oil-regular or synthetic?

[Slyfox16]

I have a 2010 M35x. The dealership has always used regular oil, but they have closed where I live. Can and should I switch to synthetic oil? Car has about 30000 miles on it, and we put less than 7000 miles a year on it.

[Ilya]

Yes, synethic is fine. If you're worried, you can run one treatment of Auto-Rx (look it up, I used it for a while on my Nissan Maxima before I got my M) to get the car ready for synthetic.

I switched to Synthetic at 35kmi (got my car with 32kmi) and now have 130k. No issues ever with my motor. All my car problems have been related to suspension lol. I use Mobil 1 5w-30 synethic oil with a Napa Gold filter.

[pegasus]

I swear by Mobil 1, ran it in my F150 for 300,000 miles, and never had a single engine related issue.

[EniGmA1987]

Some people have had severe oil consumption with synthetic oil. So if you make the switch, be sure and check your oil levels on a weekly basis for the life of the oil to make sure it isnt getting really low. If you do have this problem, switch to another brand, another weight, or go back to dino oil.

I myself go to the dealership for changes because it is fairly cheap and doesn't take long. They use a 70/30 synthetic blend of Mobile 1 and it has no issues. I once tried out Royal Purple 5W-30 synthetic and it consumed a little over a quart every 1000 miles. never had any such issues before this or since. Wont be using that brand again.

[Larz]

If you do your own oil / filter changes it's important to also replace the washer on the oil pan plug EACH time. Peeps who do not change this washer can loose oil whilst driving. If you don't have any, here is a link to get 50 washers:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/50-Copper-Oil-D ... f3&vxp=mtr

Synthetic and Synthetic 'blends' are a newer evolution beyond regular oil and provides better protection. As reported above, check your oil level between changes.

[Ilya]

I dunno guys...maybe I'm just blessed with good engines, but on all the cars I've owned I hardly ever check the oil (partly due to the fact that - especially on the M - the readings are an absolute bunch of BS and hard to gauge)...and never had any issues. I don't burn oil, I don't see it on the floor or in parking spots, etc.

I change it religiously, filter and oil every time, and do it at 5k (WAY before it's life is over)...knock on wood never an issue. I don't even replace the washer, although I do have a magnetic drain bolt which might not even need one.

[bicsintegra]

synthetic anytime I change my oil in my M (119k miles), synthetic blend in my wife's ford edge (35k miles), my company truck they use regular oil it has 175k miles and still going no engine issues yet.

[The00Dustin]

I dunno guys...maybe I'm just blessed with good engines, but on all the cars I've owned I hardly ever check the oil (partly due to the fact that - especially on the M - the readings are an absolute bunch of BS and hard to gauge)...and never had any issues. I don't burn oil, I don't see it on the floor or in parking spots, etc.

I change it religiously, filter and oil every time, and do it at 5k (WAY before it's life is over)...knock on wood never an issue. I don't even replace the washer, although I do have a magnetic drain bolt which might not even need one.

I believe the oil consumption issues with synthetic are mostly on the 06-07 M45. Mine hasn't shown them yet (consumed about .5 quart per 3750 miles when I got it, still does today), and I've been running Valvoline SynPower since I got it at 40K miles (now at 160K). I saw another thread about the oil being a pain to check on the M35, but it's actually easy to pull, read, and replace on the M45 so long as you don't rotate the dipstick and try to insert it in a different position than the one it came out in.

[cruzad3r]

sounds about right on the 06-07 M's oil consumption. hence if your car doesn't not have this issue, go synthetic mobil 1. otherwise, go with whatever is on sale as you will be changing oil more frequent than not.

[mexillis]

I have had nothing but good reviews for Royal Purple in my M45, 2006 model. With mobil 1 I consumed about a qt within 3k miles. Switched to RP and have ran it to 7500 without any problems. I also used the RP oil filter and IDK if that helped but I even sent in my oil to blackstone labs at 6k miles during a period of RP and they said everything was fine except for my air filter. Only recently have I put back in some mobil1 but the new to me extended version that should last 15k miles. No one around here had RP oil filters in stock so I went with them instead. It was about 15-20 bucks less for M1 and I will report back withn 1.5k miles and 3k to see how it holds up.