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Oil Change Interval with Synthetic Oil

8563 Views 13 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  armoody, 
Campfamily
Question for those of you that have changed to synthetic oil. Did you change how often you change your oil, or did you stick with the recommended 3750 miles?

Thanks,

Keith
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Even with Mobil 1 synthetic I change it at the recommended intervals.
Syko
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My buddies an engineer with Siemens and looked into what BMW and Merc found with synthetics. He said that with dino oil you should change every 3k and filter every 6K. The opposite is true for synthetic. Filter every 3k, oil every 6K and use a filter made for synthetic oil. BMW actually recommends changing both every 15k, even for first oil change. I'm to old fashioned to trust that.
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Jumped on the Synthetic bandwagen...

I also joined the Syn club today. I am planning to change oil and filter at 4k intervals.
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Just joined the syn club also last night. Changed oil at 2581 put in Mobile 1. I could barely get the filter off, that sucker was torqued on their tight. It was one last try from a screwdriver enema. I recommend anyone doing it for the first time to get a filter wrench that fits over the end like a big socket. I had an old strap type wrench and kind of jury rigged it to work since the filter is so tiny. Really wanted to get the initial oil/break in debris out of there. The factory oil was definitely ready for change.

For those of you changing your diff fluid, what was the first mileage and how did it look? Haven't done any towing yet, but about to dig the boat out for the summer. THX
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What milage are you all changing over to synthetics? I am an Amsoil dealer and will be changing over at 10K miles on the Armada. Want it to fully break in before swapping out the fluids.

-mike

PS: What is everyone planning on running for Synthetic ATF?
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Campfamily
armoody said:
For those of you changing your diff fluid, what was the first mileage and how did it look? Haven't done any towing yet, but about to dig the boat out for the summer. THX
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Armoody - check your maintenance manual, mine says change the diff fluid at 3500 if you have towed. I did, and the fluid was really dark colored. The new fluid was much lighter in color. I'm at ~12K miles, my next step is to change to synthetics in the front and rear diffs.

Keith
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I changed at 1500 miles. Corvette motors, both factory and aftermarket, can have the dino oil removed after 100 miles of wear or so. This is plenty to break them in. After that they are 100% synthetic. They come from the factory with the synthetic already in them as well as some Porsche, etc. Haven't had any problems with mine since the change and it pulls strong. :D
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Change rear diff oil SOON

armoody said:
Just joined the syn club also last night. Changed oil at 2581 put in Mobile 1. I could barely get the filter off, that sucker was torqued on their tight. It was one last try from a screwdriver enema. I recommend anyone doing it for the first time to get a filter wrench that fits over the end like a big socket. I had an old strap type wrench and kind of jury rigged it to work since the filter is so tiny. Really wanted to get the initial oil/break in debris out of there. The factory oil was definitely ready for change.

For those of you changing your diff fluid, what was the first mileage and how did it look? Haven't done any towing yet, but about to dig the boat out for the summer. THX
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My rear gear oil was NASTY at 3k. Everyone should change this ASAP. I used an old toothbrush to help pull the crud out the drain hole.
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Cillyone said:
My rear gear oil was NASTY at 3k. Everyone should change this ASAP. I used an old toothbrush to help pull the crud out the drain hole.
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Had my gear oil changed at the same time, 1500 miles. Supposedly they have a gasket seal material that goobers up early in the diffs and you should clean them out early to get the goo out.
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Thanks for the insight. Changing this weekend before the Dad's day trip to Mt. Rainier. :)
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Paisan said:
What milage are you all changing over to synthetics? I am an Amsoil dealer and will be changing over at 10K miles on the Armada. Want it to fully break in before swapping out the fluids.

-mike

PS: What is everyone planning on running for Synthetic ATF?
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Paisan, I am thinking about switching over to Amsoil. A friend of mine advised me to wait after 10k miles, too. Which one is better Amsoil or Mobile 1?

Armoody, my family is also planning for a trip to Mt. Rainier this weekend. But the wife said it will be raining, may be in July.
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rattanak, never can tell about the weather out here! We're headed to Sunrise unless it's straight out rain.
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Cillyone said:
My rear gear oil was NASTY at 3k. Everyone should change this ASAP. I used an old toothbrush to help pull the crud out the drain hole.
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It seems like they are using a grease coating during manufaturing or something that is very gunky. Just changed mine. As you can see from the attached photo, this is after 2950 +/- miles from the rear diff. I put a dab of new next to it to compare. The old stuff still had more viscosity than it looks like it should have (just comparing to new/dirty motor oil difference). Had a few metal flakes on the plug, so glad I cleaned it out.

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