i am about to do my first oil change myself. i was thinking of using mobil one synthetic. is this cool or should i use the regular 5w30 that is written on the oil cover lid on the engine?

 

Synthetic oil is superior in many ways to conventional oil, with one exception. Conventional oil has the ability to "absorb" more particles that are generated from the normal operation of the engine. However, when you consider the superior viscosity brake-down resistance and that it can "pick up" some particles (not that much less) it is better for the life of the engine.

Also, synthetic does not deposit those carbon particles all over the inside of your engine like conventional oil will.

Synthetic oil will be a little more forgiving if you don't change it quite when you should. But, synthetic is not invincible. You should change it when the owners manual tells you too.

 

Many years ago I read that synthetic oil had smaller molecules and could permeate older (as in model year as well as mileage) gaskets. I used to have a couple mid-90's turbo saabs, the ones with the high output turbos, like 225 hp plus on a 2.0 engine, and synthetic would cause the gasket between the block and the turbo to leak. I think that was pretty isolated though.

I run synthetic in my 02 4.0, and am surprised how clean it stays.

 

That is very true. Another thing is that synthetic is alot more of a detergent oil than conventional. So when you switch, the synthetic will clean some of the residule oil and dirt from the old gaskets creating a leak.

 

I guess the Superior Lubrication Properties of Synthetic wern't a consideration here. The AJ motor really runs noticably better with Mobil1 0W-40. Mine didn't start leaking, and I really wouldn't care if it did.