antonio3rd

car is a 1997 acura 3.0 cl with 225k miles on it . should i go synthetic or not? what are the advantages and disadvantages? thanks in advance

p8ntbllr466

im gonna say no. if you dont already have oil leaks, 98% chance that you will if you go to synthetic. its a much more viscous oil which is why its better, but also it will find any little tiny holes and cracks that conventional oil wont. so id say pass on it. if you really wanted a better quality oil, id say go for a synthetic blend to start with, and check every few hundred miles for any leaks.

antonio3rd

anyone else?

ohsixMTee

iTrader: (2)

I would go with a quality high mileage oil and healthy OCI's.

I like Castrol High Mileage, ran it in my ex 98 Volvo S70 turbo and when I pulled the oil pan to replace the oil sump o rings at 180K there wasn't one drop of sludge in the pan...I was very surprised. Synthetic is a great way to go but it's more about regular OCI's. At your mileage a high mileage oil's additives would be most beneficial IMO.

Here's a shot of the internals, pretty clean for 180K! I ran Castrol from 119K until 190K when I traded it in and got my ass handed to me. lol

I cleaned the mating surface and normal for the mileage tarnish prior to taking this, aside from that there was no out of the ordinary dirt/grime/etc.



And a shot of the pan itself, the only thing I cleaned was the mating surface.



I haven't looked at those pics in a while, god that job was a bitch. It wouldn't have been near as bad if the hard P/S lines didn't right right under the pan on the one side where it goes \__/.

timeizmoney22

I switched to synthetic at 181,000 and have no leaks 8k miles later. I agree with what p8ntballer said though. I think I just got lucky that's all. It could be a different story for a 225k mile engine.

antonio3rd

well ive just found out ive had blend for 50k O.o ill keep her on blend

ParaSurfer1979

If you've had blend in for the last 50k miles you should have no prob going full synthetic.

Abtrusi

ya if you're on blend you should be fine, but theres really no point in going full since it costs more (unless you get discounts)

on the topic of oil leaks, the general rule is to use thicker oils as the mileage goes up and leaks start to come. going full synthetic when you buy a brand new car is great, but doing it on an older car could lead to issues, especially if it's use to 5w-30 or 10w 20 napa shit.

kind of like how "mechanics" tell you that new tranny fluid after not doing it for 100k miles can lead to slipping, because it pushes the sediment out that may have been preventing it. no idea if that's true but i've had no issues running 200k miles on my honda transmission and 300k on my toyota..