Changed Inga (my faithful 1986 245DL 218K)to full Synthetic. Since she had given me a solid trouble free 22K miles in the last year, figured why not. Started out two oil changes ago with a blend. This time changed her over to a full Synthetic 5W/50 (Castrol). My car pro said to run a higher viscosity in an older engine. He admitted that he has never heard of anyone changing to synthetic after 100K forget 200K. But he said with the heat down here and the age of the engine go with the higher viscosity.

Was worried about leaks, have had a small one in the back of the engine for six months. Got worried about leaks even more when I checked the oil level after three days and all the varnish wiped off the end of the dipstick onto the paper towel. You can see the oil changing color from a very light tan to a deep orange color after 1K of driving.

The strange part is the old leak has totally quit. Been Checking the oil every fill up and watching the drive way for spots. Now I did replace a Scamtech Flametrap kit where the hose from the trap to the breather box was almost split clean in half. But do not think that was the leak, it was not split 3 months ago the last time the trap was cleaned.

Anybody ever had one do something like this?

And come to think of it, how often you change your oil if you run a full Synthetic.

Regards,

PT