Synthetic oils

upnover

upnover

Grumpy, decrepit Old Man
Moderator
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Morganton NC
I have never used synthetic oils or tranny fluids. To be honest I have never lost an engine due to the type of oil I use. But with my RV I am kinda thinking different.
Of course the RV won't be used that often, maybe once or twice a month. But, when it is used, it will work, and work hard. It pulls hills pretty good, but it is turning some high RPM's. So I am thinking of protecting as best I can.
So............

I am thinking synthetic fluids for the engine and tranny.

For those of you that use them, what have you to say about your experience as far as how you work your engine, what kinda miles does your engine have on it, and how often do you change your oil? DO you change oil how often? do you split the oil change in half with just a filter change and top off the oil?
What brand do you use? Why?

Let's hear it!

I am thinking I can change oil once a year and do a filter change in the middle.
 
I switched all the drivetrain fluids in my Tacoma after I bought it 150000 miles ago with royal purple. And Mobil 1 in the engine I usually use the Mobile 1 filter or K and N. And your idea to replace the oil filter and top off is a great one I typically run the oil on a seven to ten thousand interval. So far so good on performance of everything. Don't forget to use a fuel additive in your tank all this awesome ethanol gas we have these days it wouldn't be a good idea to store a lot of gas in it sitting in the driveway. Remember its your rig use whatever you want I'm sure you will get lots of opinions on what to use.
 
Thanks Slider!
The reason I posted this was to get opinions from all. I have found that this board has some of the most intelligent folks around, and some not so LOL But I want to hear what those with experience has to say.
 
I'm currently using O'Reilly synth in the wife's xB, and I'm impressed with it so far. I don't know what differences you're really going to see immediately, but I understand theirs is made by Kendall, and that's good by me. I usually use a Wix filter and change it every 7500-8k. Oil changes are the biggest rip-off in the auto industry today. Changing at 3k is wasting money. I would recommend keeping an eye on condensation in your oil, though. With it sitting, synth isn't going to break down as quickly as dino, but it may collect water from temp changes, so watch that.

As for what lubes to use, I've heard good things about Wal-Mart's Supertech stuff. Mobil 1 is well-regarded as the best, but oil regulation has gotten so strict that the cheap stuff often does as well as the pricier stuff. Redline or Royal Purple would be great in the drivetrain, but again, cheaper stuff will probably do the job just as well.

The switch to synth is a good idea, but you want to make sure your leaks are sealed up first. Synth will find holes dino passes right over, and you could wind up with a big puddle of money in your driveway. If the RV is older, I'd swap out your major seals before putting synth in.
 
Chip im an amsoildealer if you need anything... I run it in my v10 and picked up about .2 mpg from it....
 
Chip, always store your MH FULL of gas! The extra large tank will condensate daily now and make water at a surprising rate. Ask me how I know! You aren't dealing with a pickup, and things are different. I'm guessing you have a 55 gallon tank. The Stabil gas treatment is a good one. Run your gen every month under a load also. I've had 4 MH and have learned some things the hard way.
 
Changing all fluids so you have a known baseline is probably more important than using synthetics at this point.

I'd be surprised if the trans fluid isn't already synth, but it wouldn't hurt to swap up to it ( with filter ) Fords are good for power steering pump issues due to cooked fluid, change that too.

I've only used synth in one of my own vehicles, the wife's Camry, will probably never know if it was of benefit now, but it got decent mileage, used Royal Purple 5w30, started on 5w20 Amsoil, but couldn't reliably find it when I needed it, I think it.s better available around here now. RP is sold at Advance

Both seemed to burn off a bit so keep an eye on that for the first few changes, it's more of an engine thing than the oil usually, could never see or smell it, but it was going somewhere.
what was said about seals leaking is true also, if it's weeping now, it'll be leaking with synth.
 
Chip, I run synthetic in all my tow rigs. I prefer mobil 1. That said when I first get a rig I change the oil with conventional stuff and run it a short 2-3k then change it out. Then run the synthetic 5-10k depending on how much towing I've done or if it was just empty road trips (in the van). I'm running Dex6 in the van now very pleased with the chemical properties of that. Its a full synthetic. Ford has a merc version for your trans. 4r100? If your worried about seals leaking them make a high mileage version that has some extra seal conditioner stuff. I've used that with good results also.
 
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