I have been putting fully synthetic oil in my 2001 Acura 3.21CL S Type for the 5 years I have had it. I am tired of spending of so much for an oil change. Can I start using regular oil or a synthetic blend?
Use whatever is spec’d for the engine. You’re not spec’d for a synthetic oil. Very few are. If you’re not getting your money’s worth out of a synthetic in either extended drains or require it due to severity of service (essentially the same thing), then there’s no reason to spend the extra money.
There is no such thing as magic oil. There are those that last longer in service, endure stress longer, that flow better when cold …etc…etc.
In commercial OTR usage, no significant wear reduction occurs with synthetic oils. However, properly filtered, up to 5X the service life can be attained. This results in decreased downtime. If there was truly a magic oil that allowed engines to go 500k further without an overhaul, it really wouldn’t matter what it cost.
Check your owner’s manual. Some require synthetic, typically for vehicles with turbochargers. Synthetic seems to withstand the heat of the turbos better.
If your owner’s manual does not specify synthetic, you can use whatever you choose as long as it meets the specs and has the API and SAE seals on the label.
$23 for a five quart container of Castrol Syntec doesn’t sound like too much. $12 for the conventional oil means that there is an $11 difference.
It’s all bad for oil prices. I used to get 76 brand oil at the Ninety Nine cent store for the 87 Mazda pickup. That was before the oil rush. We’ve all had it, I guess.
You’re right, buying synthetic in a store doesn’t cost much extra, but the oil change place charge a huge premium for it. They seem to use the cheap regular oil change as a loss leader (or more like ‘bait and switch’).
I’d probably just keep using the synthetic, but if you’re changing it at 3,000 miles, you can probably go at least another 2,000 without worry. (of course an oil analysis is needed to really determine how much life is left in the oil)
There’s no harm in switching to something else if you’re dead set on it, as long as you keep changing it on schedule. But I personally would not go back to dino oil in my vehicle.
Yes use regular oil. Just change it in a timely fashion AND check it occasionally.