Switch from Synthetic oil to Mineral oil...

**Howard Roark** · December 14th, 2007 01:56 PM

I have a six month old car that has synthetic oil. I want to change to mineral oil because I assume its better to change oil every 5th kms rather than every 10t kms. Its quite cheaper too.

It confuses me because I heard one of the T*Y*T# service advisors say that once you have synthetic oil, you cant change back to mineral oil...

Is it true or a misconception? Or is it just heresays and no basis for such statements?

Does anyone tried switching from synth to mineral? Any difference in performance?

TIA!

**meledson** · December 14th, 2007 02:22 PM

I have asked that question before I switched to Synthetic. The answer was "once you use synthetic, di ka na babalik sa mineral".

**artpogi** · December 14th, 2007 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by Howard Roark

I have a six month old car that has synthetic oil. I want to change to mineral oil because I assume its better to change oil every 5th kms rather than every 10t kms. Its quite cheaper too.

It confuses me because I heard one of the T*Y*T# service advisors say that once you have synthetic oil, you cant change back to mineral oil...

Is it true or a misconception? Or is it just heresays and no basis for such statements?

Does anyone tried switching from synth to mineral? Any difference in performance?

TIA!

some years ago ginawa ko change ng oil eh synthetic-mineral-synthetic-mineral and okay naman, wala naman masama nangyari sa engine, now puro mineral na lang basta sinusunod ko lang yung 5K change oil interval. My car is 10 years old and still doing fine.

As for the performance difference, sa totoo lang wala naman ako masyado naramdaman, kung meron man, insignificant para sa akin.

**zero** · December 14th, 2007 02:50 PM

the problem you may encounter is your engine might not be able to cope with the degradation in lubrication. well probably, your engine needs some preparation by using flushing oil. pero having a new car, i'll go with the synthetic oil and follow the periodic change oil schedule.

**Mile2** · December 14th, 2007 02:56 PM

I recently switch back to mineral oil from fully synthetic and so far no bad effect.

I had my PMS at Toyota Makati and when I said I wanted to switch back to mineral oil, all the SA told me was they don't use chemical based flushing and will have to use mineral oil to flush the engine. Mine was a 2.0 VVTI engine that uses 6 liters oil plus the mineral oil flushing of 5 liters.

**meledson** · December 14th, 2007 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by Mile2

I recently switch back to mineral oil from fully synthetic and so far no bad effect.

I had my PMS at Toyota Makati and when I said I wanted to switch back to mineral oil, all the SA told me was they don't use chemical based flushing and will have to use mineral oil to flush the engine. Mine was a 2.0 VVTI engine that uses 6 liters oil plus the mineral oil flushing of 5 liters.

Any effect on engine performance? (switching back to mineral oil from synthetic)

**Mile2** · December 14th, 2007 04:11 PM

Not much, the only noticeable effect was that engine on Fully Synthetic is much quiet, mas malabnaw kasi yung fully synthetic kaya mas tahimik yung makina.

If you have the bucks why not go fully synthetic, pero mas madumi naman ang oil at the end of every 10K.

**IMm29** · December 14th, 2007 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by Howard Roark

I have a six month old car that has synthetic oil. I want to change to mineral oil because I assume its better to change oil every 5th kms rather than every 10t kms. Its quite cheaper too.

It confuses me because I heard one of the T*Y*T# service advisors say that once you have synthetic oil, you cant change back to mineral oil...

Is it true or a misconception? Or is it just heresays and no basis for such statements?

Does anyone tried switching from synth to mineral? Any difference in performance?

TIA!

Well, like what meledson said, "once you use synthetic, di ka na babalik sa mineral". But that's not because you can't, but maybe coz you won't want to, considering the performance benefits and assuming the price of synthetic is ok with you.

But for us mortals, switching to mineral from sythetic is ok. You can do it without harming your engine, for as long as you get mineral oil that meets the engine's requirements (i.e. specified viscosity, classification - SJ, SL or SM, diesel or gas).

Bear in mind though, that mineral oil won't perform as well as synthetic oil over the long haul. For instance, responsiveness with mineral oil might be good for the first 1000 kms, and not as good for the next 4000 kms, unlike synthetic which is supposed to be good till 5000 to 10000 kms.

You can switch directly from synthetic to mineral. Chances are your engine is still reaping the benefits of the synthetic oil so changing into mineral doesn't need "cleaning" or flushing. Switching the other way around though isn't also gonna be that problematic. The synthetic oil might just be dirtier, but then the filter is supposed to take care of that.

I've switched from synthetic to mineral to synthetic time and again and used different viscosities in the process on my 5 and 3 year old cars. And I don't baby them when I drive. So far, so good.

Go with the oil that works for you and your budget. Get synthetic if you can afford it, and change it as per the recommended casa interval as per the manual, if you can afford it. Otherwise, get mineral and change it as often as you can afford it.

**Howard Roark** · December 14th, 2007 04:56 PM

Originally Posted by Mile2

I recently switch back to mineral oil from fully synthetic and so far no bad effect.

I had my PMS at Toyota Makati and when I said I wanted to switch back to mineral oil, all the SA told me was they don't use chemical based flushing and will have to use mineral oil to flush the engine. Mine was a 2.0 VVTI engine that uses 6 liters oil plus the mineral oil flushing of 5 liters.

Do I really need to have the engine flushed? I read somewhere here in the forums that its not needed.. Mine has 9t kms, I might change my oil earlier than the scheduled pms, to address some problems on engine pinging...

**Howard Roark** · December 14th, 2007 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by zero

the problem you may encounter is your engine might not be able to cope with the degradation in lubrication. well probably, your engine needs some preparation by using flushing oil. pero having a new car, i'll go with the synthetic oil and follow the periodic change oil schedule.

Medyo mahal kasi ang synth oil... I am opting for mineral to cut costs and assure that my engine has new oil every 5k, rather than wait for the usual 10k for the synthetics. Comparatively, medyo mura pa rin kahit mas mataas ang labor charges...

Though its not environment friendly (mas maraming used oil ang natatapon, at di natin alam kung disposed properly)