Originally posted by bigerik:


Synthetic does not cause leaks. PERIOD.
For a leak to start after the change, the problem had to exist allready. In other words, you had big problems in the VERY near future.
Synthetic beats regular oil in every way. Will not go into the power or fuel mileage debate here, or even value for money, but it IS better oil.
Synthetic blend is basically just snake oil. Either use dino oil or synthetic.
Erik



I don't think anyone will argue it is superior oil. The argument is exactly where you said you won't go. Conventional oils will provide the same protection as Synthetic in 99.9999999999999999999999% of the applications it is used in and generally do it at a lower cost. Well, let's just say 99.9% to not exaggerate. If you want to spend more money on something that will have completely negligible results during a normal lifespan of a vehicle, then by all means do it. But don't do it because you feel you "need" to. My grandma driving 1/2 mile a day every couple of days probably has more of a need for synthetic than the most aggressive drivers on this site. I advised against switching to synthetics just because I find it difficult to justify the cost, not because of the potential leaking issue which leads me to my next quasi-rant

The argument about synthetics not causing oil leaks is technically true, but it's very semantical. I don't believe for a second that a major oil leak with conventionals was imminent with regard to the original poster. I'm sure there are cases where it will happen regardless of oil type. I belong to 15 car forums and have read countless threads about people switching to synthetics and finding oil leaks almost immediately. To think that each of the leaks would have happened almost immediately is foolish, in my opinion. Would they happen regardless of oil type in time? Of course, but it could also not show up as a significant problem for years.

"If you are flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit" -Mitch Hedberg