Hey guys I was just wondernig has anyone switched to Synthetic Oil? Will the dealer do synthetic oil changes for you (for extra $$$ of course). Does is last MUCH longer, keep the engine slightly cooler or make it run smoother? Are there any performance gains? I heard that once you do, you can't go back.

My bro has an '01 330i that came synthetic from factory and he's been doin it ever since.

What do you guys think?

 

I switched at 3700. The dealer uses a Castrol synthetic blend. I don't know if it's more or not, probably is. I brought my own Mobil 1 and they took off about $10. I used Mobil 1 in my last car and after 12 years and 170,000 miles I never had to add any oil, it never failed to start, and I was getting 30+ mpg city.

Russ

Black w/willow, 6MT, nav, & aero
Jax, FL

 

I switched to Mobil1 at 7500 miles and plan on changing the oil every 7500 miles going forward. I just changed it a few weeks ago and had an oil analysis performed; it showed that the oil was stll good. If you plan on changing oil every 3750 miles, which the dealer recommends, stick with a good dino like GTX or Pennzoil...changing synthetic so often is throwing your money away.

<font color=red>chinee</font color=red>
2003.5 G35s

 

I switched to synthetic at my first oil change. I plan to change it every 5000 miles.

 

ditto desert fox.

Mobil M-???? filter too, cant remember number off top of head

Better Life thru Chemistry

 

I was thinking about pushing my oil change interval to 7500 with synthetic but I'd only be saving about $20 a year.

Russ

Black w/willow, 6MT, nav, & aero
Jax, FL

 

Synthetic is quite expensive, usually 4 times the cost of regular oil and up. If you're only going to change every 7500 miles, it doesn't save any money, it winds up costing about twice as much (4 times the cost by 1/2 the oil drains).

Even going with something like Amsoil which allows 25,000 mile oil changes doesn't help -- because it's 25,000 miles or 1 year, and not many of us drive that far in a year, more like 12,000 miles, during which you would change the oil only 4 times with regular oil. (And Amsoil costs 5 or 6 times as much as dino.)

Synthetic only saves you money if you drive the car insane amounts of miles.. and that generally only applies to commercial vehicles.


Now, if you just want to extend your oil drains a bit and keep your engine better protected, that's fine. However, anything less than 7500 mile drains, and synthetic doesn't really help much -- most of the reasons for using a synthetic get flushed away (quite literally) if you change your oil every 3-4,000 miles.

2003.5 G35 Sedan Desert Platinum/Graphite Premium/Sport/Aero/Nav/Winter

 

All I'm saying is that I'm going to use synthetic whether I change at 7500 or 3750. So if I decide to change at 3750 I'm only spending about $20 more than someone changing at 7500. Maybe $40 a year if you drive the average 12000 a year. If you're worried about $40 a year for maintenance on a 40k car, you bought the wrong car. That's the cost of a tank of gas nowadays.

Russ

Black w/willow, 6MT, nav, & aero
Jax, FL

 

Synthetic oil does help you out. It has a higher burning temperature then the dyno oil, it sticks to metal a lot better then dyno, a lot thiner then dyno and helps in cold weather starts.

AMSOIL is better then Mobil 1 since mobil 1 is not a true 100% synthetic oil. I'm on another web board for my 2nd car and we did soo many tests to compare the oils and oil filters.

Mobil 1 oil filters is probably one of the better oil filters out there and you can go on them for 5,000 - 7,500 miles between oil changes.

I'm switching to AMSOIL once i hit 1,000 miles on my car. Just 200 more to go. I'm gonna stick with AMSOIL from now on even if it costs more i know it protects much better. Plus you can go on that oil for at least 5,000 miles with oil still keeping its property without breaking down.

MOBIL 1 OIL FILTER PART is M1-108 ( i have it sitting in front of me waiting for the oil change muahahah

2003 G35C

 

what is the actual cost difference between "synthetic blend" and synthetic? Isn't it only a few dollars? 5qt of Mobile 1 synthetic is only about $18. If doing it yourself, i can't see why you would not go this route.

As far as filters go.... I am VERY reluctant to use anything other than OEM while the car is under warranty. Nissan & Infiniti engineers have access to any types of filters they want, within reason. They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars testing these things and deciding what is best for their (your) car. Specifically, to prevent problems that they would have to pay to resolve while your car is under warranty. I'm just not going to second guess them.

6MT coupe, red/willow, premium, aero

 

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr>

If you're worried about $40 a year for maintenance on a 40k car, you bought the wrong car.

<hr></blockquote>

I'm not worried about it. I'm just not interested in wasting it. That is, after all, how I came to be able to afford such things in the first place.

Plus, I was responding to the post where Russ wanted to save $20 a year, and was just pointing out that, unless you drive 20k+ miles per year, you do synthetic for the protection benefits, not for the cost savings.

2003.5 G35 Sedan Desert Platinum/Graphite Premium/Sport/Aero/Nav/Winter

 

I switched to Castrol Syntec a while back and continue
to do the 3750 change interval. I think the car runs better
with the Castrol Syntec 100% synthetic. I even put it in
my lawn mower. The mower definitly runs better with it.
Plus I keep records of my oil changes and all service work.
I like to be able to prove that I keep up with the recommended
service.

2003 Twilight Blue Sedan 5AT, sunroof, Graphite Leather,
splashguards, GG red 8 wire Hypergrounding kit, 350Z intake duct, K&N filter.

 

Thanks for all the feedback. Only one person mentioned that is protects better. Do you all agree? I have a lead foot and regardless of cost implications I want the best protection for my engine. I also want to retain all the original engine power a couple of years down the road.

I have an '01 Max right now and I feel that the engine has lost some of its power (it now has 40k miles). I wonder if it's because I did a lot of hard accelerating and I wonder if a sythetic would have protected better.

BTW I also bumped the limiter a few times by accident.

So what do u guys think?

 

just soo you know...

if something states 100% its not always is. If you really want to know how good the oil you use is, send it away to a lab to be examined and broken down. this will show you how good the oil held up and how your engine is doing.

out of the test results i've seen AMSOIL is better then Mobil 1, but Red Line and Royal Purple are better then amsoil and mobil.

2003 G35C

 

Synthetic being better is all relative... most likely more than half the folks on this board will trade up to a new car before any benefit from synthetic oil can be noticed. I do the synthetic run not for cost savings but for convenience; 2 vehicles running 30K/yr needs 18 oil changes a year...one every 3 weeks, synthetic lets me stretch that interval to six weeks.

Is synth better? Does it protect better then dino? Probably, but dino protects well enough. My last car, a 96 Altima, had GTX oil changes performed anywhere from 3K to 8K miles (before I became **** about such things) and at 170K miles there was no smoking or oil consumption. So as far as I know I don't need the extra protection synth provides (most don't)...only the convenience.


<font color=red>chinee</font color=red>
2003.5 G35s