Using Synthetic - Almost changed to Dino in error

[ozarkspring63]

Due to health issues my husband can no longer change to oil in my car. Today I decided to get the oil changed on my way home from work. Fortunately I called my husband before I went to the local quick oil change shop. I found out that I use synthetic oil in it - 2003 Mazda Protoge with 80,000 miles. I went home to pick up the oil & filter before going to the quick oil change shop.

I'm obviously new to using the forum & haven't been able to answer this question using the search function or perusing the threads.

Would I have hurt my car at all??? Would it have been more of a financial loss than anything else?

Hopefully dear hubby will show me how to change the oil the next time it needs it - I hated laying out that money for something that is probably fairly simple.

Take care & I apologize for my ignorance. I missed the "oil gene" in my family - I'm almost ashamed to admit I'm Tony/Bio-T's daughter.

 

[Patman]

It wouldn't have hurt your car at all, there are a growing number of people on here who have switched back to conventional oil after using nothing but synthetics. I recently did that in my wife's 2000 Civic, just before the 80,000 mile point.

What kind of oil change intervals are you doing? If you're only going to be running the oil for 5 or 6000 miles, then conventional oil will do just fine.

And one more thing:

 

[Pablo]

No harm - you can change back and forth to some extent.

Some purists may argue that it's not the best thing in the world to do, but your car probably will never know

 

[ozarkspring63]

Thank you for your help!!!! I do feel better now.

I've been on a fairly strict 5,000 mile oil change interval with this car. The oil change today was closer to 7,500.

 

[ARB1977]

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Due to health issues my husband can no longer change to oil in my car. Today I decided to get the oil changed on my way home from work. Fortunately I called my husband before I went to the local quick oil change shop. I found out that I use synthetic oil in it - 2003 Mazda Protoge with 80,000 miles. I went home to pick up the oil & filter before going to the quick oil change shop.

I'm obviously new to using the forum & haven't been able to answer this question using the search function or perusing the threads.

Would I have hurt my car at all??? Would it have been more of a financial loss than anything else?

Hopefully dear hubby will show me how to change the oil the next time it needs it - I hated laying out that money for something that is probably fairly simple.

Take care & I apologize for my ignorance. I missed the "oil gene" in my family - I'm almost ashamed to admit I'm Tony/Bio-T's daughter.

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Whos Bio-T, hehe...Its a good time to learn how to change your own oil and learn from your dad.

 

[beanoil]

ozark,
I'm pretty sure ARB doesn't realize what happened to your father. His message is important though. There are many resources available to instruct you on changing oil yourself. There are even vids on youtube that are sufficient enough to get the basics across. As far as the syn/conventional question... Nearly any oil, if changed regularly, will get the average person to more miles than they probably care to keep a car, with the exception of known sludgers. Synthetics give a larger safety margin in extremes... cold, hot, extended drains, towing, to name a few. Since you were close to 7500, a quality synthetic was probably still hanging in there, doing it's job. For 5k intervals, the choice is yours. Bill in Utah has many examples of conventional oils protecting his vehicles just fine. Patman's Vette probably sees nothing but synthetics, and for a car that expensive, with the Corvette's oiling system, it makes good sense not to use anything but a quality synthetic. If your Protege has the 2.3 4 cylinder, it is pretty easy on oil, based on what I know from a Ford Probe with the same Mazda engine in it. In the end, at 5k intervals, the choice is yours. A good conventional oil will serve you well. If you are going longer, a quality synthetic will give you an added margin of protection, but is not necessarily a magic spell for engine longevity. May your father rest in peace.

 

[Mr_Incredible]

A couple of weekends ago I gave oil change lesson #1 to Daughter #2. She's 19 and a real girly-girl. She loves her new Mazda6, though, and wants to save money.

When we got done she said, "So that's all there is to it?" Now she thinks she's a master mechanic and could likely tear the car down and put it back together.

But it's so simple, you'll start changing oil in everything that'll hold still long enough.

