Synthetic Oil For '07 Kia 3.8L

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'07 Kia Sedona 3.8L uses 5W20 (oil cap recommendation).At 40K miles I switched from conventional oil to 5W20 synthetic M1 or PP and run 6K miles / 6 months OCI's . Now the engine I just noticed has 150K miles on it and it doesn't burn any oil nor does it leak . I wondered if I should switch to a HM synthetic or not ? Also as the motor is 8 years old now does it make any sense to go up to a 5W30 synthetic - or just stay the course of what I have been doing ? My only real concern is the Kia 3.8L has a timing chain and is know to beat up oil pretty good so I wonder if moving up to a HM , 5W30 or both is better at this 150K mile juncture ?
 
Get you some SuperTech full synthetic. I've used that oil in my
car and it's always made the engine run real quiet. Good stuff.
 
Originally Posted By: ChrisD46
'07 Kia Sedona 3.8L uses 5W20 (oil cap recommendation).At 40K miles I switched from conventional oil to 5W20 synthetic M1 or PP and run 6K miles / 6 months OCI's . Now the engine I just noticed has 150K miles on it and it doesn't burn any oil nor does it leak . I wondered if I should switch to a HM synthetic or not ? Also as the motor is 8 years old now does it make any sense to go up to a 5W30 synthetic - or just stay the course of what I have been doing ? My only real concern is the Kia 3.8L has a timing chain and is know to beat up oil pretty good so I wonder if moving up to a HM , 5W30 or both is better at this 150K mile juncture ?


What evidence do you have of this motor being hard on oil? I'm not saying it doesn't exist, I just haven't found it. There isn't much info on this motor on the interwebs, and any info you do find is about the Genesis 3.8L, which is much higher strung.
 
Originally Posted By: ChrisD46
'07 Kia Sedona 3.8L uses 5W20 (oil cap recommendation).At 40K miles I switched from conventional oil to 5W20 synthetic M1 or PP and run 6K miles / 6 months OCI's . Now the engine I just noticed has 150K miles on it and it doesn't burn any oil nor does it leak . I wondered if I should switch to a HM synthetic or not ? Also as the motor is 8 years old now does it make any sense to go up to a 5W30 synthetic - or just stay the course of what I have been doing ? My only real concern is the Kia 3.8L has a timing chain and is know to beat up oil pretty good so I wonder if moving up to a HM , 5W30 or both is better at this 150K mile juncture ?



I don't see the need to switch to high mileage oil if you are not having leaks or high burnoff. Also most Kia/Hyundai motors allow 5w20, 5w30, or 10w30 to be used. 5w20 being the most fuel efficient. You should have no problems running a 5w30 in a 2007 Kia.

I just switched my girlfriends 07 Rio over to 5w30 because it was using a qt every 2k miles on 5w20. The manual allows up to 10w30 on her car. So far it is using less oil on the 30wt oil.
 
Some people say not to switch unless you see a problem, some people say switching before you see a problem can help prevent one from occurring. I don't think anyone knows which side is absolutely right.

I do know there is no harm in using a HM oil, even on a new vehicle. All oils have seal conditioners in them, HM oils just have even more. So use whatever makes you comfortable.

As for the vehicle beating up on the oil, you're already using a synthetic oil which holds up better than conventional oil. So as long your OCI isn't too long, you're already doing everything you can.

Personally, Valvoline MaxLife full synthetic was one of the smoothest oils in my vehicle, so I think I'm going to switch to it after my current oil stash is used up (about two years), even though I'll only be at around 100k miles at that point and probably wont be seeing any oil consumption or leakage.

I don't think you're doing anything wrong, and none of the options you're considering will do any harm, so do what ever makes you most comfortable.
 
Thanks for the replies :
* I still have moderate mistrust of thinner 5W20 oil (even synthetic) yet at 150K miles even in a noisy since birth Kia 3.8L - it hasn't blown up yet !

* I had remembered reading where this engine with a timing chain was rougher on oil than a similar engine with a timing belt .

* I'm running synthetic oil at 6K miles / 6 months in the Sedona which sees little h'way miles in mostly suburb driving - yet is not short tripped too frequently .
 
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