Switching Oil,..?? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

flmont · 07-31-2019, 03:51 PM

Can you switch from total synthetic oil to the Dino oil without any issues,..My local Indy suggested I could do that So that I could keep checking the oil filter often for engine issues,. if I i'am worried about ANY issues down the road,.??

Ciao · 07-31-2019, 03:54 PM

As long as it's synthetic and appropriate weight; you're OK

flmont · 07-31-2019, 04:14 PM

I want to go back to DINO oil or regular oil before synthetic came along

Starter986 · 07-31-2019, 04:19 PM

OK. OP asks if he can switch from syn to dino.

Ciao, basically, says yes... so long as it's synthetic.

OP says, "I want to go back to DINO oil or regular oil before synthetic came along".

WTF am I missing here? Is there a batch of bad kool-aid going around? The entire post isn't reconciling.

Help?

DoninDel · 07-31-2019, 05:00 PM

I would assume the reason is cost?
Oil filter is a quart, right? You don't have to dump all the oil to look at the oil filter.
I would change the filter to inspect and add a quart, not go to dino.

Synthetic oil is superior to dino oil, that's why it costs more.
Dino oil is compatible with synthetic, so you could change with the only downside being somewhat poorer lubrication.

piper6909 · 07-31-2019, 07:33 PM

There's nothing wrong with switching back to dino oil, if you want to. But I wouldn't do it. As DoninDel said, synthetic is superior. You can either just pull the filter without doing a full oil change, and add another quart like DoninDel said, or change your oil as frequently as you would change dino oil.

The costs of synthetic are coming down close to dino oil anyway. I still change the oil in all my cars every 3K miles and I'm using synthetic.

If it's a cost issue, NAPA or Amazon brand synthetic is probably better than the best dino oil, IMO.

911monty · 07-31-2019, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flmont

Can you switch from total synthetic oil to the Dino oil without any issues,..My local Indy suggested I could do that So that I could keep checking the oil filter often for engine issues,. if I i'am worried about ANY issues down the road,.??

Actually I think you should switch to decaff.........

flmont · 07-31-2019, 08:33 PM

Its only because the Indy said I could go to dino oil if I wanted to change my oil way more often like every 2 K miles,..thats all ,..I know I didn't say it correctly from the start. Thanks

flmont · 07-31-2019, 08:36 PM

I always thought that synthetic was a super oil and you could NOT return to the old stuff .

DoninDel · 07-31-2019, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flmont

I always thought that synthetic was a super oil and you could NOT return to the old stuff .

There is no incompatibility between conventional oil and synthetic oil - if there was, you couldn't have synthetic blends - but why would you want to go to non-synthetic oil when synthetic oil is definitely better?

And, about blends - I have never seen any blend that says what % is synthetic - 2 drops per quart?

My personal opinion is you'd do better to change oil every 4,000 miles with synthetic oil, rather than 'dino' oil every 3,000 - to keep the cost the same.

paulofto · 08-01-2019, 05:30 AM

There are likely a hundred oil threads on this forum. This is the most unique. My take, stick with synthetic, buy a lot of it when on sale at Walmart or wherever, and change it every 3K to 5K miles. The cost difference over the long hall will be negligible. If you are crawling under the car to change the filter you may as well change the oil.

Fresh, top quality oil is the cheapest engine insurance you can buy.

78F350 · 08-01-2019, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flmont

Can you switch from total synthetic oil [High quality, recommended oil] to the Dino oil [Oil that will break down more quickly and provide less wear protection] without any issues,..My local Indy [Village idiot]suggested I could do that So that I could keep checking the oil filter often for engine issues [To observe the increased wear caused by inferior lubrication],. if I i'am worried about ANY issues down the road,.??

I rephrased the original question a bit to try to make more [or less] sense.

If you are worried about the condition of your engine and want to check the oil, just take a look at the filter as frequently as you want; daily, weekly, or every other month. The amount of oil that you need to refill with will be less than a quart.

Using a lower quality oil because you are concerned about engine wear does not make sense. Your Indy may have been responding to your concern diplomatically rather than correctly. Sometimes people say things they don't really mean just to keep from offending a customer.

flmont · 08-01-2019, 01:17 PM

Yes,..Thats what I will do keep the Synthetic and just pull my filters,..Thanks Guys,..its been a long week already.!!

thstone · 08-01-2019, 04:57 PM

I am a bit confused.

What do you hope to accomplish by changing your oil more often?

If you're simply looking at the oil filter, then when you do find something it will be generally too late to do much about it - the engine is on its last breathe by the time that you find serious debris in the oil filter.

Have you considered performing an oil analysis using short test intervals? All you need is a small sample to send in to the lab; no need to change the oil every time. And the data might give you some warning that something is going south inside the engine before there is debris in the oil filter.

kk2002s · 08-02-2019, 04:51 AM

I agree what is the motivation to change your oil so often. How many miles do you drive a year.
At my hay day I was putting on 12k miles/year so I changed 2x/year. Now I put on maybe 4k miles/year so I change 2x/year. Now if I drove 15k/year then I would probably change 3x

Plus 0-40 Mobil 1 at Wally World @ $25/5 qrts, how much $$ would you save with dino oil

flmont · 08-05-2019, 08:24 PM

Iam not concerned about saving money on oil,..The tech. just mentioned that if I looked at the filter often then just change the oil once I pulled the filter,..I was JUST curious if the 2 oils could be intermixed that's all,..I have sent one sample to blackstone and now that I do have 3k more miles on the same oil ( synthetic moly lube) I will send another sample...1 st sample was great after 2500 miles so iam now curious how it will test. Thanks Frank

thstone · 08-06-2019, 06:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flmont

I have sent one sample to blackstone and now that I do have 3k more miles on the same oil ( synthetic moly lube) I will send another sample...1 st sample was great after 2500 miles so iam now curious how it will test.

This path will yield the most useful information. No reason to change the oil when sampling, just re-fill whatever is lost and then change oil at your normal intervals.

thstone · 08-06-2019, 06:21 AM

For grins, did everyone see this oil test report that has been posted online?