Oil, regular vs synthetic?Lucas oil treatment for synthetic?

[volny]

I know I may opening a can of worms here,

I'm thinking about switching back to regular oil, I keep hearing all kinds of diverse opinions about synthetic, and that it doesn't lubricate the rings properly, and may shrink them / harden them up.

Also for this lubrication issue , a friend of mine advised me to use Lucas oil treatment.

What do you think of lucas oil treatment?

Is there really an advantage in using synthetic oil other than not having to change your oil as often?

On a car with a lot of mileage I'm starting to think I'd rather use just plain regular oil with no oil treatment and change it more often for the same $, and clean all the crap out more often by the same token...

What do you think?

[rallyak]

I run mobile 1 and the Lucas oil treatment for years, but I still change my oil every 3000 miles. All of my engines have very high mileage and my wife's car with 431k still doesn't burn a drop of oil between oil changes and the engine is the original, but this is my lowest mileage engine in my driveway.

I think changing the oil every 3000 is the best thing regardless of what oil you use because fuel gets past the rings and contaminate the oil. Unless you are running propane or natural gas then you can run 12000 with no problem.

Lucas oil treatment quiets my engine down and helps with thermo break down. I work mine really hard and the car is always overloaded.

[volny]

It did quiet down my lifter noise, I'm not sure if it unstuck it or just covered up the sound...Thanks for your answer!

[MConte05]

I use Rotella 5W30 and run the ever living piss out of my engines. However. I change the oil after every race. That might be 300 miles, or 1000 miles on an oil interval. For a regular street car, oil type/difference/brand isn't going to make much of a difference at all. Just being vigilant about your oil change intervals will be more of a help.

[TurnNburn]

I think the problems that arise from using a full synthetic is that people read way to much garbage on the internet or listen to people who have no idea what they are talking about and believe that just because they are using a better oil (full synthetics) that means that they can go 12k miles on an oil change without any long term problems and that just simply isn't the case. As rallyak said, contamination and oil coking making changing your oil on time necessary. And like mconte said, if you are changing it every 3k miles, or less, the type of oil you use wont make a difference, so then why make a $20 oil change cost $52? I happen to use syn blend, but only because that's what we have in bulk at Nissan, otherwise I would use conventional.

I see all of the time cars coming in with quick lube stickers that have 7,8 or even 9k mile intervals on them, this is just nonsense. I don't know what Subaru of America recommends on their intervals, but Nissan's intervals are 3000 for standard oil, 3750 for our mandated syn blend. and 4250 MAX with any synthetic with or without additives.

If you like your car and want it to make it to the 200k or even the 431k mile mark then please do it a favor and change your oil on time. especially if you beat on it, like I think most of us do.

[volny]

Yeah I have 272k on it, but gona switch to conventional oil, honestly I check my oil frequently and change it when it starts looking too brown to my tastes, which is probably about every 3k....

[WRXish]

I think the problems that arise from using a full synthetic is that people read way to much garbage on the internet or listen to people who have no idea what they are talking about and believe that just because they are using a better oil (full synthetics) that means that they can go 12k miles on an oil change without any long term problems and that just simply isn't the case. As rallyak said, contamination and oil coking making changing your oil on time necessary. And like mconte said, if you are changing it every 3k miles, or less, the type of oil you use wont make a difference, so then why make a $20 oil change cost $52? I happen to use syn blend, but only because that's what we have in bulk at Nissan, otherwise I would use conventional.

I see all of the time cars coming in with quick lube stickers that have 7,8 or even 9k mile intervals on them, this is just nonsense. I don't know what Subaru of America recommends on their intervals, but Nissan's intervals are 3000 for standard oil, 3750 for our mandated syn blend. and 4250 MAX with any synthetic with or without additives.

If you like your car and want it to make it to the 200k or even the 431k mile mark then please do it a favor and change your oil on time. especially if you beat on it, like I think most of us do.

Ok, I will probably draw all the flamers to my comments but bring em on. What I say here is fact not fiction. No BS, and probably wont be popular for lots of different reasons. Im ok with that.

I have been running synthetic oil in my vehicles since the mid to late 70s. Oil formulations have improved since then, and todays oils regardless of whether they are synthetic or dinosaur based, are far superior to what was available even 10 years ago. The 91 wagon I daily drive has over 200k on the clock with mostly just annual oil changes since it was new. Regardless of the annual mileage accrued, thats about what it got for a good deal of its life. It shoulld have been treated better but even today uses no oil still runs well, and is probably going to be torn down and rebuilt in the not too distant future, just because I want to see how much wear there is on the internal components. It has always had synthetic in it since the break in oil was removed. Mobil one was the choice early on, amsoil after about 120k up until recently. Running shell rotella t6 5w-40 diesel oil in it now and it loves it. high quality oils at good prices. now I change the oil twice a year, once in the spring and once late fall, regardless of mileage accrued. My annual mileage ends up being something like 10-15k/year on that car. So, here is what you can do and keep the engine happy if it is normally aspirated. Change the oil every 5k, that makes it easy...do your tire rotation and oil changes on the same schedule and you will never forget either one. If you have a turbo motor, the 3000 mile service interval is REQUIRED if using dino oil and subaru recommends no more than 3750 between changes if its synthetic. If I am autocrossing my turbo car, it gets its synthetic changed at 2500 mile intervals and if not autocrossing, 5000 miles. That said, I am not hard on the turbo car when street driving it. I recognize that it is fragile and needs above average care. Part of that care is in the way it is driven and looked after. Usually street driving involves keeping an eye on the boost and intake air temps. I don't use high boost on the street until the engine is fully warmed up and that is how it will remain. These service intervals have worked well for me and there is no denying the results. No oil related engine failures or maintenance issues in over 30 years. The turbo car is a 2009 WRX with roughly 45k miles on it. Still very much a youngster. I hope it goes well over 200k too.

Remember synthetic oil is more stable over temperature and over its life than regular oil. That is one of its major selling points. To change it too often is to waste money. To change it too infrequently is also a waste of money. Find the sweet spot and stick to it, your car will love you. So will your CFO (your wife, lol).