I keep getting different answers from different dealerships on what to use. Some say use synthetic and some say use regular oil. I have 52K miles on my 1998 Explorer Sport . Can I switch over to synthetic or will that cause leakes or any other problems or should I just stick with the outdated dino oil? Please help.
Thanks
BTW...I just got it this summer and changed oil myself and used the regular type oil.

 

[sm=boosign.gif]...anybody here?

 

Ok.. I'll jump in!!

Synthetics are fine, as are syn/blends.. They won't cause leaks, cause failure/s but also shouldn't be used on an engine that hasn't been through a complete break in.. Not your case here.. If you do go syn, don't switch back and forth.. Many differentials ect. use syn lubes, as does the S/D's 5R110 that uses SP syn fluid.. Reason being, synthetics don't suffer from 'thermal break down' and 'shear' like dino oils do, and loose their viscosity which causes or has the potential of allowing more wear.. The big sell is the extended service intervals, but the added cost of syn seems to be be a wash in my book.. Plus the 'availabilty' of on the road oil.. If the synthetics caused oil leaks and such they'd be outta buisness by now.. Dino oils if service on a 'regular' basis are fine as well, but if used in severe duty/high temps ect. then syn maybe/would of benifit.. Certainly wouldn't hurt to run it and there is peace of mind knowing your doing all you can for protection.. But one of the things I like about standard oils is that it gets me under the rig more often where potential problems/leaks are caught before an issue.. Especially on higher mileage rigs, or for those that like to squeeze every mile out of a change The problem with dino oils is for those that like to 'extend' the services well beyond the need, and use 'bargain' oils/filters... Especially filters!!

I think you'll get pro/con from just about anybody, and is a choice.. My Hayabusa runs Syn/blend and has since almost new.. And trust me, it see's some 'performance' run time Never a problem......

 

Hey friend...thanks for the explaination.
I think I will go ahead and switch to synthetic if it won't hurt anything. Its not really that expensive to do it once a year(Mobil 1, 5 qt. jug=$22).I once sent a sample of my Mobil 1 Synthetic oil for analysis after 3,000 miles and they said it was like brand new and that I could go another 5,000 easily. (Blackstone Lab), so I guess I could easily go 6,000+ miles or one year without changing oil as opposed to changing my dino oil every 3,000 miles. I have several cars so it does save me time and energy to change less times.
Again, thanks for the reply[sm=americanasmiley.gif]

 

If your sending your samples off to Black Stone for analysis, sounds like your on top of your services and don't miss much..

 

I did it a few times on different vehicles...I'm no genius but I try hard