My Jimmy has 193,350kms and I will be going for an oil change tomorrow.
Question is, is it a bad idea if I switched to synthetic? If theres any risk, i dont think ill go for it. I use castrol 5w30.

Will there be any benefit for the extra 20 or 30 bucks?

Also I saw a synthetic blend specifically for 4x4's, is there any difference, and once again, would it be worth the added cost?

 

It depends how healthy the seals are. Are you adding more than a quart of oil between oil changes now?.

Try it out. Check for oil consumption around 2000km. and so on. Oil consumption may increase using synth. Addoil as needed.

I would recommend against using any engine cleaner, engine restore, seafoam....the may loosen any soot and carbon holding stuff together.

I experimented w/ the 4x4 " formula." I found no gain using it.

I use synth in our 93,000 mile LT. I am yet to add oil after 4000 miles.

Good luck!!

 

Thanks 4lowlife, im not sure about the seals, but I rarely have to add oil, and when i do, its usually at 3000 or more, i think.

I guess I'll stick with good ol' castrol 5w30

 

After 3000? thats real good.

I was refering to any cylinder head leaks, or manifold. some seepage is ok/normal. But a weeping creek of engine waswhat I was hoping not to read.

Stick with what you use like you said. The grass ain't greener on the other...lol.

 

3000kms, that is......

 

im using 10-30 right now. does it matter the type? i know it says to use 5-30 will it change anything?

 

5W30 is recomended for colder climates is believe

 

its not a good idea to switch to synthetics after using dino oil for that long. It can cause seals to leak. It won't destroy your motor, but you will probably end up with more than a couple of leaks... just a heads up...

I might suggest a high mileage oil? they make them that are not synthetics....

 

My Jimmy may be 9 years old.....but shes still young at heart

the high milage can wait till at least another 30k kms

193, 400 kilometers isnt THAT much.....is it [:-]

i put on roughly 30, 000k in a year and a half......bought it at 165k i think....

 

Most of the 4x4, high mileage, etc, etc are snake oil. They are just different additive mixes on the same bases. Nothing too special about any of them to warrant the slightly higher price.

Really, there is no downside to switching to synthetic. It won't cause leaks, but if you had sludge buildup from all the years of conventional oil, the sludge will eat away at gaskets, but because the sludge itself is there, it won't leak until the synthetic oil cleans away that sludge. So the leaks may start after switching to synthetic, but not because of synthetic. You could have the same problem if you switched to any cleaning oil or did a motor flush.

So long as the motor has been cared for with regular oil changes, I don't see a problem with switching. The choice between synthetic and regular oil is yours to make. They both will work well, but you have to justify the change.

I run Mobil 1 5w30 in my Bravada. It started leaking right after my first oil change to synthetic. Found out that my pan bolts were loose. No more leaks since I tightened it down. Using a quality filter (pure-one for me), I typically change my oil every 5,000 miles or so. In my Bonneville, I run Mobil 1 10w30 and currently have 11k miles on the oil with filter changes (with the larger 4.3L filter) every 4-5k miles and I have the oil tested every filter change as well to tell me how everything is doing (viscosity, oil life, presence of wear metals and other contaminants, etc). When I lived out in WNY, I had a local lab do the testing for around $5/sample. Because I moved, I sent the last one off to BlackStone Labratories to the tune of $20/sample, but I don't know how much longer I'll be doing that if I can't find someone local and cheaper. If I can't find someone local, I'll be going back to every 5-6k mile oil changes on my Bonneville just because its cheaper than going longer with the oil analysis.

Before I moved back here, I had an oil analysis done on the Bravada at 3k miles with Mobil 1 5w30 and the oil hadn't degraded much at all. I don't think I'd have a problem doing extended drains, but I'd rather drop the oil out of that more regularly given the propensity for problems with the injection system or intake manifold leaks.