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i'm thinking of switching as well, but i'm kinda scared about the oil leak thing. i have a 98 Tour with 97K miles on it. at about every 3K miles from when it was bought it was taken to Jiffy Lube to get oil and filter changes.
would u say it's safe for me to switch to synthetic? if not, what brand of standard oil would u recommend?
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Originally posted by infratl:
i'm thinking of switching as well, but i'm kinda scared about the oil leak thing. i have a 98 Tour with 97K miles on it. at about every 3K miles from when it was bought it was taken to Jiffy Lube to get oil and filter changes.
would u say it's safe for me to switch to synthetic? if not, what brand of standard oil would u recommend?
You have nothing to lose ... if it starts leaking then you just have to drain and fill back up with dino.
I use Mobil1 5w/30
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Originally posted by ODC:
Originally posted by infratl:
i'm thinking of switching as well, but i'm kinda scared about the oil leak thing. i have a 98 Tour with 97K miles on it. at about every 3K miles from when it was bought it was taken to Jiffy Lube to get oil and filter changes.
would u say it's safe for me to switch to synthetic? if not, what brand of standard oil would u recommend?
You have nothing to lose ... if it starts leaking then you just have to drain and fill back up with dino.
I use Mobil1 5w/30
The theory is that the synthetic oil would clean out the crud in the leaks, and switching back wouldn't fix that.
However, I'm convinced that the theory is [censored]. I'm about to switch an old M-B 190E to Mobil 1, even though it burns/leaks a little bit already.
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I feel Guilty, Oh so guilty
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Switching to synthetic, or from synthetic to dino at high mileage can cause issues. The seals reach a chemical equalibrium that can be upset with the switch. It probably will not cause a serious issue, but it absolutely can cause leaks.
"If you are flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit"
-Mitch Hedberg
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Chemical equilibrium? WHAAaa? Does this apply Le Chatelier principle or something? lol From my understaning, syn basestocks
cause seal shrinkage. When syn oils came out back in the day, the additives used were not sufficient in addressing the seal shrinkage, hence many vehicles leaked. However today's oil manufacturers are using hte proper additives to
address the seak and gasket issues. In fact, I believe syn oils better swell seals to fit better than petro oil.
Back to your question, from reading several surveys regarding switching to synthetic oil, the approach of guesstimation is very inconsistent here. It is tested, that vehicles w/ higher mileage are more prone to leaking. On vehicles that have seen petro oils for a long period, the seals and gaskets become dry and cracked, however leaks aren't seen due to the sludge that coats the
cracks. This sludge is just the burn off of petroleum. Hence, when we use syn oil, the detergent cleans these seals off. So for those who experience the leaks, this is simply due to this. However, keep in mind that the additives I spoke of earlier
help allow the seals to swell to limit leakage.
I, personally switched at somewhere around 46k w/o any issues. One thing I did note about my vehicle which is strictly empirical is that I consumed a lot more oil initially w/synthetic than dino. Anyways, it's really up to you. If you are generally easy on the car, not taking it too hard, then stay w/the general dino oils (Any major name brand dino oil
will do--I think it was beachboy w/something near 200k miles w/dino!). But do keep in mind that it was something like 95% of vehicles do not leak when switching to synthetics. Good luck w/whichever course you take.
99 Black Contour SE Sport
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My last car ran just fine for over 250,000 miles on Pennzoil oil and Fram oil filters. Its still running good, according to the new owners. I've been a believer in good conventional oil. Sorry, I can't tell you what brand I use, since the dealer has done all the oil changes since day one. But I have 176,000 miles on the engine, and many guys here have lost engines at far fewer miles, so I figure I'm doing something right.
-Mark-
'99 Mystique LS, totally original (including the original water pump and the premium stereo)! Bought new in December 1998 for $21,000.
208,000 miles
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Originally posted by Beachboy:
My last car ran just fine for over 250,000 miles on Pennzoil oil and Fram oil filters. Its still running good, according to the new owners. I've been a believer in good conventional oil. Sorry, I can't tell you what brand I use, since the dealer has done all the oil changes since day one. But I have 176,000 miles on the engine, and many guys here have lost engines at far fewer miles, so I figure I'm doing something right.
True, but I think guys on here take their cars up to ranges your car has probably never seen, on a daily basis. Hence, the need for a better performing oil. I, myself am not one that speeds or takes her up that high, however in my mind paying $14 for dino oil and filter every 3k or $26 for syn oil and a filter every 5k, is not that far off for having a better performing oil. However, to each his own, and as you stated with that many miles you must be doing something right! 
Oh yeah...Mark, the dealership uses Motorcraft dino oil, just for your info. It's pretty good stuff.
Last edited by ancientsanskrit; 06/18/05 04:36 AM.
99 Black Contour SE Sport
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ok, thanks for all the info. my mind is almost made up to stay with dino since the Tour has 97k miles already. there are no leaks and i wanna keep it that way. but just out of curiosity, if i did switch and it started leaking, if i switched back to dino would it seal the leaks? or are there any products out there that would seal them without having to service the engine?
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No, it would not re-seal the leaks. And most sealant addidives are junk, stay away from them. If you know the car was well-maintained, then switch. If it wasn't, I'd still switch, but you may run a slightly higher risk of leaks. But it was noted above that if you have bad seals, they will leak eventually, so you might as well switch.
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so today i finally changed the oil. using mobil 1 5w30 and a mobil 1 filter coz i couldn't find the K&N anywhere. the synth oil seems a lot slicker than the dino. i hope i don't have any problems with this change.
when should my next oil change be? 3k or 5k miles?
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