should I switch to synthetic oil?

catahoula said:
I have been running synthetic for a while and have 50,000 miles on mine. I used that in my last vehicle and felt that it helped it run cooler. A technician told me that regular oil is thicker seals better and that synthetic is thinner and finds its way out.....Now I don't know if there is any truth to that. My rig still burns oil. I do not change mine, but go to a place that will top it off between oil changes. Which works out because I have always had to top it off since day one. I have a 2011.
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Is there any truth to this? Because I just recently switched to full synthetic and ever since I've had about a few drips of oil on my garage floor recently since switching that I never had before, Not sure if it's coincidence or not, but I had heard similar things as well. Curious to see if anyone can chime in with some knowledge.
 
Christarp said:
Is there any truth to this? Because I just recently switched to full synthetic and ever since I've had about a few drips of oil on my garage floor recently since switching that I never had before, Not sure if it's coincidence or not, but I had heard similar things as well. Curious to see if anyone can chime in with some knowledge.
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Generally speaking, synthetic oil maintains its viscosity better than DINO. It is also more effective in its lubricating properties. If my ride was drinking oil, I would jump one step up for a slightly thicker weight to see if that solves the problem. From my experience on sports cars/street cars...what may be good on the street (on road or maybe an easy trail) like oem oil weight, will actually be a bit too thin for heavy abuse (ie racetrack, dunes, heavy crawling, etc)....so running a thicker weight may improve severe condition performance (similar concept to running 75-90 vs 145 in the diffs.)
 
NFRs2000NYC said:
Generally speaking, synthetic oil maintains its viscosity better than DINO. It is also more effective in its lubricating properties. If my ride was drinking oil, I would jump one step up for a slightly thicker weight to see if that solves the problem. From my experience on sports cars/street cars...what may be good on the street (on road or maybe an easy trail) like oem oil weight, will actually be a bit too thin for heavy abuse (ie racetrack, dunes, heavy crawling, etc)....so running a thicker weight may improve severe condition performance (similar concept to running 75-90 vs 145 in the diffs.)
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Alright, I may just move up a bit next time I change it and see what happens, thanks!
 
Out here in the Dubai I switched to using 5w40 synthetic about 3 years ago (09 JKU auto)
Oil consumption went down from using dino oil.
I don't have a CAI and have had no excessive usage even after long trips. My wagon runs much smoother on the synth (just seat of pants opinion).
Its recommended that we change oil here at 5000 kms for dino or 10000 for synth so it kind of balances itself out cost wise.
 
I've been running synthetic oil in mine since 6,000 miles. I am at 15k now. The only reason since then was because I went 3k on the factory oil and then had a free oil change by the dealer 3k later. I haven't noticed any consumption at all but Ive still been doing the 3k intervals. I know that I am changing the oil way too soon for synthetic but I get the oil for free. I work at a shop so I just save the leftover synthetic oil and I usually have 6 quarts or so by the time I'm due.
 
Synthetic is the way to go, especially in the desert. Under hood temps off road with the Pentastar are eye popping at 1/2 mph. Also it's been my experience if you have any weak seals the synthetics will immediately find their way to the garage floor. Kind of an early warning system.:twocents:
 
I've run synth since day one on my 2010 and last few times I was consistently a quart+ low at about the 3000 mile mark. last oil change I switched from Penz 5w20 to Mobile1 5w30 and at the 3k mark my oil level is down but very little. We'll see how it continues, Im not sure if it's 5w20 vs. 5w30 or brand but it's working for now.
 
wayoflife said:
You know, this is a hard one for me being that I have been using synthetic oil in all my Jeeps for a long time now. Having said that, I had been having some oil consumption issues with my 2012 with it's 3.6L just recently and just for an experiment, tried running dino to see if it would make a difference and....... it did. Still burning a little bit of oil but well within the what Chrysler deems to be normal. Having said that, I still run synthetic in all my other Jeeps.

I know that wasn't much help but, I just thought I'd put it out there.
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I always ran synthetic oil in all of my vehicles. I had a 2009 JK with the 3.8 and it never used a drop. I now own a 2012 and put synthetic oil it it after 1000 miles. I used synthetic until I reached 63000 miles. I noticed it started to drink oil so I took it to the dealer to start an oil consumption test and they are putting in dino oil. I went from using 3-4qts every 3000 miles to about 1.5-2 (according to the dealer) every 3000 which is "acceptable". Because the dealer just now marked the dipstick after 6000 (apparently they realized i wasn't going away) I can't measure the oil level.

For those of you with the 3.6, if the oil is not showing on the dipstick, how much is it to get it to the top of the hashed area on the dipstick (I understand it will very depending on how far below it is below the stick)? It wasn't showing on mine when I took it in last and they said it only took 3/4 of a qt to fill it to the top of the hashed area.

Also, maybe this is a dumb question, but they said the way they measure to see how much it uses is to add oil and measure it on the stick until it is shows full. If they were to drain the oil that remains in the engine, should that give them a somewhat close reading? If it holds 6qts and they drain out 3, would you agree it would have used between 2.5 and 3qts? I understand there is a small amount that may stay in the engine.

Sorry to highjack.

Chris
 
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