Changing to synthetic oil?

I'm about to do an oil change and was wondering if it would be beneficial to switch to a full synthetic oil.

Has anyone done this?

What are the benefits?

Any precautions or methods to follow? I'm assuming you have to get 99% of the old oil out before adding the synthetic, so an oil pump is a necessity. Is this right?

Do a search on synthetic and you'll fine stuff about it. It's been beat to death. Save your money and change it every 50 hours with what your book says to change it with.

interesting.

Thanks man.

wait untill you have around 100 hrs on the boat. Than go with the synthetic. Only have to change oil once a season that way. Dont worry about mixing the oils it dosent do anything if there is some reqular oil left in the eng. Use the 5w/50

I am a believer that synthetics only payoff when your going for extended oil life. I do think it is important to change the oil prior to winterizing so the extended oil life kind of falls out the window at that point. IMO,if you change oil every season or 50 hrs + or - then synthetic oil is a waste of money.

unless you use your boat more than 50 hours a season. Plus, if you run a lot of weight it could be beneficial as well.

OVER 120 HRS ANUAL HERE, synthetic pays off

Phillip how has synthetic paid off? I've had 4 boats over 5 years all except my current boat had over 1000 hours when sold and only had regualr oil in them (3 of the 4, the owners had only changed the oil every 100 hours)...probably no name wal-mart junk oil , and every one of them ran flawlessly.

I changed to Royal Purple after 200 hours...It rocks I could notice the difference right off and it does pay off..It really lessons the friction in your engine..

please explain "it does pay off". How? What difference did you "feel"? Sounds more like a placebo effect.

(Message edited by acurtis_ttu on October 03, 2006)

(Message edited by acurtis_ttu on October 03, 2006)

I'd like to hear more too.

I'm about to change the oil this weekend so post up!!!

More wear protection ..It lubricates better than regular oils when under load ...I felt the difference in the pick up of the engine ...Go to an Oreileys or check out RoyalPurple.com and read the test results...Either way you can't go wrong.

Has anyone used Royal Purple besides Roland?

What does it cost per quart?

Is the 5w50 the way to go, as recommended above? I'm currently using 20w50 as recommended by my dealer.

I used the royal purple in my Honda while I was racing. We actually saw a drop in hp on a dyno vs Mobil one but it was only 4 hp.I think they claim a 1% increase so even if you had 400hp I doubt you could feel it espically in a boat.

once a year oil changes is the biggest advantage. Other than that no difference in performance. I just feel better knowing that I don`t have to change oil all season.4 boats in 5 yrs? can I have some money too.

Phillip, 3 of the 4 boats were 8 years old or older, lol.

I wouldn't trust product test results from anyone trying to sell me that product.

I'm of the opinion too that frequency of oil changes is more important than the type of oil used. You would need to run 150+ hours on synthetic to justify it costwise, and that would make me nervous regardless of what kind of miracle oil I used.

trace - I'm kind of leaning toward what you just said. I change religiously at 50 hours (first one was at 20) so after this change, I'll have changed the oil 4 times since last summer. I think that's pretty good as far as frequency is concerned.

Overkill changing oil every 50 hours in my opinion. You guys dont change your car oil every 3000 miles just cause quicky lube says so do you? The manufacturer wants you to change that often because you have no actual way of telling what condition the oil is in and they arent paying for it. Synthetics have been confirmed to last longer then petroleum based oils. Look at mobil 1's long life oil and amsoil's 1yr/17500-35000 mile oil. No its not BS. Look at GM's oil life monitor they have gives way more then 3000 miles. Oil and engines are made way better then they used to be and so the oil has better additive packages. Hell if you have money to blow and time to waste why not change it like the go-fast boats do (I think every 25 hours)and rebuild your engine on their schedule while your at it?

I change my car/truck oil at about 5000-6000 miles, which is what most mfrs recommend. Jiffy Lube type places are the only ones that recommend 3000, for the reasons you listed.

The 3k rule was for 2 reasons. Water and fuel in the oil. The oil can only take so much then you start to do damage.Back in the day of carbs you had two things happening, one engine temps were lower often times not getting above 212 deg(to get rid of the water) two the carb often times over fueled putting gas in the oil.

Unless you have a closed cooling system your boats coolant temp will never get above 212 as it would boil.

Imo even fuel injected marine engines over fuel some what. There is no o2 sensor to keep them from running rich and also no emissions to make manf. do it.

Do you have to change oil every 50 hr? prolly not, but its pretty cheap insurance for me. I do my own and there is no reason that everyone on here can't whats 20$ and 2hrs....

Synthetic all the way. Mobil One is my prefered choice (CASTROL would be the second). Considering the loads we're all placing on our engines these days with 1000# to 2000# of ballast, any extra lubrication/heat dissipation we can provide to the engine will only prolong engine life. Oil's cheap, engine rebuilds are expensive. Magnetic drain plugs are must as well, they will catch all the micro materials that get thru the filters.

Magnetic drain plug will not work when it is at the end of a drain hose (like most inboard marine motors)...

Agree about the synth oil. Worth an extra few $s for my baby.

If you have an older boat with cork gaskets on the valve cover, they will leak if you use synthetic.

Synthetic oil is significantly mroe resistant to viscosity breakdown, but no oil is immune to blowby or fuel contamination. I think changing oil regularly is the best plan, along with using a quality oil. Synthetic definately offers superior lubrication protection and is worth the extra coin IMHO. Also agree taht newer motors generally have tighter tolerances and, therefor less blowby contamination. But I would still be careful about extending the service interval.

I think the real issue for me is this: in terms of the useful life of an engine (say 2000 hrs or 200,000 miles), are conventional (dinosaur) oils sufficient? In my experience they are, and thus to me synthetics are overkill.

I've put over 150k on several vehicles (and 250k on one), never used synthetic oil, and never had a major internal engine failure. Maybe that's just because they've all been Chebbies, though. ;)

Dino v/s synthetic no question. You would have to think since the engine manufacture doesn't recommend synthetic before 100 hours because it wont let the rings seat properly has to be superior in protection. Think of it this way, try to roll a piece of plywood across the floor with basket balls, soccer balls, golf balls, tennis balls, etc.. under it you would have a hard time (conventional oil). Now try the same with only golf balls or any of all the same size (synthetic) this would be much easier. Oil works the same way as conventional oil has large and small particles in it and synthetic has all the same size particles. Its not an issue if your a boater that buys new every few years, but if you plan on having your boat for a while or you own a older boat its cheap protection. A boat is always under load it never coasts as your car does, and with 2-3 thousand extra pounds of ballast its much cheaper than a replacement engine. And as for the cost two or three dollars more a quart is ten or fifteen bucks an oil change with the reduced friction etc... you will get some of this back in fuel savings. Thanks,

John, what do you do at Skier's Choice?

Does anyone have experience using the Diesel synthetics like Amsoil that are rated CH-4+ and above?

Which synthetics are you guys using specifically? Which synthetic would be equivalent to the standard 20w-50 I'm using now?

Bottom line: do what makes ya happy.

I treat my iddy biddy teeny weeny boat to an engine flush and a synthetic oil change every 50-60 hours (once during winter and once mid season) This is probably total overkill and my Dad thinks I am crazy, but I am doing my best to get a least another 1000 hours out of this motor. Hopefully this will help. Maybe, maybe not, but what the hell. It is only like an extra $20 twice a year, I can waste that in like two minutes at the bar, so I might as well put it towards something I think might help make that motor purrrrr a little longer. Just my two cents, as usual. RD