Syntetic oil vs regular oil, what would you recommend?

From new, full synthetic oil would be my choice. For a '01 with xx miles already on it either is fine. If you choose synthetic, there is a general consensus that it can cause oil leaks in higher mileage engines.

Thanks Bob. I have 84,000 miles on it.
I'm on the fence on what to do with it.

I had a 2004 that had 86k when I got it. I switched over to synthetic, and had some seepage around the seals, but they closed up after awhile and it didn't leak after that.

I did some research on it, and apparently what happens is that the regular oil had crusted around the seal, and formed a seal out of the crust. Then, as the synthetic carried away the crust, the seal was exposed, and since it hadn't been lubricated, leaked a bit until it softened up.

If there's too many miles on, then the seal doesn't soften up and the leak stays, which I believe was Bob D's point.

That said, I've never had a problem using regular oil with numerous cars, and would say that it works just fine if you change it. But I did get about 1-2 mpg better with the synthetic oil.


Some synthetics say you can go with a longer change interval, check out bobistheoilguy.com for a lot of information on oil.

Overall, IMO synthetic oil will allow your engine to stay cleaner in the long run.

-Then, as the synthetic carried away the crust, the seal was exposed, and since it hadn't been lubricated, leaked a bit until it softened up.
If there's too many miles on, then the seal doesn't soften up and the leak stays.
That's the best explanation I've heard so far.

fredjacksonsan, your link doesn't work but I think you were pointing here:

www.bobistheoilguy.com

Yup...don't know why that link didn't work.....

Thanks for all the help. I am going to go with the synthetic oil.

Thanks for all the help. I am going to go with the synthetic oil.

Cool; hope the site was of some help.

You may also want to check out Auto RX, I used it on my '00 and it work as advertised.

Enjoy!