Synthetic

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[Mike]

Well, in a few hundred miles I'll be due for my first oil change since I bought the car. The previous owner ran Pennzoil 5w30. Now, I will be upgrading to 10w30 because I feel it lubricates better, especially since my engine is inching closer to 100,000 miles. However, I'm at a loss:

I really really want to upgrade to AMSOIL full synthetic oil. My plan was to go to AMSOIL 10w30 with one quart of Lucas Heavy Duty Oil Stabilizer. My car doesn't leak or burn oil (but it smells like its burning oil, even though the oil is NEVER low) so I figured there would be no real expensive harm in the upgrade. My dad doesn't know much about synthetics, never been his cup o' tea. Some people swear by synthetics like AMSOIL, others swear AT them. So, I really am at a loss... is it worth going to synthetic? I want to go with AMSOIL because I've heard nothing but good things about it, plus its the only full synthetic we carry at work. My car has the 3100 SFI V6 with (when the change is due it will be) 92,700 miles. Anybody have input on this?

[94CutlassVert]

i swere by 10w30 valvoline conventional oil but am thinking of switching to the maxlife synthetic. but havent yet because im like your dad LOLOL

[DiscoStudd]

60* V6's are designed to run on 5W30.  I switched once to 10W30 on my 94 GA 3100, and it ran noticeably rougher and got ~1 MPG worse gas mileage.  As soon as I switched back to 5W30, she purred like a kitty cat and regained the 1 MPG.  I was running strictly Mobil 1 oil in that car at that time.

I've run nothing but 5W30 in every subsequent 60* V6 I've owned since then.  Contrary to the irish gentlemen in the Castrol Edge commercials, all synthetics are pretty much the same.  Even the mineral oils of today are pretty damn good.  The only real benefit to synthetics is longer oil change intervals, and better flow at startup in cold temps.

I run synthetic oil in both my Impys, as I go by the Oil Life monitors on both cars.  I run Purolator PureOne filters, and change the oil whenever the car tells me to.  I've been alternating between Pennzoil and Valvoline 5W30 synthetic oil (whichever happens to be on sale at Wally World whenever I need to buy oil) and they both seem to fair excellently with the PureOne filter.

[94CutlassVert]

why would your car run rougher because you used 10w30 V 5w30 as the weights are the same at running temperature?

[DiscoStudd]

I wondered that myself.  But it was definitely noticeable!  It didn't sound like a Sherman Tank or anything, but you could certainly tell something was amiss.

[94CutlassVert]

wonder if you just got some bad oil that time.

[DiscoStudd]

Ida know, but I've never had problems running 5W30 year-round. 

The guys on 60*V6.com will tell you you should run 5W30 all the time.

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

ive been told in hot conditions to thicken up the oil and in the cold to use thinner oil. this doesnt make sense to me though based on my thoughts of the engines cooling system designed to keep the engine at a certain temperature. going to a different mixture of coolant sounds like a better idea than thinner oil. maybe im crazy though.

[DiscoStudd]

That was the old way of thinking.  Multi-viscosity oils took care of the need to switch oils based on the weather outside.

I always run whatever oil the oil cap calls for, regardless of the weather.  10W30 on 3800's, 5W30 on 60*'s, etc...

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

ive been thinking about covering my radiator with cardboard or something for the winter too. maybe something a little nicer like some checker plate though. why go cheap, right?  right now anything to heat up faster will help me out!

[DiscoStudd]

Just don't cover the whole radiator!

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

no no. i was going to vent the top half a little with some holes, or just cover the bottom half or something. it gets REALLY cold here though!!

[Mike]

I was taught by my father that before 100,000 miles you run 5w30, over 100,000, you run 10w30. And thanks guys... now im just kinda more confused...

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

yeah i dont listen to the crap old guys tell me about cars anymore. they know about OLD cars. lol the delivery passages in newer motors are alot smaller than they used to be. forcing thicker oil through them isnt really an optimal idea.

[Prospeeder]

The 10w30 is gonna give you more cold start wear as its only thicker from a cold start, when its hot both oils are the same, so by doing what your doing isnt gonna help, lol. And dont add lucas oil stabilizer to synthetic, thats kinda defeating the point of having synthetic, lucas is pure petroleum, if u must, get Lucas Pure Synthetic Oil Stabilzer.