As for your other questions....what Patman said...

Good Luck! And don't forget to get some of those latex gloves to keep the oil out of your fingernails. I love them, and Daughter #2 does now as well (she wanted to take the box home with her).

 

[salvageyardteen]

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A couple of weekends ago I gave oil change lesson #1 to Daughter #2. She's 19 and a real girly-girl. She loves her new Mazda6, though, and wants to save money.

When we got done she said, "So that's all there is to it?" Now she thinks she's a master mechanic and could likely tear the car down and put it back together.

But it's so simple, you'll start changing oil in everything that'll hold still long enough.

As for your other questions....what Patman said...

Good Luck! And don't forget to get some of those latex gloves to keep the oil out of your fingernails. I love them, and Daughter #2 does now as well (she wanted to take the box home with her).

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Speaking as a girly-girl, men often under estimate our mechanical ability. Just get her some nice mechanics gloves to keep her hands clean and cut free.

 

[Drew99GT]

I think you'd be a prime candidate for extended drains with a top of the line synthetic. Amsoil 0w-20 would be perfect, and coupled with a used oil analysis or two, you could fine tune the oil change interval and likely get 10,000 miles or more safely. That would limit the time you or your hubby would have to spend under your vehicle and you wouldn't have to take your Mazda to the dreaded quicky lube. Tony would be proud!

 

[Mr_Incredible]

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Just get her some nice mechanics gloves to keep her hands clean and cut free.

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We discussed that while she was complaining about how hot everything was. I don't like my mech's gloves sopping wet with hot oil. Rubber gloves are fine for oil changes, I'll get her some mech gloves when she does dry wrenching.

 

[ThirdeYe]

I agree, I don't like getting my Mechanix Gloves all wet and dirty either. It doesn't really keep my hands free from burning either I bought myself a pair of Neoprene Gloves (that protect up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit) and they work great. They don't have much grip though so I just use them for taking off the plug, which you can now do with your fingers, without worrying about losing the plug in the pan or burning your fingers holding onto it! Then I use a pair of rubber gloves for getting off the oil filter, but after waiting 30 minutes to an hour for things to cool down a bit.

 

[salvageyardteen]

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Just get her some nice mechanics gloves to keep her hands clean and cut free.

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We discussed that while she was complaining about how hot everything was. I don't like my mech's gloves sopping wet with hot oil. Rubber gloves are fine for oil changes, I'll get her some mech gloves when she does dry wrenching.

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For the oil draining part, she can use a wrench the whole time undoing stuff. I was thinking about the filter. Depending on where it is, it can be a pain to get to. Unless she has real long nails, the latex gloves are cheap, long finger nails can rip the cheap ones. Somewhere else in this forum someone mentioned a quick drain valve you can install in place of the regular drain plug.

I'm at a point where I hardly get any oil on my from the drain plug, just the stuff from the filter as it runs down my arm

 

[flux]

You might also consider investing in a fumoto valve. It really minimizes the drain plug mess. This is just a suggestion, as I believe that the fumoto valve runs about $30, which is not cheap, but it does cut down on the time and mess with your oil change. Good luck!

 

[salvageyardteen]

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You might also consider investing in a fumoto valve. It really minimizes the drain plug mess. This is just a suggestion, as I believe that the fumoto valve runs about $30, which is not cheap, but it does cut down on the time and mess with your oil change. Good luck!

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Cheaper than a manicure.

 

[Mr_Incredible]

$.07 per oil change for latex gloves goes into a $25 Fumoto valve 357.14 times. Multiply that times 3000 miles per oil change and you have 1,071,000 miles of oil-less fingernails.

Assuming a generous two rips/replacement per change and there's still over half a million miles worth of clean fingernails.

Personally, I think that's enough for me. To each, their own.

 

[salvageyardteen]

Err, I don't agree on the 3000 mile oil changes bit.

Just get her to change the oil and next thing she'll be building a race engine with her friends.