Im thinking of switching from conventional to synthetic. I have 125k miles or almost 200k KM... Is it safe to switch over?... My main concern is avoiding leaks.

 

Our engines appear to tolerate it - haven't heard of any weird seal leaks or excessive consumption or anything. Can't say that about all makes of cars.

 

Well thats good news!

 

Anyone else have opinions on this?

 

I have always run synthetic oils in all of my HP cars. NO PROBLEMS. I do know that some seal material is not compatible with synthetic oil and it will turn into a leak but I think genuine and good quality aftermarket seals are made of Viton and resistant to the problem. I am stunned if you drive an EVO that you are not running synthetic oil. This can become a debate amongst many synthetic verses mineral but I have seen too many engine failures caused by extended oil changes with mineral oil.

 

Ive ran synthetic for years now. Never had an issue.

I would recommend running some seafoam in the engine for a few dozen miles before the oil change though. I have no proven reason for this. But after doing it a few times I feel like my oil comes out cleaner looking after several changes than it use to. Use to come out completely black, now it comes out still showing some color.

I also switched to a magnetic oil drain plug (from Blox) so that it catches any metal fragments that might be floating around in your oil. I wasnt expecting to find much but I was very surprised when I pulled the plug back out for the first time it was covered in microscopic metal shavings. After a few changes it started coming out with less and less. But it is definitely worth the money IMO.

 

I switched to synthetic when I bought the car with around 125,000km...

 

I switched to mobile 1 synthetic around 52,000 miles and am at about 93,000, haven't had one problem.

@bakuro117 Do you have a link to this drain plug??

 

Sure do.

Here you go!

 

Thanks for the input guys..Im still thinking about it, alot of people are telling me not too and that it wont really benefit my car cuz i have almost 200k KM

 

I would say with an engine with that many miles to not change what it is used to. Just stick with regular Dino oil. Many cars will go hundreds of thousands of miles on non synthetic oil.

 

One of the major benefits of synthetic oil is its resistance to oxidation which ends up blocking oil strainers and clogging the oil passages in a turbo. I agree there have been may tests done proving mineral oil will do the job but as we push towards the extremes why not provided that extra protection with synthetic oil. Cheap insurance.

 

Our Ralliarts aren't turbo though. I agree synthetics in a turbo high hp engine are a must. I run synthetic in mine but made the switch at 18,000 miles.

 

Yeah i wish i did it earlier.. Its too late to run it now

 

The only issue you face at that mileage is if your gaskets and seals are being held together by gunk formed from using dino oil. Switching to synthetic has many advantages. I dont think your going to hurt anything switching now. Ive known a few mitsu people who switched to synthetic at high miles and never had a problem. If you do its because it is cleaning gunk out of the engine thats sealing up a bad/worn out gasket.

Ive ran synthetic in my RA (~290,000km) the Eclipse (~240,000km), a friend's Eclipse (~160,000km), a friend's Mirage (~195,000km), and a friend's Evo (~145,000km), my fiance's 2.0l beetle (~200,000) and her 1.8l turbo beetle (~180,000km) and never heard any of them complain of leaks. Do what you want. But IMO its better for the engine and provides many benefits over the conventional stuff.