I have a 1997 GS-T Spyder with 110K miles. The car has always run on regular 10w-d30 castrol.

I was thinking about switching to Synthetic Mobil 1. Is it a good idea, or just a waste of money at this point? Pros and cons? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Shumyyal.

From what I have read, synthetic oil is best for a turbo. Apparently regular motor oil breaks down at a lower temperature than synthetic. This allows for a greater possibility for the oil to "coke", which in turn can clog the lines/nozzles that provide the turbo with oil. My spyder has had synthetic from the moment I bought it. I don't know if it is safe to switch at that mileage or not? I wouldn't see why it would hurt anthing as long as you went with the same weight.

our 4g63 has to run on synthetic oil or it'll run into stability problems. every mechanic i talk to tells me the same thing. it's only a few bucks for every 3000 miles, don't take that chance.

our 4g63 has to run on synthetic oil or it'll run into stability problems. every mechanic i talk to tells me the same thing. it's only a few bucks for every 3000 miles, don't take that chance.
Synthetic oil is mostly a marketing gimmick.


Do I run it? Yes.


I switched after the 60k T-belt swap, and have run it ever since. No problems before the syn, none since.

I have non-synthetic oil Valvoline max life in right now...no problems thus far after about 2k miles. If anyone has a good reason why I should be running synthetic, please alert me. Car engines have been running on regular motor oil for decades now, and I don't see why they shouldn't continue to ;)

thanks for the feedback ppl.

my main issue here is the actual switching of motor oils at this stage in the cars life...at 110K miles. Would there be any problems with the engine adjusting to the oil, so to speak? The only reason why I ask this is because people I have talked to have given me a whole rainbow of answers...

I have HEARD that switching that late will cause leaks. But I really don't know.

I have a 1997 GS-T Spyder with 110K miles. The car has always run on regular 10w-d30 castrol.

I was thinking about switching to Synthetic Mobil 1. Is it a good idea, or just a waste of money at this point? Pros and cons? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Shumyyal.
Here's an independent long-term study of Mobil 1. The testers didn't set out to prove anything, they just wanted the facts. Lots of good information so you can make up your own mind:

http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/mobil1.html

There's another study of Amsoil under way on the same site. Different synthetic, different results...

well since everybody here will tell you that 4g63's WILL leak no matter what you do i would just put in the syn and not worry about it maybe change the seals if you really think it will be a problem

wow that is a very interesting study. i have always wondered why EVERY single motor should be changed at 3000 miles, like it is a magic #. i have also wondered about the effects of full synthetic, as far as having an increased life and whatnot. i know my car is happier when i change the oil. i use castrol syntec or Mobil1 every time. about every 3k miles. matter of fact i have to do it in the next couple of days...

i also know that BMW's only change their oil like every 10k miles, and the Audi 1.8t's only change every 5000 miles. and that is a turbo engine... makes me wonder if jiffy lube has as much power as microsoft...

when i rebuilt my motor i started with 10-30 and drove that for a while with no oil loss. I switched to synthetic at about 15000 miles on the motor. when i switched i noticed that it had started burning oil and puffing smoke when I shifted. i tried that for a while and have now switched back to 10-30 and now i am still buring a little oil.

ummmmm.... all kinds of different answers. perhaps someone like Kevin and jump in and enlighten us all.

toojung2die : thanks for the website, that was some good stuff. Pretty interesting.

yeah, all kindsa answers, lol. Hurry up guys, I got an oil change coming in T-200 miles!! ahahah.

toojung2die : thanks for the website, that was some good stuff. Pretty interesting.

It changed my opinions about when to change the oil when using Mobil-1. The most important fact to me was that synthetic oil gets BETTER as it's used IF you change the filter regularly and top it off with fresh oil. I learned I'm wasting primo oil if I drain it every 3K miles and doing my engine (and wallet) more harm than good. From now on I'm changing the filter and topping off every 3K and not draining it until it hits 9K.

BTW: I noticed some slight oil seepage from my front seals after switching to Mobil-1. Not enough to stain my garage and not enough to be concerned.
:2cents:

well spyder I went thru the same thing your doing now. I switched to synthetic at 100,000 miles, I still have my original motor 128,988 miles and even uped to a 14b on 18psi daily and NEVER EVER had engine problems sence mile 1 of my car. And yes I do appove of moble 1 full synth because I personally want to protect my older mile engine. Just make sure you change EVERY 3k or so. Actually im going on 5k miles without an oil change atm but I know my good ol mobile 1 is rdy. Ive heard all the bs on how changing will cause leaks etc etc etc. Im 5k miles into my oil and my oil is as CLEAN as I just put it in(well mostly). But before that ive went thru 10 oil changes EXACT on the 3k mile change and my car is treating me well. My spyder is a living testamony of a DSM that has ALWAYS been ABUSED and NEVER had a $1000+ fix ever. Most to date was when my 2nd gear chipped a tooth and thats because I went 120,000 miles before EVER changing the fluid.

I just buy the 5 qt jug from walmart I think it is about $18.

i am in the same boat. i usualy get my oil done every 3-4000 miles. depending on how lazy i am. i drive pretty hard on my car and i don't want to take any chances. there are huge correlations to CW and bad oil stuff so i don't feel like putting undue risk on my baby. plus it runs a bunch better whe it is done too. lube makes girls happy!

and that whole study is just dandy for even a LS1, but look at the whole situation:

1st new car, new engine, all broken in.

2nd basicaly normal driving condition descriptions, which leads me to believe that there was little to no use of the power availible, and stress levels were all in the very acceptable ranges.

3rd. N/A engine, where the synth is not submitted to things turning at 6 digit RPM speeds



those 3 things make me think twice before ever thinking to allow more than 4000 miles on the same oil in my car. i drive hard and expect that things need much attention, so i can continue to drive hard without fear of something breaking and the responsiblity of that breakage falling on my shoulders.

i am also a firm believer that a well taken care of 4g63 is utterly bulletproof. but that also comes down to being a good driver too, and the things that go in in my head while i am driving and shifting are all centered on perfect operation... whatever that means... lol

i am also a firm believer that a well taken care of 4g63 is utterly bulletproof. but that also comes down to being a good driver too, and the things that go in in my head while i am driving and shifting are all centered on perfect operation... whatever that means... lol

Sort of on topic, I did a compression test on Sat and had 170-165-170-170 after 100k of beating on the car. Some oil changes were as far as 9k apart (flame away, I was young and stupid once), and I only switched to synthetic at 80k.