Changing to synthetic oil?

[jimbob4207]

Would there be any problems in changing to synthetic oil in my 95 Discovery with 175k miles? There are no oil leaks.It's always had regular oil.
I have read that because the engine does run hot the synthetic can help. We drive it about 15 miles daily; no heavy highway miles.
Thanks

[jhmover]

If it runs hot find out why and fix it. Synthetic oil isn't going to make enough difference to cure it. Sooner or later it will get worse then you'll have a cooked engine.

[Paul Grant]

When you say the engine runs hot, what exactly do you mean. If your basing your claim on what the gauge on your dash is reading , I must warn you that they are extremely unreliable. If you think the engine is running hot invest in a good temperature gauge. Once you have an accurate reading you can begin to access what's really going on. In the meanwhile, I don't think that changing to synthetic is really going to address any high temperature problems that may or may not exist.

[jimbob4207]

The temp gauge stays in the middle of the range but the entire engine compartment just seems very hot if I open the hood and check things. Is that normal?
Actually the vehicle runs ok considering the miles on it. We just are using it on a more regular basis and I wanted to know if the synthetic oil would be of benefit.

[Paul Grant]

My feeling is that you're probably fine. However, if you really what to know exactly how hot your engine is really running, the best way is to install a quality temperature gauge. The one that came with your Rover was never all that dependable and is even less so now that it's twelve years old.

[Paul Grant]

By the way, synthetic oil definitely has its advantages, they just need to be weighed against the increased cost.

[jimbob4207]

Thanks for the input.

[96owner]

is there realy a reson to not switch to synthetic oil. i dont see how it could do harm to the engin. and your disco is probly not running hot. if i try to open to hood after running it i might as well just be opening an oven. my truck also runs realy loud. but its aways bin like that. i switched over to synthetic around 180k and the onlt draw back would be that you can never put in anything but synthetic from that point on right? I could be wrong i this is my way of asking

[Searcaigh]

Read This

http://www.carbibles.com/engineoil_bible.html

[desertdisco]

Originally Posted by Searcaigh

Read This

Car Bibles : The Engine Oil Bible

Talk about INFORMED!! I am now an oil guru. Thanks for the link.

[99discovery1sd]

i switched to synthetic at 80,000 with no leaks , eversince i have a puddle under the truck daily