Should I switch to Synthetic?

[ruspider]

I'm new to this forum. Your advice helped me buy my new 2013 SXT. Thanks to all for posting all the good info.

I have 300+ miles so far. I don't know what the factory fill is but was wondering if I switched to full synthetic will it void my warranty?

I'v heard I need to "break in" the new engine with early oil change. I'm new at this and I do appreciate your help.

TIA

Kim

Edited March 1, 2013 by ruspider

[Journey_SeXT]

This link will answer many of the questions you are asking: http://www.castrol.com/castrol/genericarticle.do?categoryId=9014502&contentId=7017050

Your 2013 owners manual has the following on synthetic oil: (please check your own personal owners manual to verify)

Engine Oil Viscosity – 3.6L Engine

SAE 5W-20 engine oil is recommended for all operating

temperatures. This engine oil improves low temperature

starting and vehicle fuel economy.

The engine oil filler cap also shows the recommended

engine oil viscosity for your vehicle. For information on

engine oil filler cap location, refer to “Engine Compartment”

in “Maintaining Your Vehicle” for further information.

Lubricants, which do not have both the engine oil certification

mark and the correct SAE viscosity grade number,

should not be used.

Synthetic Engine Oils

You may use synthetic engine oils provided the recommended

oil quality requirements are met, and the recommended

maintenance intervals for oil and filter changes

are followed.

Edited March 2, 2013 by Journey_SeXT

[biohazard]

I always do a first oil change around 1000KM(sorry im canadian) just to verify that there isnt any metal shavings from breakin that may be a sign of internal damage. after that I do them every 5000KM weather the change oil light comes on or not.

[Rubberdude88]

I would recommend full synthetic oil for sure. I did my first at 4900km's (3000 miles), did my second at 9650km's and will be doing the 3rd oil change next week - about 15500km's. We leave on a 5000km "Journey" to Florida and back to Ontario next week. I've used full synthetic for every oil change and also used it in my old car - a Chevy Cobalt SS.

Congrats on your purchase. Welcome to the forum and enjoy your new ride.

[redtomatoman]

You certainly can stay with dino oil. I like the idea of new clean oil in my engine more frequently. I also like the idea of a first oil change at 1000 miles then 3-5 k miles thereafter. Good luck. Congrats on the new DJ.

Peace.

[bramfrank]

There is no demonstrated benefit to using synthetic oils (except, perhaps to the manufacturers and retailers) as long as you change your oil regularly.

Oil doesn't break down as fast as it picks up particulates - and it is the particulates that cause the trouble. SO putting in synthetic and letting it run in your engine for 10,000 miles is not a good idea. And running it for 3-5K is simply that much more expensive than dino.

Always use a high quality filter. Believe it or not, the OEM filter does a MUCH better job straining our particulates than the cheapo things that oil change places sell..

[Journey_SeXT]

There is no demonstrated benefit to using synthetic oils (except, perhaps to the manufacturers and retailers) as long as you change your oil regularly.

Oil doesn't break down as fast as it picks up particulates - and it is the particulates that cause the trouble. SO putting in synthetic and letting it run in your engine for 10,000 miles is not a good idea. And running it for 3-5K is simply that much more expensive than dino.

Always use a high quality filter. Believe it or not, the OEM filter does a MUCH better job straining our particulates than the cheapo things that oil change places sell..

Here are a few advantages of synthetic oil over conventional:

1. Synthetic offers more engine protection during cold starts In "Extreme" cold weather.
2. Synthetic oil is more stable at high temperatures. Conventional old-fashioned oil breaks down faster at high temperature than does modern synthetic oil.
3. Synthetic also offers better protection against the formation of oil sludge that can shorten engine life.

I agree with you that a high quality filter should be used especially if you are doing the extended oil change intervals with synthetic.

Edited March 2, 2013 by Journey_SeXT

[Doug D]

FWIW - I've used regular oil in many of my former vehicles and current vehicles. Three EEK's that cumulatively logged over 800K miles. A '00 T&C Ltd that had 161K at time of trade in. My current Ram has 171K miles and our '10 Journey SXT has 52K. All have been run on "dino" oil and all had regular oil/filter changes at 5-6K miles on a regular basis. No engine failures.

I'd say unless you operate your vehicle in extreme temperatures (subfreezing or very hot 100+) you're safe with regular oil. Synthetic does provide extra protection in such extremes. Bear in mind, regular oil has been vastly inproved as well. That's why some manufacturers are have increased the recommended max intervals to 8K miles between services.

As posted previously, I use a quality oil filter (Purolator or Wix).

[bramfrank]

OK, I'll qualify my statement.

There are no demonstrable benefits for the typical car owner, over the first 200,000-300,000 miles to using Synthetic oil if you change the oil according to the manufacturer's recommendation.

Dyno is just fine unless you live in the Antarctic or in a blazing hot desert and used your vehicle to go to the corner and back, never letting the engine warm up.

Sludge buildup? Not if you change your oil.

[burgandy25]

I would agree with Bramfrank, as synthetic is most appropriate for high performance machines. My bike and our DJ have synthetic. Engines are not like they used to and don't "die" after 80K they are designed to break, so dino is fine, I would at least go semi-syn. And like Bramfrank said sludge will not happen with any oil if you follow the oil change schedule. But with synthetic it will last longer between changes although i wouldn't push it. On the Vette forum most of those guys there use redline oil or Amsoil. We use Amsoil as well.

One thing to keep in mind is there are only a few oil refineries in the world that supply engine oil and most oils key differences are the chemical packages that are put into their specific oil. When it comes to filters, the Amsoil filters are great but expensive, the best bang for the buck has to be purolator pure one filters, stay away from Fram as their filters have cardboard caps and such and personally wold not put them in our cars.

