from the motor oil bible

Opinions vary greatly regarding how long you should allow your new vehicle to "break in" before switching to synthetic oil. In fact, there are those who don't think a break in is necessary at all. So who do you believe? I recommended that a gas engine be operated up to the first regularly scheduled oil change at 3 to 5,000 miles before making the switch. Diesels should be operated to 10 or 20,000 miles before making the switch. However, some manufacturers recommend an oil change well before that. It's not uncommon for a manufacturer to recommend a first change at 500 to 1,000 miles. That's not what I mean when I refer to the "first regularly scheduled oil change". You should change your oil at about 1,000 miles just to get out the metal shavings that show up in your oil as the engine breaks in. But, you should keep using petroleum oil until about 3,000 to 5,000 miles before switching to synthetic (or 10 to 20,000 on a diesel). I recommend this for a couple of reasons. First, during the initial break-in, your rings are still in the process of seating properly. If the rings are not seated properly before making the switch to synthetic, you'll have oil blowing by the rings into the combustion chamber. This will cause significant oil consumption, which can be very costly when using a synthetic oil. In addition, it will decrease engine performance since your engine is not designed to burn oil for power. Using petroleum oil during this break in period allows the rings to seat because a certain amount of "wear" is necessary for this process to complete. Because synthetic oils protect against wear so much better than petroleum oils, the "break-in" period can be extended indefinitely if the switch is made too early. The second reason for waiting to make the switch would be that new engines and engine components generate high wear metals in the first few thousand miles. There is also debris left in the engine from machining and assembly. If you make the switch to synthetic to early, you risk allowing these wear metals to collect and circulate throughout the crankcase in an expensive synthetic motor oil. If you have decided to use extended drains, this could be a long time and could end up causing even more wear to occur. By operating the vehicle with petroleum oil until its first regularly scheduled change, these wear metals and manufacturing debris collect in the oil and then are removed from the crankcase when the oil is drained. The result is a much cleaner environment for the synthetic oil to operate in. Of course, machining processes are improving all the time and new techniques are making it possible for synthetics to be run directly from the factory. In fact, GM has been running Mobil 1 synthetic in all of their new corvettes straight from the factory since the mid to late 90's. In speaking with a very knowledgeable service tech from a GM dealership I was informed that GM intends on using Mobil 1 straight from the factory in all of their automobiles within only a year or two. Not only that, but on most new GM trucks, the company will be shipping with Mobil 1 in the crankcase and recommending 10,000 to 20,000 mile oil drain intervals - I am told. They've even begun running vehicles with an oil life monitoring system to help drivers decide when it's really time to change their oil. This system has its merits, but I'll talk about it's potential drawbacks in a moment. There is one other reason for not moving to synthetics right away (if not already done by the factory). If there are any major defects in the assembly or workmanship of the engine components, hopefully they will show up within the first few thousand miles. Then they may be corrected before installing the more expensive synthetic motor oil. Occasionally, re-machined components in rebuilt engines can be mismatched. Issues such as this would be noticed in a relatively short period of time. These problems should be corrected before the introduction of an expensive synthetic to the system.

 

Again, this is someone's opinion. You'll find other opinions that offer a different viewpoint. I honestly don't believe there's a right or wrong way to do this as long as you use the correct spec oil for your application. Read the various opinions and do what makes sense to you.

 

I started using Mobil 1 at the first oil change @ 1K on my Mazda. I'm now at approx. 22K and no oil leaks or oil loss. I also did the same on the Acura I owned prior to the Mazda and no problems either. My viewpoint on this is subject: as long as you use the correct spec oil for the vehicle and change it at the proper intervals, you can't go wrong. Do whatever works for you. If you feel more comfortable with dino until 5K, do it and be happy.
[/b][/quote]

Well the price on the Dino is much more attractive as well. Anyway I agree to each his own..

 

Well the price on the Dino is much more attractive as well. Anyway I agree to each his own..
[/b][/quote]

That's true and it's not like dino is going to ruin the engine. Synth just gives you a little extra protection but it comes at a price.