LitGrandPa

Hey All,

New member here. Is getting it worth it as opposed to a standard oil change? Mind you my 2008 Lexus ES 350 has 97,000 miles on it now and is my daily driver. Meineke is doing a $29.99 Synthetic oil change that include tire check, rotation, topped off fluids, and a 23 point inspection. Appreciate your comments. Thanks.

jagtoes

Sounds to good to be true. My bet is they will try to stick you for repairs discovered by the 23 point inspection. Syn. oil and a filter cost more to purchase at any auto store. So even at their price they may break even so where would they make their profit. Also find out what brand oil and filter they are going to use. If you get it done tell them that anything that they find during the inspection you'll get done by your mechanic. Watch for their reaction.

ThumperPup

thats a goodprice for synthetic oil change

but personaly myself i just go to the cheapest place for oil changes i don't show much loytaly for oil change service i just go whereever i find that has it for 30 after taxes or under
because i change every 2 to 3 months with my driving habbits i just get dyno oil i have never burned one drop of oil in a 5k service between services
and thats in my 2007 with 170k

Sammidog

The way I understand it is Lexus still says change oil every 5000 mi no matter what oil you use. I'm 50 years old and I've owned six cars in my life. I use regular old Valvoline in my cars and regular Shell Rotella T in my trucks. Most of my cars had over 150,000 miles and both trucks had over 200,000 miles. I just don't see the point in the extra dollars.

chuyrobles

There is a difference between synthetic blend and full synthetic. The blend will be cheaper. An oil analysis will help determine how many miles you can go between oil changes on a given oil type. I use Mobil One Extended full synthetic and can go up to 13K. I have been changing it at 10k. Use synthetic oil filters, usually Wix XP and Mobil One. No oil burning yet.

ESh

I'm running on M1 0W20 but I think that oil is too thin for this engine and I'm switching on GC 0W30. No oil burn yet.

SamSpade

I've ran synthetics exclusively since I bought the car used in July. The manual had the service records and the original owner had always used the Valvoline instant Oil Change and their printout showed me that they had started it on synthetics, so I played a safe right, and stuck with it. Is it better? Probably, only because the synthetics don't tend to break down as rapidly, but then again, you kinda have to sort through the weeds on this one, do some research, read the thermodynamic long term comparisons and then compare your driving profile to those metrics.

Blue Moose Engineering

Your original question was, is it worth it, and I'm not sure that there is any conclusive answer. Synthetic oil is just conventional oil with additives that may or may not actually help you. I'm sure at the microscopic level this makes a difference, but will it impact the longevity and driveability of the car?

Probably not, and definitely not nearly as much as the WAY you drive the car, the climate you live in, and a dozen other factors.

mrh1965

There are some very good semi-synths. From several years of occasional perusing of used oil analysis' over at BITOG, the Motorcraft (Ford) always struck me as a great value, for example. You should be able to extend your OCI to 7,000 - 7,500 very safely on the semi.

I'm using full synth only because I planned on going a full year between changes. The oil was changed last May and I have only put about 5,000 miles on the car since then. Conventional would probably have been totally fine. We worry about our oil too much.

(By the way, I think Jiffy Lube charged $60 for that oil change. My BMW dealer had been charging me $165 for oil changes, so $60 seemed pretty cheap!!)

I do miss the days of doing my own; nothing like getting under the hood and getting to know your vehicle a little bit. Was changing the oil on one of my trucks once, many years ago, and noticed the battery clamp was 80% gone, just eaten away. Couldn't believe it was still attached the the post. A $5 replacement prevented me from getting stuck God-knows-where.

Paul3637

They are not doing a synthetic oil change at that price. As you said in the title ..... it's synthetic blend and others are correct .... synthetic blend is little or no different than regular oil. At that price, are they putting in a full 6 quarts not the standard 5? And I'd be concerned about what kind of filter they are using ..... or if they are even changing it at all. Watch them do it because the cartridge oil filter change is WAY more complex than the standard "spin on" filters on most cars.

Use 5W30 or 0W30. I use Mobil1 5W30, genuine Toyota filter, change at 7,500 miels.