Alright so a little background on me and the car.

I've owned a few sporty cars, a few early 80's rx-7, 84 vette and a 74 midget. All of those came to me with high mileage and as a result i just used dino oil until they found their way from my garage to someone elses.

i now have a Hayabusa that I used to drag race regularly until the local race track closed, it has always run on a synthetic blend and been an absolutely bulletproof bike.

Now for my MY03 s2000. I'm contemplating a switch to synthetic. It currently has 24,900 miles on it. 18,900 were put on by the previous 2 owners, 17500 by owner 1, it was his 4th car, never driven in rain, only on the weekends blah blah blah, guy was a car nut. best person in the world to buy a used car from. Basically it had a pretty easy life. It was the sunday driver.

Second owner, same thing. he put 1400 miles on it in the 5 months he owned it, always on long weekend drives.

I purchased it, drove it from Virginia to Cali in 8 days and shipped it to honolulu. now that it's in Hawaii it's lifestyle is changing. Sadly in Hawaii we do a lot of stop and go driving. The car will be sharing daily driver duties with my motorcycles. About 3 days a week on average. My commute varies between 8 and 14 miles. Sometimes in heavy traffic and sometimes it's smooth sailing. Obviously I've already decided to go with the "severe condition" maintenance schedule from here on out.

Now for my questions. Is the synthetic better for stop and go driving?

Can the car be switched at 24,900 miles?

I understand that the primary reason for switching to synthetic for many people is the extended service interval, that's not much of a concern for me, I'm a nut and I don't mind doing oil every 3k miles. I also don't mind spending more on something that will make this baby last forever. I prefer to subscribe to the "ounce of prevention" school of thought. Hence the Hayabusa surviving countless runs down the race track doing 9.60's (bracket bike) without blowing a single motor. ( never had a major prob with it, although it used to have a love of stretching and breaking drive chains. If only I give the s2000 some of the busa's torque. )

Thanks for any comments in advance. I'm gonna continue searching and check out Bob the oil guy too.

 

[QUOTE=8overgixxer,Jan 12 2008, 03:18 AM]Can the car be switched at 24,900 miles?

 

Do it

 

Switch and extend your oil changes to 6,000 ish, the oil filter and oil will be able to accept that.

Second note: Synthetic blends are not worth the money, go Full synthetic or regular oil.

If you're going to continue changing your oil at 3,000 then stick to dino oil.

The rules change here unless you are tracking/auto-x your car

 

I am planning to auto x the car, but we only have 1 meet a month here and you only make 4 runs during the day. Shouldn't be too much stress on the car, but let me know otherwise. It's bone stock except for a set of springs.

I'll think about this a little more. I just had the oil changed at the dealer when it got off the boat, so I've got another 2500 miles to mull it over.

Regarding the synth blend in the busa. I bought it from a great friend who runs a motorcycle performance shop. It was his baby for 6 years, he rebuilt the engine/trans for me before I bought it (it was a race bike, stage 2 velocity turbo running mid 8 seconds down the 1/4) and he gives me the oil for 5% over his cost. Out of respect for him and our friendship I buy what he recommends for the bike. I know it may seem a little silly, but I get a good deal on it so I'm not gonna change the bike unless for some reason I change mechanics, but I don't foresee that happening.

Thanks for the tips everyone!

 

24k miles with nothing but dino-oil should be ok to switch...74k miles, I'd have some reservations...124k miles, I wouldn't do it.

 

[QUOTE=8overgixxer,Jan 12 2008, 03:18 AM]
Now for my MY03 s2000.

 

Check your calculation. Two previous owners combined did 18,900 miles; 24,900 total. Owner 1 did 17,500, so owner 2 put on 1,400 as stated, and owner 3 has added an additional 6,000 miles.

 

My belief is that synthetic oil will withstand hot weather and not 'burn' as dyno oil would so it makes your engine parts have less wear. Also while you are in there, you should do the intake manifold coolant hose block, it helps to get rid of bogging while in traffic.

 

Do it InlinePro put the facts straight read this!

Myth 1: Synthetic oils are too thin to stay in the engine. This is not true. In order for a lubricant to be classified in any SAE grade (10W-30, 10W-40, etc.) it has to meet the viscosity guidelines, or thickness, specified by the vehicle manufacturer.

Pennzoil, "Tech Notes," Engine Builder, September 2006, 16.

Myth 3: You can