My Mercedes calls for a 10k interval.

Mercedes filter & gaskets, and 7.5qts Mobil1

of course there is no 'one size fits all' answer

I am generally a ~7,500 mi guy

if all your miles are highway purring along at a steady RPM in overdrive it could probably be much higher

hot, stop and go, etc... less.

--------------------------------

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
If I still changed my oil, I'd be using Royal Purple. Dealership is doing next three free with purchase of car so I don't need to worry about oil unit 2021 or so.

I am getting my first change at 1,200 miles. Once I break a thousand miles I am going to open her up and bit and try some WOT runs, run it hard til 1,200 and get a Blackstone report as a baseline for what was in the oil from factory and break in period.

Is 1200 miles on the oil enough to get a true picture of its condition via blackstone testing? I "thought" I heard that you needed to at least hit the oil change interval recommendation. I could be wrong.

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:
I’ve never understood why it’s so difficult to just follow the factory (not dealer) recommended interval.

-Rob

Because everyone thinks they somehow know better. It's sure a hoot to hear everyone's different reasons though.

I like the 5-6k range.

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:
I’ve never understood why it’s so difficult to just follow the factory (not dealer) recommended interval.

[shrug]

-Rob

Because many car manufacturers are more worried about lowering the 5-year “true cost of ownership” over longevity. Extending the OCI (oil change interval) is an easy way of lowering that cost, thus making their vehicles more appealing to new car buyers that couldn’t care less about durability.

10,000 per Ford's manual for Escape with a syn blend. So far so good.

quote:

Originally posted by John Steed:

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:
I’ve never understood why it’s so difficult to just follow the factory (not dealer) recommended interval. ...

[shrug]

-Rob

Agree.

About Mobil 1 and other "full synthetic" motor oils:
I was just reading on BobIsTheOilGuy that many of these formulas have been changed to sell at a lower price. If you want true full synthetic, you need to buy Mobil 1 Extended Performance Full Synthetic or the like. Opinions on this would be welcome.

Looking at the Mobil 1 web site, all the synthetics say Full Synthetic. https://mobiloil.com/en/motor-oils/synthetic

3,000 miles, and for vehicles not driving, every 4 months.

quote:

Originally posted by Censored:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
If I still changed my oil, I'd be using Royal Purple. Dealership is doing next three free with purchase of car so I don't need to worry about oil unit 2021 or so.

I am getting my first change at 1,200 miles. Once I break a thousand miles I am going to open her up and bit and try some WOT runs, run it hard til 1,200 and get a Blackstone report as a baseline for what was in the oil from factory and break in period.

Is 1200 miles on the oil enough to get a true picture of its condition via blackstone testing? I "thought" I heard that you needed to at least hit the oil change interval recommendation. I could be wrong.

It's purely for baseline testing. I want to know what if any metal from manufacturing and breakin is present. It's $30, so not expensive. The oil is good to 7500 or 10k, not testing for life.

Since I am now retired and don't put many miles on my car anymore. It would be unusual to hit 5000 miles in a year, so what's the longest period between oil changes that you would recommend?

quote:

Originally posted by ggile:
Since I am now retired and don't put many miles on my car anymore. It would be unusual to hit 5000 miles in a year, so what's the longest period between oil changes that you would recommend?

Do you have the owner's manual for this car? What does it say? I would follow the recommendations of the owner's manual.

quote:

Originally posted by ggile:
Since I am now retired and don't put many miles on my car anymore. It would be unusual to hit 5000 miles in a year, so what's the longest period between oil changes that you would recommend?

1 year no matter how little miles you have put on your car. Oil breaks down as soon as you run your engine after an oil change. With todays additives, most oil manufactures say no more than 1 year. I would do it a month or two earlier than 1 year if running synthetics.

This question of intervals is almost humorous at this point as there is no correct answer to it. Heat is the enemy of oil, so would you change your oil on the same interval in Arizona where temps soar into the triple digits regularly as you would in Duluth? How about on a 3/4 ton truck that tows 10k pounds day in and day out in 90+ degree temps, versus a 3/4 ton truck that never tows and lives in sub 80 degree temps?

Short suggestions to evaluate how to change your oil.

