i like yo use castrol syntec it has such a cool shaped bottle.lol.and really cool comercials.lol.and at my walmart thay have 5qrt jugs for 20$ and at at a the part stores they have 4qrts for 25$ so thats what i do

 

thats what i usually do also pipeking but with a deal like that i couldnt pass it up its supposedly a better oil?....seems to run great i got this ear when i comes to my motor runnin with a fresh oil change and when it needs to be done....call me weird but its just a diff purrrr.....jay

 

I was actually thinking about making the switch to synthetic oil, so I might try to find a deal like that around me, don't know of any advance auto stores around here though. When you go to a shop and ask for an oil change, can you have them use synthetic instead or do they only use conventional?

BTW how often should you change out the tranny fluid?

 

Does anyone here use Z-max? Is that stuff any good?

 

Most shops will use conventional by default, but if you ask for synthetic, they'll do it, but charge you three times as much. I've seen some places that charge $25 or $30 for an oil change charge you $80+ for oil change with synthetic.

The best way, and cheapest, is to change it yourself.

That varies. I've been watching mine since I bought the truck last September, the transmission fluid is still nice and red. No burnt smell, no signs of problems, and I never tow anything (yet). Therefore, I haven't touched my tranny fluid.

Some change it almost as often as they change their oil. Some change it once or twice a year. Depends on how much strain you put on it. But one thing is for sure, when you do change it, use only ATF+4.

 

walmart has the 5 quart jugs for about $23 bux... plus about $5 a filter your pretty close to the $28 mark. I just bought 6 quarts of royal purple there to try out... $6.50 or so a quart. so far (its in the commuter car) I like it.

 

Yeah I was thinking a jug wasn't too bad priced at Walmart but couldn't remember. As for RP I run it in all of my cars and like it fairly well. The only downside I see to it is that it's expensive.

 

Thanks jason. I'll check out how much I could get a case and filter for and compare it to how much it would be if they were to do it. I want to go down and talk to them about gear work anyway so I can do it then.

 

Ripto,

If you've always run dino oil, I'd suggest you do this before you run syn:
Run one more run on 4 qts dino oil and 1 qt Marvels Mystery Oil to desludge the engine before you run the syn. I ran Dino for 60k or so before I switched to syn and when I did, the Syn pulled all the sludge out and polluted the oil something fierce. MMO will do the same thing, but it's much cheaper. You can then run a standard syn for 5K or so with no problems.

 

Found a fantastic dealat Advance Auto on Royal Purple (they are running the 5 Qt. Jug of Mobil 1 and filter deal also), but it's only on 1 grade and probably not one you'd use...

https://dodgeforum.com/m_1309472/tm.htm


As far as the switch over from dino oil to synthetic, I've always done an oil change from the dino oil to a 50/50 blend product for 3k miles, then went to a full synthetic for the next change, usually Mobil 1 and changed it every 5k thereafter. However I've recently experienced a very good mpg gain in my Grand Cherokee (bought with 61k on it) by putting Royal Purple in the engine and both diffs after using the blend for the first change. So I decided to switch from Mobil 1 to RP in the truck to see if lightning could strike twice. I've also decided to go to 6k between changes with the RP in both vehicles, which makes maintenance easier for me as I rotate the tires every 6k and can now do it all at once...