Nope, not permanent. But, nothing is, right?

The ATF doesn't have to be synthetic, and neither does the oil that'll be in there for 200 miles.

I suppose you could leave the old filter on there. You wouldn't be saving that much money, though. Just buy two.

John B.

I'd say you're pretty much right on there, Ray.

Not only does synthetic oil tend to last longer, they also tend to resist break down in high heat better.

"Bad example:" I had a four cylinder car I was using as a DD about 20 years ago. It was August in Phoenix, during the afternoon, when I decided to go get some fast food. I was hemmed in the drive-through by fairly tall curbs with cars both in front and in back of me when the radiator burst, instantly losing all the coolant. I was forced to keep it running to make it through the lane, and while this waiting was going on, the car disabled the a/c and went into high idle mode. I was so ticked off (plus I'd only paid $600 for the car) that I decided to drive the thing the 1.75 miles back home. By the time I got to my street, I couldn't even give it gas in first gear or it would start detonating/pinging like crazy. I parked in my driveway and walked inside, knowing I'd just toasted that engine. I later observed that it had gotten so hot that the engine was now super clean, as all the residue had been self-cleaning-oven baked off. When it had cooled overnight, I started it. It still ran, so I got another radiator and changed the oil/filter. Drove it for another 2 years until I sold it. Engine oil? Mobil 1 full synthetic. Did I get very lucky? Yes, of course. Did the oil help? Maybe, maybe not, but it didn't hurt.

John B.

I had a few engines break for reasons not related to oil failures. What I noticed was the broken parts were always a lot cleaner on the motors that ran synthetic. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/oink.gif" alt="" />

Seriously, I saw a lot less deposits around the piston rings. No noticeable wear differences, but defiantly cleaner.

Kevin

Thanks for all your responses guys, its much appreciated...ok last question, i promise (hopefully)

Will doing this ATF thing in the oil, if i have to do it more then one time...for example if i do this tomm and then a year and a half later my valve guide seals get leaky again, will it be bad (whatever that means)?

No, it will not be bad.

John B.

So after doing this oil change im noticing that my montero seems to be smoking a bit more after take off. Come to think of it i believe my smoking started last year when i first stated using full synthetic.

I remember someone saying this, i think...full synthetic has a thinner viscosity and can have an easier time getting past the valve guide seals???

EDIT: i also decided not to go the atf route this time around, next oil change i will do that.

I wonder if the higher end synthetics have better detergents which may have cleaned up some sludge that may have prevented some oil from seeping through the seals? If so, it could explain why you're now seeing symptoms of the infamous valve guide seal issues.

It could also simply be coincidental failure of the seals around the time you decided to use synthetic oil.

In either case, if it were me, I'd simply look to change the seals as soon as I could and continue using the best possible oil I could afford. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

as i say in almost every post, i really dont have any mechanical gifts at all, i can handle an oil change, maybe some brake pads...i sure as hack cant handle 24 valve guide seals, no matter how detailed a guide i have. I would need someone to help me with something so involved. Of course its something i would love to do, i really want to learn

Says the man with a smoking truck. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/ignore.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" />

I read that the reason synth leaks more is due to molecule size. In synth, all the molecules are the same size. In dino, the molecules are all different sizes. They sort of tangle up, so it leaks more. It doesn't make a great deal of sense to me, but there's lots of things that act like that lately...