I have a caravan with 79000 miles on it. I am wondering what the dogde Tech's and Mechanics think about switching to synthetic oils. I have heard lately that it is ok to switch to a full synthetic oil but one should never switch back to regular oil as it would have a negative effect on seals. I hadn't heard this before. so is it ok after this many miles to make the switch and if I do is it ever ok to switch back? Or maybe I ought to go with a High Milage Blend of conventional and synthetic oils?

I look forward to your thoughts on this.

 

I'm not going to lead you to believe that I know the chemical additive compounds of every oil on the shelf, because I don't. I need that space in my brain for more important things. I can just advise you NOT to buy the cheap crap and NOT to waste your $$$ on synthetic. I can hardly remember a time when someone's engine failed because of what oil they used. It was always no oil or REALLY old oil.

Valvoline HM is pretty good. Of the 4 different HM brands i've used, I find that my idle noise and startup noise is significantly lower with the Valvoline. I use it in my '97 truck and my '03 T&C Minivan. I tried synthetic when the engine hit about 50K and found that it eats that stuff up. If it doesn't require synthetic, there's no reason to use it.

At 79K you're just getting it broken in (:

Some of "Chrysler's" new stuff coming out DOES require synthetic. As of now anything with Multi-air and Turbos.

 

Ok, I was just wondering if the perception on synthetics had changed. I bought a Chevy S10 new in 2000 put 500 miles on factory oil drained it, and put Quakerstate Full Synthetic in it ever since then, and changed it and the filter about every 6 to 8 thousand miles. I Sold that truck last December, 13 years later, with 198,000 miles on it and it never burned a drop of oil or made even a ticking noise. Oil level stayed right were it started everytime. I did however start to drip a little from the rear main at about 180,000 but not much mind you.

 

I'm also not going to pretend to be an expert but I'll share my experience. I started putting Valvoline full synthetic on my '08 GC at around 60k. Not long after I started leaking oil from the oil pan gasket. My dealership replaced both the oil pan gasket and a crank seal (forgot which one) and as part of the service they replaced the oil with Mopar conventional. Ever since then I've used Valvoline High Mileage and had no issues with leaks.

I put synthetic in my '95 Honda (over 200k miles) for a couple of oil change cycles as well. I ended up getting oil leaks out of the distributor and spark plug tubes and had to replace a few gaskets/seals there. I have since moved to Valvoline High Mileage on that car and had no issues.

The owner's manual of my GC says that synthetic is "acceptable" or some wording along those lines. I interpret that to mean that the manufacturer recommends conventional. I agree that if you don't absolutely need to use synthetic and if you are good about changing your oil at the manufacturer-recommended interval don't waste your money.