Question about Synthetic Oil

Ive got an 03 Accord EX 4cyl with 83k miles.
I was thinking about switching over to synthetic oil with the next oil change but wanted to get your opinions on it here first.
If I do switch, ive been told that  I can get more miles between oil changes and that also it will help my fuel economy. Im more sure on the former rather than the latter.
So, can anyone give me any tips, hints, or suggestions?

once to switch to synthetic, you cant switch back, so be careful.

Myth - you CAN switch back.
 
MPG inprovement is probably true in theory, but too small to measure.
 

quote:

once to switch to synthetic, you cant switch back, so be careful.

Sorry, dead wrong on that one!
You can switch back and forth between synthetic and regular oil daily if you wish. Ever heard of a synthetic blend? On the first run with synthetic go 5000 miles max, change oil and filter. The only 100% goofproof way to know when to change oil (future) is to do a used oil analysis. Generally you can go farther between changes with a synth but the UOA will tell you how much farther. Better MPG? Nope.

UOA? What is it and where can it be done?

Oh, and just so I dont forget my manners, Thanks to all for the info

True. But switching with a poorly maintained or high miled engine would require shortened staggered changes if switched from conventional to synthetic. I just remember in the early days of synthetic, "the compounds in the oil had different effects on the internal seals of an engine. Petroleum contained distillates that caused the engine seals to expand or "swell". The seals would wear to the correct tolerance for that component and everything would be fine, until the owner switched to synthetic oil . Synthetics did not contain the distillates and the seals would return or "shrink" back to their original size."

This caused sometimes incredible oil leakage issues. An interesting side bar is the invent of several "stop leak additives" to battle these problems. The primary component of these was and still is today.... Petroleum Distillate
If an engine had synthetic oil in it from the beginning and for the majority of its existence, the seals would not swell and wear until the owner switched to conventional oil. Once the switch was made, you could never go back due to the extended wear to the motor."

But I guess with today''s technology and improvements, it does not matter so much anymore.

UOA = used-oil analysis
www.blackstonelabs.com or a small handful of other places like that.
 
I had been using non-synth at 7k mile changes in the 2003 4-cyl Accord.  UOA says I could go longer, but that car (daughter) has just changed driving habits to short-drives.  So... ??
 
Check out www.bobistheoilguy.com for more info than you ever thought possible...
 

Synth oil has those additives for seal swelling.  Been that way since about the mid-1970s...
 

Well then...my knowledge of oil is dated. lol.

The best thing about synth oil:  It doesn''t cook in the turbo when you cut off the motor.

Yeah, personally I use it in the turbo cars but not in the Hondas.
 

Here is a related question, I guess: how good is the Oil Life gauge at gauging synthetic oil life? Is it somewhat close to a UOA?

Nowhere close to a UOA.  The oil life monitor simply keeps detailed track of every thing you do with the car.  How many times you start, how many of those starts were COLD, how many times you accelerate hard, EVERYTHING.
 
The oil life monitor does not actually MEASURE anything about your oil.  It has no way of knowing what kind of oil is in there, or even if you fill the crankcase with water instead.
 

Jim, based upon what you''''re saying, the OLM will not show me a longer life using a dino oil vs. the "best" synthetic oil available that could possibly triple the drain interval?

Thanks.

Thats right.  Its programmed to take into account the normal oil thats called for, basically a good petroleum 5w-20.
 
AFAIK, theres NO car of any maker that actually measures the oil performance.  Ive never heard of anything like an on-board UOA.
 
Lots of people here like to change oil more frequently for a margin of safety.  You can do that 2 ways...
1 - change oil when the monitor gets to 30% or something, dont wait for it to reach 10%.
2 - use a synthetic oil & let it go down to 10% or even zero.
 
If you want to do #2, you might want to get a UOA.  But if you take advantage of the oil monitor, you may not have to get several UOAs to establish the range & repeatability of your driving habits.
 

Jim, thanks for the reply.  Some of the newer European mfrs have added in a qualitative measure of the oil.  The algorithm is far more sophisticated than # of starts, RPM ranges, etc.  They are apply to measure (via an in-pan sensor) the dielectric of the oil and gain some info there.  VW''s system is smart enough to know if you top-off with more than 1/2L of the wrong oil (non Long Life), it will automatically shorten the drain interval.
 
I suspect my OLM will show it needs to be changed every 5 or 6k miles based upon the 1600 miles I''ve traveled so far.  I''m fine with that.  My trips are fairly short and I''ll probably need to change the oil every 9 months or so.  I''ll probably look at a syn blend (aka Mobil''s 7500 oil or the Motocraft syn blend) 5W20.  It probably doesn''t make sense for me to lay out the extra $$$ for a full syn product as I adhere to the 12 month change philosophy to comply with mfr/warranty requirements.
 

Well, if VW & some others are actually measuring, I bet Honda isnt far behind.  Maybe???
 

Time will tell.  The in-pan sensor is not terribly expensive.  A few guys have retrofitted them to their USA cars.  The cut out already exists in the aluminum oil pan making installation quite simple.  I don''t know if any of them have got the programming set up so the system is fully functional...

i could never keep oil in a car more than 3,000 miles,it dont sound right

I''ve run Amsoil for a full year 3 times back to back on my ''89 Z24 Cavalier.  Never had any engine problems.  This was before they made the nano filter, so I was changing the filter at 6 months and topping off with fresh Series 2000 0W-30.

Amsoil Series 2000 is the best oil made for cars IMO.