well thanks for all the really detailed info.

 

I agree with synthetic adding a small yet noticeable benefit other than the enhanced engine protection especially at cold weather start-up. I noticed both a slight perfomance and full economy benefit when I converted my gen. It is worth every penny if you plan to keep the vehicle for a long period of time and can spring for the added cost.

 

Bichon,

I did my first oil change @5K miles in Oct. 2007. I've put 800 miles in five months. You are saying it is NOT nessary to change the oil until 10K miles regardless of how long that may take to get there?

 

It is great that you drive so little on this car. I personally, would still change the oil every six months regardless of how low mileage is. Just be on the safe side. Moisture, dirt, unburnt gas (incomplete combustion) barometric pressure, etc can contribute to the properties in the oil to break dwon over time of idleness in a vehicle. Similar to those who store their cars in winter, most obtain an oil change shortly after to be safe. Things might be different for that Mobil 1 15k interval service oil. I used that in my gen1 but still changed the oil every 7k to be safe.

 

mobile 1 = $$$

the point is....why change it when the oil is still "clean" ?

that's why the guys are doing the UOA......

 

Costco has a 6-pack pretty cheap.

I would go 6 months per oil change if you use conventional oil. If you use synthetic i would go 1 year. Synthetic usually suspense the contaminates better then conventional oil.

If you drive short trips and have low mileage for the entire year. Do it every 6 months and use conventional oil no need to spend $6 a quart.

For everyone else, just an FYI if you have an oil leak and use synthetic it will make the oil leak worse. found that out the hard way.

 

its been almost 8 months and I only drove about 2k miles and Im gonna wait until 4500 miles.

 

Since this "new" thread covers ground we've seen before, I've merged with the most relevant old thread.

There is a tremendous amount of religion about oil. 4k OCI because you feel good is a waste of resources and unnecessarily increases the waste oil stream. OCI should be based on a reasonable analysis of your oil, not magic distances or time intervals.

Of great concern - oil is degraded by water and acids that are byproducts of combustion - not carbon. Short trips are the worst for an oil's service life because the humidity inside the engine condenses on the sides of the block when you start it up. This water drains down on top of the oil and brings with it dissolved organic acids related to combustion blowby. This is what destroys oil quickly. TBN - total base number - is a measure of an oil's life expectancy. The reason for this is there are organic base compounds added to the oil to neutralize the acids washed into the oil from the condensation process. Once the TBN is zero, the oil goes acidic and self destructs quickly.

Time does nothing to affect this. Short operating intervals do a LOT to affect this. Ideally, you should never operate your engine less than 20 minutes because in that 20 minutes you will raise the temperature of the oil sufficiently to boil off the water and suck the blowby vapors into the intake through the PCV system and purge the crankcase of the acids.

If you have fuel contamination in your oil (for those who would like to believe OCI is related to fuel consumption), your rings are bad and the engine needs a rebuild.

Calculated OCI is based on run time. Many short run intervals will result in earlier oil changes, and longer run intervals will result in longer change intervals.

So we can end the speculation here, and if you review this thread, it will definitely support the concept that your oil is being changed far more often that it should at 5k or even 7.5k. Our Blackstone OCI thread has results from a number of us showing a 10k interval is still shorter than it needs to be for many drivers, but again, if you are a city driver operating your car less than 10 minutes per trip, you will need to change your oil more often than someone who drives 30 minutes on the freeway every trip.

Last but not least, Mobile is a city in Alabama. Mobil 1 is a line of lubricants manufactured and sold by Mobil Oil Company.

 

The Blackstone OCI report was interesting and I thank you for merging the threads as I knew about previous posts. In Chicago, we don't always have the best driving conditions (I.E. short trips, foul temps, stop and go). This effects my oil change regime.

 

Great Idea on trying this!! I am very interested in finding out the results.

I went about 1.5 years and 15,000-20,000 on my 97 Honda civic without changing the oil and the car still runs like a champ today with over 90,000 miles on it. Oil changes every 5000 miles are overrated with todays engine technologies. Although I must say I will be changing the oil every 5000 miles now that I have a Lexus.....Im such a hypocrite.....