Change to synthetic from std after 223 k miles?

It won't hurt anything, BUT, if there's a compromised seal somewhere that's currently being held shut by a bit of sludge, switching to synthetic (assuming it hasn't had synthetic all this time) could clear the sludge away and speed up the leak to where it actually drips on the driveway. At 223K, you're bound to have a weeping front or rear main seal. Switching it to a full syn could accelerate the need to get it replaced if you hate oil spots on your concrete.

I highly recommend a high-mileage oil with seal conditioners in it, even if there aren't obvious external signs of seepage. Maxlife comes to mind.
This is exactly what happened on my 88 Camry but who wants cruded dino oil as a stop leak? I just lived with the small oil drips.

We had our 87 Camry for 33 years. Changed the Mobil 1 10w-30 ever year or 10,000 miles whether needed or not. Sold the car with 188,000 miles as mom couldn't drive anymore. Still going strong.
 
Because??? Run some kind of high mile oil . Maxlife semi syn maybe.


Maxlife would be a good choice but the OP let this slip halfway through the thread.

“More interested in opinions on changing to mobil 1... which i have gallons of paid for. To buy 5 w 30 dino oil i am buying oil and leaving 5 w 30 in my garage w no use.”
 
Wow this gets tricky. I normaly only use full syn mobil one.have done that 20 plus years.
2 weeks ago purchased a toyota sequoia 4.7 v8 223k miles. That truck when not owned by me. For 14 years has used only conventional 5 w30 oil. With the previous owner.

I am wondering now ( 2021 ) would there be any reason not to switch to full syn mobil 1 ???

I drive 3000 to 4000 miles a year. So the full syn would not be used up. But i dont leave oil in more than a year. I think 6 months is even smarter.

So sorry to confuse. Thats my question. The truck i bought used has never seen full syn oil. Oil changes have been at 3500 to 5000. Miles with last owner.

So my statement that i usually use only mobil 1 is correct.. but since i have owned this sequoia 16 days. Does not apply to the trucks maint history.
 
Maxlife would be a good choice but the OP let this slip halfway through the thread.

“More interested in opinions on changing to mobil 1... which i have gallons of paid for. To buy 5 w 30 dino oil i am buying oil and leaving 5 w 30 in my garage w no use.”
I purchased gallons of mobil 1.. 5 w 30 and it is sitting in my garage. But I can use that up and go to max life. Dont know anything about that product .
 
Post is confusing. Title asks about changing to synthetic from standard, but then you say you already normally use synthetic and are asking about changing to standard. Which is it?
Please read my first post. Carefully.. i myself a person.. normally use only mobil 1. However I purchased a used truck 2 weeks ago. So how many dozens of oil changes could I have done in a 14 day ownership ??

So i have a used car that never has had full syn oil..

And me a car owner that always uses full syn oil. That make sense now ?
 
Well, what I am getting is that Mobil 1 is both conventional and synthetic from the poster..
Please READ. And then read my post # 1 again.


This is not that tricky.

Mobil 1 is and was always full syn. Please explain where I said its conventional oil ?

What i have done for 40 years. Does not change the maint history on a car i have owned 14 days.


Lets try an analogy for you.

I always go sailing in the british virgin islands for 30 years.

I just married a girl last week.. she has always gone to florida on vacation. Every year.


Should I take my new wife to the virgin islands.. and change things for her. Or keep taking her to florida as she is used to ???
 
I believe you mean from Mobil 1 to Mobil Super 5000.

And no, there would be no issue. Go for it

Running Mobil Super 5000 or whatever they are calling Mobil's conventional offering (which I have only seen at Target superstores, by the way) for 3500 miles would be still as some have said a waste but still not too bad, nothing wrong with changing your oil and changing it often. 5000 to 6000 miles you can.. 7000-12000 miles is reserved for the more experienced oil connoisseurs, who no doubt have precautions in place for such advanced activities, lol. Sarcasm.
Your backwards.. but get the idea.
 
Your backwards.. but get the idea.
Hi OP.. and thank you also for reaching out via Direct Message.. okay, so, your question is then about switching from a conventional Mobil to a synthetic Mobil?

Honestly, you should be fine. No adverse effects. SOMETIMES the oil will clean away sludge, if you will, and maybe expose a leak but that's a 50/50 shot and even then, I would still do it and fix the leak eventually.

We are not trying to make fun of you here so please don't think that. You had me and at least two others a little confused with your verbiage.. it is okay.
 
Wow this gets tricky. I normaly only use full syn mobil one.have done that 20 plus years.
2 weeks ago purchased a toyota sequoia 4.7 v8 223k miles. That truck when not owned by me. For 14 years has used only conventional 5 w30 oil. With the previous owner.

I am wondering now ( 2021 ) would there be any reason not to switch to full syn mobil 1 ???

I drive 3000 to 4000 miles a year. So the full syn would not be used up. But i dont leave oil in more than a year. I think 6 months is even smarter.

So sorry to confuse. Thats my question. The truck i bought used has never seen full syn oil. Oil changes have been at 3500 to 5000. Miles with last owner.

So my statement that i usually use only mobil 1 is correct.. but since i have owned this sequoia 16 days. Does not apply to the trucks maint history.

I am wondering now ( 2021 ) would there be any reason not to switch to full syn mobil 1 ???

None.

Do it.
 
Just use good oil synthetic or semi-Syn.
It is a Toyota, it will last you a while even with some leaks along the way.
 
I would say it depends a little on your driving habits. But in Wizzconsin if you are changing your oil in a non-heated environment, I'd be looking at Synthetic 5W-30 in early October and again in late April. My severe service Corolla makes out just fine with that a UOA at about the 5k miles or 6 month mark may provide you with some good baseline information how your TBN is holding up!
 
