Are there any significant advantages to synthetic oil?
 

My 06 GT has about 1500 kilometeres on it and I have not yet done an oil change. Considering the cost, are there any real advantages to going with synthetic oil?

RE: Are there any significant advantages to synthetic oil?
 

I would use Semi synthetic and change it every 3500 kil

RE: Are there any significant advantages to synthetic oil?
 

Easy answer it yes, many advantages to it. The motorcraft oil that comes from factory is semi-synthetic already.

RE: Are there any significant advantages to synthetic oil?
 

Start here:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

I run 5w-20 Mobil 1 with the Motorcraft filter and change every 3,000 miles. The oil still has plenty of life in it at that point but I like changing the filter this often.

RE: Are there any significant advantages to synthetic oil?
 

There are advantages. As far as interval, do some research at http://theoildrop.server101.com/forums/ubbthreads.phpwhere you will learn FACTS about oils and change intervals. A lot of people piss away money by changing it much too soon.

RE: Are there any significant advantages to synthetic oil?
 

Any HP gain running synthetic oil?

RE: Are there any significant advantages to synthetic oil?
 

Definately go synthetic! I wouldn't recommend ever using standard old motor oil in your mustang. Maybe for your lawnmower! Like Howarmat and Scotty, and even Ford knows that synthetic oils are far superior in every catagory compared to regular oil.

RE: Are there any significant advantages to synthetic oil?
 

Royal Purple says you can increase 5-7 if you use their engine, tranny and gear oil. Do know if that is true but i am sure it will all preform much better. I did feel a difference with using the RP over the stock motorcraft.

RE: Are there any significant advantages to synthetic oil?
 

The properties of synthetic are definitely superior to dino oil. It is more stable across all temperature ranges,has better sheer propertiesand resists sludge. However there is some debate about the benefits of synthetic blend - some info indicates this is more marketing than benefit because a blend only has about 20-30% sythentic base which has limited if any benefit while the cost is significantly more than dino oil = more profits.

Also remember that your weakest link is the filter which should be changed at regular intervals. So even though many synthetic oils claim up to 15000 mile life the filter should still be replace every 5K (and at most 7K) miles so that extended life synth is really not worth the money since you're better off changing the oil at that time.

I'm also of the opinion that 3K oil changes is a waste. People will claim it's cheap insurance but it's really wasteful and not necessary unless you race your car. Most new cars use ~7K as the normal interval.

RE: Are there any significant advantages to synthetic oil?
 

After reaching 7,300 miles, I just switched to Mobil 1 at the last oil change (I purchased it ahead of time at Walmart and asked the Ford service to use it, so the extra outlay wasn't outrageous) and I'm definately getting better gas mileage since. The engine sounds smoother too. The dealer notated for me to come back after another 3,000, but I'm thinking of waiting 5 or 7,000 more miles.