I've searched for this and got a lot of different opinions, but i have an 01 Z with about 117k miles and i'm planning on getting the M45 over the winter. I know i have to get 10W with the SC, but i was planning on switching to synthetic at the same time, should i switch to synthetic my next oil change so the engine gets used to it, or use a blend, or just keep conventional since it's getting up there in miles?
There's no pain like wrecking your first J
Just switch it to synthetic now if you really want to.
If you plan on boosting ur car with 117 miles on the engine, I would probably do a compression test first....
Just my 2 cents.
Honestly... oil is oil... as long as you change it (and the filter!) regularly, the car doesn't really give a rat's ass. It's not like our econoboxes are high-compression race engines or anything.
I used to run Mobil 1 synthetic in everything, waste of money. Now I run Wal-Mart brand synthetic in the 'vert, and whatever's on sale in the DD. Yes, I'm still a sucker for "synthetic" but at least it's cheaper than the name brands.
^you need to think with your dipstick Jimmy!!!
"Never argue with an idiot. They'll drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience!" -Anonymous
could there be any problems switching back to conventional, i just bought a car that's been running synthetic for awhile?
There's no pain like wrecking your first J
Tostyz HotZ wrote:could there be any problems switching back to conventional, i just bought a car that's been running synthetic for awhile?
Your motor will be fine switching back..
Just use the recommended viscosity, or a li'l higher (Particularly at the low-end of it's range) to compensate a bit for whatever wear the engine has at this point, and make sure it has the latest API rating... What is it, SM now? Everything after that, aside from whether the stocks it's formed from are synthetic or not, is just what the individual manufacturers add to make there formulation.
In fact, see if it contains zinc, which is an anti-wear additive that was used to quell wear on the lifter faces & cam lobes of flat-tappet engines. Since most of the cars on the highways these days don't use flat-tappet cams, it's been removed from most oils for "environmental" reasons. But it's still available in oil made for special apps, such as diesel.
Worst-come-to-worse, you run synthetic diesel engine oil year-around for it's all-climate friendly viscosity range to compensate for severe wear of the clearances... and the zinc! Lord knows that's what I did for awhile to keep the pressure up as my lifters wore-out from being contaminated by the metal fragments of the remains of the old timing-chain set, which the mechanic the previous owner failed to remove from the pan after he changed it.
Go beyond the "bolt-on".
