changed the oil today...

[Touchdown038]

Today I changed my oil, and the results really suprised me.

First of all, my KA24E has 154,000 miles. I had been running Castrol Syntec 10W-30 for 6 months, and I had a really bad case of timing chain noise. Rattled louder than hell when I started it up, and also when I decelerated anywhere above 2000 RPM. I changed the chain about a year and a half ago, so it shouldn't be doing this already. This was also the first time I'd run synthetic oil in my engine.

So today I put in Valvoline Max-Life 10W-30, a dino oil made for high-mileage engines, which just happened to be what my dad had lying around. After about 10 minutes of running, wow! No more timing chain rattle when I start, and the deceleration rattle is also gone.

Personally, I think I'll stick to dino oil with this engine from now on. Anybody who wants to comment on this is more than welcome.

EDIT: I also had a Fram Tough Guard filter on there before, and I replaced it with an OEM filter. Maybe that had something to do with it?

[navysnail]

the filter wouldnt make a difference unless it was dry starting

[Axel Grungy]

yeah ive heard never to switch to synthetic on an older car thats been run with dino its whole life.

[Touchdown038]

Yup I've heard that too, but for every time that I've heard that, I've also heard that it's fine. So I figured it was worth a try.

[TrunkMonkey]

the filter wouldnt make a difference unless it was dry starting

not necessarily true. i've heard of a few cases where people switched to the oem filter and thier noisy chain rattle disappeared.

-demetrius

[navysnail]

^ thats interesting, id like to know why?the reason for not changing to synthetic after dyno for more than 75k is that little cracks and leaks in seals are cloged with deposits. the powerful detergent in synthetic will eat the deposits away, and cause many small leaks.if the engine was well taken care of, you probobly dont have to worry about that

[BadMojo]

not necessarily true. i've heard of a few cases where people switched to the oem filter and thier noisy chain rattle disappeared.

Filter choice is important, without question. Considering Fram products, IMO, are notoriously crappy, I'm not surprised that it could make a big difference.

Other than synthetics possibly being a bit thinner than their dino counterparts, I don't know if there is a lot of validity to the "switching from dino to synthetic" thing...as 240kid mentioned, detergent packages may be an issue if you've got worn seals, but otherwise not.

Hey, where's Fred? This *is* an oil discussion, after all.

[Touchdown038]

I'd heard the Tough Guard was a decent filter though, so I thought it would be ok.

Anyway, the OEM one definitely felt better anyways, with the metal end cap.

[dareo]

I got my first 240 at 215k miles, pretty sure it was ran on cheap oil all its life. I put in Mobil 1 soon after i got it and i can't kill this motor, i drift it and thromp on it all the time. I'm up to 224k and this KA wont die. It didnt leak oil last year and it doesnt this year after running synthetic regularly.