[Lucky]

ok i have regular 5w30 or what ever it is, and i wanna put durablend in there. do i have to flush the oil thingy (notice im not good with this stuff) or and i just replace in with the oil change with no probs?

 

[HighTecRedneck]

Since durablend is a semi- synthetic i don't believe you will have to flush the engine before changing to it. If it were a full synthetic it is highly recommend to flush it before changing to it.

Depending on how many miles you have it might not hurt to flush it anyways.

 

[mikehawk]

You NEVER have to flush an engine before switching to synthetic. Synthetic oils clean better than conventional oils anyway, so within a few (synthetic) oil changes you will have cleaned out a good amount of the sludge, anyway.


I've heard that those motor flushes are actually bad for your engine because they wash ALL the lubrication off all the moving parts causing a dry start that sometimes causes your motor to seize.

 

[HighTecRedneck]

Originally posted by mikehawk@Jun 24 2004, 10:09 PM
You NEVER have to flush an engine before switching to synthetic. Synthetic oils clean better than conventional oils anyway, so within a few (synthetic) oil changes you will have cleaned out a good amount of the sludge, anyway.


I've heard that those motor flushes are actually bad for your engine because they wash ALL the lubrication off all the moving parts causing a dry start that sometimes causes your motor to seize.

My recommendation to flush the engine before going to full synthetic is based off of instructions on the manufacturer’s web sites and/or speaking with their technical advisors (Amsoil, Valvoline and Mobile one). I haven't done this yet myself but I had planned to go to full synthetic in the next few months so I’ve been looking around and calling their customer service depts and speaking with their technicians to get answers to my questions.

As far as engine flushes being bad, i have used them for years on many cars and have never had any ill effects. That doesn't mean that they might or might not be bad but I’ve never had problems with them in my experience.

 

[madness_spirit]

I have never heard anything about you needing to flush an engine to switch to synthetic, and I was in a united auto workers school only 3 years ago. There is absolutely no reason why you would have to flush to switch to a synthetic, synthetics will mix well with conventional oils, and in the small amounts that you will have in an engine after an oil change you would never have to worry. A flush is nice though if you want to get everything super clean.

 

[kermitec]

A couple of quick oil changes will really clean er out pretty good. It doesn't mattre what king of cheap oil you use. Just do two changes around a week apart. I have heard of some of the chemical oil flushes doing damage also.

 

[HighTecRedneck]

Originally posted by madness_spirit@Jun 25 2004, 12:14 AM
I have never heard anything about you needing to flush an engine to switch to synthetic, and I was in a united auto workers school only 3 years ago.  There is absolutely no reason why you would have to flush to switch to a synthetic, synthetics will mix well with conventional oils, and in the small amounts that you will have in an engine after an oil change you would never have to worry.  A flush is nice though if you want to get everything super clean.

Eh, who knows. They could have just been trying to sell me another one of their products (the flush), which wouldn't surprise me. Like i said this is just what i was told by the companies technical advisors. It sucks when you can't even believe the makers of the product

 

[LoadedLX]

I was considering switching to mobile 1 full synthetic. if, for some reason, i can't continue to afford the ungodly prices, will it hurt the car to switch back to non-synthetic?

 

[darthenstein]

It will not hurt the motor one bit to switch from synthetic back to conventional. I switched from syn to conv in my neon at 125,000 miles, and actually picked up some horsepower and gas mileage (also stopped burning oil and the motor was quieter) because my rings were worn and the synthetic was decreasing compression.

Remember: motors have logged 250,000+ miles on conventional oil with no adverse effects.

 

[snakeeyes]

The trick with synthetic is you gotta start using it when the engine has low miles. Otherwise the engine will never adapt to it. I changed to it today, Mobil 1 0-20. I have 45,000 on my car. That mileage might be pushing it,but I think it will still be O.K. I would say 75,000 or more and your wasting your time changing to Synthetic.

 

[LoadedLX]

alrighty. i'll stick to good old Motorcraft 5w-30. I've got like 100,500 miles on the engine, so if 45k is pushing, then I'd be a regular evel kinevel to do it.

thanks for the input

 

[kermitec]

Originally posted by snakeeyes@Jun 26 2004, 06:11 PM
The trick with synthetic is you gotta start using it when the engine has low miles. Otherwise the engine will never adapt to it. I changed to it today, Mobil 1 0-20. I have 45,000 on my car. That mileage might be pushing it,but I think it will still be O.K. I would say 75,000 or more and your wasting your time changing to Synthetic.

If an older engine is in good condition and does not have any leaks using Mobil 1 or other synthetics will have the same benefits as on an older engine. The condition of the engine and prior maintenance has more impact than just mileage when considering using synthetics. There are synthetic blends available for higher mileage engines now that contain more cleaning additives then regular blends. It really depends on the individual vehicle, especially nowadays when modern electronic engines are in much better shape after many miles then older vehicles were.