questions on making the switch to full synthetic

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Hello, I have lurked occasionally into these forums , but now I need some advice or opinions on the move from dino oil to synthetic.

1. I have a 1998 olds intrigue with 32000 miles. The car had 10,000 miles on it until I purchased it last April and is in great condition. I normally drive about 50 miles per day on my commute so I average about 17k per year. Until now I used dino 10w30 in summer and 5w30 in winter with a 4k oci. Looking to reduce my time under the cars for oil changes so I would like to switch to mobil1 full synthetic. I have bought 15 quarts of 5w30 Ep with the ep mobil1 filters and was thinking of running this year round trying for a 8.5 to 10k oci. Does anyone see a problem running 5w30 in the summer in Wisconsin the engine is a 3800 series 2? I thought 5w30 would be better due to the short summers and longer periods of colder weather.

2. My wife has a brand new 2009 Pontiac vibe with the 2.4l Camry engine. She drives about 90 miles a day. With 28k yearly average. THe first change will be dino oil from the dealer for free and they want us to do that at 2.5k ( they say to remove the break-in oil, i thought that was a thing of the past), so i will be taking over with the oil changes at about 7.5k Was also looking to spend less time under the hood by going full synthetic as well. Does anyone reccomend going longer with dino oil to break in such as waiting a few more changes? The car now says 5w20, but I know that is for CAFÉ standards and that the Pontiac dealers all use 5w30. Do you think it would be good to use mobil1 EP 5w30 in this car as well; it sure would make things easy. Also weather I use 5w20 or 5w30 on this car do you think I can do 7.5k oci or more gm book says 5k, but that is only around 2 months for her and at that point I might as well use dino oil. If I go for a longer oci do you think the mobil1 filters are best, or would a pure one, wix, or Toyota OEM be just as good?

Sorry if this is a lot of questions but I have been saving them up for a while :)

Thanks,

jpamp
 
1. There was never a need for 10w-30 in the first place, you'll be perfectly fine with the 5w-30 year round. EP for 7500 would be no problem, and you can probably go further but I have no experience with this engine. Perhaps you can search the UOA section, or someome with more experience can help.

2. I think you'll have to stay at 5000 miles to maintain your warranty, at least you would in a Matrix. Any decent oil can do this, dino or otherwise. My HL was the same, I just used whatever cheap Syn I could find (this site has an excellent section for that). Now that the warranty is up I will be changing to 7500 mile OCI.
 
Ques 1. Your choice in fine.

Ques 2. You should stay within the manufacturers recommendation during warranty period. After that do what you want. Mobil 1 or Pure One filters are the best. Wix are very good also. Many cars are factory fill with Syn oil so you can run it right away.

Dino oil would work fine for you but if you want the best protection possible run the Syn oil.
 
Where you drive both cars a lot the M1 5-30EP will be a good choice on your cars. On the Vibe follow the warranty OCI, and on the Olds go 10-12,000 mile OCIs.
 
thanks a bunch,for the info guys. can anyone reccomend a good cheap synthetic for the vibe's camry engine for 5k oci's. otherwsie i may just stick to mobil1 anyways with the $30 deal from advanced.

does anyone like CASTROL Syntec? advanced has that for $24.99 for 5 Quarts of CASTROL Syntec Synthetic Motor Oil AND a PUROLATOR Pure One Oil Filter.

not sure if it is worth it to save a few $$ over mobil1 though.
 
Syntec is good. Pennzoil Platinum is the best for price/quality in my opinion.

But that oil deal is awesome. Jump on that!
 
Get some ST syn at Wallyworld, it's cheap enough and a good decent oil that will easily go the 5k. Many on here run that oil with good results.

Seriously it's hard to find an oil these days that won't go 5k, even most dino oils will do that.
 
Originally Posted By: bepperb
2. I think you'll have to stay at 5000 miles to maintain your warranty,


Not necessarily. I am quoting from the 2005 Vibe owner's manual (for "long trip/hwy maintenanace" schedule):

Change the oil and filter every 7,500 miles (12 500 km) or 12 months — whichever occurs first.

And might it be the case that the 90 daily miles your wife will do on the Vibe would be highway miles?
 
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i use wal-mart 5-30 synthetic oil for 14 dollars for 5QT jug.for our motorcycles we use 15-40 rotella.
 
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