Synthetic oil and oil change intervals.

distrbd

distrbd

all in the details
I found this article in another site and think it clears up a lot of questions people might have about expensive synthetic oil oppose to discounted price synthetic oils .

My routine is every 7500 KM I change my new Civic oil with Mobile 1/Amsoil 5W 20 ,and for my 2002 Hyundai Accent I use whatever I find on special as long as it's synthetic and it's 10W 30.

The article below is telling me that I'm doing the right thing for my older car and may be wasting my money buying the more expensive oil for my newer car,and for all practical reasons there's not much difference in performance between the two oils .

for the time being I still stick with my plan as far as my newer car goes.



The surprising truth about motor oils
 
Distrbd- I *think* I read that before (despite all my griping about them I'm still a CR subscriber) but it was still an intersting (re?)read.



For vehicles I'm not too concerned about I use cheap oil (and yeah, I do look for that Sunburst icon) and change it around the 6K mark.



Yeah, people see all those oil change ads, and remember what their dad did back in the day, and waste a lot of money IMO. Heh heh, people who never change their brake fluid still change their oil all the time!



But for vehicles I really *do* care about, and any that see track/etc. use, I use Mobil1 (rotaries excepted) and change it more frequently. Even synthetic oil is cheap compared to rebuilding certain engines, and it's also cheap relative to my peace of mind ;)
 
Head over to Bob is the Oil Guy Web site for the same OCD attention to this topic that we see here among Autopians and detailing.





Bob Is The Oil Guy - Powered by Motor Oil



I installed an oil bypass filter on my Truck and use non/syn oil when needed. Actually change the filter only and add top off oil back to the full mark.



Oil sample testing reveals ideal/actual change requirements for the individual cars. Check out the listed site. Tons of reading material here.
 
The one difference between the cars used in the CR test and my personal vehicles is much of my driving involves short trips. The CR test is based on vehicles that are running for long periods of time. The CR test doesn't deal with cold oil and start-up issue my DD vehicles go through. I use synthetics changed every 7K miles or, on my 1993 Saab, once a year.



There was a test done with Mobile 1 for 18K miles without changes showing it held up well as long as one did periodic top offs. The top offs really seemed to make a difference in maintaining the life of the additives as shown in the sample testing throughout the experiment.
 
Rob22315- Interesting about the 18K mile thing....I woulda expected contamination (water, primarily) to be an issue in cases like that. Maybe I'm just used to the cold start/short trip effects like you mentioned.



Top offs...yeah...some of our cars need topped off fairly often but others go ~6K without using a drop :nixweiss
 
I spent 2 hours reading about oil on a VW forum, there was this Amsoil shill that just couldn't quite understand that his miracle in a bottle was NOT on VW's list of approved oils. I'm not violent by nature, but if I ever meet that guy in person, I'd tear off his head and use his neck as a toilet.
 
JuneBug said:
I spent 2 hours reading about oil on a VW forum, there was this Amsoil shill that just couldn't quite understand that his miracle in a bottle was NOT on VW's list of approved oils. I'm not violent by nature, but if I ever meet that guy in person, I'd tear off his head and use his neck as a toilet.
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so you're saying you like the guy, eh? :har:



i don't read too much into oil change intervals...IMHO it's like people that do 50 layers of zaino. it's a mental "feel good" but not necessarily doing anything beneficial in the end. :)



sweet. now i've combined an oil thread AND zaino in the same topic! the forums will explode!!!! :nervous2:
 
I read the VW manual and it says - 1st oil change at 5k, then at 10K, then every 10K afterwards. OK - 10K between changes just seems a bit long even with Mobil 1, if money ain't a biggie - like 50 bucks or so, then every 5K sounds better to me, I've always thought that oil was cheap compared to an engine problem. But, then the factory says 10K - ???I don't know, I just want my little GTI tp run for a long time, I really found a car that I love. It's been 19 years since that happened - 1989 Acura Integra - red with black interior, loved that!
 
JuneBug said:
I read the VW manual and it says - 1st oil change at 5k, then at 10K, then every 10K afterwards. OK - 10K between changes just seems a bit long even with Mobil 1, if money ain't a biggie - like 50 bucks or so, then every 5K sounds better to me, I've always thought that oil was cheap compared to an engine problem. But, then the factory says 10K - ???I don't know..!
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IMO, no matter what you're gonna have a *lot* of contaminants in the oil after ~6K. My Audis have long specified change intervals, but no way I'd go 10K.



IMO factories give the longest intervals they can get away with without having problems during the drivetrain warranty period. Sounds good to say how low-maintenance the car is. With cars that have free scheduled maintenance they save themselves money too ;)
 
I use Mobil 1 synthetic in my turbo cars and regular dino oil in my other vehicles. If I did any towing I'd probably use Mobil 1 for that car.



