synthetic vs. conventional

thorridder

thorridder

New member
alright so just wanting some info. its time to change the oil in my 4Runner and i have that pickup and am going to change all the fluids in it before i do anything with it. im wondering if it would be good to switch to synthetic oils in both of them. not sure if it is worth it or it has many benefits with the change. any info on type and brands would be helpful.

thanks
 
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Synthetics are highly recommended.....by me anyway.

*ONLY* issue you will run into is IF you have an oil leak already, it could possibly get worse with synthetic oil....due to the reduced friction syns give you.

Contrary to what you may hear from uneducated folks, YOU CAN INDEED go back to conventional oil if you feel the cost of synthetic is to high to maintain.

Personally, I have used CASTROL Synthetic for the last 25 years, and will NOT change brands. I've ran it in numerous vehicles and have never had issues with leaks, ect.

If you do switch, also spend the extra cash for a good quality filter. Unless you do ALOT of dirty, dusty offroading or ALOT of trailer pulling your oil changes can be upped to every 7500 miles - 10,000.

The 3,000 miles or every 3 months is Horse-****!!
 
Orange Skullz said:

The 3,000 miles or every 3 months is Horse-****!!
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Amen. Not that I'm an expert or anything, but I just went 6,500 miles with mine on my first cycle of mobil 1 synthetic. Just before I changed the oil, I checked the level, and it read at the high mark still. Honey colored too. I know color and level aren't everything when it comes to the life properties of oil, but it made me feel a little more confident stretching my changes out in the future.
 
Dont put synthetic in the Pickup, it will start leaking, the syn will break down sludge on the inside of the motor that is holding seals shut. I use Mobile or Shell, i dont trust any other brands.
 
Rotella T6 5w-40 FTW!

I run this oil in the T4R and the wife's LX470, 7500 mi OCI and it's still a nice golden brown.
 
coinball said:
Rotella T6 5w-40 FTW!

I run this oil in the T4R and the wife's LX470, 7500 mi OCI and it's still a nice golden brown.
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While T6 is a great oil, I would still recommend running 5w-30 in the 5VZ-FE 3.4. They don't need the extra viscosity.


Synthetic is the way to go in my book too, but at the same time, today's conventional oils are damn good. If you "like" changing your oil, go with a conventional.
 
Any SN, SM, or SL oil will do nicely.

With that said, if you work the engine hard (towing/offroad), the Rotella T6 is a great oil for a great price.

The Lexus LX470 is one nice vehicle BTW.
 
LittleCaesar said:
Any SN, SM, or SL oil will do nicely.

With that said, if you work the engine hard (towing/offroad), the Rotella T6 is a great oil for a great price.

The Lexus LX470 is one nice vehicle BTW.
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Thanks! Can't turn down a chance to post a glamour shot:

P1010973.jpg~original


Like I said it's the wife's ride, but it's got all kinds of useless goodies, including the uber-rare Lexus NightVision (technically called NightView).
 
In trying to stay on topic here, good autos hold their value with time. The 3gen 4 runner does well but no auto better exemplifies that statement better than the Lexus LX 470. Great ride, smooth as butter, and a effortless drivetrain. Just look at the prices they command on Ebay. The GX 570 just doesn't do it for me.

I do hope you wash the undercarriage after a day on the beach.

I tried to get the girlfriend to buy a GX/LX 470 but she wanted more auto bling so she opted for the X5. Her money, her choice.
 
yeah im going to change the 4Runner over because its due for an oil change

anyone know how much it takes? thinking castrol but i havent heard of that rotella i think so dont know anything about it.

i will keep the PU conventional but change the oil, oil filter, air filter, and trans fluid.
 
I realize it's branded as diesel oil, but if you do some searching you'll find there are ALOT of non-diesel cars/trucks that people run this oil in.

In addition to the current cars, I ran it also in a WRX I used to have, my brother runs it in his 1.8t A4 beater.

The reality is that just about any oil will keep your 4Runner running, I choose to use Rotella T6 and I haven't had any problems in probably 200k+ total miles across all the vehicles that are running it.

Agreeing on which oil to use is like having peace between Israeli and Palestine...not gonna happen, so see what recommendations people make and do some research then pick what you want to use, based on whatever factors you feel are important.
 
I'm going to be changing over come my next scheduled oil change. I've got a 96 4WD LTD with just over 100K on it. It's been using Dino forever. I'll be using Mobil 1. Heard that is a great syn.

My engine has a tiny leak somewhere. The oil doesn't even drop per say. There just a little bit collecting at the bottom. I know that when I change to syn it will change considerably. :(
 
my 2 cents... if you have a higher mileage car and want synthetic, but are worried about leaks, then go with 10w40 (something a bit thicker) in the summer and switch to 5w30 in the winter.
 
doubleA said:
my 2 cents... if you have a higher mileage car and want synthetic, but are worried about leaks, then go with 10w40 (something a bit thicker) in the summer and switch to 5w30 in the winter.
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Um...no. It's not the "thickness" of the oil that makes it leak or not leak. The few times that switching to a full synthetic causes leaks, it's because of cleaning properties or additive package. Using a 10w-40 in 5VZ would probably cause leaks if anything, due to extra un-needed pressure.

The only reason to use a 5w-40 or a 10w-40 in a 5VZ is if you tow constantly and really stress the engine (and I mean alot) or if your engine is going for broke anyway and has low oil pressure, etc. Very few 5VZ's are in these categories. And even if you do tow alot, a 5w-30 is still what I would use.


(And btw, I love Rotella T6. I use it in my 350whp turbo Neon)
 
Synthetic is FAR better than ANY regular petroleum based oil with no exceptions.

All synthetics have a much higher flash/boil point, have better detergent packages so you will never have to worry about any "sludge" problems.
It would be basically impossible to sludge an engine that is running synthetic.

As for the MYTH that synthetics "cause" oil leaks that is simply untrue.
They may expose a leak you already have.

What causes oil leaks in most cases is over heating, that fries and dries out your seals largely because petroleum oil has deposited gunk on the inside of your engine and under high temps will harden thus the seal dries out.

On rare occasions if someone switches to synthetic oil after they have been running petroleum oil for about a decade the synthetic will clean the engine exposing the seal that the "petroleum oil has caused" to dry out.
In most cases if you allow the synthetic to clean the engine it will rejuvenate the dried out seal as long as the seal is not too far gone.

I have owned 14 cars & trucks in my lifetime so far, I am 52.
Only one was bought new the other 13 used and I have changed over every single one including the diesel to synthetic oil and have never had a problem, in fact just the opposite. The synthetic has cured some problems that I have had.

I just bought my 4Runner a few weeks ago, it had 157xxx miles on it and the first thing I did ASAP was to change it over to synthetic oil.
Not one drop of oil has leaked and if anything the synthetic will prevent the seals from drying out in the future.
I find it incomprehensible that car manufacturers, especially Toyota with their infamous sludge problems does not make synthetic a "requirement" to maintain the warrantee.
 
Good post above.

Synthetic all the way, and 5W-30. Toyotas best engineers designed the engine to run on it, and you are not smarter then they are.

Its also important to pick one type of oil and stick with it. Seals get used to the particular mix of additives. Without them, there are periods of insufficient lubrication, or seals might dry out on certain parts. Also, some oils don't mix well, even if they are both synthetics. They will form sludge when mixed.

I use Mobil 1 Full synthetic in all my vehicles with the manufacturer recommended weight.

All my vehicles are still running strong. 4Runner = 208k. LC = 289k. I expect my wife's Honda to give me at least 300k before I rebuild it.
 
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