Older Engine, Synthetic Oil

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Mar 29, 2006 | 08:59 AM

brianvabeach

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From: Raeford, NC

Older Engine, Synthetic Oil

Getting ready to swap a used 302 into my F100, has 73000 miles on it. Should I go to synthetic oils, or is it to late to change and just stick with good ole fashioned stuff

Mar 29, 2006 | 09:01 AM

wavinwayne

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From: North Alabama

It's not too late to change, but synthetics won't add any useful life to the engine. Stick with dino & save your extra buckaroos.

Mar 29, 2006 | 11:00 AM

TallPaul

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From: Metro Detroit (Redford)

If the engine has leakage it likely will worsen with synthetic. I put synthetic in a 100,000 mile Aerostar and have not had any leaks. Ran over 5000 miles with Group III synthetic and now nearly 3000 miles on Group V ester (Redline). But as was stated above, regular oil will do fine.

Mar 29, 2006 | 01:55 PM

pawpaw

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From: SW Va

Well I changeg my 94 Taurus 3.8L to synthetic, at about 70K, but ih had no leaks & I did it with the same brand oil I had been using. It's going on 3 years now & all is still ok.

Do I need synthetic in it, probably not, as the dino Havoline I was using, is as good as many so called synthetics.

But it all depends on what you want to do with your vehicle & the conditions under which your going to do it.

If your on the beach, where it's hot & humid & your driving in stop & go traffic with the the air on & maybe towing too, well it'd probably appreciate a good synthetic!!!!!

Sure won't hurt it, just lighten your pocket book a little more, but just skip a couple trips to burger doodle & put the diffrence in your crankcase, where it'll do no harm if your of a mind to!!!!

Mar 29, 2006 | 03:07 PM

PW01

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I switched from Castrol GTX to Mobil 1 at 63,000 in my 01 Ranger [4.0 SOHC], and no problems. I now go 5000 between changes, so I figure I'm saving money.

Mar 29, 2006 | 05:27 PM

Flash

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I would suggest for the first several changes to use a quality dino oil. Unless you know the exact maintenance history of this engine, it may be that sludge and varnish is keeping it from having leaks. Why chance it, especially since synthetic won't add one mile to the life of the engine.

Mar 30, 2006 | 10:25 AM

jimandmandy

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From: Running Springs CA

302 rear main seals are somewhat more prone to leakage than most, I would skip the synthetic idea. VA is not Canada, so there is no real benefit from running synthetic anyway, unless you want to extend drain intervals, and you can do that on HDMO, like Delo 400 anyway.

Jim