Truth said: You're going to find deposits in the PCV side of the block to be much heavier and crusty.

A few rapid short changes of organic or synthetic will clean things up quick, so follow severe duty oil and filter change schedules.

No harm in synthetic but it can reveal leaks and failed gaskets if neglected.

If very lucky, simple physical/ non- main leaks are repairable in your driveway in minutes. A high mileage synthetic oil can also fix up all but the worst leaks but missing material from gaskets won't be solved with anything in a bottle or jug.

My Chevy was loosing a liter/month. A $10 Felpro oil cooler plate gasket above the oil filter cooler bypass completely resolved it in 10 minutes of driveway-on-my-back wrench time.

Your application is obviously different but likely not *too* different. Wipe,wash,brake-kleen everything and see where it comes from.

Hopefully you locate the leak and spruce it up with a quick gasket swap.
 
Quantico -

I guess we'll all presume youre engine is in good shape. Have you done a UOA on this engine yet to see if there's any internal issues? How do you know that 1 year is too long, or not long enough???? Are there internal leaks like coolant or air-intake? Is there a leaking fuel injector??? For now, we'll assume it's OK.

I find it a bit ironic that you're dead set against the concept of using an inexpensive dino; but that's understandable as you've already got "gallons" of the lube for potential use already sitting around. (Your comment was that you didn't see the sense in wasting money on buying more oil when you have good oil already in your stash).

Yet, you're prefectly OK with wasting the good oil you already have, by dumping it WAY before it would be in a condition to be condemed. There's no way that a 1 year OCI is going to do anything but lead to good oil being dumped before it's time, if you dump the Mobil 1 out at approximately 3k miles.

It's not like OEM warranty is in play here. I'm sure the Mobil oil probably has some "or one year" statement in their warranty, but since when do people care about what the oil and filter makers think around here? We see oil filters used outside of approved applications. We see people use viscosities outside of OEM applications. We have no idea of the "or one year" commitment you have it due to a strict adherence to the oil maker's mantra, or only your own personal mantra.


The way I see it, you don't want to waste money buying dino, but you're perfectly OK with wasting the oil you already have. So do what you want; you've already made up you mind and put conditions into play that perfectly fit your predetermined bias. Might as well use up that bias to your benefit.
 
Quantico -

I guess we'll all presume youre engine is in good shape. Have you done a UOA on this engine yet to see if there's any internal issues? How do you know that 1 year is too long, or not long enough???? Are there internal leaks like coolant or air-intake? Is there a leaking fuel injector??? For now, we'll assume it's OK.

I find it a bit ironic that you're dead set against the concept of using an inexpensive dino; but that's understandable as you've already got "gallons" of the lube for potential use already sitting around. (Your comment was that you didn't see the sense in wasting money on buying more oil when you have good oil already in your stash).

Yet, you're prefectly OK with wasting the good oil you already have, by dumping it WAY before it would be in a condition to be condemed. There's no way that a 1 year OCI is going to do anything but lead to good oil being dumped before it's time, if you dump the Mobil 1 out at approximately 3k miles.

It's not like OEM warranty is in play here. I'm sure the Mobil oil probably has some "or one year" statement in their warranty, but since when do people care about what the oil and filter makers think around here? We see oil filters used outside of approved applications. We see people use viscosities outside of OEM applications. We have no idea of the "or one year" commitment you have it due to a strict adherence to the oil maker's mantra, or only your own personal mantra.


The way I see it, you don't want to waste money buying dino, but you're perfectly OK with wasting the oil you already have. So do what you want; you've already made up you mind and put conditions into play that perfectly fit your predetermined bias. Might as well use up that bias to your benefit.
So we're talking about a vehicle that has potential sludge on the pcv side (don't know for sure since we don't have pictures and it's second hand information) even after 3-4k mile conventional oil changes ever 3-4 months (based on current odometer reading and vehicle history as reported by the owner) and the owner is worried about sludge and is going to do the same 3k miles but over a year (which could potentially be many short trips without enough warm up) and you're trying to convince him that he's changing it way too early at one year?
 
So we're talking about a vehicle that has potential sludge on the pcv side (don't know for sure since we don't have pictures and it's second hand information) even after 3-4k mile conventional oil changes ever 3-4 months (based on current odometer reading and vehicle history as reported by the owner) and the owner is worried about sludge and is going to do the same 3k miles but over a year (which could potentially be many short trips without enough warm up) and you're trying to convince him that he's changing it way too early at one year?
Lol the Toyota 4.7 is probably one of the best made engines of all time. This whole thread is ridiculous. I’m in agreement with dnewton. The op can and should go get any generic oil like super tech synthetic blend and run it for 5k per oci and sleep well.
 
Lol the Toyota 4.7 is probably one of the best made engines of all time. This whole thread is ridiculous. I’m in agreement with dnewton. The op can and should go get any generic oil like super tech synthetic blend and run it for 5k per oci and sleep well.
Maybe the op should be checking whether the pcv is actually working if it's got any sludge at all with the reported previous owners OCI...
 
Maybe the op should be checking whether the pcv is actually working if it's got any sludge at all with the reported previous owners OCI...
He said “light dark spots or sludge” makes me think it’s being blown out of proportion. You can abuse the snot out of a 4.7 and it will still run like a top. It’s had 3-4k ocis at the dealer it’s entire life, I can guarantee you there’s no sludge. Sure he can just change out the pcv if he wants to be safe but I don’t think that’s required. It’s a car with 200k+ on it probably worth less than $6k and likely will go another 200k with the same syn blend it’s been getting.

If I were the OP id focus more on the tranny maintenance and just keep running that workhorse.
 
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