Synthetic or regular oil?

[shundal]

i usually just go off the computer oil percentage as well. but i know 4,000 was definitely to quick for a change

 

[k9lovr]

Upon my first change over from regular to synthetic (Mobile 1), my oil life indicator ran down pretty quick...It suggested I do the change around 4k, which I did and the oil was pretty dark, however the second one was still at 30 something % when I changed it at 5.5k miles. So your first run may be a little quicker due to some of the crap getting out of the system. Just a thought....

 

[felixgun]

@nick- good to know it'll run longer after the initial switch over. Thanks!

 

[OklabyGodhoma]

I completely stopped paying attention to the DIC. It's only going on run time and speeds and not on the conditions the engine has run under. As smart as computers are today and the sensors that are available wouldn't it be nice if "Government Motors" wised up and gave us a true oil monitor. High quality test equipment for oil cost is in the $2200.00 range and that is for a stand alone unit. I'll stick with what has served me for 15 years now......10K between changes of Mobil 1.

 

[k9lovr]

I dunno enough about the GM's but I was reading on Bob's the oil guy website that most OLI systems use an algorithm to calculate the oil life, and tests of oil using the OLI as a guide shows its pretty accurate in terms of how dirty the oil is, and how much wear it has had. Does anyone know anything with regard to this?

 

[Ryan Willson]

I completely stopped paying attention to the DIC. It's only going on run time and speeds and not on the conditions the engine has run under. As smart as computers are today and the sensors that are available wouldn't it be nice if "Government Motors" wised up and gave us a true oil monitor. High quality test equipment for oil cost is in the $2200.00 range and that is for a stand alone unit. I'll stick with what has served me for 15 years now......10K between changes of Mobil 1.

+1

 

[GMC Yukon]

i used synthetic mobil 1 Truck and SUV 5w30 in my 97 Yukon sence I bought it with 72,000 miles on her..... I have 225,000. on her now and I Plow and tow a 25 ft Sea Ray...... GO Synthetic ... Plus you get about 6000 miles befor changing it.... They say you can get more...

 

[Reaper]

oil

I currently own a 99 Yukon and have switched to Mobil1 full .
Just wanted to mention that I had a 94 Astro and used regular Quaker state in it . When I let it go it had 397,000 on it and it started and ran like new.
Didn't use or burn any oil either. Not a sound from anywhere in the engine.
I used 10w30 instead of the recommended 5w30 and added a bottle of STP at each change. (Every 6 months).

I guess time will tell if the fully synthetic is better or not.

 

[ChrisAU]

Upon my first change over from regular to synthetic (Mobile 1), my oil life indicator ran down pretty quick...It suggested I do the change around 4k, which I did and the oil was pretty dark, however the second one was still at 30 something % when I changed it at 5.5k miles. So your first run may be a little quicker due to some of the crap getting out of the system. Just a thought....

That is very interesting indeed and to me shows that the detergent quality of the synthetic is much better.

 

[Z15]

The oil life monitor (OLM) does not monitor the oil, it monitors the operation conditions of the vehicle and counts down to zero based on the assigned values in the computer program. The OLM has no idea if petrolatum or synthetic oil is in the engine so that has no bearing on when the OLM will signal time for a change.

Note-Engines that come factory filled with synthetic oil have the counter in the OLM set to a higher number than those with petroleum oil.