Since we changed from dino oil in our DJ to Amsoil synthetic we have seen a increase in MPG of about 3-5MPG depending on time of year and such but the increase in MPG is not enough to offset the additional cost of Amsoil (specifically) oil over dino or semi-synt. oil. But it is just a perk to us as we would put it in our car either way.

[Journey_SeXT]

I really don't want to make this a BITOG debate on synthetic vs. dino so use whatever you want to use. As long as your oil has the API stamp and meets the specs to your vehicle you are safe with whatever you choose....i do my own oil changes so the cost for me using synthetic with the Mopar filter is the same if not less than having it done at the dealer with conventional. I plan on having this vehicle for a while so I will give it the extra protection that I feel synthetic oil offers.

Edited March 3, 2013 by Journey_SeXT

[burgandy25]

I really don't want to make this a BITOG debate on synthetic vs. dino so use whatever you want to use. As long as your oil has the API stamp and meets the specs to your vehicle you are safe with whatever you choose....i do my own oil changes so the cost for me using synthetic with the Mopar filter is the same if not less than having it done at the dealer with conventional. I plan on having this vehicle for a while so I will give it the extra protection that I feel synthetic oil offers.

+1, do it yourself and save money. use that mula on synthetic.

[ruspider]

Thanks for all the replies. I don't change my oil myself. I will have it serviced. So, longer intervals for me would be better..My driving habits are tame. Around town and highway driving once or twice a week, nothing severe and no towing. I will always use a good filter. Even though I'm a female, I seem to know more about cars than the men in my life. So the guys come to me for reseach:)

My average mpg is only 17. I know it's a new engine and maybe takes times to break in ,but I was hoping for a little better gas mileage, hence the possible switch to syn. I want to put a little ucl lucas or mmo in the gas to maybe improve but I'm kind of afraid to ruin anything. Regular use of fuel additives have kept older cars running well.

[burgandy25]

Yeah it's whatever you prefer, take habits and less driving would make regular oil be the choice but long intervals would go with synth, and really synth is not that much more expensive with most brands. engine mpg should go up after break in, synth should get you a few extra mpg for when you do drive it on the freeway and such. Just remember to change it as required. When it comes to fuel additives go with seafoam! honestly every spring we do a full seafoam treatment, a can in the gas tank, half a can in the intake lines and the cars purr like kittens. Works well on the '98 camaro more than the newer cars. so that might be overkill putting seafoam into the intake. But yeah put a can of seafoam in the tank seafoam comes in a tin white can. everywhere sells it, walmart is the cheapest. If you put seafoam in your car make sure you at least have 3/4 of a tank because seafoam is potent and less than that and you might not get the full effect or even worse, when we do a seafoam treatment we fill the car up with premium gas and put the seafoam in to get the best possible results. then after that tank put regular gas in again.

[Journey_SeXT]

Any good smoke shows with the seafoam?

[burgandy25]

When you do it right, you have to put it in the intake vacuum, its simple to do but if you do it wrong you will kill the engine by hydro-locking it, You have to do it slow, I have a special funnel with a rubber hose that fits perfectly into vacuum hoses. But if you only put it in the gas then no, you will not see smoke.

so smoke= intake vacuum

no smoke= gas.

[biohazard]

gotta ask.. WTH is a seafoam treatment ??

[burgandy25]

gotta ask.. WTH is a seafoam treatment ??

youtube seafoam for starters, the smokey videos are when its given through the intake hoses. A full treatment for a car like mine (97 Stratus) is you buy two cans, you put one full can in the gas tank, slowly pour half a can into the intake vacuum hose, and the other half in the engine oil and run it for a few miles then change the oil, it will remove sludge when you change the oil. Its all petroleum based so safe for engine oil.

google seafoam and go to their website.

you might think it wont work but it does, better for older cars, for a newer car like the DJ with not many miles it probably wont do anything if anything at all. For the 97 stratus and 98 camaro the full treatment is very noticeable. better throttle response and better mpg among others i bet. The seafoam in the oil works as well, I change the oil regularly and I can tell you when we added it there was some clumps and very very dark oil that came out. and i got better mpg.

[bramfrank]

With all the ethanol in gas today you don't need seafoam (or any other detergent additive) for the fuel system. Even if your car is designed for and you run 'super', which often has no ethanol, running a half tank of mid grade gas every 10 or so fillups will clean out the fuel system, injectors (and carbs) and valves. And if you change your oil regularly there's no point in using anything for your oil either because your engine won't 'sludge up'. Chrysler's old 2.7s used to sludge, but only if you regularly let the interval between changes run long.

[tstone]

I used synthetic from the start in my 2003 Intrepid 2.7L engine, and change it every 6000 miles during its warranty, and every 10k miles after it expired. Traded it in with 231k miles, had a couple of minor leaks, no sludge, and the engine still ran like a top. I flogged that thing regularly too, aside from the coolant bleeder valve it never had a problem. A bunch of other stuff started failing on it though, which is why I got rid of it.

I had an old project car that used to sit for weeks at a time, and cold start even in the summer was always full of clicks and rattles. Put Mobil 1 15w50 in it and let it sit one time for 2 months, started up smoothly with no rattles.

Synthetic is all I use in my cars. Anyway at Wal-mart, 5 qts = $23 so why not?

[rolly]

When we bought the Journey, I kept my 2001 Neon LE. It has 232,000 KM's on it and it still runs fine. I never used synthetic but I changed the oil every 5,000 KM's and I still drive it occasionally. It may not be as comfy as our Journey but my brother-in-law doesn't believe it's a 4 banger- that's how good it runs! bramfrank is right if you change your oil regularly your engine won't sludge up.

[burgandy25]

mobil 1 is great stuff.