synthetic oil or no?
 

my teg has high mileage.. for a 1999 model, i'm at 185,000kms.

would it be recommended to use synthetic or stick with the 5w-30?

also, is it true that once you put synthetic in, you cannot go back to regular oil?

thanks.

Are you consuming oil?

If yes, try changing. If no, stick with what works.

ahh, so if i'm burning oil, synthetic will help?

my brothers 91 prelude burns oil... so if i flushed the old oil out and put in synthetic, that would help?

It might.

Hopefully RRRex will chime in....he knows a bit about the subject....

First thing I would suggest... 5W is much better for winter. Thinner viscosity makes turnover in cold weather easier. So I would recommend 5W-30 in winter and 10W-30 in the summer as it is thicker in viscosity and can help your engine withstand our rediculous summertime heat.

10W-30 is pretty much multi-purpose so I use it year round.

Also, to my knowledge if your engine is burning/consuming oil the problem is not the oil, but your engine.

I've asked my dad the regular vs synthetic. (My father has been a master technition for over 30 years, specializing in troublshooting and front end repair)

Basically regular oil is regular oil. "It all comes out of the same drum, so there is not much difference between brands" in his words. He tells me to get Quaker State though.

Now, to see the benefits from synthetic oil (which is made in a lab, and does not come out of the ground) you would have to put it in the car from new. The theory is that the synthetic micro lubes in the oil will penetrate into the motor and prevent friction. Meaning over time, less wear and tear on your motor's internal components, thus prolonging it's life, with less chance of it burning oil and fuel.

damn thats a lot of clicks for a 1999...synthetic will help

If you are already burning some oil, you most probably will burn more oil if you switch. Also, not so sure a switch away from dino based oil is the correct choice to make with that many k's on the motor.

Your online resource for all your motor oil info needs - http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

no, i'm not burning oil... i just want to be sure that the motor will run another 180,000kms. really, all i want to know is if switching to synthetics will help with engine longevity...

so far, it sounds like i don't really need to switch it..

^ It's worth it if you do it from new IMO.

I would say so... If you change the oil often, (3000 K's) then it wouldn't matter.... Dino oil is fine.

greco, i actually change the oil religiously at 5000kms. should i start changing at smaller intervals?

my driving is all highway, if that matters.

When i first bought my car like a moron i switched to mobil 1 and in 2 days it burned up ALL the godam oil. So i swicthed back to 5w and now a year later its finally starting to stop burning so much oil, thanks to a bottle of lucas at every oil change as well. I still have to top it up once and a while though.

Read this with respect to Lucas additives -

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/images/lucas/lucas.htm

I am not the definitive guide to all things motor oil related, that is for sure... I have just gone through my fair share of threads / posts on various boards and compiled my own opinions... As for dino oil, if you use a well known brand and change the oil often, then I would say you are fine.... I have just always changed my oil at 3000 - 3500 an every car I have owned and / or own. For my ITR I use MOTUL 300v which is $$$ ($38/ 2L) and I still drain it at 3000 - 3500 max, some people might say that is a waste. Maybe it is, however, I like to have peace of mind with I am hammering it down HW7 @ 9000 RPM per shift.

I run Motul as well, but the only reason I am is because one of my sponsors gave me a great deal on it. It's 5W40 and works really well. My experience with syn is that it burns more than the same dino oil. My thinking is that it gets into more nooks and crannies and finds its way past rings and valve seats. So perhaps that means you get better oil coverage. I've also see pyrometers used on engines and syn oil is proven to reduce engine temperatures so there must be less friction to do that.

Greco is really taking good care of that motor. I run an ITR motor as well and can say high revving motors take their toll on engine oil.

That said, For most people I don't feel it is a big enough benefit to justify the higher costs. For a street driven car, even one that gets beat on once in a while, it's a bit overkill. I feel a good quality dino oil changed more often is better than going with a syn and changing every 5-8K. Even when I've run syn I've never let my engine go more than 3K of city driving. Honestly, I've rarely hit 1K on oil. Since my car is tracked I give it 2-3 lapping or track events and that oil is gone.

Burning oil:
I've had a couple motors go on me including the last ITR motor which was pretty unhealthy the season before it finally gave out. I kept it alive and entire season by going with thicker oil. You can go to a 10W40 for starters and see if that helps. Since my motor was really loose the only thing that helped me was Mobil 15W50. Keep in mind this is NOT - and I'm going to say this twice - NOT a winter oil. You will oil starve your motor if you start it on a cold day. And another thing to keep in mind with it is not beat on the car while the engine is cold and don't let it sit on the driveway warming up either. You need to start the car, drive it gently to get it up to temp, then off you go.

Ok, I'll just stick with 5w30 in my Integra.. But for my brother's lude, I'll see if he's already using 10w30.

BTW, for the most part, I use 5w Castrol GTX oil.

^ Nothing wrong with Castrol. My mechanic (my father) recommends Quaker State but Castrol is OK too he says.

Note: My brother used to work at a lube shop and read that Slick 50 is basically recycled oil. Meaning it sucks ass and is horrible quality so stay away from that.

I'd recommend avoiding all additives in a healthy motor. Had some bad experiences with a few products already. I found that the high mileage oils did improve burning and idling on high mileage stressed engines. Might actually condition valve seats - it's hard to really tell. I'd go to high mileage oil before resorting to an additive. Lucas seems good though just don't use the whole bottle in a small engine. The label recommends 1/2. I put in a quarter on my race motor a few years back and seemed to help but it wasn't a healthy motor to begin with.

Penzoil is my favourite dino oil, but will use Castrol, Mobil or QS if it's on sale.

What do u guys think of Valvoline's Oil? I currently use that its at 5W30 and im thinking of going for 10W30 for summer.