Risk of switching oil?

[Fletch124]

Is there any risk of switching oils, not weight. I'm running Castrol Syntec 10W40 right now and it has become kind of hard to find at times here. Plus only a select few places carry it while I see the other synthetics in just about every store. Plus that oil is quite expensive, I dont know what oil I would switch to by the way.

[jdub]

Not really. The only thing you *may* see switching from a dino oil to a syn is leaks around the seals and only then if your seals are worn anyway. PAO or ester based syn oils do a really good job of cleaning engine deposits. If those deposits are the only thing keeping your seals from leaking...well, you get the idea.

[chedderknight]

ah good to know, I switched from royal purple to castrol, I flushed it nontheless, just for safe measure

[jdub]

Flushing the old oil is generally not necessary, even switching to a syn oil...that is unless you are really picky ;)

The amount of oil remaining in the motor is small, especially if you change the filter and drain the cooler. The volume of new oil will dilute that remaining to where it will have little (if any) effect.

Just make sure you use a good filter (Wix or PureOne) and run a quart over the full mark on the dipstick.

[tlo86]

Not really. The only thing you *may* see switching from a dino oil to a syn is leaks around the seals and only then if your seals are worn anyway. PAO or ester based syn oils do a really good job of cleaning engine deposits. If those deposits are the only thing keeping your seals from leaking...well, you get the idea.

yeah dirty old dino oil in your seals... will seal the worn seals hehe... when i switched to syn i had to change rear main seal, valve covers, turbo oil lines

i was surprised myself but no biggie they really did need to be replaced