FWIW, when I pulled the head off my Mitsubishi turbo car at 180,000 miles it was incredibly clean. No sludge deposits or discoloration on the head and the cylinders still had the hash marks on them.
 
i have a CTS that that i bought last august. first oil/filter change (mobil 1 5-30) was a month later in september. i let the DIC tell me when to change and i just changed it two weeks ago at 7,300 miles showing 10% life left. bought my C6 in january 2007. changed the oil/filter @ 800 miles in may. one year later the DIC said 85% oil life left but it was changed in june with 2,100 miles (GM wants the LS2 oil changed by the DIC EXCEPT that it must be changed every 12 months regardless of the DIC). my 03 avalanche was changed last may @ 12,900 miles and now has 14,600 miles but i have not changed yet because of the miles and the DIC says 80% oil life left. i have changed my oil/filter every 2,500/3,000 since my first car in 1970. today, it's just a waist of money and oil because of synthetic oil. mobil 1 actually preforms better after about 3-4,000 miles. if it makes you feel better change away @ 3-5,000 miles but it really isn't necessary today, IMHO. GM warrants the engine/driveline now for 6/100,000. do you think that they would risk warranty repairs if you use their correct recomended oil and utilized the DIC that THEY put in their cars? not likely, period.
 
I use Valvoline SYN with a pureone Purolater filter. My oil gets changed every 3,000miles. Usually ends up occurring around 6-7months.



Ive also started using 5w-30 in the winter and 10w-30 in the summer. My Jeep is a lot quieter on those cold mornings with 5w-30. :xyxthumbs
 
Accumulator said:
Yeah, people see all those oil change ads, and remember what their dad did back in the day, and waste a lot of money IMO. Heh heh, people who never change their brake fluid still change their oil all the time!
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You couldn't have said it better! I was just explaining that to someone who changes their oil every 3k, even though the owner's manual says every 5k/7500 miles depending on driving conditions.



My take on motor oil is try to go by the owner's manual and make adjustments you see fit. Both my mom's car and mine(both Hondas) go by the once a year/10k miles under normal driving or 6 months/5k under severe conditions. We go by the severe conditions even though we don't tow trailers, live in freezing climates, etc., but we do a decent amount of city driving (stop and go). Neither of them 'require' synthetic oil. Because of that we change it every 6 months with a good conventional oil. Right now I'm using Pennzoil. No need for synthetic oil since we aren't redlining or tracking the cars. Most of the time you can get decent oil change specials for 5 quarts and a filter for around $10-15 at Autozone or Advanced Auto Parts.



My thoughts on synthetic are it should be used if your vehicle recommends it obviously :doh, or if you want to do long OCI and your putting excessive miles on your car in short time periods, or if you have a car and drive it to it's full potential, and your redlining and tracking it on a somewhat frequent basis.



Other than that I really think conventional(dino) is fine for most people. I can't stand it when people slam dino oils so fast. Those people are usually the ones who use the most expensive synthetic they can fine and change it every 3k/3 months religiously when even their owner's manual say the oil will last longer.
 
The intervals are only guides. The truth about any oil (conventional or synthetic) is that it becomes ineffective after the additives are used up and it becomes contaminated by the by products associated with combustion engines (soot, ash, water, etc). The only way to get out the contaiminats is to drain out the oil with them. I go by the condition of the oil on the dipstick; when it get to a certain darkness that I feel is too dark, I change it. Some cars I've owned needed a service at the recommendation and some were much sooner. I've never had an oil related issue. Oh and my family owns 7 quick lube centers, so I have a little understanding of the process. I worked at them for about 17 years.



The largest benefit of using synthetic oil in a vehicle that doesn't require it occurs at startup and in cold temperatures. 95% of engine wear occurs during startup when the oil is in the pan prior to being circulated. Synthetic oil is circulated faster because it has a truer viscosity. Conventional oil thickens in colder temperatures more than synthetic also. In most cases, synthetic is overkill just like high octane gasoline, but there are benefits especially if you are trying to increase the longevity of your vehicle. If you are leasing or trade often, it's a waste of your money.
 
integritydetail said:
The intervals are only guides. The truth about any oil (conventional or synthetic) is that it becomes ineffective after the additives are used up and it becomes contaminated by the by products associated with combustion engines (soot, ash, water, etc). The largest benefit of using synthetic oil in a vehicle that doesn't require it occurs at startup and in cold temperatures. 95% of engine wear occurs during startup when the oil is in the pan prior to being circulated. Synthetic oil is circulated faster because it has a truer viscosity. Conventional oil thickens in colder temperatures more than synthetic also. In most cases, synthetic is overkill just like high octane gasoline, but there are benefits especially if you are trying to increase the longevity of your vehicle. If you are leasing or trade often, it's a waste of your money.
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well said. ;)
 
integritydetail said:
The intervals are only guides. The truth about any oil (conventional or synthetic) is that it becomes ineffective after the additives are used up and it becomes contaminated by the by products associated with combustion engines (soot, ash, water, etc). The only way to get out the contaiminats is to drain out the oil with them. I go by the condition of the oil on the dipstick; when it get to a certain darkness that I feel is too dark, I change it. Some cars I've owned needed a service at the recommendation and some were much sooner. I've never had an oil related issue. Oh and my family owns 7 quick lube centers, so I have a little understanding of the process. I worked at them for about 17 years.



The largest benefit of using synthetic oil in a vehicle that doesn't require it occurs at startup and in cold temperatures. 95% of engine wear occurs during startup when the oil is in the pan prior to being circulated. Synthetic oil is circulated faster because it has a truer viscosity. Conventional oil thickens in colder temperatures more than synthetic also. In most cases, synthetic is overkill just like high octane gasoline, but there are benefits especially if you are trying to increase the longevity of your vehicle. If you are leasing or trade often, it's a waste of your money.
Click to expand...



thanks for the info
 
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