Synthetic oil from regular

[Ryley]

I have a 2011 ram 1500 with 102,000 km or 63,000 miles for my American friends lol I was wondering if it makes any sense at all to change to synthetic. I also want to know if it’s even safe to do so. Any help will be greatly appreciated

 

[ACJCF2]

It won't hurt your engine to switch to the syn but you MAY start to see some small leaks Some dealers service writers will tell if you switch from dino to semi-syn of full syn you can't go back. Not true. If you've serviced your engine regularly on dino, why change? My $.02.

PS: Keep the viscosity consistent and use quality oil and filter.

 

[Burla]

There is a risk, sometimes high detergency oils can clean away some stuff that is keeping an engine quiet. But still it is an acceptable risk for most people who want the benefit of synthetic oils. Unless you are on a short interval, there is a lot of benefit for synthetics. They hold a lot more tbn, which means it protects against acid build up much longer. You can mitigate the risk by choosing a high mileage synthetic, pennzoil makes a good one. Time to move to 5w30 as well..

 

[Ribtipram]

I ran mobil 1 high milage and a m1 113 filter on my 14 1500 from the 1st oil change. Never had a tick or any sound from engine went to 115k and traded it in.

 

[Rijrnnr]

I switched to full syn on a high mileage (145000)truck that was already using a little oil. It used a lot more on syn so I switched back to dino oil and no harm done. Syn is made from natural gas (small molecules) so I guess it escapes real easy when the seals get old. My 2 cents. By the way, doesn't your manual call for syn?

 

[Burla]

I switched to full syn on a high mileage (145000)truck that was already using a little oil. It used a lot more on syn so I switched back to dino oil and no harm done. Syn is made from natural gas (small molecules) so I guess it escapes real easy when the seals get old. My 2 cents. By the way, doesn't your manual call for syn?

So not all synthetics are the same, as you suggest. If you are using oil that is different then what the OP was saying. And, if you are using oil and it bothers you, choose a low noack high viscosity oil, and as a matter of fact, you will use less. I'm not saying you should switch, sounds like you have a good strategy, but different symptoms means you should look for different aspects of any given formula to address the issue.

 

[Fitz-0518]

Rijrnnr, my oil experience with a 03 230k mile Hemi. The Teir 1 syn oils like Penz, RL, Amsoil, Mobil 1 are thin base high detergent oils. "I believe" these are excellent oils for our new close tolerance engines. When I tried each of these in the above truck, I got internal rotating noise after warm up. As Burla and others have stated in this thread you may find that these oils clean out the sludge so effectively that you get wrist pin, valve etc noise that was being muted. When I went to Penz dino High Mileage 5-40, the running noise and start up noise stopped. Quite and smooth. Base thickness and viscosity formula, I believe, are critical to how our engines rotate in different climates and under different operating conditions. I did not know that Penz is making a Syn 5-30 in a Plat HM formula. Will need to find out what the thickness difference in the base oil is. This "might" be a great syn choice for 100k+ engines. Fitz

 

[ramsare4real]

I have a 2011 ram 1500 with 102,000 km or 63,000 miles for my American friends lol I was wondering if it makes any sense at all to change to synthetic. I also want to know if it’s even safe to do so. Any help will be greatly appreciated

To the OP...Have you had any issues with dino oil after 63K miles? If not, why "fix" it? Yes, Syn would give you many good things, including uncertainty at this point. Other than that, I would assume it's safe.

Good luck.

 

[Ribtipram]

So not all synthetics are the same, as you suggest. If you are using oil that is different then what the OP was saying. And, if you are using oil and it bothers you, choose a low noack high viscosity oil, and as a matter of fact, you will use less. I'm not saying you should switch, sounds like you have a good strategy, but different symptoms means you should look for different aspects of any given formula to address the issue.

I did it in my vett to. Ill be honest i did it because of the changes m1 did back in the day thinking it would replace the oil mix they used to have. Then i just stuck with it because the 5.7 was so quiet on it. Not sure if it made any difference. I've always used m1 with good results.i think some of the 5.7s are just quiet from the start. Its weird my bro has a 5.7 from 08 in his grand cherokee getting up to 200k and the dam thing is just so quiet and his cheap ass has been running dino the whole time. Whatevers on sale. Now im going thru some testing on my 6.4 red line is next. Its not loud though maybe a little piston slap when cold. Gonna do 5w30 or 0w40 not sure yet. What u think.

 

[Burla]

With the 6.4 if you were going with redline, I would go with 5w40 or 5w30 and nothing else in their lineup. For whatever reason, redline has chosen their 5 winter rated oils for their best stuff, better then their 0 or 10 winter rated oils. I would personally see if 5w30 was the ticket, but if that didn't work try 5w40 next change. I say that because 5w30 is pure hemi honey.

 

[Ribtipram]

I'll give the 5w30 a try next weekend. Thanks

 

[Fitz-0518]

Yep in my 2018 6.4 0-40 anything is not a good choice for high heat southwestern climate. We need start up protection from an oil that will adhere and not bleed down to 0 adherence over night. The oil also needs to hold the viscosity at 40 over time and not break down under high heat pressure. Some people have found that some of our Tie 1 oils are thinning after 3-4k miles in high heat towing conditions. In our truck group we have found that 1 quart of Lucas synthetic oil additive with each change is helping.
But we need to be cautious on the flip side of this. Getting the oil too thick in new engines can cause serious problems. One of our friends who belongs to the "more is better" club. Put Penz 10-40 HM 4 quarts and 3 quarts Lucas oil additive. At 7000 miles he paid to have a new engine installed. Had it done by his independent tech. Seized the crank bearings on a tow up to Shaver Lake. Tech claims the variable pressure oil pump and close tolerance machining in these engines will not tolerate ******** thick oil. Fitz

 

[Rijrnnr]

Rijrnnr, my oil experience with a 03 230k mile Hemi. The Teir 1 syn oils like Penz, RL, Amsoil, Mobil 1 are thin base high detergent oils. "I believe" these are excellent oils for our new close tolerance engines. When I tried each of these in the above truck, I got internal rotating noise after warm up. As Burla and others have stated in this thread you may find that these oils clean out the sludge so effectively that you get wrist pin, valve etc noise that was being muted. When I went to Penz dino High Mileage 5-40, the running noise and start up noise stopped. Quite and smooth. Base thickness and viscosity formula, I believe, are critical to how our engines rotate in different climates and under different operating conditions. I did not know that Penz is making a Syn 5-30 in a Plat HM formula. Will need to find out what the thickness difference in the base oil is. This "might" be a great syn choice for 100k+ engines. Fitz

 

[Rijrnnr]

Drained the M1 5-20 this weekend and switched to Napa 10-30 full syn. This 5.7 has 147000 miles on it and tows a 6000 lb load. It has had M1 in it from day one and never goes down on the stick. Maybe I can remember to update on this when and if anything changes. We are always interested in oils and fuels because that's one of the few things we can do to pamper our trucks I guess. Heck, at my age it's hard to remember where I parked!

 

[Nova John]

Just so you know Napa synthetic oil is Valvoline oil

 

[Delta11]

I have been using 1 quart of Marvel at oil change and using 5w 20 high mileage Dino. Switched to 5w 30 Dino at 200k to compensate for the thinning of the Marvel and the Hemi tick. Fixed the tick. I went to buy Dino oil again and they had stopped selling it...only had Full Synthetic so I bought it and used it. Every cold start now is rough idle until it warms up. I am going back to the 5w 30 Dino with a quart of marvel. My engine does not like the Full Synthetic. Any Comments or Advice???????