1 - Do you drive a lot of miles daily, weekly, monthly? Change your oil a bit more frequently as the additive package will break down doing what its designed to do.

2 - Do you drive in extremely hot temps? Change your oil more frequently as heat accelerates the breakdown of oil.

All that having been said, there still is no 'right' answer to your question. Each of us needs to evaluate our driving and vehicle use, and use some common sense in deciding when to change our oil.

My GTI takes 6.2 quarts, is required every 10K. I have done it every 7k-9K. It's about $65-$68 in parts/oil to do it.

I don't know what the "official" interval is for the wife's CR-V, but I've changed it about 7K-7.5K miles Usually when the wife tells me the instrument cluster reads 10% oil life, 5% oil life, then when she come in and says "the car now says negative 400 and something??!!" I will then change it.

quote:

Originally posted by DonDraper:
My GTI takes 6.2 quarts, is required every 10K. I have done it every 7k-9K. It's about $65-$68 in parts/oil to do it.

You're paying way too much. A 5qt jug of Mobil 1 at Wally World is $26 (~$5/qt) regularly (cheaper when on sale). Buy a couple jugs and an $8 filter and you should be good to go for ~$40.

Of course you could also forego the stupid name brand nonsense and buy a couple 5qt jugs of Wally World's SuperTech full synthetic brand for around $18/Ea and knock your cost down to around $30 an oil change. Been using that in my 1/2 ton truck for a while, and its worked perfectly.

quote:

Originally posted by rtquig:


Looking at the Mobil 1 web site, all the synthetics say Full Synthetic. https://mobiloil.com/en/motor-oils/synthetic

Mobil challenged in court that Castrol's cheaper to manufacture type synthetic oil was not true Synthetic (like Mobil's) and shouldn't be allowed to be labeled as "full synthetic". Long story short Mobil lost so the cheaper, poorer quality synthetic varieties can be promoted as full synthetic. I believe Mobil's more expensive "Extended Performance" is their original type while they also market a cheaper "full synthetic" made the cheaper way like many others do now.

http://xtremerevolution.net/a-...bricants-world-1999/

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by DonDraper:
My GTI takes 6.2 quarts, is required every 10K. I have done it every 7k-9K. It's about $65-$68 in parts/oil to do it.

You're paying way too much. A 5qt jug of Mobil 1 at Wally World is $26 (~$5/qt) regularly (cheaper when on sale). Buy a couple jugs and an $8 filter and you should be good to go for ~$40.

Of course you could also forego the stupid name brand nonsense and buy a couple 5qt jugs of Wally World's SuperTech full synthetic brand for around $18/Ea and knock your cost down to around $30 an oil change. Been using that in my 1/2 ton truck for a while, and its worked perfectly.

Walmarts Super Tech oils have received OUTSTANDING reviews as far as the quality of their oils.

I've always gone with the manufacturers' recommendation and never had a problem. My `97 F250 diesel specified 3K and I was religious about doing it that often. It lasted 285K miles and was still going strong with no indications of anything, until my roommate borrowed it and wrecked it. My `18 Challenger says 10K so that's what I'm doing. It's due for its first oil change now, in fact.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
Generally, oil never really goes bad. It is changed because it is contaminated with unburnt fuel, hydrocarbons, moisture and other things. Newer oils really do have much much better additives to extend their life. The newer cars also have much better sealing piston rings and tighter tolerances. Both contribute to the extended oil changes you see on newer vehicles.

However, it never hurts to change your oil sooner than later.

That is so far from the truth it can almost be considered a lie.

In a college course we did an experiment to prove, or disprove, this "theory."

Multiple cars (owned by students) changed their oil with a 10W-30 oil. We drove different vehicles and documented the miles and conditions. After draining, the used oil was brought in and filtered. From there, we measured the viscosity of used vs new.

- In EVERY instance, the older the oil, the thinner it was.
- In EVERY instance, the older the oil, the less "stick" it had to a sheet of metal.
- In EVERY instance the oldest oil had less lubricating properties.

About the ONLY argument which could made was at what point (mileage wise) was the most economical when oil should changed (3K, 6K, 12K, etc) to ensure sufficient protection