My new crate 350 has 1500 miles on it. Is it safe to switch to synthetic oil now or should I wait a little longer? Suggestions please.

 

shouldn't hurt to run synthetic. when i do an engine i start it on 30w dino change it after 30 minutes with 30w dino and again at 500 still with 30w dino and than go to my regular oil change intervals of 3000 miles, so if it were mine it wouldn't get synthetic till 3000 miles.

 

Cool, thanks.

 

ive always wondered why you dont run synthetic while breaking an engine in, but then it is better to run synthetic once the engine is broken in?

 

I never ran syn. in any motor I had till I built my 355, like ede said, I broke it in on straight weight tooker around the block a few times, changed again, drove the **** out of it cause this was Fri. morning and I had a race coming up the next weekend. Changed it before the race with more straight weight, then after coming home, started running Mobil 1 10-30 synthetic. I usually change the oil after a weekend race, just cause it's cheap and gives me a reason to get in the garage, but with the synthetic, I raced the rest of the season on it without changing and also seen a little street time, that was 4 months ago and the stuff still looks like it did when it came outta the bottle, maybe my short block is too tight, but damn this stuff is clean and it's seen alot of abuse.
Actually, not getting lazy with the 355, just "looking" for an excuse to build another motor,-wife asks "what's wrong with the one you have now?" Unless they're Tom boy, they'll never understand

 

Well I know it isn't good to use synthetic on a new motor because it won't let the motor get seated properly. That is why you need to use regular oil and let it get good and set properly and then maybe use synthetic but I am just not sure how long to use regular oil.

 

is it alright to switch to synthetic on a motor that has seen 130,000 of the non-synthetic stuff? i remember hearing something like that a while ago.

 

on an older motor, you take the chance of dealing with rings that don't seal well, gaskets that don't seal like they used too; synthetic is a little thinner and more $$$, so if your motor uses or leaks, I would'nt even bother cause it's gonna get expensive. If it don't than your not gonna hurt anything by switching.

 

The idea that you couldn't switch to synthetic after using conventional is one of those old shadetree mechanic myths.
Some people would say that your engine would instantaneously blow up, or that it was only OK if you did an engine flush at the same time.
Both of these are incorrect. You can change back and forth at any time.
I agree with staying away from synthetic until the rings are seated, tho.