I am thinking about changing from regular to synthetic oil on my next oil change but i have a 97 Accord LX with 270K miles already on it ...... your thoughts please and thank you.

 

you should check back on your records / memory for oil type you've been using for last 2years and keep using it.

Syn oil use has caused near term oil leaks into dist in two high mileage cars I've tried it in (185,000 and 125,000 miles) that had been using plain jane dino oil.
You like your car, you like the fact that it runs, so keep using the oil its seals are used to.

 

Many folks, myself included, think that the adage of "change to synthetic in a high mileage car will cause oil leaks" is incorrect. I've switched many cars with over 100,000 miles on the clock to synthetic and never had an oil leak, my 2001 Accord included (it had 117,000 miles on the clock when I switched it to synthetic oil).

My position, and that of many industry "experts", is that if a car was switched to synthetic oil and it started leaking, it was going to start leaking anyway.

 

I admit to being an Amsoil fanatic based on 25 years of experience with it. I will tell you that my experience is that any synthetic is more prone to leak than straight dino oil. It won't be a major difference, but sometimes it is noticeable. If the engine has 270K, and running good with no blow by, go for it. If switching to synthetic, use Amsoil. I have had many cars and trucks go 250 to 420k with no problem on Amsoil with extended change intervals of 15000 miles. The one with 420 was still running good when sold, and was still running last time I saw it with over 450, although I'm not sure they stayed with Amsoil

 

Amsoil, meh, no thanks.

I refuse to support a company which uses business practices which I abhor, regardless of how good the product may be (which is highly debatable). Companies that run off the MLM model are automatically off my list, as are companies which use deceptive marketing language; Amsoil is guilty of both.

 

You can switch to synthetic and theres a change you wont notice leaks. But you just might. Shipo doesnt mess around with his cars so you know they're in the exact same condition as the day he bought them :P

Oil is something I've looked into quite a bit. I have a 97 and I switched to synthetic when I was first learning about my car. What everyone said was that it was just better. But thats not necessarily the case.

My car leaked more. This is because the oil gets "thinner" (for a lack of better words) when up to temp and slips through the worn seals of an older car. I noticed under the car was oily and I ended up having to top off more often. I wasted more money that way.

You can go more miles with synthetic but it may not be worth it.

With modern improvements to oil, conventional or a blend are just as good. What I switched to was high mileage synthetic blend. Thats half synth half convention. It doesn't leak as much and the additives in the oil are meant for higher mileage cars with carbon deposits and all sorts of crap in the engine. I love it and so does my car. Ill go 8000 miles per oil change too. Its cheaper than synthetic and lasts almost as long. Cost me $17 plus a $5 filter.

A little seafoam in the crankcase before a change doesn't hurt either.

As far as brands go, I keep to valvoline since its cheap but reputable. Really almost all oil is the same as long as it has the seal on it saying that its passed inspection.

 

Ummm, no, that isn't true. Using an xW-30 oil as an example, when up to operating temperature (which is when oil is at its thinnest), an oil graded as xW-30 will stay within the viscosity range of an xW-30 oil, regardless of whether it is old 1970s oil technology, modern Group II conventional oil, Group III hydrocracked synthetic, or Group IV and Group V synthetic oils. If the oil "thinned" out further, it wouldn't qualify as an xW-30, it would be an xW-20 oil.

Long story short, the old urban legend that synthetic oil is "thinner" (at least when up to operating temperature) is patently false. The only time synthetic oil of any given grade is "thinner" than its conventional counterparts is when the oil is cold, as in really-really cold.

 

You should have stopped at... no thanks....., rather than trashing a company about which you obviously have no real personal experience - or have you been using it for a couple decades? I can tell you Amsoil uses the same marketing fundamentals as Mobil or Pennzoil, but instead of marketing through large corporation middle men like Walmart ( like their practices do you?), they allow small businesses and individuals to act as the middle men instead. Sorry fellow listers for the OT rant, but I don't think anyone should just trash talk a product or persons with immunity..even if they are a "Super Moderator" BTW, I am not a dealer and don't sell it.

 

^^^ I'm with 'wunderbra.'


Isn't a big issue, but we want knowledgeable members to post up, and
the above, above slamming comment didn't help this big picture forum goal.

 

Hmmm, is there such a thing as Amsoil Kool-Aid?