I went in today for the spark plug TSB and I figured while I was there, I would get my oil changed. I have 13300 miles on the car now. As I'm asking for the synthetic, one of the mechanics over hears me asking for it and came over and said, "synthetic oil is definitely not recommended for your car, it is bad for the engine, and it will cause you to burn major amounts of oil" That isn't correct, right?? Haven't many of you guys switched over to synthetic? I think this mechanic is just misinformed.

 

This mechanic is a fvcking MORON! Many people on this board have changed to synthetic. Some changed long before the car had stopped using oil and have had no problems. I went to synthetic @ 15,000 km (that's about 10K miles). It continued to use a little bit of oil. I have 23,000 km and the oil useage has gone down to near nothing.

 

Hopefully that mechanic didn't work on your car!

Joser
Silver/Red

 

The mechanic was misinformed. It's a bad idea to use synthetic oil prior to 10K miles (2-3 oil changes) but after that it's fine. While engine break-in is 600 miles, it's not done by then. That's just the driving restriction period. Every owner will tell you (and you probably noticed yourself) that the engine will continue to burn some oil and will get stronger beyond 5K.

By switching to synthetic too early that break-in process will nearly stop (synthetic oil is a lot more slippery than "natural" oil). This could result in an engine that continues to burn oil and is weak, until you switch back of course.

I switched at my second oil change to mobil 1 (around 9000+ miles). I burn oil but not in everyday driving. I'll eat a quart/day at the track but I think most of that is blowing through the intake (big clouds of blue smoke on left hand turns, same as every S2000 I've seen).

I seriously doubt the price is worth it but I'm a fool

 

When should you switch to synth? is 11 000kms too early??

 

When I changed over @ 15,000km, I think this may have been too early for me. I should have waited till 20,000 but that's just my take on it.

 

Every engine is different and you will be the best person to answer your own question. Answer this question first: is your engine still burning oil or is it broken in? If you think that it's broken in, go for it. Otherwise, wait until it stops burning oil.

xviper thinks that he switched too soon at 10,000 miles. On the other hand, I think that I could've switched earlier, say at the second oil change, 7500 miles.

Each engine has different tolerances and everyone drives differently. Unfortunately there is no hard and fast answer, just general guidelines.

 

I believe (back from the discussions of "break-in" oil), that it was recommended to NOT change to synthetic until after 7500 miles.

Specifically, leave in the original engine oil (as it has additives that help seat the rings), use regular oil prior to 7500.

Just to hedge the bet (not being on the severe schedule as mines a weekend car), I put in a semi-synthetic blend at 7500 and will go to to full synthetic at 15,000.

Not that mine stopped drinking oil by the 7500 point. If you're still having to top it off frequently, I'd stay away from synthetic until after it's settled in.

It sounds like that mechanic had the right idea, just didn't realize it doesn't apply after higher mileage.

Randy

 

My consumption is on pace for 1 Litre for 5000kms with a lot fo vtec'n.

I want to go synthetic before winter hits so will probably switch over at 11 000kms if the consumption rate is how it is on pace fore.

 

I put Royal Purple in @ 15k. I only use this name or Red Line for my oil.