by Gangis » Sat Aug 25, 2007 7:47 pm
Synthetic oil preserves your engine innards and you can go much longer without a change. Like I said, 8k miles or so. It's economical in that aspect.
I haven't heard any problems about gaskets leaking if you use full synthetic. In fact, synthetic oil extends the life of the engine and greatly reduces the chances of sludge.
My advice to you, Dawgz, is to continue using conventional oil until you get the engine rebuilt under Toyota's policy. After that, switch over to synthetic since you'll pretty much have a blank slate (after the break-in oil is expended, of course)
I still haven't had an oil change since the rebuild. They told me not to change the oil until 79400-something miles (have it on a sticker) since the break-in oil has a special composition to prime up the engine or something like that. I'm not sure about the specifics. Along with 10w30 Mobil 1 Synthetic, I use a Purolator PureOne filter. It's definitely one of the best filters out there.
2002 Solara SLE V6 convertible - GONE as of 3/2010
2010 Nissan Versa 1.8 S Hatchback