A friend of mine recently purchased a 2008 Prius w/170,000 miles. The car was a 1 owner and was always serviced at a local Toyota dealer. He said the maintenance on the car was first rate with oil changes (Toyota brand 5W30 dino) every 4,000 miles and all recommended maintenance performed on time (records are in the Toyota database)...the car looks and drives like it has 50K miles. He immediately took it in and had an oil change installing Pennzoil Platinum 5W30 (previous owner said it did not use any oil between changes). He's concerned maybe it wasn't a good idea to switch to synthetic with so many miles on dino (he also mentioned that the dealer performed a "protec engine flush" on the car at about 130K miles). I told him I didn't think there would be any issues with seals, etc. and he should be OK with the synthetic despite the mileage...sound OK?
Switching to synthetic after 170K miles?
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"Protec engine flush = dealer profit center. The old wives tales about synthetic ought to have ceased by now. Just check the oil once in a while.
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Sometimes with high mileage switches, small leaks that weren't visible before become apparent due to the increased detergency and uniform molecular size of syn oil compared to dino.
If there weren't any apparent leaks before and the car's well maintained like you say, the switch should be fine. Tell him to keep an eye out for any drips or consumption.
If there weren't any apparent leaks before and the car's well maintained like you say, the switch should be fine. Tell him to keep an eye out for any drips or consumption.
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Originally Posted By: jacky
i switched to sythetic at 100.000 and it caused all kinds of leaks
i now use hm dino
i will never again put sythetic in a car over 5 years old
i try to avoid syn blend also
Is it April First yet?
i switched to sythetic at 100.000 and it caused all kinds of leaks
i now use hm dino
i will never again put sythetic in a car over 5 years old
i try to avoid syn blend also
Is it April First yet?
If synthetic vs dino is the difference between a leak or not than it's going to leak anyways, I don't know where people get the idea that a Synthetic is always the better "cleaner", I have found Pennzoil Yellow just as good as many cheaper Synthetics/Blends such as trop artic/motorcraft/Mobil 5000.
I bought my Montero 3 years ago with 150,000 miles. I do not know if it had synthetic in it or not but I put synthetic in it and no leaks working great. Based on maintenance records of the changes I and the price of the changes I do not believe it previously had synthetic.
My 99 Dodge caravan sits in my driveway with a pan under it to catch the oil. 2 years ago it had a couple of small leaks that would soak the side of the engine and maybe a drop a day on the ground. I tried synthetic oil and those small seeping leaks became 50 drops a day. Switching back to dino and or seal swelling agents have not helped. I wish I had not tried the synthetic oil.
I change between dino and syn many times in my 370+k miles LS400 without any extra oil consumption. It always consume 1/2 qt every 3-4k miles regardless of oil brand and type.
Old wife tale is hard to die.
Old wife tale is hard to die.
I switched every lubricant in my 99 passat to synthetic, has 157k on it now and doesn't leak any more than it did. Previous maintenence consisted of cheap dino oils ran way too long. Engine oil is rotella T6, transmission/front diff if Redline MTL, p/s fluid is amsoil.
If you're concerned about leaks try something like RedLine or another ester based oil, they play well with old seals.
If you're concerned about leaks try something like RedLine or another ester based oil, they play well with old seals.
Jacky Wrote:
"i switched to sythetic at 100.000 and it caused all kinds of leaks
i now use hm din
i will never again put sythetic in a car over 5 years old
i try to avoid syn blend also"
I just rolled my eyes so hard, I think I saw my brain.
"i switched to sythetic at 100.000 and it caused all kinds of leaks
i now use hm din
i will never again put sythetic in a car over 5 years old
i try to avoid syn blend also"
I just rolled my eyes so hard, I think I saw my brain.
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I got my '02 caravan (3.3l) about 2 years ago with 135k mi. It sat up for a year while the previous owner lost a fight to cancer. It had a nice slick under it. When I got it, I changed fluids and filters (except the trans, afraid to open a can o' worms). Crawling around under it, i noticed each oil pan bolt had a drop coming down. I snugged each bolt down and check them every oil change. No more drips, been using aged Mobil 1 since I got it
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i deal exclusively with vintage cars. Most of them were 20 yearts old before synthetic oil use became widespread. I put synthetic oil in every one that comes my way. IF they leaked before, they still do. If they didn't leak, they still don't.
that's it.
Z
that's it.
Z
If it were me (and I'm obviously a big fan of synthetic oil) I'd probably just run PYB with reasonable changes and call it a day. If I tell him that he's probably going to drain it out which would be a waste of money. I can't imagine a short OCI on the Platinum would cause leaks? I was under the impression that seals in newer cars were not as likely to be affected by a switch to synthetic as older cars. Might Mobil 1 HM be an option (best of both worlds)?
Montero1...your last sentence made me laugh for the first time in a week (gonna use that expression a LOT from now on...).
Originally Posted By: montero1
Jacky Wrote:
"i switched to sythetic at 100.000 and it caused all kinds of leaks
i now use hm din
i will never again put sythetic in a car over 5 years old
i try to avoid syn blend also"
I just rolled my eyes so hard, I think I saw my brain.
I'm stealing that one!
Jacky Wrote:
"i switched to sythetic at 100.000 and it caused all kinds of leaks
i now use hm din
i will never again put sythetic in a car over 5 years old
i try to avoid syn blend also"
I just rolled my eyes so hard, I think I saw my brain.
I'm stealing that one!
Prius is back specd to run 0w20. I would run synthetic 0w20 in it.
Originally Posted By: mclasser
Sometimes with high mileage switches, small leaks that weren't visible before become apparent due to the increased detergency and uniform molecular size of syn oil compared to dino.
If there weren't any apparent leaks before and the car's well maintained like you say, the switch should be fine. Tell him to keep an eye out for any drips or consumption.
^ This. I have switched two 100000 + mile vehicles to synthetic. They had some seepage for about 3000k miles which then stopped.
Sometimes with high mileage switches, small leaks that weren't visible before become apparent due to the increased detergency and uniform molecular size of syn oil compared to dino.
If there weren't any apparent leaks before and the car's well maintained like you say, the switch should be fine. Tell him to keep an eye out for any drips or consumption.
^ This. I have switched two 100000 + mile vehicles to synthetic. They had some seepage for about 3000k miles which then stopped.
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