I am wanting to change my regular dino oil to synthetic. The car has 137k on it already and there appears to be no visible oil leaks atm and the engine has not had any major problems. I have heard the story of switching and the head gasket seal weakens and then goes and needs to be replaced. Any truth to this, and if the engine sounds like it is in good order would it be safe to proceed?
there may or may not be truth to that, but my question is why change? if the engine is running fine and you change the oil at least every 3-4k miles, there is no reason to change.
87 Firebird
All stock...........lol.
Because I can tell there is build up starting everytime I change my oil I can start seeing different things such as sludge coming out now only in little bits but want to stop anymore buildup and possibly reduce it as synthetic is supposed to help fight it kind of like listerine against plaque.
Sludge coming out when you change oil? Are you running a colder thermostat by chance or do a lot of short quick trips? I have never personally had a problem switching to synthetic, and have done that to several vehicles with over 100,000 miles. Just did it to a '94 Cavalier with 135,000 miles with no problems, but there will be some naysayers. IMO if the car starts leaking and burning oil from changing to synthetic because of loosening up sludge then it's time for a rebuild anyway. Also I've never heard of headgasket problems from switching, maybe others have.
Todd Daniels wrote:...synthetic is supposed to help fight it kind of like listerine against plaque.
What makes synthetics better at cleansing is the fact that they contain higher levels of detergent and acid neutralizers than most naturals (in keeping with their longer change interval design intent), not simply the fact that they are synthetic. There are several natural oils with high detergent levels that will clean an engine just fine over time without the expense of frequent changes of synthetics. If your engine is sludging up, the aforementioned colder thermostat and short trips are major contributors, as is a clogged crankcase ventilation system or an engine that's just worn and produces more blow by than can be reasonably handled. I've changed from natural to synthetic on many engines of various sizes and ages with no problems.
Todd Daniels wrote:I am wanting to change my regular dino oil to synthetic. The car has 137k on it already and there appears to be no visible oil leaks atm and the engine has not had any major problems. I have heard the story of switching and the head gasket seal weakens and then goes and needs to be replaced. Any truth to this, and if the engine sounds like it is in good order would it be safe to proceed?
if you want to clean it here you go works great and not harsh on seals.
http://auto-rx.com/pages/choosing_an_engine_oil.html
see ya!
Ok.
The part where switching to synthetic is hard on the gaskets is not entirely true.
It was for the older synthetic oils ie when they first appeared on the market. You could RUIN your engine by putting synthetic in and then switching back to regular oil.
This is not the case now.
The synthetic oils on the market, although they have a higher level of detergents to help clean the engine, will not be hard on your gaskets etc.
Go ahead, switch it if you want, just be prepared to pay 3 times as much for a synthetic filter, and more for the oil.
IMHO its a great idea to switch, it will help your engine.
Royal Purple.... Synthetic consists of a whole lot smaller molecules causing better lubrication and so forth and so on... Picture this... You have a sheet of ply wood that you are trying to move....you put a basketball, a football, a tennis ball, ping pong ball, ect... (all different size things. You put them under the sheet of wood to "slide" it....Not going to move very well is it? Now take the same piece of wood and put a bajillion small marbles all consisting of the same size under it....Gonna move better.....Thats synthetic... Moves great....being that the molecules are smaller it leaves more room for leaks once converting to syn.... Hope that makes sense....maybe I'm just crazy!!
Cavalier z24......A poor man's Camaro....close enough, right?
If you're getting sludge already, then throwing Royal Purple at is is an awful idea... think of the purple sludge you'll have
Every single engine I've torn down that used RP had a purple oil pan... what a disgusting mess.
Time to do an engine flush and clean it out... get some GM Top End cleaner while you're at it. Leave it in the car for 24 hours... then refill with nice clean oil (just the cheap stuff should be fine, as long as you're changing it and the filter on a regular basis).
Most of the synthetics out there are made from base dino stocks anyway... unless you're willing to spend the outrageous amount for real synthetics. And on a daily driver... it's not worth it.
...j
