What's the best way to flush old oil from the motor when switching over to full synthetic? I'm coming up on 9,000 miles on my ecotec, is this a good time to switch over? When I do switch over, I can go 6,000 miles or more as long as I keep changing my filter at every 3,000 miles, right? Thanks!!
"We ride together. We die together. Bad boys for life."
You dont have to flush your oil...no reason to with 9k on your car....and you should ALMOST never flush your oil....your crank, pistons, cams..everything runs on a film of oil...if you remove that film...which is what a flush does...you remove all the cushion between bearings ect. this means metal on metal....not good.
you cant go more than 6k miles...
8000kmfor me...thats about 5k miles for you. A filter will last that long no prob.
I only go 5000km though...I treat it like dino oil...its a few more bucks..but for the added protection...who cares.
"I know not with what weapons World War III
will be fought, but World War IV will be fought
with sticks and stones."
-Albert Einstine-
I know not to truly "flush" it. I probably should have been more specific about that. So drain it till it drips really slowly then? I'm sure it'll be a few oil changes before it cleans out the old dino oil. So go 5,000 miles and just change the oil and filter at the same time? That's pretty strait forward unless someone wants to argue with that and tell me why. Thanks again.
"We ride together. We die together. Bad boys for life."
You can switch synthetic and non-syn bac and forth all you want. It wont damage anything, it int bad for the engine, the seals wont go bad. My teacher worked at Ford for 12 years and this is where the information is coming from. He also said this was true back in the 80s and such that you couldnt do it, but now because of advanced designs with everything it wont hurt anything whatsoever.
- 2004 Cavalier - 124k, owned since new
^^^ cool....I always heard you can switch back and forth...but I heard it was not a good. I was told that where the molecules of the synthetic were so small they would be displaced when you changed back to dino. Than would happen when you switched back again...effectively creating a brake-in period every time.
So this info is good to know.....
"I know not with what weapons World War III
will be fought, but World War IV will be fought
with sticks and stones."
-Albert Einstine-
I just bought a case of Mobile 1 synthetic. Just a few hundred more miles to go to change the oil. Now I'm just crossing my fingers that I have a freakishly warm day to change the oil. Anything below 30 sucks to do work on a car.
"We ride together. We die together. Bad boys for life."
Don't worry about "flushing" the conventional oil. They're 100% compatible. Also on a engine with 9,000 miles, how contaminated could it be?
Buy a quality synthetic oil: Mobil 1, Royal Purple, Amsoil, GC....(whatever floats your boat) and also buy a quality oil filter: K&N, Amsoil Ea, or even Pure One. Some say the prices are a little ridiculous but if you're switching to synthetic then you're obviously willing to absorb the cost.
On the OCI (oil change interval) do a test run with your oil/filter choice, take a sample for oil analysis (Blackstone Labs is who I use; they even send the sample kit to you). Based upon your analysis results you can determine the optimum OCI for your driving conditions and driving style. Most synthetics and quality filters can extend the OCI to well past 10,000 miles. Oil analysis can also be used for preventative maintenance; i.e. to detect wear and critical stresses and potential failures.
Check out the "Bob is the Oil Guy" forums for more insight into oils, filters, and oil analysis.
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A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the crickets no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is a shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow in the morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
i have an 03 cavalier when i ran plain old oil I was losing alot. I would have to add at elast a quart about every 3 weeks depending on how much i beat on it. I then switched to synthetic at 36000 miles(Castrol Syntec) and have had nothing but good things to say. Oil loss has decreased so dramatically that i have added maybe a half a quart in 5000 mi. I know thats bad but weather puts a damper on things, specailly in wesern PA. i dont have all that money to be paying 40$ a pop to get some random dude to do it, nor do i want to. Regardless of what car my eclipse or my cav i don't like strange hands in, on or around. Call me paranoid. Ok enough rambling but has anyone else had oil problems such as this?
