at least he went on and searched and seems to have an open mind. That's about 10x more than I can say for alot of others here.

 

Deezo,

Here is a good refute to the Consumer Reports article:

http://www.oilshop.com/amsoil/amsoil.faq.htm


If you'll go to Yahoo and do a search for "Amsoil Study" you'll find at least half a dozen links to independent analysis of Amsoil motor oil versus others.....quite simply, Amsoil beats everything from a wear and drain interval standpoint.

As far as "these companies try to get people's money by trying to prove that their product works better than another", you're right. Mobile 1 is a good example of this. LOTS of marketing, but they can back it up as well. They have more clout than Amsoil from an automaker's standpoint (i.e. OEM oil on 'vettes, Porsche's, etc.) because Mobile 1 has a helluva marketing department.

Amsoil, meanwhile, remains a bit more down to earth and seems more concerned about analysis and study rather than overall marketshare. That, and their 25k oil change interval, is why I prefer it over Mobile 1.

 

When I get a chance, I am going to read the article. But damn, are they really talking to their customers to do oil changes every 25000 Mi?

 

jeff92se, it's funny that you posted the website about additives which I agree with 100%. Did you all know that there are a ton of these companies being sued as we speak because of false advertisement? Prolong is getting sued because those fools ran the ads claiming that a car could drive with no oil after treating it with their oil treatment. They had people driving their cars on CA freeways and a Viper on a race track. Such idiots. Did they think they were going to get away with this or something?

 

No-no. These links were provided by Darthswan, not me.

I was just commenting on them. Yeah, you notice that you don't see hardly ANY or NO oil additives infomericals now?

 

how many Liters of oil can the maxima engine eat in one oil change?

 

*bump*

 

I had a 3rd gen VG and I had to put about 4.5 liters in it every 6 months - at the oil change. I did not even use a drop. I loved it.

I went to Mobi1 (here its 5w-50) The car seemed to go much better, a bit smoother reving, just little things really.

 

This is not true.

Please show us some credable prof of this statement.

 

This thread is old as hell. It was part of my "Blast from the Past" colection.