going synthetic oil?

[kunia]

In few months my 4-year lease is to end, and I've decided to keep the truck. This is my 2nd lease - I always though, even when I picked up my current truck, that I'd be getting another one. But every time I look at the 5th gen 4runner I can't get over the el cheapo finish Besides, lack of torsen on trail edition (I know I can get the limited, but I can't tolerate the "escalator" looks) really makes this truck a no-no for Canadian driving (at least for me). In short, I can't justify 45,000 price tag + 13% tax + 5% interest + freight, etc.... Meh...talk about my 5th gen disappointment
So, I'm buying out my 4-year old 4runner for 18K. It's been well maintained (all services done on time). It has 74,000km (46,000 miles) and since I'm keeping it, I've been thinking of switching over to synthetic oil?
What do you guys think? Would I have any issues? Paying extra for oil changes is no problem - I ran synthetic on my 2004 4runner.

Switch?

Thanks
a.

 

[parboy]

What are you waiting for? The Synthetic is the absolute best way to go for any auto. If you do the change yourself the cost is about the same as a quick lube conventional change and its the easiest vehicle I have changed oil in.. Point. I have been using it a while and my wife could not understand the big deal and "oil is oil" so last time I changed her oil in our 09 Sienna I used Mobil1 full synthetic. She drive it for 2 weeks and mentioned to me at dinner how much smoother the engine felt and her economy was a little better. Thats when I said. Yup must be that synthetic oil I put in it. Now she insist I use it.. I use Mobil1 because I can get it at Walmart for 27 bucks a 5 qt jug. The only other I would use is Amsoil but I don't think you can go wrong with either of those 2. Never been a pensoil fan.. Oh do yourself a favor and use WIX filters.

 

[mrpanic7]

In few months my 4-year lease is to end, and I've decided to keep the truck. This is my 2nd lease - I always though, even when I picked up my current truck, that I'd be getting another one. But every time I look at the 5th gen 4runner I can't get over the el cheapo finish Besides, lack of torsen on trail edition (I know I can get the limited, but I can't tolerate the "escalator" looks) really makes this truck a no-no for Canadian driving (at least for me). In short, I can't justify 45,000 price tag + 13% tax + 5% interest + freight, etc.... Meh...talk about my 5th gen disappointment
So, I'm buying out my 4-year old 4runner for 18K. It's been well maintained (all services done on time). It has 74,000km (46,000 miles) and since I'm keeping it, I've been thinking of switching over to synthetic oil?
What do you guys think? Would I have any issues? Paying extra for oil changes is no problem - I ran synthetic on my 2004 4runner.

Switch?

Thanks
a.

+1 for Synthetic! Don't forget you can also use synthetic in the diffs!

 

[Climb14er]

I've run synthetic Pennzoil Platinum since 5K or 7K... can't remember. Been running synthetics in ALL of my vehicles and motorcycles for almost thirty years.

Change the oil on the 4Runner every six months, could go longer, but it's under extended warranty.

Starts up easily in sub zero mountain temps in the winter and protects the engine in the super-hot desert temps in the summer.

Never any problems with oil or oil related problems.

Smart move buying out your 4Runner! :

 

[JET4]

I've been running Amsoil for years in all my cars, never had a problem.

 

[sonerick]

Pennzoil Platinum (PP) is a very good quality synthetic oil, some over on Bob Is the Oil Guy actually prefer it to Mobil 1. Both are good choices, however, and you really can't go wrong with either. Amsoil is very good but $$ and usually not worth the extra $$ unless you plan to go for quite the extended oil change interval (>10k).

I prefer to use the OEM filters on my V6. They have the anti-drainback feature which is key and actually have been shown to perform quite well. I think there's a thread or two on here where people have cut them open after a few thousand miles and compare them to other brands... I can't seem to find the thread though. Anyways they're usually about $6 each and the guy working the parts counter usually throws in a drain plug gasket too. Not too bad IMO.

EDIT: I should mention that synthetic oils aren't really worth the extra $$ if you plan to do a change every 3,000 miles anyways, the whole point is so you can run them longer. I usually go 5-6k between changes using the PP synthetic.

 

[kunia]

I've run synthetic Pennzoil Platinum since 5K or 7K... can't remember. Been running synthetics in ALL of my vehicles and motorcycles for almost thirty years.

