changing to synthetic oil question

[AnimateDeath]

This may be a dumb question, but is there a way to tell if the oil in an engine is synthetic or not? I ask because I don't know what is in my TB right now and I always use synthetic when the mileage starts getting up. I'm around 141,000 miles now and the oil was changed right before I bought it this past summer. I don't know what was used, and I'm not sure what, if anything, I need to do when I change it.

Will just a standard drain, filter change, and fill be ok when I change it? I don't know if a flush needs to be done when going to synthetic.

 

[Sparky]

If you had an analysis done they may be able to tell you, but just by looking at it probably not.

No special flush or anything fancy needed when doing the switch to synthetic. Just drain and refill like normal.

 

[DJones]

No special flush or anything fancy needed when doing the switch to synthetic. Just drain and refill like normal.

And the nature of the synthetic oil will take care of the rest.

 

[AnimateDeath]

Awesome. Thanks for the responses. I usually just get it changed somewhere, but going to be doing it all myself from now on and just wanted to make sure.

 

[Mark20]

Awesome. Thanks for the responses. I usually just get it changed somewhere, but going to be doing it all myself from now on and just wanted to make sure.

Then you know exactly what you put in!

 

[RayVoy]

Keep a cup of the old oil and put it in the freezer............................ if it gets thick, it was not synthetic

 

[03envoy]

No flush is needed when switching to synthetic? Even with over 100k?

 

[gmcman]

Now would be a great time to have an oil analysis performed, they could possibly even tell you what brand was in there.

Would also give you an idea on the condition of the internals and will be saved in their database. Actually, if I were you...I would absolutely have an analysis done.

 

[Mark20]

Amsoil has a relatively new product called Flush. Change your filter and add that to the existing oil. Let it warm up then idle for 15 minutes followed by a normal oil change (dino or synthetic) and another new filter.

Did that to my Envoy when switching to Amsoil and the old oil was very black. This is not required but I figured I'd give the Amsoil a start in a cleaner engine. Somebody used it before doing an analysis and Blackstone detected the higher level of detergents left over from Flush.

 

[Wooluf1952]

No flush is needed when switching to synthetic? Even with over 100k?

That is correct.

If you want to do a flush, it's your choice, but you don't need one just because of the switch.

 

[03envoy]

Ok, cause I will be switching to royal purple soon and don't plan to flush hah alot easier!

 

[KNBlazer]

I wouldn't bother with a flush either, make sure though you don't have any leaks first before switching to synthetic...not sure if it's a tale or not, but I'm under the impression that if you switch to synthetic after running normal oil, you might create a big headache for yourself... again I've never confirmed it myself, but it does sound plausible, doesn't it?

 

[Mark20]

Synthetic oils are very good cleaners in their own right. If you have gunk covering up a leak the gunk gets cleaned and leak reappears. The synthetic didn't cause the leak it just uncovered an old one. Also synthetics came out when engine metals were transitioning to aluminum and the gaskets weren't fully up to the task. Gaskets have also advanced over the years.

Amazing how old observations hang around and around and around.

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