brundz

i just bought my t/a but i dont know if the previous owner used sythetics or not. is there any tricks to figure out if the oil in it is sythetic or not? i know i could just throw sythetic in it to be safe but college student duties make me have to scrape every penny i have together right now so i'd like to stick with regular motor oil and fill up the tank with the saved money

Travis99LS1

iTrader: (2)

There's really not any sure way to tell if the oil thats in there right now is synthetic. You could get an oil analysis done which would tell you the current viscosity, and other basic things about the oils condition...If you would prefer to run regular oil in it, than dont even worry about synthetic..even if the owner did use synthetic your not going to cause any harm at all by putting a conventional oil in your car.

davered00ss

iTrader: (4)

Wal-Mart sells Syntec synthetic oil for under $15 for a 5qt bottle. Use that.

speedshifterNC

iTrader: (1)

stick to synthetic and save money elsewhere

hndakilr

+1 on the wal mart syn
its well worth it

samson_420

iTrader: (1)

WalMart Rottela is pretty good, it really is the cheapest and will make most ticks/knocks go away.

The Postman

iTrader: (44)

+1....just don't get it done at a lube shop, they jack up the price of their crap....go to Wal-mart or a auto parts store and buy synthetic!!!

TLUZLS1

iTrader: (6)

As stated before, there are cheap synthetics out there. Only the best for your LS1!

slowjoe99

iTrader: (7)

Synthetic oil has smaller particles and takes longer to break down and may last longer but... the oil filter doesn't! So you still need to change your oil just as often. read the oil filter box. After the oil filter is full or clogged it just runs the oil through the by pass in the filter and does no filtering at all. Also, switching to synthetic oil can cause leaks due to having smaller particles. especially in older engines...

Mr Incredible

It doesn't matter whether there is synthetic in there now because you're going to change it soon, anyway.

It also doesn't matter whether synthetic was in it because it doesn't hurt your motor to change from/to conventional/synthetic.

And, since you are trying to save money, you're going to be smart by purchasing a name brand 5w-30 conventional oil and a non-Fram filter and change oil every 3k to 5k miles.

Sound good?

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

i agree with the off brand syn. it meets the standards for engine so who cares what the label says. i use it in every vehicle i have ever owned. never any problems.

BriancWS6

iTrader: (18)

If you want to know what the previous owner used, why not find out who they were and ask? I didn't care when I bought my car with 25k on it. I was gonna use what I wanted to, regardless.

temporary

Hi slowjoe99 -

Respectfully - synthetic oil does not have "smaller particles" and does not "run out" where a conventional (re: organic base) oil would not.

In some engines where there is a lot of sludge buildup and where the gaskets and seals might be old and suspect, a highly detergent modern synthetic oil CAN clean up deposits and bring to the fore an oil leak that was "clogged" by sludge that a conventional oil could not dissolve.

I hear this old wives tale a lot and have yet to read any damning proof against the use of synthetic (including it's use in my old 1961 Panhead Harley - you should have heard the blatantly WRONG stuff guys would tell you about what to run in that lol...)

Also, I have read tribology reports that say that an oil filter gets more efficient after it is used a while - and that it is actually better to run your oil filter for two oil change cycles.

I would never do this, but the point is that if you are changing your oil regularly and you have an actual air cleaner, you will not clog an oil filter during any reasonable change interval.

If you are really inclined and want to keep the pulse of your engine, you would have an oil filter cutter and you would be examining the contents of the used oil filters for copper particles etc.

best regards -

mqqn

(oh - I lost my password for this forum and my email is pointed to an old address...so my normal id is mqqn....)

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

^ yeah what he said. just change the **** and you wont have no problems

jimbo98z

iTrader: (3)

Agreed. Get you some Mobil 0w40 or German Castrol 0w30 and be done with it. Less engine noise, less oil sucked into the intake, and better oil pressure. You're talking about $15 dollars extra per oil change, I'd consider that cheap insurance.

The stuff that lubricates your engine isn't something I would skimp on...

Mr Incredible

And yet, there's no need to spend $6 quart for good oil. Pennzoil Platinum is a very good oil and is around $2.50-something. 5w- or 10w-30 at 3k to 5k mile intervals and you'll wreck or sell your car before your motor falls out. From what I've seen, buying high $$ oil is meant to make up for a lack of knowledge about what the oil is actually made of and is doing.

Unless you abuse your motor or do extended oil change intervals, you're simply throwing money away by buying the best oil when it isn't indicated. Your choice, though.

$.02

robb4964

HAHA....that is exactly what I was gonna say.

Its 13$ for 5 qt syntec wal mart brand. Its so cheap even my metro gets synthetic. It cost as much as some heavily marketed conventional oils.