synthetic or regular oil?

gotchopsticks · Sep 4, 2004

right now i am using regular oil, and i was thinking of switching to synthetic oil, but i heard that it wasnt very good on domestic cars, or if i was going to modify the engine in any way. i am going to modify almost everything on the engine except for the internals and heads. is this just a myth or is synthetic better for my engine? thanks

Figment · Sep 4, 2004

synthetic is much better for any car, but if you car has leaks it will leak alot more.

gotchopsticks · Sep 4, 2004

as far as i kno there are no leaks, it only has 32k on it, and its a 2002 gt. thanks for the info

trailblazr81 · Sep 4, 2004

On a "NEW" engine use regular motor oil. It helps rings seal, etc. After motor has been broken in use synthetic, its the best way to go!!

DarkShadowGT · Sep 4, 2004

i put in mobil 1 5w-30 in my car at my first oil change at 3000 miles. and no complaints here. doesnt ford use semi-synthetic on our cars out of the factory?

bdcardinal · Sep 4, 2004

the 5w20 is a semi-synthetic oil. you can use full synthetic for break in oil, look at the 2000 cobra r, mercedes amg, porsche, viper, cts-v, and corvette. they all use mobil 1 as factory fill oil. definetaly go with a quality synthetic. i personally use mobil 1 5w30. you can safely use a 5w30 in your car instead of the 5w20. the dealer will try to tell you that teh internals are different and thats a big pile of steaming bull. the 5w20 was used to get better gas mileage for the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy). you can use Redline, Amsoil, Mobil 1. they are all execellent oils. Royal Purple generally doesnt do as well on longer drain intervals. there is a contorversary as to the quality of CAstrol Syntec, personally i dont use any castrol product except for Super Clean. for a filter use either the motorcraft 820s, the K&N the Mobil 1, or Amsoil filter. dont use fram if you love your car, they are some of the worst filters made. Purolator and Wix are also high quality filters. A lot of times people will use a nondetergent oil thats like a 50 or 60 weight for break in, but with modern machining techniques it isnt necessary.

AdRock · Sep 4, 2004

Go ahead and switch man, it'll be fine. I'm currently running AMSOIL 5w-30 with a 820 filter.

Defleshed · Sep 5, 2004

bdcardinal said:
the 5w20 is a semi-synthetic oil. you can use full synthetic for break in oil, look at the 2000 cobra r, mercedes amg, porsche, viper, cts-v, and corvette. they all use mobil 1 as factory fill oil. definetaly go with a quality synthetic. i personally use mobil 1 5w30. you can safely use a 5w30 in your car instead of the 5w20. the dealer will try to tell you that teh internals are different and thats a big pile of steaming bull. the 5w20 was used to get better gas mileage for the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy). you can use Redline, Amsoil, Mobil 1. they are all execellent oils. Royal Purple generally doesnt do as well on longer drain intervals. there is a contorversary as to the quality of CAstrol Syntec, personally i dont use any castrol product except for Super Clean. for a filter use either the motorcraft 820s, the K&N the Mobil 1, or Amsoil filter. dont use fram if you love your car, they are some of the worst filters made. Purolator and Wix are also high quality filters. A lot of times people will use a nondetergent oil thats like a 50 or 60 weight for break in, but with modern machining techniques it isnt necessary.

I absolutely could not have said it better

the synthetic works better under heat too... and excessive heat is always an enemy.... Thats also why I installed an oil cooler, too

sixstringthing · Sep 5, 2004

Is using Mobil 1 synthetic/Motorcraft filter and changing it ever 5k miles better or worse than using a regular name-brand oil/filter and changing it every 3k miles? On a daily driven car that never sees the track and is usually not driven very hard.

black04stang · Sep 5, 2004

I started using synthetic oil at 11,000 miles runs beautifully but from what I hear you can never switch back to regular oil or else you will start getting leaking problems

bdcardinal · Sep 5, 2004

ok, as for the rumors about not being able to switch back to regular oil. THAT IS ANOTHER PILE OF STEAMING BULL. you can switch back and forth anytime u want without problems. also, synthetic oil does not cause leaks. what generally happens is people use a dino oil that doesnt clean very well, and when they switch to synthetic for whatever reason, the synthetic cleans out the motor significantly better and "cleans" away the buildup therefore revealing hardened gaskets and leaking. so theoretically yes the synthetic causes leaks, however the leak was not a result of the synthetic oil, it was a result of the superior cleaning factor of the synthetic oil doing its job on a motor that had leaks that were present but not showing because of buildup.

to give you an idea, my beater car is a 81 ford ltd with a 302. the car had 140,000 miles on it when i switched from using chevron oil with a fram filter, to mobil 1 10w30 with a motorcraft filter. when i changed to synthetic, i changed the valvo cover gaskets, because they were leaking already. after switching, i have had no leaks, except for being a dumbass and not tightening the front drain plug tight enough(this particular 302 has a dual sump). the car runs better, and gets better gas mileage.

gotchopsticks · Sep 6, 2004

i used mobil 1 synthetic 5w-20 in my gt today, with the motocraft 820s filter, and i noticed that the synthetic oil is much lighter than the regular oil, as well as being much thinner. i am used to using castrol GTX 5w-30 in the other cars, and it weighs almost twice as much. i'm confused about the whole synthetic vs. regular oil. i thought the thicker the lubercant, the less friction. and inst the whole point of oil to lessen the friction, and clean? thanks for all the info

r281 · Sep 6, 2004

Mobil 1 oil and a motorcraft filter here

No regrets.

FallenPhoenix · Sep 6, 2004

Mobil 1 10w30 and Mobil 1 filter

I'll be using Amsoil 5w20 and an Amsoil filter when I change again though

Cobra Jay · Sep 7, 2004

Valvoline 5w20 and a Motorcraft FL-820s filter.

mrpositraction · Sep 7, 2004

How much do you normally pay for synthetic oil, I have always used regular oil, if it does do what you say it deos then I am going to switch.

bdcardinal · Sep 7, 2004

i get a 6 pack of mobil 1 5w30 at costco for 23.79. if you look around Pep Boys or another auto store will have a sale for 3.99 a quart.

twogts4us · Sep 7, 2004

A good synthetic and regular oil changes is just cheap insurance. Even the extra cost of Mobil 1, or even Amsoil, isn't that much...about $10 a month. And I am pretty sure there is someone out here with a hookup for Amsoil. Or anyone can become a preferred Amsoil customer (for $10/6 month trial-$20/year thereafter) and save 15%-20%. www.amsoil.com

NicksBullitt · Sep 7, 2004

Mobil 1 0W20 Motorcraft filter, no problems. Probably will switch to 5W30 next though, I just like the thought of thicker oil.

02mingreyconv · Sep 7, 2004

J/K

So, if I use synthetic oil, which is lighter, will I get a better 1/4 mile time?

synthetic or regular oil?

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