I have kind of a stupid question but its not about my camaro. I have a 2003 ford explorer and the dealership i bought it from threw in free oil changes for as long as i own my car. Well Saturday I went into the dealership to get my oil changed and they said it dosent have to be changed every 3000 miles any more because they use synthetic and its good till 5000. Hopefully there not giving me a load of crap but how do you tell regular oil from synthetic ??

 

Other than by chemical analysis, by the bottle it comes from.

5000 miles should be good even for conventional petroleum oil, unless you use the vehicle under severe conditions.

I change mine 1 year or 25k miles, whichever comes first. AMSOIL products.

 

You should be fine, I wouldn't worry about it.

What you NEED to worry about in those Explorers is the transmission & t-case. Check your fluid constantly and make sure it's clean at all times. I work at Aamco and Ford Explorer's are almost the only vehicles we get regularly that are less than 4 or 5 years old. Everything else's transmission seems to make it at least that long...

 

Ya it sucks ford didnt even put a tranny dipstick in it. I cant even check fluid unless I go under the truck and take the plug out of the side of the tranny and see if the fluid is at the right level.
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I just want ed to make sure since he said that my last oil change was the synthetic and I am at 3000 miles now. I checked the oil and its getting to be pretty black thats why I asked.

 

I have been running synthetic blend in both of my Camaro's for the last two years. I love it and will not go back the other way. I still change mine every 3,000 to 3,500 miles out of habit and respect for my engine and my wallet. If the dipstick oil feels gritty...change it, no matter if it is synthetic or petrolium.