I have an 02 Ranger with 118,000 miles. What are the pro's and con's of switching to synthetic oil at this point?

Thanks

 

Oil costs more, you probably won't notice a gain in fuel economy, you might have piece of mind. I just use Motorcraft synthetic blend, $13 for a 5 quart jug. Good deal.

 

no cons just feel like the same as regular oil

 

You might experience some leaking if you change over. Syn oil is thinner and with worn seals you might notice that. My advice would be to use a blend and first and then switch over full syn.

 

I switched to Amsoil at 116k. No leaks, marginal increase in fuel mileage, don't change my engine oil until 7500 miles or so now. Engine seemed quieter, but no proof there.

 

My dad put syn in his 05 Mustang and he noticed a 3-4 MPG increase.
I put full syn in my 86 Ranger. I didn't really notice anything at first, but after awhile I got better MPG's.

 

yeah i did notice that by going to full syn. my sohc did quiet down a little bit. it used to be if i was sitting at a drive thru i could hear the valve train noise very well. but now that im running synthetic its quiet as can be

 

If you do switch, I'd use this or something similar...

 

I would higley recommend that you do NOT flush your motor especially since you have 118k miles. It will break down all the deposits that are in your motor and it can clog up the oil passage ways and the oil pump.

 

It depends - IF engine didn't have proper maintenance, then you may be right. Personally I've never had any problems flushing higher mileage engines.

 

My rear main seal started to leak when I switched over at 130K but it doesn't leak bad. From what I hear, if I switch to Castrol GTX or something else with seal reconditioner, the leak should stop. When I replaced the head gaskets at 130K I did not see any sludge. I really don't care though, I haven't even seen it drip. I use Mobil 1 full synthetic for the record.

 

x2 on the "It depends - IF" comment

 

I doubt you will have any problems.

I switched my '01 2.5 over to synthetic at about 75K miles. It did burn about 1/2 a quart in 4500 miles, but it had always burned a little before that. I think some of the synthetic just got past the valve stem seals because it never leaked externally.

I switched my '02 3.0 over to syntehtic at 86K miles. So far, no issues at all. No leaks and no oil burning. I'm using Kendall GT-1 full synthetic 5W20. Color isn't really an indicator of oil condition, but for the record with 2K miles on it, it's no darker than conventional oil would be. The truck has had Pennzoil and Motorcraft conventional before this with 3K-5K mile intervals.

 

Uh, wrongo.

Synthetic is not thinner. Do you really think 5w-30 in synthetic oil is thinner than 5w-30 in dino oil? If you do, research oil viscosity.


Now saying that. Synthetic oil contains ingredients that help break down sludge and build up. Why you sometimes experience leaks in older engines when switching to synthetic is because the oil is now breaking down the gunk/build-up that has collected around seals and gaskets over time. This then allows the oil to seep past what it was previously blocked from doing.




Also, with a well tuned engine, changing oil filter regularly is more important than changing the oil. Ever read bobistheoilguy.com? You can have samples of your oil sent out that tell you just how much the inner metals of your engine are wearing out based on the levels in the oil. However, its much easier to just change the filter and oil at the same time, but the gist is keeping proper maintenance and filter changes you can run oil for a very long time without changing it (with proper top-offs of course.)

 

I'm in the process of testing that belief - I'm currently trying a 1 year/15,000 mile oil drain. Not using any "magnet" and may not even change the (Amsoil Ea) oil filter between oil drains...because I want the UOA test to be as accurate as possible with the wear metals.

[Oil = Amsoil SSO 0w-30]

 

^^I was going to do this on my old 97' 4.0, but wrecked it with 12,500 miles on an Amsoil, oil change. Oh well, The oil still wasn't horribly black and felt like new oil between the fingers.

 

[EDIT]

Only made it to 5k with the 0w-30, and then I decided to be a deadbeat.

 

I use Mobil 1 every six months regardless of mileage. My engine is running very quiet. No problems to report.

 

synthetic also cleans as you drive

but not as much as a ATF flush

 

I walked in Advance and came out with a $55 receipt. Only bought mobil 1 oil, a filter, and seafoam. That's all.

Took it back, went to walmart bought Motorcraft syn blend, a filter. and spent $18 dollars...

 

I've been getting my Mobil 1 at Walmart for about $22-24 for a 5 quart jug.

I then go to a certified mechanic's garage, and he charges me about $25 to put it in and a new oil filter. He also tops off my other fluids, and gives the truck a good inspection and tells if anything else needs attention. His recommedations are usually spot on.

 

I ran Mobil 1 in my 99 ranger. Its good. I think I'm going to stick with motorcraft syn tec blend. I mean Ford recommends that, so they outa know whats best. I am going to run full synthetic in my trans and tcase though....Go mobil 1 it wont hurt, just more expenive, and you can carry oil changes out to 5000 miles.

 

From Blackstone, UOA will not detect for sludging!!

The important thing is to use API certified oil, and only 1 Amsoil product is API certified:


Oil

My favorite is:

"I stay away from Amsoil for reasons that are far too detailed."


Some engines are more prone to sludging than other engines. VW and Audi have these engines, so they developed their own test and specs for oil
sludging. Here are the oils that PASS their tests:

http://pics.tdiclub.com/data/500/vw_tb_17-05-04.pdf

http://dejong947.com/audi/tsb/audi.tb.17-05-01.pdf


Notice there are NO Scamsoil products listed, matter of fact, Scamsoil came out with a TSB about sludging in some engines, and recommended following the auto manufacturer's OCI, instead of the extended OCI BS they claim, to
justify the inflated price of their products!! They also recommend using their XL product, which is their ONLY API certified product!!
Sounds like they have gotten into deep poo-poo claiming their NON-API certified oils can run for 25K miles! Notice with these "sludge prone" vehicles, they are recommending to use their ONLY API certified oil for gasoline engines (XL), and they are saying to stay with the vehicle manufacturer's recommended oil change intervals!!


http://www.smartsynthetics.com/pdf/T...dge-issues.pdf

 

Sorry for the snip, but I felt like I've read it all before and responded to it all, several times in the past.

Appears that you're still not a fan of Amsoil, and I'm just a lot less of a fan of Amsoil...now. "for reasons that are far too detailed."


I will say that I have several customers that use the XL (7k-9k drain intervals) and have very good results with it.

 

My post was to keep others from being sucked into the Scamsoil "hole". You had already fallen into it.....