Change the oil on the 4Runner every six months, could go longer, but it's under extended warranty.

Starts up easily in sub zero mountain temps in the winter and protects the engine in the super-hot desert temps in the summer.

Never any problems with oil or oil related problems.

Smart move buying out your 4Runner! :

Synthetic it is

And as to buying it out, Canadian black book rates my runner from about 25k to 29k. No way I'm handing it my keys to Toyota. They already made enough off the lease

 

[Sungod]

I have been running conventional oil for years and never had a problem and see no reason to spend more on synthetic. I think there is a lot of internet hype associated with it. I don't think there is anything wrong with it, but not going to go out of my way to spend more for a product that does the same job as a less expensive one.

 

[wyattroa]

The 4runner I just got has 104k on the clock..It has normal oil in it and has all its life..I have heard conflicting things saying to be carful on a higher milage car if changing to synthetic. Any truth to this, all my other cars have had synthetic including my wife.

 

[DC runner]

I laughed. That is funny. There is tons of hype around almost every car additive, except for oil. That is literally the one place where significant research has been done. Seafoam, for example, has no research and I am still not sure what I think of it.

The improvement of Synthetic Oil over Conventional, in particular in newer vehicles with tight tolerances isn't hype. It is researched, proven. Sythetic oil has 2 major improvements over conventional.
1. Smaller molecule. This means synthetic oil can literally get into places Conventional oil cannot. At the molecular level, it is able to provide better lubrication.

2. Temp resistance and lifespan: Both are increased in Synthetic oil. It lasts longer and has a much higher resistance to breakdown. This is why Synthetic oil can last 5k/7k/10k without breakdown and why Conventional oil starts to degrade at 3k.


NOTE: This is NOT me saying Conventional oil is bad. Use it. Change your oil on time and you won't have a problem, but by no means is it "hyped". Synthetic oil isn't some snake oil hype sold by a some sketchy company in an alley. It was created over 40 years of pretty serious research and development. The military, for example, heavily relies on Synthetic oils because of its ability to deal with extremes FAR superior to Conventional oil.

 

[MikeInNH]

Let me say upfront that I do use Synthetic oil...I'll go into why at the end.

Synthetic oil is definitely superior to regular dyno oil. But is it needed???

In MOST cases using regular dyno oil will be perfectly fine. I know people who have well over 400k miles on their vehicles and never used anything but regular dyno oil....Engines were all original and didn't start burning any oil until well past 250k miles.

Since MOST people don't keep their vehicles past 200k miles..then using synthetic is a waste.

Synthetic oil should be used for Turbo charged engines....or where sludge is a known problem (like some Toyota V6 engines built about 10 years ago). Also if it's recommended by the manufacturer (mainly high performance/high revving engines).

I use synthetic for a couple of reasons.

1. New England winters. Especially when we go up north to go skiing. Temps can easily drop to -20 in the ski area. Synthetic oil is great for winter startups. Especially when temps drop below 0. Flows much better at cold temps then regular dyno oil.

2. During the summer we go camping almost every weekend. So I'm pulling a pop-up. Towing can be very hard on an engine.

If I didn't tow during the summer and I lived in the south...then I'd probably use regular dyno oil.

 

[MikeInNH]

Smaller molecule.

Not smaller molecules...but consistent size molecules. The smallest dyno molecules are the same size as the synthetic molecules. But the synthetic molecules are much more consistent in size. Regular dyno oil will have small and some larger molecules.

his is why Synthetic oil can last 5k/7k/10k without breakdown and why Conventional oil starts to degrade at 3k.

It may not break down as easily as regular dyno oil..but it will get contaminated just as easily. Most contamination comes from the combustion process. Regular dyno oil can easily last 5k miles these days. And don't exceed the owners manual oil change recommendation while under warranty...no matter if you use regular dyno or synthetic.

 

[Gerdo]

I changed from Dino to Synthetic at about 80-100,000 miles (I'm sitting at ~210,000). It did not start to leak after changing like some believe. You can extend oil changes with synthetic so there is actually a reduced cost when running synthetic. Even with my mileage, my engine doesn't use (leak or burn) and oil during the 10k oil intervals.

