Howdee all.
I bought a 2001 durango slt back in January, and it had only 48xxx miles on it. It's now got 51xxx miles, and I figure- time for an oil change.
I was able to get the previous owner's service records, but it doesn't state on those records what type of oil was used.
At this point I am curious if using a synthetic oil will cause any issues to a 10-3/4 year old vehicle, without knowing what type of oil was used before.
My goal is to increase mileage, reduce wear/tear (the typically advertised benefits of synthetics).

Also, I noticed that there are newer, fancier named filters on the shelf (My last vehicle I bought in 2000, and just used the basics, due to its age, and wear I'd given it due to my location, and use).
Is there any genuine benefit to using these higher priced filters (the fancy one is only $2.00 more than the basic)? They've got one by Fram called XtraGuard, and then a middle one.
I realize these are probably goofy questions to some of you, but due to a major health issue, I stopped doing this stuff myself back in the late 90's, and paid for one of those lifetime oil change deals through the local Midas shop. They've since closed up, and left town, and the only other place wants over 300 for what I'd paid 80 for back in 2000.

Thanks for your inputs.
Best.

 

at 51k miles you will be fine switching to fully synthetic oils. It wont matter what oil was used in there in the past, just so long as you keep using the same brand and weight in the future (4.7 uses 5w30, 5.9 uses 10w30).

Mobile 1 seems to be the winner out of all the synthetic oils, however i have also heard good things about royal purple and amsoil so pick your favorite.

Oil filters, are they worth the increase in price, you decide, oil filters are all made by 6 or 7 companies, and in most cases the more expensive filters are not much better, or made any differently than the cheaper store brand filters. I have been using purolator pure one filters (rebadged as powerflo) some prefer mobile1s filter and some K&N, however the general consensus is that FRAM filters (manufactured by honeywell alongside penzoil and quaker stat filters last i checked) are not very high quality, and i have even seen posts/reports of them falling apart while on the vehicle, use at your own risk.

it would appear that purolator manufactures the mopar branded filters, or that they at least did for a very long while

http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilters/index.html

 

Use amsoil, my truck has had it since it rolled of the showroom floor. It has been changed every 8-10k and the lowest cylinder has 152 psi when compression tested. The rest where at 155-159 psi. It has 160k on the odometer and a lot of them are towing and off road use.

 

Well, Amsoil, Royal Purple, and Mobil One are all three just a lubricant that has a Polyalphaolefin oil base stock. So with that said Royal Purple and Amsoil is like $13 bucks a quart and Mobil One Fully Synthetic is only like $25 bucks for a 5 quart container over at Wal-Mart. You're getting the same type product for a lot better price by going Mobil One. Is one better than the other, not really. They all three have the same base oils, and the aditives have to meet the Federal Requirements so I don't see anything different there.

Now Mopar filters are being made by many manufactures now but the majority is Fram now I believe. That is why I am buying Bosch filters right now or Purolator filters from Sears.

Regardless, don't put any additives in with it. They are unregulated by the Federal Government and can put in what they wan't and sell it to you for as much as they want.

Now Mobil One Fully Synthetic oil filters and K&N Filters are like $12 bucks and are most likely the best all around filter, but they are very pricey.


With only 48xxx miles on it there is no problem swaping over! Go to 5,000 mile intervals with Mobil One, as for the others good luck because there really isn't that much info out there. But keep this in mind, Mobil One has the European oil markets and there really isn't any difference between them, but they are going 25,000 mile oil changes......LOL......Regardless, 70% of NASCAR uses Mobil One.

Talking oil is like talking poker, everyone has their own opinion and they take their chances.....LOL

 

This is true, now whats your take on valvoline syntech. People have had good luck with that here, it cleans fairly well.

 

From the web site:

Does SynPower use polyalphaolefin (PAO) base stocks?
Yes. Valvoline uses a mixture of Group III and Group IV basestocks.

Group IV base stock are polyalphaolefins (PAOs). Group III is basically mineral base. oils. True synthetics include classes of lubricants like synthetic esters as well as "others" like GTL (Methane Gas-to-Liquid) (Group V) and polyalpha-olefins (Group IV). (Note that Group III oils which underwent heavy refining, but remain crude oil based are marketed as "synthetic" only in the USA, while truly synthetic oils of Group IV and V are needed to make "synthetic oil" elsewhere.)

So basically, it's a mix (Unknown mix) of good base and lower grade base. You can see the difference.

 

Hi all.
Thanks for your input.
I decided to go with the Mobil1, and the high-end Fram filter.
This filter says it's good for 10k miles.
In reading the owner's manual it says that for vehicles that travel low-annual miles, the oil should be changed every 3 months-- regardless of how many miles traveled. As noted in my first post, it's taken me 7-1/2 months to drive 2.5k miles.
With the full-synth. oil, I'm curious-- how often should I be changing the oil?

Again, I really appreciate all your responses. They've been really helpful.

 

i wouldnt trust any filter for a full 10k miles but that may just be me.

id say every 5k miles or 6 months is plenty frequently

 

That's what I was thinking too. My problem of course is that I don't drive very far-- 10 miles rt daily, so 6 months for me is still less than 3k.

 

Just replace the oil every 5000 miles and replace the filter as well.

The reason for replacing the oil with a time line is mainly because people like to idle their engine a lot. I only put on 4500 miles last year and over 2000 miles of that where hard core towing in 100 degree F weather. I still only replaced it because it was in there a year and because it was dark, besides I had all the stuff out already and 4500 miles was close enough.

Now I would replace it after 1 year with low mileage and run time just to get any acids out that could be in there, but 5000 mile intervals for the regular and towing crowd should be plenty sufficient. Get rid of the Fram filters and go with Bosch or Purolator filter......IMHO