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Switching to synthetic oil at 37,000

smoothie
My 2006 F150 has 37000 miles on it. 5.4 litre V8 and I am thinking about switching to a synthetic oil. I have heard most people only use synthetic oils when first purchased and not after you have moderate mileage on the vehicle. What do you think?
Greg,
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Comments

23 comments

Date Votes
  • catpealer111
    First, welcome to the forum. I just switched my '06 Taurus to Amsoil full synthetic and the car had 38,000 miles on it. Now the car has 39,700 and I haven't had a lick of trouble. You shouldn't have any issues with changing your '06 150 over.
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  • iluvguns
    No problem at all. Go for it.
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  • cce1302
    Most (if not all) the high-mileage oils are synthetic. The oils advertised for Truck/SUV are synthetic. That's enough for me.

    I've put synthetic in all my vehicles for the last 5 or so years. Never bought one new, so I don't know what was put in them <40,000 miles, but I use synthetic all the way up after that.
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  • HandLoad
    Actually I have heard from shop mechanics that it is best to run about 10,000-20,000 to break in the rings before going to synthetics, as they are so good that if you run from new with synthetics, the rings either never really seat or they take a very long time to do so. Should be no problem to swap over now. You will probably want to make a short change @ 3000 miles or so on your first recharge of synthetic, to make sure that all the dino oil is gone before going to the extended change intervals that you want for the synthetic.
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  • select-fire
    quote:Originally posted by HandLoad
    Actually I have heard from shop mechanics that it is best to run about 10,000-20,000 to break in the rings before going to synthetics, as they are so good that if you run from new with synthetics, the rings either never really seat or they take a very long time to do so. Should be no problem to swap over now. You will probably want to make a short change @ 3000 miles or so on your first recharge of synthetic, to make sure that all the dino oil is gone before going to the extended change intervals that you want for the synthetic.


    My Corvettes came from the factory with Mobil 1 in them.
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  • HandLoad
    Your specialty Vettes were dyno'd before sale, right?
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  • Blade Slinger
    Mobil 1............. never to late
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  • HandLoad
    I know some Corvettes and some Dinans were Sold with Mobil ! in them, but they all had "Tuner Mills" that were run on a Dyno before installation, and they make sure that the rings are seated by using Mineral oil - at least that is what they do for A/C motors.

    EDIT 4 typo
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  • HandLoad
    Yep- Put Mobil 1 in, and wear virtually stops. I had a Mustang SVO, pumped up to nearly 400 HP. drove it 147K miles, still made within three Hp of when I changed over to Synthetic.
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  • Locust Fork
    Being a female....and NEVER messing with any kind of mechanical doo-hickey ever....means I know nothing at all about oil or "other" oil. The first time I took the BMW to have the oil changed the young man came into the lobby where I sat and told me "it is suggested that you put synthetic oil in this car....would you like us to use that?" He failed to tell me it would shoot my oil change bill into costing dang near $100!!!! He saved that little bit of info for the end. I still would have had them use the recommended oil....but DANG!!!! That is just a whole heck of a lot more than normal.
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  • 320090T
    My neighbor has a POS 88 Olds Cutlass with 454,000 miles on it and still going. Looks like crap but uses no oil, runs fine. Castrol Syntec the whole trip, changing at 8,000 miles.
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  • smoothie
    Thanks everyone, I think I have made my choice. I wanted to get some other view points first and you all helped. I appreciate it.
    Greg
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  • USN_Airdale
    advice: don't do it !

    in 1981 i switched my 1978 Bronco over to Mobil 1, drove across country on a 1,600 mile trip and used 3 quarts of oil, went back to Penzoil 10W30 and never used a drop between 2,000 mile oils changes....., but then, that was just my personal experience [:D]
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  • HandLoad
    Yep, that is one of the problems with the synthetics - if your car is ever gonna leak, it will do sooner, and do it more with the synthetics. I had a persnickety bachelor friend who had a (then) New C4 Corvette - it was his pride and joy. He swapped to Mobil !, then switched right back, cause it made a few drops on the garage floor.
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  • oldnbald
    Switched my 99 Ram to synthetic at 70,000 miles. Now have over 80,000 and have had absolutely no problems.
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  • dheffley
    I would switch and go to Amsoil. They also sell and engine flush to use prior to changing over from petrolium products. You also want to use their synthetic oil filters because of the extended oil change intervals. Standard filters just aren't designed for that.
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  • Raupleminze
    I started running Mobil 1 in my Honda when i bought it with 46,000 on it. I change it every 5,000 and it now has 174,000 without any problems. Infact it still sounds as quiet as a sewing machine and burns little if any oil.
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  • TangoSierra
    I have used Mobil 1 for a number of years without any problems. Synthetics are just so much slicker than conventional oils. The drawback as has been stated is leaking problems. It's just like diesel fuel and anti-freeze...if there is a way to leak out, it will find it.
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  • mango tango
    I agree 100% with Handload! You should run conventional oil for the first 10,000 then switch, to allow rings to seat. I personally use Castrol Syntec!
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  • idsman75
    I used Mobile 1 in my Honda Civic. Now I use Royal Purple in my Chevy Blazer. Don't ignore the oil filter component of this lubricant equation. Go to O'Reilly and pick up a Wix oil filter which is the same as a NAPA Gold oil filter (Wix makes them). I'd dare say there's absolutely no better oil filter on the market than a Wix/NAPA Gold. Cut one open and stretch out the filter element. Then cut open your current brand and stretch out the filter element laying it side-by-side with the Wix/NAPA Gold. You'll see what I mean. You get more filtration out of the Wix/NAPA Gold filter. If you're going to go 5K+ miles with your premium synthetic oil then you need a filter that will last that long.

    Synthetic oil isn't going to damage anything. The benefit is that all molecules in synthetic oil are the same size and, hence, the same weight unlike conventional oil. When your car sits, the heavier molecules in the oil settle towards the bottom. At start-up, the oil is not uniform until it's circulated a little. Hence, you're not getting the same level of protection at start-up as you do after you've been driving for a few minutes. You get that protection with synthetic. Also, when you're oil gets really hot, the lighter molecules will burn off before the heavier molecules. After a few thousand miles, the molecular composition of conventional is different than it was before. It's still the same with synthetic since the molecules in synthetic are the same weight.
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  • mango tango
    Your absolutely right, the NAPA filter is the best on the market. We cut 4 filters apart, and hands down the NAPA is the best! Fram is about the worst of the bunch!
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  • dkb2003
    np doing it
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  • lpaalp
    +1 what Handload said - or so I have been told and read, although it doesn't hurt to switch with somewhat higher mileage. I switched to Syntec at 32K miles on one vehicle (now 60K), and at 10K for a new one (now at 14K). Don't know how that fits with high performance engines coming from the factory with synthetic - ??
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