synthetic blend motor oils

[chrisusvi]

I have a 97 Disco 1 with about 78000 miles on it. I want switch to a synthetic blend motor oil. I purchased Valvoline 20w 50 synthetic blend for engine with 75,000 miles or more... when I change my oil. Would I be damaging my engine if I switch from conventional motor oil to a blend?

THanks.

chrisusvi

[thebiglad]

I have a 97 Disco 1 with about 78000 miles on it. I want switch to a synthetic blend motor oil. I purchased Valvoline 20w 50 synthetic blend for engine with 75,000 miles or more... when I change my oil. Would I be damaging my engine if I switch from conventional motor oil to a blend?

THanks.

chrisusvi

You don't specify exactly what you mean by "a synthetic blend" of oil? Do you mean Semi synthetic?

We have two Tdi 300's and I use fully synth in both of them - 5w-30 in the winter and 5w-40 in the summer.

20w-50 sounds way out of date to me. Don't suppose it will actively do any harm, but won't do any good either. Especially first thing in the morning !!

Incidently our vehicles have 89,000 & 145,000 miles respectively.

I would only ever use oil of a 20w-50 spec if I believed the engine was seriously worn - which I would not expect at your 78,000mls.

[gahooduk]

I have a 97 Disco 1 with about 78000 miles on it. I want switch to a synthetic blend motor oil. I purchased Valvoline 20w 50 synthetic blend for engine with 75,000 miles or more... when I change my oil. Would I be damaging my engine if I switch from conventional motor oil to a blend?

THanks.





chrisusvi

is it a Diesel? ,if so you needl diesel oil with a detergent in it, i have not seen a Valvoline Diesel oil 20/50w

be very worried using oil for a petrol engine in a modern diesel and also the other way round.....you can loose compression with diesel oil in a petrol engine,...in fact its one way of cleaning an old petrol engine off carbon clog up

[discool]

I have run 20w50 in my other car from new but that was built in 1976 so it's usually used in cars and Land Rovers of that age by design.

20w50 is not a grade that Landrover recommends more like 10w40 5w40 in the UK, just have a look in your Owners Handbook.

You can use semi-synthetic, fully synthetic or a synthetic blend motor oil which is the low cost option for for high-mileage engines which yours is not.

Below are few tips what to look out for when changing over, from the www.

If you've been driving around with mineral oil in your engine for years, don't switch to synthetic oil without preparation. Synthetic oils have been known to dislodge the baked-on deposits from mineral oils and leave them floating around your engine - not good. I learned this lesson the hard way! It's wise to use a flushing oil first.
If you do decide to change, only go up the scale. If you've been running around on synthetic, don't change down to a mineral-based oil - your engine might not be able to cope with the degradation in lubrication. Consequently, if you've been using mineral oil, try a semi or a full synthetic oil. By degradation, I'm speaking of the wear tolerances that an engine develops based on the oil that it's using. Thicker mineral oils mean thicker layers of oil coating the moving parts (by microns though). Switching to a thinner synthetic oil can cause piston rings to leak and in some very rare cases, piston slap or crank vibration.
Gaskets and seals! With the makeup of synthetic oils being different from mineral oils, mineral-oil-soaked gaskets and seals have been known to leak when exposed to synthetic oils. Perhaps not that common an occurrence, but worth bearing in mind nevertheless

[ComicalEngineer]

Most "modern" engines use something like a 5W40 fully synth and extend the oil change intervals to 12k - 20k miles. This is because a fully synth oil is more stable and does not (chemically) break down as easily as a traditional mineral oil.

My engine has 140k on it and doesn't smoke etc although I have no idea what the previous owners used for oil. At the age of mine, I go for a basic turbo diesel oil (Morrisons 7.99 for 5 litres!) and change the oil and filter every 5k or so.

Valvoline semi-synth is a good oil. I used it for many years on my Mk2 Golf turbo diesel with no ill effects (40k-140k miles) partly because I got a cheap deal from my local ABS. As long as it's the correct viscosity then go for it.

[Tom Mepham]

I have been using this stuff...
http://www.morrislubricantsonline.co.uk/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=49&product=Multivis+XHD+FE+10W%2F40+Semi%2DSynthetic
I have been changing oil an filter every 3k, keeps it all nice an clean. I started using this oil at 90,000 miles, now racked it up to 110,000 and all is well.
We’ve also run a Mitsubishi L300 diesel on the same oil since we started doing the servicing ourselves at 60,000miles, now got 178,000 on the clock and its fine.
Tom

[stabinthedark]

Most "modern" engines use something like a 5W40 fully synth and extend the oil change intervals to 12k - 20k miles. This is because a fully synth oil is more stable and does not (chemically) break down as easily as a traditional mineral oil.

My engine has 140k on it and doesn't smoke etc although I have no idea what the previous owners used for oil. At the age of mine, I go for a basic turbo diesel oil (Morrisons 7.99 for 5 litres!) and change the oil and filter every 5k or so.

Valvoline semi-synth is a good oil. I used it for many years on my Mk2 Golf turbo diesel with no ill effects (40k-140k miles) partly because I got a cheap deal from my local ABS. As long as it's the correct viscosity then go for it.

I also use this Morrisons oil on my 1991 200Tdi.