Dyno oil to Synthetic Q
10-15-2010, 06:49 PM
#1
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Florida
Posts: 302
Dyno oil to Synthetic Q
I do not know much about oil other then the basic keep clean oil in your car rule... so my question is, if I was to switch from regular 10w30 oil to synthetic in my 94 3.8l coupe is there anything extra I need to do other then drain the oil and replace the filter? Also is there a specific type of filter that is made for synthetic oils?
10-15-2010, 08:13 PM
#2
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: TX
Posts: 4,897
Couple of things you want to think about when moving over to syn oil on an older vehicle. Synthetic oil is going to CLEAN your engine, and I mean really clean it. Depending on how much sludge has built up from the lifetime of dino oil you may have seal leaks you didn't know you had because of the sludge formation around the seals. Some people don't recommend going to synthetic oil on an older vehicle because of this. I say bulls#$%. If you have a bad seal you have a bad seal and it needs to be repaired. That is no reason not to move to synthetic motor oil IMO.
Another thing to be aware of is that while the synthetic oil is cleaning the engine and suspending the sludge, it's going to clog your oil filter at a much higher rate than a lifetime synthetic engine. You will want to do a couple of quick changes at ~1.5k miles each. I've actually heard of dino oil users who have switched to syn completely clogging their filters in a few thousand miles. Buy some of the least expensive synthetic oil you can find and some less expensive filters and let it run out to ~1.5k miles then change it again. It will be a little more expensive but will clean the engine well. Some recommend engine/motor flush but IMO it's not a requirement. The synthetic oil will do the cleaning. You just need to swap it out a few times on a low oil change interval.
After about three oil changes in this manner, then go buy the BEST syn oil and filter you can find (amsoil SSO is my choice) and I like royal purple filters. Now you can start going 10-15k miles between oil changes and putting money back in your pocket.
And oil filters are oil filters. There is no specific filter for synthetic motor oil.
I moved a lifetime dino oil usage dodge truck I owned over to synthetic oil in this manner. It had 118k when I purchased it and 230k miles when I sold it, still running like new.
Last edited by Rubrignitz; 10-15-2010 at 08:19 PM.
10-16-2010, 12:11 AM
#4
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Pensacola, Florida
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Synthetic oil is going to CLEAN your engine, and I mean really clean it. Depending on how much sludge has built up from the lifetime of dino oil you may have seal leaks you didn't know you had because of the sludge formation around the seals. Some people don't recommend going to synthetic oil on an older vehicle because of this. I say bulls#$%. If you have a bad seal you have a bad seal and it needs to be repaired. That is no reason not to move to synthetic motor oil IMO.
True, but with a top grade oil, use a top grade filter. Especially if you are using it for extended drain intervals.
10-16-2010, 08:31 AM
#6
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Florida
Posts: 302
alrighty thanks a lot guys!!! I think im gonna have to wait till I get a second vehichle in case i do have bad seals.. cause right now thats my only vehichle with 2 kids and a wife lol... but thanks a lot for the info, i will deff be using Synthetic oil in the near future
10-16-2010, 09:13 AM
#7
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: TX
Posts: 4,897
I agree with your choice of oil, as I use it myself. It is truly the best you can buy for a car. I do not however agree with your choice of filter. For the price you pay for RP filter, you could have bought an AMSOIL Ea0 filter, and they are rated to last up to 25,000 miles just like the SSO (35,000 normal service actually). The filter media is synthetic nano fibers, state of the art. It's a superior filter.
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The eao while a true long life filter good for 25k miles doesn't start to filter as well as the M1 and royal purple units until it loads up at around 10-15k miles. The M1 and royal purple have lower particulate counts in all cases from 0-10k miles. Since I'm on a 10-12k interval I switched to RP filters which are rated to 12k miles. I also had some startup chatter with the amsoil filters which does not occur with the royal purple filter. I watch my oil pressure gauge and pressure seems to rise quicker with the RP filter over the amsoil. Seems to flow better. I used nothing but amsoil eao's for the first 60k miles on this car then switched to the RP filter. I'm happy with it. I love amsoil's synthetic oils. SSO is the best on the market IMO. But I saw some issues with their eao filters from looking over a lot of
uoa's and switched to RP.
The purolater pure one is the best filtering oil filter on the market. Filters 99% @ 10 micron while the amsoil eao is a 98% @ 15 micron filter. But it filters so well it loads up at around 5k miles and isn't a long-life filter.
10-16-2010, 12:20 PM
#9
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: TX
Posts: 4,897
Actually, going to high mileage may be your best bet. High mileage oils have seal conditioners that will swell the seals while it cleans your engine. Does your car leak oil now? Any leaks around the oil pan, valve cover gaskets, front cover/intake gasket or rear main areas? How many miles do you have on the car? If you don't see any leaks go with some high mileage oil to clean the engine and see what happens. You can swap it to full syn later if no leaks occur.
