Re: synt. oil in 85? +drive shaft woes (archive)

My 85 635 has got 175K miles on it, and its still runs well, aside from a few small problems. I was thinking of switching over to synthetic oil so as to prolong the life of the engine. Some people praise the qualities of synthetics, some don't like to put them in high milage engines. I heard that its not good for the engines. I put synthetic in my 78 pontiac when I way back, and it promptly developed a bad oil leak. I figure thats cause pontic v8-s are big sloppy engines, with loose tolerances, so the very fine synthetic oil just found way to get out. I want to preserve this car for as long as it is possible, and is cost effective. I just bought the car, so any tips on the maintennance will be grately appreciated. Seasoned owners will always know what to look out for, what goes wrong etc.
I got an awesome deal on the car, its is in pristine condition from the outside. The black leather seat is has given out at the seam on the drivers side, but aside from that, its in good condition too. I paid 1200 dollars for it. A friend basically gave it to me. He's already graduated, got money, bought a new car. My Bimmer has to get me thru my last year at GMU as an undergrad, and my years in grad school.
Problems it has now: Its slow to start. Have to crank it for a couple of seconds before it starts up, when its cold. It idles kind of rough. Maybe fuel filter?
Also, I hear weird sounds coming from under the car. When i back up, there i this weird clink sound coming from what I figure to be the drive shaft. The clink is audible when you drop it into R and start to back up, and then again when you drop it into D and start to go forward. Also it makes some weird vibrating noise under moderate acceleration at low speeds. Maybe the UV joints goin bad? Are those expensive to replace?
Well thank you for reading all of this, thats all for now, but i'm certain I'll think of something

Before trashing the hole drive shaft make sure its not just your flex disc. Thats a $40 - $50 part and can be done at home.

As far as the synthetic I wouldnt do it. With the milage on your car the benefit would be minimal and the risk of problems is high. Its not that the oil is thin .... the problem is that it CLEANS the inside of you engine. If there is any place where a gasket(s) has shrunk from time (german, jap, american doesnt matter) the synthetic will clean the gunk and open a leak path.

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