Magic Carpet

well is synthetic oil really worth the extra money. i see a bunch of commercials sayin it can "unleash/free up" horsepower but i dont know. and can the synthetic be used and tranny oil??

Tankard

I use fully synthetic in my motorcycle, but not my cars. It gives me piece of mind knowing i've got the best oil, so yea, it's worth it. Yes, you can use synthetic oil. You can also use tranny oil in the tranny.

DirtyHarry

I've heard that switching from a normal oil, to a synthetic oil is not good. Something about how each of the two can withstand different heat levels. So if you had regular oil in there, and then you switch to synthetic, there would be hot spots and heat differences with the old oil residue. Some shit like that. cant explain it, hope you get the jist though. Its all theory.

mullinator

Switching to synthetic oil in a high-mileage motor is not recommended. Syth flows *so* well and is *so* clean that it will remove all the old oil sludge that's filling all the little holes in the motor. Often the owner will develop "new" leaks that were previously patched with sludge.

However if you have a low miles motor, I'd say go for it. W/in a given viscosity you will make a few more horses running synth. Nothing really noticeable, IMHO.

I ran synthetic in my turbo car because of the potential for extreme heat that could be seen if I didn't use a turbo timer. I recommend synth for turbo cars-- especially oil-cooled turbos.

Because synth doesn't break down like natural oil, you can technically run longer between oil changes.

I was really surprised when I changed my oil for the first time w/ synth. It comes out looking exactly like the way it went in!

-scott

Magic Carpet

well the motor had a total rebuild 2000 miles ago so i think ill switch.

mistacee

Can you go from synth back to reg oil.

I have a SOHC Zc in my Crx and have no idea how many miles are on the motor. The person i bought the car from ran synth in it and it does leak some. Would i be better off going to reg oil,synthetic gets expensive!

Tankard

You can search and find the info for yourself. Synthetic and regular oils are not exactly new or groundbreaking.

mullinator

I've never tried going to a petroleum-based oil from synth to fix oil burning issues. I would think it wouldn't help b/c it takes years to build up the gunk I'm talking about. It wouldn't hurt, either, IMHO. You might lose a horsepower. The biggest bang for the buck would be to move to a thicker oil. If you're running 10w30, try 20w50. -scott

mistacee

You're pretty cool.

I have searched, way before this topic ever came up,but this is an age old arguement and one of those questions where everyones answer differs. I suppose i could have expanded my thought and been more specific. Since i have heard different answers for the "Can you go from synthetic back to reg oil?", i figured i would get some opinions and/or thoughts.

toplineauto

O.K., I use snythetic in anything I want to keep, including my '92 Vigor (176 K); '96 Dodge dually (245 K), and my VW, but_not_on my collector cars (68 Camaro) and yes on my drag race car (72 Nova).
Yes, it's worth the $$$ and you get to run more miles on it.