Few oil questions

[Nayr747]

Is there any way to check if the oil in my engine is synthetic? I didn't ask the guy I bought it from what he was using which was really dumb. But when I bought it, my friend took it to a shop down if California and got the oil changed and I have no real way to find out what oil they used, not even if it was 10w-30 or anything.

Also, reading the owners manual and it says to change the filter every year or 10,000 miles. Is everyone changing it sooner just to be careful or to try to prevent the cw?

[drewh4386]

Originally Posted by Nayr747

my friend took it to a shop down if California and got the oil changed and I have no real way to find out what oil they used, not even if it was 10w-30 or anything.

See if you can ask the shop or him

Originally Posted by Nayr747

Also, reading the owners manual and it says to change the filter every year or 10,000 miles. Is everyone changing it sooner just to be careful or to try to prevent the cw?

FIlter every 10,000 miles!! No, every oil change is best. Good oil in your car will help prevent thrust bearing failure.

[V T E C H]

just dump the oil and put whatever you want in there.

[Nayr747]

So if they used regular and I pour in synthetic, it's not gonna react badly? I read that mixing synthetic and non is bad. I'm guessing it's non synthetic though because it was only changed around 2,000 miles ago and it looks pretty dark already. I dont know if shops know to put synthetic in these cars, do they?

[Nstyle29]

After you drain it it shouldn't react, at least mine didn't and now i have been using mobil 1 that 15000 mile stuff and new filter. I am still gonna change my oil and filter around 3-4000 miles though.

[l_eclipse_l]

I been using the Mobil 5w30 5,000 mile oil thats like $1.70 a quart and a Pure1 oil filter. I replace the filter with the oil, every 5,000 miles. Seems to be just fine.

[silver98GST]

Nayr747, if you're that worried if the oil in your car is not synthetic then just drain it and put synthetic oil in it. Changing oil is an easy task and doesn't take much time.

[drewh4386]

45 minutes at most.

[gthompson97]

when i switched from non-synthetic to synthetic my motor started acting all fucked up. it would hardly run. i switched back to normal with some lucas oil stabilizer and it ran like a champ.....until the lucas became to thick and burnt up my head.

moral of the story: don't switch unless you want headaches. nothing wrong with the oil that's in it.

[Nayr747]

Originally Posted by silver98GST

Nayr747, if you're that worried if the oil in your car is not synthetic then just drain it and put synthetic oil in it. Changing oil is an easy task and doesn't take much time.

Yeah I know. I'm not worried about changing it. I was just asking if there was some way to find out what was used before because I've heard that you shouldn't mix the two or switch from regular to sythetic so it would be helpful to know what was in it before, you know. I'm pretty sure mitsubishi says to use synthetic in the turbo'd cars but I could be wrong. That's why i'm trying to use it.

[spyderturbo007]

Originally Posted by Nayr747

I'm pretty sure mitsubishi says to use synthetic in the turbo'd cars but I could be wrong.

You are correct.

[Gsx_hooptie]

Not that this is real scientific, but some people say that synthetic smells different. I've only used two different kinds of oil, personally; I use Castrol non-synthetic 10-30 on my Ford, and Mobil 1 synthetic 10-30 on the Eclipse. The synthetic stuff really smells more plastic-y and acrid. But, again, I only have experience with two kinds of oil, so take it for what it's worth.

Change your filter every time, that's as or more important than the oil you're running. Some report that running synthetic oil on an engine that has run non-synthetic for several thosand miles can cause oil leaks. I'd run synthetic anyway, your call.