Safe to go to synthetic oil in my low miles engine?

[Brad5301]

As mentioned in other posts i made, my car has 36,000 miles on it. Rule of thumb to change to synthetic has been to not do it on a high mileage engine. While mine is low, i have a suspicion this ca4 sat dormant for a l9n* time before being rehabbed with fresh pain5 and interior.

Havent noticed any significant oil dripping on this car, but wondering if the synthetic may open up some, as that is the risk of high mileage engines? Actually going to use a synthetic blend to be specific.

 

[toolmanmike]

Hydraulic flat tapper cam? I would stay with standard oil with zddp. 1000+ppm.

 

[slantsixdan]

"Synthetic blend" is a silly waste of money. Keep in mind that today's conventional (non-synth) oils are massively better than what was available when the Slant-6 was a current/recent engine, and these engines lasted an unusually long time even with the crummy oils of the past. Depending on pricing and how often you change oil, the economics of buying synth may or may not work out as beneficial. If it gives you a warm fuzzy to use synth, It is perfectly fine to use a thoughtfully-chosen synthetic oil in your engine. This means an appropriate viscosity and a reputable brand.

Viscosity: 5w30 or 10w30 will be fine.

Brand: Valvoline, Pennzoil, Mobil, Quaker State, etc are all fine. You will not benefit from spending extra money on boutique brands of specialty oil.

Filter: choose carefully; there's a lot of junk on the market. See here.

It will also be a good idea to service the oil pressure relief valve to make sure it's doing its job, as described in these two threads: thread 1, thread 2.

The ZDDP scare is a ghost story; see here (and the links it contains).