I run synthetic oil in my 98 Runner and the Dealer still suggests I get it changed every 5k. Is that true?

I now use the Amsoil Series 2000 oils in my vehicles. Before that I used the best oils Redline offered. I change my oil every 10,000 miles. After 200,000 miles in one car and 120,000 in my wife's, I sent in a sample to have lab tested for analysis. Neither sample showed particles indicating wear.

There is a significant difference in synthetic oils, more so than dino oils. That is because synthetic oils are man made from selected stocks. If you use bargin priced synthetic oils, you should change it more often than the best synthetic ($$) oils.

Amsoil, with their regular synthetic oils, recommend a 25,000 mile drain interval with one extra filter change in between. I use their top of the line oil, their filter, and change my oil two or three times a year. Just to be safe.

This "extended" drain interval works for me. I am sure most others are more comfortable with more frequent oil changes.

You might read this article: http://www.amsoil.com/lit/lng_article/index.htm

I looked up the Amsoil Series 2000 and I noticed it doesn't come in 5W30. What do you use in your 4Runner, 0W30 or 20W50? Also I noticed the Web Site for Amsoil said:
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SERVICE LIFE

In personal cars and light-duty trucks with non-turbocharged gasoline engines: change the oil at 35,000-mile or one-year intervals, whichever comes first.

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Wow, 35,000 miles that is a little scary.....

Scary is right!
I can see getting more distance out of Synthetic but that is a lot.
I guess I should ask what kind the Dealer is using and get some info off the web on that manufacturer.

My 4Runner is still in Japan, on the assembly line. So...I have yet to put the first 250,000 miles on my soon to be delivered 4Runner.

I have been using synthetic oils since 1976 with excellent results. I have over 1 million miles under my belt with synthetics. Many of those miles are what most would condiser sever miles, as I push every engine I own to their limits often.

I use the 0-30 in my cars and the 20-50 in my BMW motorcycle. In my wet clutch motorcycles (4 of them) I use a synthetic designed for motorcycles.

Zero weight may seem too low (water weight). However, it works like a champ for me. Even Redline now offers a lot of zero weight oils. I think they were the first to add this zero weight option.

When does an engine often wear the most? How about when you first start it and there is little oil covering the parts that are above the oil level in the pan. Zero weight will squirt onto those "dry" parts the fastest. When the engine is at operating temprature, the 30 weight will be in full force.

If I was in a cold climate, I would consider nothing else.

"supra" I would say changing PAO base sythetic oil at 5,000 is a little like changing regular oil at 3,000 miles. A rather conservative thing to do.

I personally change oil in my cars with Castol GTX (regualr oil) at 3,000 miles and I change the 4Runner with Mobil1 (PAO sythetic at 5,000 miles). So changing sythetic at 5,000 miles is done. If you decide to go further than 5,000 miles do not go past 7,500 miles if your still under warranty. Toyota warranty says oil change should be 7,500 miles and it makes no distinction between sythetic or regular oil.

How many miles should you have on the engine before you switch to synthetic?

Thanks

I switched at 1,500 miles in my 4Runner. I belive certain cars, such as a Corvette and certain BMW's come with sythetic oil when you buy them. Perhaps someone else can chime in, but I belive you can switch pretty much anytime.

I think the concern is if you have too many miles, it may not be a great idea. My two cars have over 170,000 each on them and think I'll stay with regular oil. (I know I need to get new cars. )

KTM & Triumph motorcycles, and a number of cars come with synthetic oil day one. Tolerances in engines are so good now that the traditional break-in happens very quickly. In fact, I would go ahead and drive 500 miles with the oil that comes in a new car just because it is in there. Then change to synthetic oil.

In an older engine switching to synthetic can be dangerous. Dino oil will "coke" when heated too far. Literally turning into sludge. (Synthetic oil will NOT do this.) Changing to synthetic will dislodge this sludge clogging the small oil passages in an engine. Before changing to synthetic in an older engine you should first clean the engine with a chemical cleaner. Amsoil has this stuff at a cheap price. You add it to the engine and let it idle for 20 minutes. Drain the old oil and accumulated gunk, then refill with synthetic. Good to go.

I have 500,000+ miles on my 22 year old Mercedes diesel. I credit this to synthetic oil, along with good design and the longevity of diesel engines. The darn thing just keeps going, even after sitting for months at a time.

When the boat arrives with my new 4Runner I will soon change all of the fluids with synthetics - engine, transfer case, transmission & rear end.

Since synthetic oils do not cavitate, they are the very best in gearboxes. If you care about the gear faces you will only use synthetics. In my BMW motorcycle I could tell a big difference in how it shifts gears when I switched to synthetic gear oil.

Motorcycle Consumer News - a no advertising, subscription only magazine with hard edged testing of all motorcycle products - performed a series of oil tests. Amsoil came out at the top of the list of dine and synthetic oils. There were a couple of other synthetics that did well too. However, I recall that my locally available Amsoil did ver well indeed.

If you want to go the next step, you may want to consider bypass oil filtration. Or at a minum, do as I do and only use the very best oil filters. There is a big difference here. Hard Driver, Mobil 1 and Amsoil have very good easily available oil filters.

It look like there are many good opinions out there, thanks.
In my original posting I mentioned that the Dealer suggested I change the synthetic oil every 5k......that's 5,000 kilometers which is 3,000 miles !!!!
I gather that's a little too oftern based on all your replies.