NickTomsyc

My cousin was givena jeep from his dad when he turned 16.... three years later he had gotten his first oil change while he owned it.

Keppie

I only drive 5k a year and change the oil every 6 months. Doesn't mean I am right. I just do what I am comfortable with.

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

If it's mostly short trips where the engine never gets to spend much/any time at operating temp (like you just drive 5 miles each way to work and back plus the occasional 1-2 mile trip to the store) then you should probably change it every 3 months regardless of miles, and use the cheapest stuff you can find of the proper weight.... that's the very essence of severe-duty driving and it's very hard on oil.


If it's more like you take one 100 mile round trip a week or something then changing once a year with a decent synthetic would be the way to go and should give you no trouble at all.

Shahryar

This is what I was usually look for. I went yesterday to walmart and they only had the 1qt individual containers of the 5w-30 at $6.52 each. They did have a big bottle of Mobil 1 Extended Performance 15,000 miles 5w-30:

(pic of the bottle: http://twitpic.com/5an6ht )

But I'm not familiar with that. I know with my UOA (discussion starts here and goes til the posts up until early this morning ending with Kurtz's comments) that I can push 12k on my regular mobil 1 as long as I change the filter along the way

chi123

iTrader: (12)

Question, do I change my oil frequently enough or no? I use either Valvoline SynPower 5w-30 or Mobil 1 5w-30 to change my oil every 6 months, beginning of Spring and Fall. I drive about 5000 miles a year. My commute to and from school is about 25 miles a day. Then there's the occasional times I drive a mile or so to the store.

jbjones85

iTrader: (20)

I agree that its probably excessive but in my head its cheap peace of mind plus I enjoy doing it.

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

if that's 25 miles total a day, and it's like a 10 min highway drive each way, you might think about changing every 3 months with cheap oil.

If it's 25 miles each way, or mixed type driving where it takes more like 20+ minutes each way, you're likely fine with what you're doing now (and could probably even be fine with 1/year oil changes given it's only 5k total miles a year).

Mainly the indicator for frequent changes will be if you're only, or primarily, taking short enough trips the engine doesn't get any time to run at operating temp.

UOA will be the only way to know FOR SURE of course.

gsujeff55

Kurtz, can you explain to me how it is hard on oil and your engine it runs through if you only have a 10 minute drive to work twice a day without stop and go traffic? To my knowledge the worst thing on oil is driving in dirty conditions all the time or with a lot of idling and stop and goes where the oil usually stays hotter and burns. Im just interested in the science of your reasoning.

Thanks

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

Not my reasoning, it's pretty common knowledge... never getting to run at operating temp means all the condensation and other contaminants never get to burn off...water and fuel will end up contaminating your oil if you only take short trips.

(I haven't checked, but I'd be surprised if the owners manual doesn't list such driving as one of the "severe duty" conditions that calls for more frequent oil changes)

Some other places that mention this:


http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/m...frequency.html
or
http://www.valvoline.com/faqs/motor-oil/oil-change/#b
or
http://www.machinerylubrication.com/...filter-sensors

or a ton of other folks a quick google will turn up

cloo7

sh..t! I got this car for 10 minute trips...

gsujeff55

Wow. That's pretty interesting, never considered the oil not running at temp for a considerable time being harmful. Thanks for the reply.

Jeff

Leander311

iTrader: (2)

Greetings! I had the best used oil analyses on record with my Mazdaspeed3 and was doing 7-9k intervals, incredible for an engine known to otherwise destroy oil in short order. I used Pennzoil Platinum and since I total'd the Speed, will be using the rest of my PPlat stash on the IS, with my first UOA here in probably another six months. I checked the dipstick the other day w/my first 3k now on it and the oil still looks unused, amazing compared to what I had with the MS3. That's to say, I'm really excited to see how she does! Those of you sold on Mobil1 hype, give Penn Plat a try. It's a tad cheaper and heralded by most in the know over at BITOG to be right up there with the rest of the best!

Also, agreed on the 10k mile OCI's. My Toyota dealership who changed my oil for the first time on the IS actually wrote out 10k miles for my next interval on the reminder sticker! Enjoy!

Shahryar

I'm with you on piece of mind. One of my things is that I don't like to buy used cars anymore because of my bad experiences with previous ones. I've been buying only new cars for the past 7 years. People argue with me about the value of new versus used, or depreciation, etc, but for me, I just like knowing as much as possible about my car and what has and hasn't happened to it.

But with oil, with a used oil analysis there's really no arguing what comes back. You said the phrase "cheap peace of mind," But considering the cost of synthetic oil, parts, labor (or if you do it yourself, your own time), it's a pretty decent amount you're unnecessarily losing. If you can push your oil 2-3 times longer than you currently are now you should go for it.

Shahryar

Thanks for the heads up. I've gone over 10k miles in my past few oil changes but never checked the oil level. I will keep a better eye on it.

Hmm.. I only have used 5w-30.

It should be based on both time and mileage right? Or are you just not doing a lot of mileage in the car?

brociouz

iTrader: (65)

That is my understanding, but I'm not an oil expert so I'm hoping someone else can corroborate. 0w30 will provide more protection than 0w20 (at operating temperature), at the cost of slightly lower gas mileage.

Can someone explain the pros/cons of 0w30 vs. 5w30?