 

[parboy]

The 4runner I just got has 104k on the clock..It has normal oil in it and has all its life..I have heard conflicting things saying to be carful on a higher milage car if changing to synthetic. Any truth to this, all my other cars have had synthetic including my wife.

you are probably referring to the Synthetic oil Seepage in older high millage engine seals. Correct me if I am wrong but I think that has been addressed in most modern synthetic oils.
I don't think of synthetic as a must but rather as an insurance. I use it to extend the life of my oil and to help protect in the event I should ever need my oil to hold up under extreme conditions.

 

[AMSOILDealer]

If you're interested in trying AMSOIL, I'm running a promotion on the membership. See my post here:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/maintenance/109221-limited-promotion-free-6-month-amsoil-membership.html

 

[berettashot117]

sure, why not

 

[Gecko123]

What are you waiting for? The Synthetic is the absolute best way to go for any auto. If you do the change yourself the cost is about the same as a quick lube conventional change and its the easiest vehicle I have changed oil in.. Point. I have been using it a while and my wife could not understand the big deal and "oil is oil" so last time I changed her oil in our 09 Sienna I used Mobil1 full synthetic. She drive it for 2 weeks and mentioned to me at dinner how much smoother the engine felt and her economy was a little better. Thats when I said. Yup must be that synthetic oil I put in it. Now she insist I use it.. I use Mobil1 because I can get it at Walmart for 27 bucks a 5 qt jug. The only other I would use is Amsoil but I don't think you can go wrong with either of those 2. Never been a pensoil fan.. Oh do yourself a favor and use WIX filters.

Really? you can actually feel the engine run smoother and get better gas mileage???? If you can feel the engine run smoother than there must be a lot of friction when running on regular dino. Sorry, but I dont believe this possible. There is no way that someone can feel the difference on the smoothness.
Next time do a blind test and see if someone can feel the difference.

 

[who done it]

Actually I can agree with the synthetic being smoother. I changed mine over recently, bought my truck with 57k miles used and it did run a bit smoother than before, of course its subjective but I did notice the difference. Mileage I couldn't tell you because I put bigger tires on the truck so that would have effected the numbers.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Synthetic oil has come a long way, modern oil technology is very complicated compared to say ten years ago. Synthetic oils offer consistently smaller and uniform molecule size, higher heat resistance and breakdown properties. This allows then to retain lubrication properties close to out of the bottle for thousands of miles compared to Dino oil. I would say look for products made from group four and six base stock to get the best synthetic for your money, Mobil 1 and Amsoil tend be very good products and our engines are new enough that low SAPs content will be an issue.

 

[Gatafly]

I laughed. That is funny. There is tons of hype around almost every car additive, except for oil. That is literally the one place where significant research has been done. Seafoam, for example, has no research and I am still not sure what I think of it.

The improvement of Synthetic Oil over Conventional, in particular in newer vehicles with tight tolerances isn't hype. It is researched, proven. Sythetic oil has 2 major improvements over conventional.
1. Smaller molecule. This means synthetic oil can literally get into places Conventional oil cannot. At the molecular level, it is able to provide better lubrication.

2. Temp resistance and lifespan: Both are increased in Synthetic oil. It lasts longer and has a much higher resistance to breakdown. This is why Synthetic oil can last 5k/7k/10k without breakdown and why Conventional oil starts to degrade at 3k.


NOTE: This is NOT me saying Conventional oil is bad. Use it. Change your oil on time and you won't have a problem, but by no means is it "hyped". Synthetic oil isn't some snake oil hype sold by a some sketchy company in an alley. It was created over 40 years of pretty serious research and development. The military, for example, heavily relies on Synthetic oils because of its ability to deal with extremes FAR superior to Conventional oil.

You forgot one. . . . .Synthetic molecules are perfectly round in shape and conventional oil molecules look more like broken off chunks of an iceberg. This is what also help give synthetic ols better wear protection.


I have been using Amsoil for many many years and will likely never change. There is nothing wrong with conventional oil outside of reduced flow in the cold and breakdown under heat and severe use. For the normal person if you change your oil every 3000k miles I think your engine will last just as long as if using synthetic. However, if you are like me and run the top quality Amsoil oil and filter you don't need to change your oil but once or twice a year depending on use and what makes you feel good. For me the cost between the two was equal, but I don't have to crawl under my truck very often except to grease the thing and I get better cold starts with it.