87 B2000 oil question

Just bought this beaut off of the 2nd owner. I failed to ask but will call and find out what type of oil he ran in it. If he were running conventional oil would it be Alright to switch it to synthetic? I've read mixed reviews on switching. It has 186k miles on it. Never smokes from what I've seen. I've put about 100 miles on it so far. I will post pics in the new members section when I have time to take some more. Thanks in advance!

Hey cody, welcome!

Oil type depends on the model and where you live (environment you drive in). I use 10W40. As far a synthetic use, I don't know if older cars would respond favorably to the switch. Maybe someone with more experience can chime in.

Search here and MazdaTrucking.com I do know there are several oil type converstions.

Here is one...

Dan

Changing to Synthetic oil tends to make any oil seep into a gusher.
However, a lot of people, especially Dealers, change to synthetic oil
to mask smoking problems.

Switching to synthetic oil on an older motor can cause oil leaks to appear, because the sludge and stuff gets washed away with synthetics that is otherwise stopping seals to leak. Once I rebuilt my stock B2200 motor and all the seals were new, I ran full synthetic 10W30 (5W30 in winter) with no problems. Synthetics are also supposed to extend oil change intervals, but on older designed motors like the B2200, I would stick with 3000 mile oil change intervals.

Well if I'm gonna stick with 3000 mile intervals I might as well run conventional. He said the head and valve cover gaskets were replaced about 6 months ago. I'll just run conventional in it I reckon