Switching to synthetic

I just bought the car yesterday, it's a 2000 GTP with 131 000 kms...or 81399 miles. The previous owner used regular oil in the car and I've always used synthetic in my previous vehicles. I know that making the switch at later stages can cause leaks...but hopefully they go away after the seals are "rewetted". With these cars at my mileage am I at any specific risk for switching to synthetic? I've got spare synthetic oil so I'd do the pour some in with the drain plug still off thing before actually filling it with the synthetic. Thanks.

Your mileage isn't too bad to do the switch. Before doing that make sure none of the gaskets and seals like the oil pan gasket and valve cover gaskets are leaking because there is no guarantee the conditioners/additives in synthetic motor oil will work especially if the gaskets or seals are shot.

And congratulations.

With Bob's (bnaylor)'s insight, I switched my 2000 GTP over to full synthetic at right around 80,000 miles. Ever since I have gotten it, the oil pan gasket seemed to leak just slightly. Seems that the past 6 months running synthetic and it seems now to not seep as much.

Every car is different. It is a risk, and your decision.

Here is a good article from the experts.


Source: Amsoil

Converting really high mileage engines:

Very high mileage vehicles may still be good candidates for conversion to Amsoil synthetic if they have been well maintained and are in good condition.
If you have no visible oil leaks or oil burning/consumption try this: drain the old oil and change the filter. Install new petroleum oil and a new oil filter and drive the vehicle till it is thoroughly warmed up. Now add the Amsoil engine flush and use according to directions on the can.

Flushing the engine with new oil and filter will give you the best possible flush. The new oil and filter can hold more contaminants and give you a cleaner engine. Drain the oil/engine flush, change the filter again and install the Amsoil motor oil of your choice.

As the newly installed Amsoil synthetic motor oil continues the process of cleaning the engine, deposit's; some of them microscopic will be removed leaving microscopic voids. Over a period of time the additives in Amsoil will fill in and reseal these voids. This process can take a few hundred to several thousand miles depending on the mileage and condition of your engine.

During this phase some engines will have slightly elevated oil consumption till the engine is cleaned up and the voids filled. This is normal and only last for the time needed for the oil to condition and clean the engine.

Most people don't even notice this phase and usually oil consumption ends up being much less because Amsoil synthetic motor oils are so much less volatile than petroleum oil (does not evaporate at high temperatures)

The "synthetic oil's cause leaks myth":

Synthetic oil does flow more readily than petroleum oil does so if you have a leak it will tend to leak from it more freely. This however is caused by an all ready failing seal. Not by the synthetic oil itself.

Petroleum motor oils are notorious for forming what's know as a "false seal" Varnish and crud will build up around a failing seal and help keep a more viscous petroleum oil from leaking. Synthetic oils that are highly detergent will clean off the build up and expose the all ready failing seal. There's your leak!

For this reason we suggest that our oil's only be used in mechanically sound engines. If you have a leaking seal replace it prior to installing Amsoil motor oil.

We have also seen many cases where older engines are starting to seep oil because some motor oils have poor long term seal compatibility. Exposure to these low grade oils causes the seals to harden and seal poorly.

All motor oil, synthetic and petroleum alike contain chemicals as part of the additives that are added to the oil that are there to keep engine seals pliable and to cause mild swelling so the seal works properly.

The additive's in Amsoil motor oils are so good at conditioning engine seals that there have been many cases where engines with slight oil seeps sealed back up after a few thousand miles of driving. That being said if the seal is shot all you can do is get it fixed, no oil will fix it ours included.

I switched over to Mobil 1 High mileage full synthetic about 15,000 miles ago, I have 133,000 now. I've had a slight oil pan leak all along and the good news is that it has not increased and I have no other leaks that I know of. My engine seems to be happier since the switch, so far so good.

My father worked for MOBIL OIL for 37 years. I can still remember him talking about the NEW MOBIL 1 synthetic oil. He would go on & on about the additive packages, change intervals etc. He ran all of his vehicles with M1 in the crankcase. I have followed in his footsteps with my vehicles. In my opinion most all of the major OIL FOLKS have to have a top quality product to keep up with the competition. I know that M1 has the additive package that contains the seal softener additives. I am sure that the other PLAYERS, Castrol, Valvoline, Havoline, Amsoil have a similar additive package. Heck even Wal Mart's house brand synthetic is packaged by MOBIL 1. Albeit an earlier version of M1.
You should not have a problem switching over to synthetic oil. Just as the others have mentioned. Make sure the gaskets,seals are ok before you switch.

HOPE THIS HELPS

Cool, thanks guys. I'll be switching oils this weekend.