I have a friend that has a 1992 ford half ton with a 302 v-8 now at 185,000 miles. He purchased the truck with 80,000 five years back. He said the previous owner was stringent with 3000 mile intervals using a specific brand of dino juice. He stayed with that brand of oil alternating between 5w-30 and 10w-30 depending on the time of year. Well now the motor seems to be about shot. High oil consumption, low compression, and excess smoking. He to was anal about his oil changes. I do not want to mention the brand of oil so it is not crucified more. My point is that yes dino is less expensive over the long haul but if this truck had used synthetic at least the last five years maybe it would not be at this condition. I know other factors have played into this motor such as poor quality of dino oil from years back vs. better quality today.
I may change my thinking
regarding using dino oil for short and frequent changes. I want to keep my 04 dakota for a long time and hope to get at least 250,000 out of the motor. I am not sure that with all the short trip driving I do this can happen. Synthetic makes more sense to me now when you look at the long term picture.
I may change my thinking
