Flush or not to flush

[BabyFaceFinster]

I am switching to synthetic oil. My engine is clean should I flush the engine first?

LENNY

[kubi]

Don't need to flush it, you can just switch.

[Mole]

how many miles do you have on the car?

[dan99solara]

please use german castrol syntec 0w-30 for it is a true synthetic like mobile 1. most of the other claimed synthetics are not 100% synthetic. german castrol does wonders for cold temps and high rpm driving! it is well worth the 4.50 per bottle.

[Mole]

^ what are you? some spokesperson from castrol?

using 0w-30 oil should only be used in real cold climates, 5w-30 should be sufficent enough.

furthermore, an engine flush has nothing to deal with the motor oil.

this is not a post about which oil to use.

[BabyFaceFinster]

how many miles do you have on the car?

41k

[Mole]

hmm, thats kinda going towards borderline to switch to synthetic at that many miles. i switched to synthetic at about 10K. if i were you, just stay with normal dino oil.

switching to synthetic at higher mileage may create leaks through the seals. why? i have no idea.

[SunnySolara]

I checked out Toyota's web site and they state switching to synthetic oil is OK, as long as the rating of it meets or exceeds their recommendation in the owners manual.
Since there is an engine sludge oil buildup defect with some of the Camry V6s, from 1997-2001 according to Lemon-Aid. it might be a good idea to switch. They say a reduction in the size of the coolant passages in the head gasket can result in the oil literally frying. Synthetic oil can prevent this (I believe it breaksdown at a higher temperature than standard oil). The sympton of this is a white sludge on the oil filler cap or inside the lip of the rocker panel cover.

[Yanks0114]

41k should be fine to switch to synthetic. I think its anything over 75k shouldn't be switched.

[ericatdallas]

I read on some pamphlet that it was a myth that switching back and forth between synthetic and dino was bad. I also took an intro class to auto repair and the instructor said the same thing.

Leakage was caused by older synthetics having smaller molecules, but supposedly newer synthetics are better.

My last car I switched back and forth between them in ignorance and started doing it at 90k and drove it for 30k more miles with no prob. Infact, my engine was probably the only thing that was left working when I got rid of it.

[offthahook]

Since there is an engine sludge oil buildup defect with some of the Camry V6s, from 1997-2001 according to Lemon-Aid. it might be a good idea to switch. They say a reduction in the size of the coolant passages in the head gasket can result in the oil literally frying. Synthetic oil can prevent this (I believe it breaksdown at a higher temperature than standard oil). The sympton of this is a white sludge on the oil filler cap or inside the lip of the rocker panel cover.

I believe there is a goodwill policy at the dealer where they can put some additive in the crankcase to clean up the sludge that does indeed form...

[SunnySolara]

That's good news that you can use synthetic oil in higher mileage engines. I"ll try it in my 1990 Camry 4cyl. which has 90 K on it. Maybe that will stop the puff of blue smoke when you first start it up.

[Mole]

^ uhhh... now at that mileage i would not recommend the switch from dino to syn for sure

[Stock Solara SEV6]

That's good news that you can use synthetic oil in higher mileage engines. I"ll try it in my 1990 Camry 4cyl. which has 90 K on it. Maybe that will stop the puff of blue smoke when you first start it up.

Synthetic won't help a problem like that.

[SunnySolara]

I was hoping it would be white smoke instead of blue smoke.