Synthetic oil

[ryanmicj]

At my last oil change, for no particular reason, I decided to try synthetic oil. Afterwards, I was informed that I would ALWAYS need to use synthetic oil in that car from now on. Anyone know if this is true at all?

Thanks for any tips,
Mike Ryan

[RedScorp]

It would have been better if you would have stayed with conventional motor oil. My general rule of thumb is that what the manufacturer recommends is what I'll use.

The problem with switching to synthetic is that synthetic and conventional do not mix at all. This is what I've been told. After all, I'm not driving a 7 series BMW or an AMG Mercedes so I don't see the worthiness really in synthetics on low end vehicles.

I certainly would have asked the person changing your oil this question BEFORE switching.

[RedScorp]

Originally Posted by RedScorp

I certainly would have asked the person changing your oil this question BEFORE switching.

Sorry, just reread your post. I'm trying o figure out why the guy never warned you prior to the work.

[ryanmicj]

Its not the fault of the guy who changed th oil - its my fault. It was my father who told me that he thought once you used synthetic you could never go back.

I just got the oil changed at the local place and asked them, and they said it was fine to go back to regular. They also reiterated that synthetic oil is pointless in an Elantra.

Thanks for the info.

[Bossman]

Mike,
If you'll read the label on any bottle of fully synthetic oil, you'll see that they state that synthetic oil is fully compatible with petroleum oil. Therefore, shouldn't be a problem to switch. I've switched back and forth in my Toyotas and I've had no problems at all.

[nippjas]

I agree with Bossman. Every synthetic I have used has on the bottle fully compatible with organic oils.

And I would like to challenge the statement below that says synthetic is pointless in an Elantra. I use Mobil 1, I have for years in all my cars. I use it for three reasons.
1.) As an engineer I have done the testing that proves that synthetics do not break down like organics.
2.) I get a guaranteed 15,000 miles out of Mobil 1, My Elantra is my worker bee, I drive well over 200 miles per day. at 3,000 mile intervals that maintainance adds up and wastes my time with frequency.
3.) I believe the only way we can cut our dependancy on foreign oil imports is to reduce our dependancy on petroleum products. We are financing governments that could care less whether we live or die. Why make them any richer.

[dmiller66]

Just wanted to comment on using synthetic oil in your Elantra....its all I use in mine, Amsoil Synthetic. Change it once a year, the car now has over 113,000 miles and NEVER uses a drop. You can also go back to regular oil...but why? Synthetic is the only way to go. Just think of the money you will save by extending your change intervals to once a year.