Synthetic Oil

[JabbaTHutt]

Whats the consensus on running synthetic oil on a 2003 montana with 108,000 kilomters on it?

Is it going to cause problems?

I like the idea of extended oil change times and a cleaner engine.

All this might be a no go anyway as I did get a powertrain warrenty with the van, 1 year or 20,000 Kilometers. Not sure about much else as we haven't recieved anything from them yet.

[LMP]

You might like to read this:
www.avigex.ca/oil.doc

['97ventureowner]

That document was a little hard to read, the print came out really light on my computer.
With that many miles on the van I would be concerned with the synthetic possibly causing oil leaks. It is commonly known that synthetic oil can clean the sludge within your engine and can cause small oil leaks from gaskets that have aged. It is recommended that you start using synthetics early on. I have just started using synthetics in some of my vehicles, and started in my 2006 Chevy Uplander when it had 12,000 miles on it. I like the longer change intervals which means one can effectively use less oil over the life of the vehicle thus cutting our use and demand on our resources, plus it also lessens the amount of used oil that needs to be recycled every year(good for the environment.) If you are still interested in using synthetic oil in your engine, I would read through your warranty contract to see if anything about oil is mentioned. If not a quick phone call to the warranty company could clear the matter up for you. If anything, you could wait another year for that warranty to expire and then start using the synthetic.Another thing to consider that I have started doing is to change just the filter about halfway through your expected change interval, and top off you crankcase. This ensures your filter is doing the best job it can at trapping particles. I usually leave my synthetic in for 12,000 miles, changing the filter and topping off the oil at 6000 miles.

[JabbaTHutt]

Thanks for the replies on this, guess after reading that I will stick with conventinal oil.

Now if I can just figure out how the interior panels come off, one of my back windows doesn't always wan to close and I need to get at the diagnostics connector for the park assist.

[463]

i put it in my 02 olds van at 106000 kms (syn 5-30 ) and the oil pan leak is the same 1 or 2 drops or less on the floor per week. i had 5-w50 in for 1 oil change with no oil dripping on the floor. it's got the 5-w30 in it now and oil drops are as it was before. the oil useage is the same as it was on mineral oil 200-300 ml or 1/4 down on the stick for a oil change. the van has 126000 kms on it now. the oil is changed at 40% on the oil life reading and 5-6000 kms of pavement and town driving. synthetic oil is good in my books. 463

['97ventureowner]

If you don't want to use synthetics, you might want to consider some of the new "higher mileage" oils that have entered the market in recent years. I haven't done much research into them , or used any to make a recommendation at this time. Buying oil these days can be confusing , given the vast choices available to you. Back then it seemed so much easier as pretty much your choices were limited to 10W30 or 10W40 in quart bottles. Now you have a vast array of oil weights, container sizes, and types of oils to name a few.