I about to approach 130k miles on the Avalon, and was wondering if it would be a safe idea to switch over to Mobil 1 Synthetic HM Oil. As of now there is no oil leaks whatsoever, and the dipstick is still at the FULL mark since 4,000 miles. It doesn't burn any oil or anything, just wondering what are the benefits or consequences of switching over to full synthetic from dino oil?
Thanks
DO NOT do a hard switch. By hard switch I mean go right from dino-oil to Mobil 1. You're engine will love you much more if you ease it into synthetic. Try a few oil cycles with a semi-synthetic. I used Valvoline Max-Life on my most recent oil change (last Friday) and my car feels like its 100,000 miles younger (my baby has 160K on it). High mileage engines will benefit from synthetic oils but you gotta give them some warning.
As for Mobil 1, not so sure. I used it once, nothing bad about it, but nothing good. I didn't notice a difference over conventional oil. Then again I didn't ease my car into it so I don't count that as a real experience. I used Pennzoil Platinum in my old car and all my friends use it too. It is 20 bucks for the 5 quart jug and it runs really smooth. My Saturn had a moderate amount of sludge and over the 20,000 miles I had it I actually noticed a decrease in sludge and crud in my oil filters. Granted I seafoamed twice but still. Even if you don't see it benefit or hurt your car.... it's twenty bucks. That along with a Napa Gold filter and you're paying 24 bucks for an oil change. Places around me (in Milwaukee) can't match that quality at that price.
I am by no means an oil expert. I may even be wrong in what I am saying. I am speaking out of personal experience. We hard switched my dad's suv from conventional to synthetic and it still performed as poorly as before. I, along with my friend's Maxima that had 128k when he switched, used semi-synthetic and it worked great. He now uses Pennzoil platinum and has not had any problems in the 25k since switching.
Check out bobistheoilguy.com Bob really is the oil guy. He knows his stuff.
Oh and a slight amendment to that post. Just because the oil says 10, 15, 20 or a million miles between changes that doesn't mean you should only change your oil every million miles. These are high mileage engines that have somewhat poorly designed oil passages. I change my oil every 3000 to 4000 miles. There were recently two men who drove cars to 1,000,000 miles. One was a Chevy K1500 and the other was a Saab 900. The Chevy was even used to haul lots of stuff. They both attribute their car's long lives to routine maintenance. I am by no means saying that you were planning on using synthetic as an excuse to never change your oil, I am simply giving you a heads up about those claims. Plus, like I said, Pennzoil Platinum is 20 bucks, Mobil 1 isn't much more expensive.
Last edited by jbfrench; 09-26-2010 at 04:21 PM.
The Following User Says Thank You to jbfrench For This Useful Post:
The day I bought my '95 XL I changed the oil and put in 5W30 Mobil 1+ a Mobil 1 Filter and have had no issues....
I consider myself very lucky as I got this car for a song from my neighbor who babied it--she was a fanatic about having her oil changed every 3,000 miles+having scheduled maintenance done (and keeping EVERY service receipt!). I fully expect to get 300,000-400,000 miles (or more!) out of this girl
I think Recob stresses the same point I want to stress. Regular maintenance. There was a post a few days/weeks back about an engine so gunked up that it probably wont be working for long. I can bet that the previous owner of that car didn't properly maintain it.
Great Advice Guys, Thanks. The Avalon has been maintained well, oil changes every 3k-4k miles. I sea-foamed it at 117k and replaced the front valve cover gasket at 122k, also just replaced the pcv valve. The head was so clean I could eat off it, so it would probably be okay to do the switch.I'm just wondering would there be any chances of leaks starting?? Would I expect to see an improvement in gas mileage, smoother idle and acceleration? What were your experiences?
My plan is to use Castrol Syntec Blend and a Wix-Extended oil filter(51516). What would be the interval to change the oil at? I currently change at 4k on Castrol GTX HM. Do you guys recommend Castrol Syntec Blend if not, what is best?
I know everyone has an opinion and someone will disagree with me, but I would "test the waters" by using a synthetic blend for a few oil changes. See if any leaks develop. If none develop, then you can switch over to a full synthetic.
Theoretically I've heard the synthetic oil molecules are smaller than conventional oil and can get through smaller cracks thus causing leaks where there were none previously with the conventional oil.
I don't know if you would see any performance increases, or increases in mpg, but your engine will wear better.
As far as brand of oil, I don't know that any one is a clear winner over another. I do like your choice in filters though.
The Following User Says Thank You to fourwheeler For This Useful Post:
I have used Mobile 1 synthetic for 20k in my '97 so far. I even autocross the thing and it has close to 160k miles on it, just be sure to use a good filter, the napa gold (wix) is a good one.
those purple magnetic drain plugs look great--I'd get one but Amazon doesn't have them--I'll try the autoparts stores locally (I don't do eBay anymore--I closed my account with them long ago)
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1999 Toyota Avalon
Switching to Mobil 1 Synthetic?
1999 Avalon XLE
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Linear Mode
