Oil Changes

[GoPitt68]

I've been thinking about changing to a Fully Synthetic oil now that I've got about 11K miles on my Sienna (and getting a new Corolla soon and would like to follow suit). I checked out www.carbibles.com and read all about it.

When I saw an ad for Firestone and their oil changes ($14.99 for Kendall GT-1 synthetic blend, $22.99 for high mileage blend, and $49.99 for the GT-1 fully synthetic), I called them up and asked "how much for the basic mineral oil?" They said they don't do them anymore, that the blend is the basic oil change. So then I said "does the fully synthetic include an engine flush?" They said they don't do flushes anymore, so the answer is no. Ummm, if I haven't been using a blend or full synthetic, according to carbibles, putting a full synthetic in the engine is a no-no since it releases all the built up stuff in the seals and all. Isn't that correct?

Right now, I'm doing a "regular oil" change 3,500-4,000 miles...if I go to a "Blend" I assume I can increase that to say 5,000 and going to a full synthetic I assume will allow me to go to 6,000 between changes?

I wonder if I can go "up the ladder" and just move on to a "blend" and then move on to a full synthetic later without flushing it since the engine will be "used to" the blended synthetic. Or is that just crazy talk? I want my two Toyotas to get me 200K+ miles and plan to be very anal about the PM on these babies, so any advice is appreciated.

P.S. My maintenance book for the Sienna tells me to either do oil changes every 5,000 miles with "hard conditions (towing, etc.)" or 7,500 miles under normal conditions...but they don't specify what type of oil to be used for these changes (gotta assume it's the ol' mineral oil!)

[foompla]

toyota dealership used recycled oil in most instances.

[GoPitt68]

Huh???

[adsaba1969]

i went to fully synthetic(mobil 1) @ 3,000 and still change it @ every 5,000. Your toyo should go 200K regardless of what oil you use(with proper maintnence). I'd still go synthetic early...just my opinion

[GoPitt68]

Thanks! Any idea why Firestone would not do flushing before switching to fully synthetic? That seems like a bad idea

[adsaba1969]

because it's not neccesary

[GoPitt68]

Then I guess this "Car Bibles" website shouldn't call themselves the "bible" of car maintenance (see 1st bullet below, taken from their website)...

Mineral or synthetic?

Mineral oils are based on oil that comes from dear old Mother Earth which has been refined. Synthetic oils are entirely concocted by chemists wearing white lab coats in oil company laboratories. For more info, see the section on synthetics further down the page. The only other type is semi-synthetic, sometimes called premium, which is a blend of the two. It is safe to mix the different types, but it's wiser to switch completely to a new type rather than mixing.

A couple of words of warning:

• If you've been driving around with mineral oil in your engine for years, don't switch to synthetic oil without preparation. Synthetic oils have been known to dislodge the baked-on deposits from mineral oils and leave them floating around your engine - not good. I learned this lesson the hard way! It's wise to use a flushing oil first.
• If you do decide to change, only go up the scale. If you've been running around on synthetic, don't change down to a mineral-based oil - your engine might not be able to cope with the degradation in lubrication. Consequently, if you've been using mineral oil, try a semi or a full synthetic oil. By degradation, I'm speaking of the wear tolerances that an engine develops based on the oil that it's using. Thicker mineral oils mean thicker layers of oil coating the moving parts (by microns though). Switching to a thinner synthetic oil can caupiston slap or crank vibration.
• Gaskets and seals! With the makeup of synthetic oils being different from mineral oils, mineral-oil-soaked gaskets and seals have been known to leak when exposed to synthetic oils. Perhaps not that common an occurrence, but worth bearing in mind nevertheless.

[Raddman]

Originally Posted by foompla

toyota dealership used recycled oil in most instances.

[adsaba1969]

Originally Posted by GoPitt68

• If you've been driving around with mineral oil in your engine for years, don't switch to synthetic oil without preparation. Synthetic oils have been known to dislodge the baked-on deposits from mineral oils and leave them floating around your engine - not good. I learned this lesson the hard way! It's wise to use a flushing oil first.

you have 11K on your car....have you had it YEARS????

[GoPitt68]

I hear ya...but I didn't identify myself to the Firestone guy, didn't tell him about my car at all, and so he didn't know how many years/miles my car had...and they don't do flushes whatsoever, regardless of "years" - that's why I say "WTF"!