Oil Change Question

[ucanrespond2me]

I purchased a 2009 Charger in October 2009.  Synthetic oil was used for the first and second oil changes.  The synthetic oil changes are expensive so I am thinking about changing back to "regular" or a synthetic blend.  Do you know if this will cause any damage on my engine if I switch to a lower grade of oil?  Thanks

[68X426]

Conventional oil is not lower grade, it's just different chemically. If cost is the only issue, you won't save money because you'll be changing the oil more often with conventional.

If you really want to save money on the oil, don't ever change the oil. 

Check out http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/cms/

My opinion: no damage caused by the type of oil. Damage is caused by driving habits, dirty oil, dirty filter, no changes. Stick with what the manufacturer recommends.

[ODZKing]

My wife has a 03 Stratus R/T.  She was doing a lot of traveling for work for a while and was using synthetic.  That is done and we've gone back to the regular oil now with no issues.
However IMHO, I would never let my oil go more than 3000 miles anyway, synthetic or not.  I feel the one of the reasons to change the oil is the keep the engine clean from grit.  So in that case (for me) synthetic is a waste of $$.  But that's me.

[ucanrespond2me]

Thanks for the responses.  The last vendor who changed my oil recommended not going over 3,000 miles regardless of what oil I used.  However he suggested that I check to "be sure" that the switch back to conventional oil wouldn't cause long term damage to the engine.

[ITSA426]

I'm not looking at the manual but isn't the factory '09 recommendation about twice that?  I know oil changes are the cheapest form of engine protection but I'm starting to think a lot of guys are just selling oil changes to get you in the door.  I like to have the car looked at by another set of eyes but I hate to waste oil life.  I can't believe a quality oil filter on a good, clean engine is worn out at 3,000 miles, or that the additives have all quit or evaporated out by then.  I think synthetic oils are required to be compatible with other automotive oils.