Okay to switch to synthetic?

Absolutely, 100% YES!

 

But absolutely, positively NO good reason to spend the extra money.
Also you should not go with a lower viscosity oil because the oil usage might go up.

 

I would not agree with "no" good reason. Full Syn will save an engine from damage under extreme events that a normal or semi-syn cannot offer protection from. However, those situations *should never* happen.

Additionally, it is PROVEN that synthetic oil of the same class/weight as conventional oil will reduce friction and provide increased fuel economy. Now, does the 0.01MPG improvement in a Prius pay for the added oil cost??? Unlikely, but to each their own.

 

okay with me

 

Really no good reason to switch to synthetic on a 13 year old car. Just use regular oil and change every 5000 miles, you should have no issues.

On a side note, make sure you monitor your oil levels regularly as older prius cars will burn oil and you don't want to run low

 

Eric the Car Guy get's technical:

 

With a vehicle that is 13 years old and nearing 100K miles, it is likely that NEITHER of those things will happen.
And I'd like to see a reference to that claim any way.
I highly doubt that ALL synthetics would compare that way to ALL conventional oils.......especially since most of the synthetics on the market these days really isn't true synthetic, by the original definition.

 

when i changed from dino to syn in my 72 fiat, i swear it ran smoother and mpg's went up a bit.

 

Every single unbiased oil test on youtube will tell you synthetic outperforms conventional oil in every single test.Just lookup Royal Purple vrs Pennzoil.Its not even close.

 

A couple points here:
1) Who said "all", not I.
2) Semi-synth is NOT "synthetic", it is *almost* synthetic
3) I made no comment about oils that are NOT: Conventional or Synthetic

So let's keep to whats was posted, instead of spinning, ok?

Agreed, Synthetic as "we" more experienced folks (many PC frequenters would qualify) is what marketing now terms "full synthetic".

Reduced friction has nothing, not a damned thing, to do with how old or how many miles are on the equipment synthetic is used in, geeze.

OEM testing and most SAE papers are not in the public domain. That does not mean: the tests were never conducted, they do not exist, their data is flawed, or the conclusions are suspect. It only means you are not going to find it in a gurgle search. guess what, much of what is known cannot be found that way and no, yoo-toobe is not a "first source" for much of anything.

 

Give it a rest, please.

I was commenting on what was SAID, not on your personal competency. But the more you argue and take everything as a personal insult, the harder that gets.

The discussion was "conventional" versus "synthetic" and without specifying any specific brand/kind of either, the default is a general "all".
That is not spin.

With a very old engine, the friction likely is near to ZERO already, because of wear.
It is hard to reduce the friction to LESS than zero.

 

I'm from Missouri, show me where I "said" all. You cannot, because it was never in my post, so stop adding things to what others have posted then arguing with your own interpretations.

By that logic, if one engine is bad, they ALL are? Still believe that?

That's just ignorant.

 

Synthetic vs conventional never ends well

 

My advice is to buy synthetic oil when it’s on sale. It’s cheaper than conventional then and you get the better oil.

 

I will admit you are an expert on that.
Look in the mirror; you might be shocked.

 

Not sure that video is much use.
As uncharacteristically Eric the Car Guy, doesn't sound 100% sure.
In fact, the first 1/3rd of the video seems mostly like him apologizing for an earlier video. Then he ends with a refreshingly honest exclamation that he invites experts on the topic, and that he could be wrong.

Last time I saw that much back tracking Gene Hackman was leading a band of survivors to the upside down hull of the overturned ship Poseidon.