Honda Car Forum

"Michael Doyle" <sigifrith@frontiernet.net> wrote
> Elle wrote:
>> One can google on the prudence of switching high mileage
>> vehicles to synthetic. A lot comes up. It seems there are
>> a tiny number of such vehicles that experience leaks
>> after such a switch. Most seem to do fine or even better
>> on the synthetic, though.
>
>
> Include me in the group with no troubles. 94 VX started
> on Mobil1 at 190,000. Now at 205,000 with no leaks or
> trouble.

Always good to have another data point. :-)

"Elle" <honda.lioness@nospam.earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:hPXng.1735$NP4.392@newsread1.news.pas.earthli nk.net...
> "Michael Doyle" <sigifrith@frontiernet.net> wrote
>> Elle wrote:
>>> One can google on the prudence of switching high mileage vehicles to
>>> synthetic. A lot comes up. It seems there are a tiny number of such
>>> vehicles that experience leaks after such a switch. Most seem to do fine
>>> or even better on the synthetic, though.
>>
>>
>> Include me in the group with no troubles. 94 VX started
>> on Mobil1 at 190,000. Now at 205,000 with no leaks or
>> trouble.
>
> Always good to have another data point. :-)

My data is as follows...

'01 EX-V6 Accord. Bought new in 6-01. Use the cheap dino oil they carry at
CarQuest. Change oil at approx 7,000 miles. Vehicle now has 161,000 miles
and still running strong!

Thinking I might trade it in when the new Civic GE comes to N.Y.

jmattis@attglobal.net wrote:
> I switched the wife's 04 MDX to synth a few months ago. Computer did
> not show any increase in mileage whatsoever.
>
> I use synth in my lawnmower. High stress, non-pressurized, gets real
> hot in summer (especially if the air fins get blocked by grass
> trimmings at times). $2 worth of oil in a $200 lawnmower once a year.
> That's extravagant, but probably more useful than synth in a car
> engine

Funny you should mention a lawn mower engine. Against the express
instruction not to use synthetic oil in my lawn mower engine, I've been
running synthetic in it for about 15 years now. Engine's the only part
of the mower still operating good as new. I can't recall when I last
changed the spark plug; starts with one pull. (Since I use syn. in my
cars, I'm able to squeeze a bit more oil from every quart by draining
"empty" bottles overnight. I recover almost a quart every year and get
to fill my lawn mower engine for "free.")

Elle wrote:

> "Michael Doyle" <sigifrith@frontiernet.net> wrote
>
>>Elle wrote:

>>Include me in the group with no troubles. 94 VX started
>>on Mobil1 at 190,000. Now at 205,000 with no leaks or
>>trouble.

> Always good to have another data point. :-)

Poink!

92 Accord wagon. When purchased early this year, the car had 141K and a
belly full of fresh dino oil. Changed at 144, switching to M1 syn. At
nearly 150K, no leaks or other issues whatsoever. Burns/leaks < 1/2 qt
per 5K miles. Oil is finally starting to darken and will be changed
sometime in the next week or two. (Running syn ~6k seems a reasonable
balance, IMO.)

-Greg

Earle Horton wrote:
>
> Most of the stuff I have read indicates that you don't really get to extend
> your change interval using synthetic.

bobistheoilguy's web site contains lots of oil analysis reports that
say just the opposite.

One reason to change oil is
> contamination: from fuel, combustion by-products, and water. Synthetic
> doesn't change how fast that happens.

Synthetic oil handles these impurities differently than natural oil.

Another reason is gelling of the oil,
> which together with contamination creates sludge, which is Real Bad Stuff to
> have in your oil pan.

Synthetic oil does not break down and wear out like natural oil and it
is nearly impossible to make it gell in an autombile AFAIK.

Responsible oil change intervals and practices, such
> as draining the oil when hot or at least warm, prevent gel formation with
> dino oil.

Changing dino oil prevents gellling, nothing to do with changing
warm/cold although changing warm/hot oil is a better practice.

>
> You can't leave synthetic in there forever, so you have to come up with
> another reason to use it.

Synthetic oil is typically good for at least twice the duration
compared with dino oil under the same operating conditions according to
the oil analysis reports I've seen.

In very cold climates, synthetic oil is the only stuff that flows. In
very hot climates, synthetic oil does not suffer heat related
break-down and lubrication failure like dino oil. (All race engines run
synthetic oil partly because of its stability in high temperatures.)

The current crop of natural oils is very good but they are not the
equal of synthetic oil. However, as the OP demonstrates, dino oil can
produce excellent results.