is synthetic and conventional oil interchangable?

[camryi4]

hey guys, a friend mentioned one of his friend had a tundra and switched to synthetic,ran fine, switched back to regular fossil oil, and started running into engine troubles like rough idling, and harder to start sometimes. is there like a " you go synthetic you cant go back " dealio or something? my camry is almost at 10k miles and was thinking about doing an oil change myself an try out synthetic. didnt get my classes this fall so i am freeeee to mess with my car. anyone's opinions would be great.

[yuriy]

I never tried that, I know my dealer for my camry they use the 5w20 clean, no synthetic..to mix them I don't know but to drain the clean 5w20 and use full synthetic 5w20 never heard of anyone with problems, maybe some other guys around here will answer better then me, sorry

[camryi4]

Originally Posted by yuriy

I never tried that, I know my dealer for my camry they use the 5w20 clean, no synthetic..to mix them I don't know but to drain the clean 5w20 and use full synthetic 5w20 never heard of anyone with problems, maybe some other guys around here will answer better then me, sorry

haha thanks, mayb Paul can tell us what oil he uses, if its good enough for his turbo camry it should be good for me lol

[yuriy]

Originally Posted by camryi4

haha thanks, mayb Paul can tell us what oil he uses, if its good enough for his turbo camry it should be good for me lol

Haha indeed..you can also check the Oil Change DIY here..
2007 Camry Oil Change FYI!

He says he uses Mobil 1 Full Synthetic 5W20..and it looks like the guy knows what hes doing since he made a DIY for an oil change, lol.

[touringcamry]

There are no issues going between synthetic and conventional. If you want, you can even mix them. The issues on your friend's Tundra may just be a result of different properties of the two oils.

[camryi4]

awesum, found out everything i wanted to know. thanks a bunch guys!

[yuriy]

You're welcome..even I learned something, lol.

[PhatRoyale]

Originally Posted by touringcamry

There are no issues going between synthetic and conventional. If you want, you can even mix them. The issues on your friend's Tundra may just be a result of different properties of the two oils.

+1

[camryi4]

Originally Posted by PhatRoyale

+1

ok, soooo another coworker says im not suposed to go back to conventional after goin synthetic lol, i trust u guys here, but it kinda throws me off when like few ppl i know personally tells me opposite lol. i shoulda made this a poll in the first place haha

[touringcamry]

Waaaaaaaay back when synthetic oil first came out, I think the 1970s, it caused issues if you switched between conventional and synthetic. Formulations have since changed so that you can switch between synthetic and conventional without any issues. What your coworker is saying was true, but it is not applicable with oils currently available.

[lenjack]

You may switch back and forth, and even mix, to your heart's content with absolutely no problems. Old, 35 year old info dies hard.

[AlmightyCamry777]

I've used conventional and synthetic oils, or a mix, and switched back and forth between them many occasions -on every car and truck i've ever owned, and never had any ill effect from doing it. In theory almost all the engine oils you can buy in the store, are compatible - thank Milspec for that. The military buys huge quantities of lubricating oils and they will not buy some batch of the same type and grade from one company, that is incompatible with another - since they have more important things to worry about - SAE tests aren't enough, engine oil has to pass compatibility tests to be approved for milspec. Maybe your friend has over 100k miles on his engine and the synthetic broke loose some dirt inside the engine - who knows.

[neondizzle420]

Originally Posted by camryi4

hey guys, a friend mentioned one of his friend had a tundra and switched to synthetic,ran fine, switched back to regular fossil oil, and started running into engine troubles like rough idling, and harder to start sometimes. is there like a " you go synthetic you cant go back " dealio or something? my camry is almost at 10k miles and was thinking about doing an oil change myself an try out synthetic. didnt get my classes this fall so i am freeeee to mess with my car. anyone's opinions would be great.

i doubt those concerns would happen because of changing the oil type. But its not recommended that you switch between the 2 because of the possibility of oil leaking from gaskets and seals. just wondering why you would need to switch anyway? once i used synthetic i never used conv. oil. Is it a money issue, because there is no benefit in alternating oils.

[tzeshan]

I switched between synthetic then back to regular 5w30. I have no problems. Are you sure the two oils are of the same grade? I have heard the Accord require 5w20. One owner said the shop did the oil change wil 5w30. The engine becomes noisy. He went back to the shop. The shop changed back to 5w20. The noise is gone!

[lollonais]

What about changing to a different weight? my wife's camry has 70k and the guy told me at the auto parts that I should be using 10w30 or 20w50 already since I was about to buy 5w30? I went with the 10w30. Is this a problem too?