I purchased a brand new 2013 JKS this past May and upon the advise of a shop tech didn't switch the oil over to synthetic on my first change. I was told that swapping over too soon and cause leakage due to seals not being broken in and the synthetic oils for lack of a better term bing slipperier.

Is it worth swapping my JKS over to synthetic oil? If so, when is the best time to do it? I'm not terribly hard on my engine, and I'd be lying if I said I hit more than the occasional trail (at least at the moment) and I don't put huge highway milage on at all.

Thanks!
*Jeep Wave*

 

I swaped mine out at 2k. Changed factory fill at 500 then ran my free oil change till 2k then went to full synth.

 

I'd say it's really up to you. I've heard the same about not switching over "too early," but have yet to see anything other than wives' tales to back that up, so I just switched mine to Mobil 1 5W30 today. I'm at 1500 miles.

If you want to do it, I'd say go for it.

 

49,000 k on mine. Always use dino and never had an issue.

 

have you considered a semi syn? I've been running a semi syn since the first oil change. I knew i'd be keeping her around awhile 135,000 + miles no issues. i'd recommend regular or semi. most jeeps will never really fully utilize a full syn anyways to get the benefits. jeeps are not race cars.

Older engines with high mileage tend to use up fully synthetic oils & burn them off, so can need regular top-ups. That's why semi-synthetic is more suitable for them.

 

I've heard mixed thoughts on the idea of leaving the 'factory' oil in for the 'break-in period'...some say that's good for the seals, some say the factory installed oil has particles and radiation??? in it from testing and it should be removed asap. In my '13 JK, I left it in for about 2000 miles, (not entirely intentional, I had a lot going on) and switched to full synthetic. She's now just over 6000 miles, and so far there are no issues. I check regularly and there is no leakage what-so-ever. I have the intelligent system that tells me when my oil needs changed, and so far not a peep from it.

As for which oil you should use, I think it comes down mostly to personal preference and what you're most comfortable with. If you don't beat on your engine, and you perform regular thorough maintenance and take car of your Jeep, conventional oil should be just fine. Synthetic can give you more time between changes and is arguably more ideally suited in certain applications, but some people use it as an excuse to be more lax with maintenance and care. (But you don't sound like that type of person.) Synthetic can be more expensive depending on the brand you choose, which in effect balances out the mileage/cost ratio, but if you choose Schaeffers, for example, it can even be more cost effective than conventional given the increased mileage between changes being that Schaeffers is less expensive than, say, Mobil 1. But choosing between brands is also quite often a very personal and strong-opinioned thing. I know people who swear by every major brand and can't be swayed. IMHO, be well-informed, and if you trust one and are happy with it, use it.

 

Switching a new car to synthetic is not a problem at all for the seals. Its switching a 150k motor from dino oil to synthetic that will matter. Sometimes the lighter more viscus oil will find the cracks in worn out seals, and all of a sudden your valve cover is pouring out oil.

 

It isn't going to hurt anything to wait until a couple thousand miles to change the oil to synthetic. That's what I've always done, and I've been running synthetics with good results since before you could even find it. Having said that, let me add that I always change the oil at 500 miles. And the oil I drain looks like it has 100K miles on it. Except in the JK. First time I ever changed engine oil and it came out clear and clean looking. So, I also think if you prefer to swap to synth early, it won't hurt a thing. If you start having problems with engine oil consumption .... well, you said you already know about that. Happened to a friend of mine with an engine he'd rebuilt that had been running synthetic forever. Rings would not seat, which suggested to him that the synthetic oils do something to the block that lasts when dino is swapped in. Maybe Chrysler builds better motors--he just blueprints his.

 

My hi performance brand new Corvette came from the factory with Mobil 1.... There is only one real real break in in oil and no US car comes with it. It is the good old non detergent oil. A gas engine is basically broke in with very first few hours on the motor. No need to worry about when you change over to a much superior oil..... Problem with using non detergent oil as a break in oil, no one will change it soon enough and after 25 hours is will not be so good........

 

I am a machinist by trade and have run million dollar machines to keep tolerances by a microns. Because of that machines come from the factory with much tighter tolerances than ever before. Even with that fact I normally recommend to friends and family to go 5,000 to 10,000 miles before switching. I will use rings and cylinder as an example but goes for all the parts of the motor. If you to look at the piston rings against the cylinder wall closely you will see gaps. By running Dino oil the parts start to mate. These gaps disappear. After this breaking period the wear will slow down even with Dino oil. The reason I suggest 10,000 miles is because the metals we use are also better and reduce wear. There are some manufacturers that say 10,000 is their magic number for true breakin (Honda engineer told me). I have talked to some Jeep employees who state somewhere over 5000.