Think changing your oil every 3k miles is good? Think again

[Monkey]

read this study http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/oil-life.html

it is saying that using Mobil 1 syn. oil, it is actually better on the engine to change it at a minimum of every 7500mi. but up to every 15k miles. basically, once a year.

[tire]

read it, and i'm glad i have mobil 1 needing an oil change (so i thought) in another 1,000 miles. if something every goes wrong with my engine i'm coming after you brandon... just like the smashed jackstand you conveniently folded in half. :-P

[Rick0636]

I don't see a thing special about Mobil 1 oil, but its ridiculous to change sythetics at 3,000 mi. I figure 5,000 is a good safe mileage to change at, 7500 would probably be ok, once a year??? NO WAY< not me, and I don't even drive 10,000 in a year as a rule. :shock:

[Rellik]

I drove 19 thousand miles last year

[Rick0636]

Rellik, you do some serious riding buddy!

[Rick0636]

I bought my GT in June of 02, had 27,400 on it, it just rolled over 40,000, and I ran around a long time with 3.73s and the speedo not corrected because of bad chips.

[Monkey]

read the study rick.

Quote: Engine wear actually decreases as oil ages. This has also been substantiated in testing conducted by Ford Motor Co. and ConocoPhillips, and reported in SAE Technical Paper 2003-01-3119. What this means is that compulsive oil changers are actually causing more engine wear than the people who let their engine's oil get some age on it.

Quote: Based on the results we've got here, we'd recommend 8,000 miles between oil changes on an engine that uses no oil at all, perhaps 10,000 miles on an engine that uses some oil, and 15,000 miles or beyond with a filter change every 5,000 miles. This, of course, isn't any kind of guarantee, and you must evaluate for yourself what your engine requires. One thing we're pretty sure about though: 3,000-mile intervals is a huge waste of resources.

[Brent]

I think 5000 miles with Mobile 1 Synthetic is about as far as I am willing to go myself :|

[Rellik]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rick0636 Rellik, you do some serious riding buddy!

Yup... Thank goodness I have a comfortable car to drive all those miles in

[Rick0636]

I read parts of it, didn't read it all, looks like you pulled out the important parts right there. 8,000 miles is still longer than I am willing to leave oil in my engine. I don't use Mobile 1 either, and I have never advocated 3,000 miles oil changes with synthetics, I have gotten into some rather heated threads with people that thought they should change synthetics at 3,000 miles, that is nothing but a serious waste of money and good oil. When I ran dyno oil I changed at 2500-3000 mi. In the old days I used to change at about 1,000-1500 miles, but oil was not as good in the mid 60s as it is today either. I don't think 6,000 would hurt a thing with my Havoline synthetic and am thinking anywhere between 5-6K for my oil changes will do just fine, that gives me a month or more of lee way no more than I drive plenty of time to wait for a good weather day!

[Danger Dude]

I have always waited 7000-7500 between changes using synthetic. I have been telling people for years to stop wasting oil and money. Synthetics really dont break down. The real reason for change is the sulfides and deposits they get by the rings from the combustion process. Like I have said before I know racers that leave the oil alone for 15,000 or more miles and just change the oil filter ever 6 or 7000 miles.

[stangin99]

I usually change around the 4-5000 mark.

Mobil 1 is all I use, along with a motor craft filter. And for people that complain about price, I can do an all synthetic oil change + filter for ~$20. Can't beat that.

[Rick0636]

Here is one I remember hearing long time ago: Gasoline is what causes the deposits that mess up the oil like Corey is talking about from the combustion process. If you run a gasoline engine on propane it won't dirty up the oil nearly as much. Also I don't think deisels require oil changes as often if I recall. :-P :-o

[lowflyn]

Ha I used to change my oil every 3k when it was under warranty so they couldn't yell at me bout not doing it and always used just regular 5w20 oil like the manual says. I was changing my oil once a month but used the warranty like nobody's business. My warranty finally went out so when I finally changed the oil at 37,500 I put in synthetic blend cuz I didn't have much cash on me. I'm thinking change again at 42,000 with full synthetic and change every 7 to 7500 after that. I put around 25000 on my car a year cuz of different stuff. Mostly, I get bored and have to drive somewhere lol. When I bought it in Oct 02 my 02 had 13000 on it, about to roll over 38000 next weekend. I put some serious miles on my car, all highway though, so it's all good lol.

[stangin99]

bought my car aug of 2001 with 20,600 on it.

its now feb 2004 and I have ~64000. The last 20k tho have been with uncorrected 3.73s so its probably realy like 60000.

have used mobil 1 every one of those 40000 miles.