I have a 1999 Chevy 1500 with the 5.3 V8. It's been a great truck no major issues. I've just used regular 5w-30 up to now and thought maybe I should change to synthetic. I'd like to keep this until 200k miles. I've read many conflicting things and thought I'd seek council from the forum think tank.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GarandGuy,

I jumped on that hype years back with the 01 jeep.
Damn thing started drinking oil.
I switched back to 5W30 and it stopped.

Go with what you know.

If it were new, then, yes, go synthetic.

I switched to synthetic for my old 4Runner when I was still driving it. It ran quieter and improved the mileage by about 1 mpg (significant enough on that old beasty). I did the 10k 1 year stuff from Amsoil and maybe topped a quart at the 6 month mark.

It was a tight engine though.

I'd stick with a good 5w-30 dino oil.

Pennzoil, Valvoline, Quaker State, Mobil Super, Castrol GTX.

One of these will be on sale all the time at one retailer or another.

I went to a blend. Valvoline Max Life and up a grade.

I would do it.

Synthetic is superior by far. Any leaks or consumption that develops are due to the sludge getting rinsed out.

Let the mechanics chime in as this is just personal experience.

Since its a 1999 I assume you have 100K+ miles on it. Just stick with regular oil as your motor is well broken in and you will probably use oil like a prior poster stated if you switch.

If you get the motor rebuilt you would be fine to switch.

quote:

Originally posted by h2oys:
Let the mechanics chime in as this is just personal experience.

Since its a 1999 I assume you have 100K+ miles on it. Just stick with regular oil as your motor is well broken in and you will probably use oil like a prior poster stated if you switch.

If you get the motor rebuilt you would be fine to switch.

That notion is as outdated as VHS. I'd much rather use a bit more oil or have a little leak than keep that sludge build up.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
Synthetic is superior by far. Any leaks or consumption that develops are due to the sludge getting rinsed out.

Not true. Synthetic oil gets past gaskets much easier than traditional oil and causes oil leaks. Sludge does not build up at all with modern Dino oil and it's additives if changed at normal recommended intervals.

OP- I wouldn't do it at this age. There is no reason your truck shouldn't go 200k with Dino oil. The modern additives in oil is much much better than 20 years ago, there is no reason the motor shouldn't do 200k miles on dino oil.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
Synthetic is superior by far. Any leaks or consumption that develops are due to the sludge getting rinsed out.

Not true. Synthetic oil gets past gaskets much easier than traditional oil and causes oil leaks. Sludge does not build up at all with modern Dino oil and it's additives if changed at normal recommended intervals.

OP- I wouldn't do it at this age. There is no reason your truck shouldn't go 200k with Dino oil. The modern additives in oil is much much better than 20 years ago, there is no reason the motor shouldn't do 200k miles on dino oil.

Well hell. I guess being an ASE master tech and having daily experience with this stuff every day for 15 years doesn't match your opinion.

2002 Grand Marquis with 65,000 miles. I can't tighten the oil drain plug tight enough to stop synthetic from dripping through. Went back to dino, no leak.

Synthetic goes in my 2013 & 2014 Sentras, and 2017 VW.

1997 Toyota Corolla DX - 183,000+ miles. My shop (Christian Brothers) uses a synthetic blend on the Corolla as well as my Venza. Corolla runs great and the shop has made no hint whatsoever that switching to full synthetic would be of any benefit. I might consider a pure synthetic if I continually ran close to or at red line. but since I don't, synthetic is just over-priced hype as far as I'm concerned.

And just remembering that I had a 1986 Mazda RX-7 that had close to 200,000 miles on it when it finally gave up the ghost. I never used a drop of synthetic in the rotary engine as I changed the oil/filter myself on that one and used Pennzoil 10w40 for every mile.

I run synthetic in all my cars,(Jeep, Lexus), lawn equipment, and my M11 diesel (4+ Gal) in my RV and in its Kubota 10KW gen. Never a issue.
I especially like it for its winter and cool weather performance were it flows better.

FWIW, my Honda Pilot used 5W-30 for 335,000 miles.

I asked the guys at the shop what they would use if it was their car.

These guys have worked on our cars for the past 2 1/2 decades.

When my 1993 Jeep Cherokee Country developed a squeak that the dealer could not identify, I took it to these guys. When I went to pick it up, the guy handed me a Metallica cassette. I looked at him with a WTF? look. he said "the next time you hear the squeak, just pop this tape in and turn it up, I promise you will not hear the squeak.

quote:

Originally posted by craigcpa:
Go with what you know.

If it were new, then, yes, go synthetic.

That's my thought.

It got OP that far.

I switched to synthetic after about 50K miles on my wifes Toyota Corolla because it was loosing one quart of oil somewhere in between oil changes and I thought perhaps the switch would cure that. I never see any oil on the garage floor nor does smoke come out of the tail pipe. The switch accomplished nothing other than making my mechanic a little richer. The color of the oil never changed with either oil in that it never looks dirty and I still lost that quart in between changes. So I'm back to dino oil.

quote:

Originally posted by 45 Cal:
I jumped on that hype years back with the 01 jeep.
Damn thing started drinking oil.
I switched back to 5W30 and it stopped.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Same thing happened to me with a Toyota. Switched back to conventional oil and I never need to add oil between changes.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
Synthetic is superior by far. Any leaks or consumption that develops are due to the sludge getting rinsed out.

Not true. Synthetic oil gets past gaskets much easier than traditional oil and causes oil leaks. Sludge does not build up at all with modern Dino oil and it's additives if changed at normal recommended intervals.

OP- I wouldn't do it at this age. There is no reason your truck shouldn't go 200k with Dino oil. The modern additives in oil is much much better than 20 years ago, there is no reason the motor shouldn't do 200k miles on dino oil.

Sweet Jesus, would you just stick to driving your boats. Seriously, you don't know shit about what you are trying to pass off as truth.

Synthetic oil does not pass by gaskets easier than dino oil. That's just crap. I have almost 30 years as an auto tech, and what causes oil leaks is the degradation of gaskets over time due to thousands of heat cycles. Lack of proper maintenance will increase the likelihood of leaks.