Our Hondas, Fords and Jeeps have all been changed at 3000-3500 miles.

I know, many think it is overkill. I find it inexpensive piece of mind.

My Pilot had 335,000 when I got rid of it. It was an extra car and we did not need the expense. It had it original engine, tranny, A/C and exhaust.

Towards the end, it was dropping 1-2 drops of oil every night.

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.

Well it has to meet VW "502 00" spec. Not much to choose from with Mobil 1 at 5w40. The only readily available 5w40 that meets vw 502 in the past was Castrol but it was always 7 or 8 bucks a qt. I think I've seen that cheaper in the 5qt jugs lately, and Penzoil meets the spec and isn't bad, but I've been getting a German brand "Lubro Moly" 5w40 from Napa or Amazon for about $36 a 5L jug. I buy the filter and drain plug from the dealership though, I need to stop that practice and get them from Amazon or elsewhere online to save 10 or more bucks.

quote:

Originally posted by kramden:
Walmarts Super Tech oils have received OUTSTANDING reviews as far as the quality of their oils.

I wonder who bottles it for them.

quote:

Originally posted by DonDraper:
Well it has to meet VW "502 00" spec.

And my first question to a high end technical support contact with VW would be "what's so special about "502 00 spec and why does it matter?" Much of this silly BS by manufacturers is just that, BS. Similarly, Honda 'requires' 0w20 synthetic in my wife's 2013 Honda Pilot. No other weight is acceptable. Yet the 2013 Honda Pilot sold in Australia and New Zealand (built on the same assembly line as our Pilot) is spec'd for 5w30. Same vehicle, same motor, built on the same assembly line, but different requirements for oil weight. Total BS. Can you say CAFE requirements. When I made the technical adviser at the local dealership aware of this reality, he had no answer for me (he also didn't know about the different weight requirements).

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:

quote:

Originally posted by kramden:
Walmarts Super Tech oils have received OUTSTANDING reviews as far as the quality of their oils.

I wonder who bottles it for them.

Warren Distributing who's been in business since the 1920's. SuperTech also has every certification that Mobil 1, Royal Purple, Red Line, and any of the other top tier oils have. Its good stuff without an enormous marketing budget (like the other big name brands) adding to its cost.

Lots of good oil info here; thank you. But little said about filters. Those "free filters with a 5 qt. jug" are usually a Fram or some other cheapie. You want to filter the good/synthetic/high mileage oil you paying for, buy a Wix. Best filter you can get. Cut your Fram open and unroll the media. Do the same with a Wix. More media. Overall construction's better too.
Since you want to take care of lubrication, fine. Change your air filter at recommended intervals too. Dirty air will do as much if not more damage to the upper end of a motor.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
SuperTech also has every certification that Mobil 1, Royal Purple, Red Line, and any of the other top tier oils have. Its good stuff without an enormous marketing budget (like the other big name brands) adding to its cost.

Mobil 1 reminds me of Glock: brilliant marketing.

Mobil 1 is factory fill on a few sports cars. The Corvette filler cap even had Mobil 1 on there. That leads some to believe "if it's good enough for the Corvette, it's good enough for my car." Same with Glock. "if the cops carry them, it's good enough for me." Well that and how they practically give them away to agencies.

quote:

Originally posted by Oldrider:
Lots of good oil info here; thank you. But little said about filters.

I like OEM, Amsoil, Mobil, Purolator or NAPA oil filters.

If you follow the oil life monitor, there is a good chance you are damaging your engine. On late model GM, the timing chains were stretching. They reprogrammed the oil life monitor to come on sooner and changed the oil spec from Dexos gen 1 to Dexos gen 2 to combat stretched timing chains.

On some late model Honda cars with 1.5L turbo engines, the fuel injection software was defective and dumps quarts worth of fuel into the oil. Long oil changes (or even following the oil life monitor) wipes out the camshafts.

Govt CAFE regulations are why these cars are going to 10,000 mile changes or longer. It’s not because it is best for the car. It’s because the EPA clowns got involved and want to save the planet.Its NOT because a Honda or Toyota engineer said that was best for the car.

There are many more examples. I know these off the top of my head.

Sticking with 5000 miles isn’t a bad idea. Heck, Walmart sells store brand synthetic oil for $14.XX for 5 quarts of synthetic oil, so it’s not like a synthetic oil change cost a lot of money. I change my synthetic oil every 5000 miles and change the oil filter every 10,000 miles.

The late model Toyota cars that come with 2 years or 24,000 miles worth of free maintenance is a big seller. It’s also a joke. Do the math. All they did was throw in 2 oil changes, at every 10,000 miles. Big deal. Cars don’t need any maintenance other than oil changes for the first 24k miles typically , which Toyota is well aware of.

quote:

Govt CAFE regulations are why these cars are going to 10,000 mile changes or longer. It’s not because it is best for the car.

This in triplicate. Its not just CAFE which the mfg. has to manage in aggregate its the EPA who have applied unbelievable pressure to the MFG to cut the amount of waste oil and filters generated.
That means the mfg is not looking out for your best interest in long engine life. period. Some of the length that people are using in prior posts is just silly to me given how much motors cost and how little motor oil costs.
In addition every mfg. of cars I own also specifies a time interval and on my light duty trucks an hour limit, which I always hit way before the mileage limit.
I have lots of motors other than in cars/trucks. They all get changed on hours and each gets oil analysis. The oil reports when you use hours that might be somewhat equivalent to an oil change at 10K are frightening.
I consider anything over 5K to be counterproductive to long engine life.
Lastly I know several mfg. who consider 1qt/1000 miles acceptable oil consumption, which means you are adding 10qt to get to 10K. You might as well just change it.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by DonDraper:
Well it has to meet VW "502 00" spec.

And my first question to a high end technical support contact with VW would be "what's so special about "502 00 spec and why does it matter?" Much of this silly BS by manufacturers is just that, BS. Similarly, Honda 'requires' 0w20 synthetic in my wife's 2013 Honda Pilot. No other weight is acceptable. Yet the 2013 Honda Pilot sold in Australia and New Zealand (built on the same assembly line as our Pilot) is spec'd for 5w30. Same vehicle, same motor, built on the same assembly line, but different requirements for oil weight. Total BS. Can you say CAFE requirements. When I made the technical adviser at the local dealership aware of this reality, he had no answer for me (he also didn't know about the different weight requirements).

Well when you get the answer to your question from VW - and if you can prove that it's just a made up story and that I should ignore the sticker in my engine bay that says I better use VW 50200 oil or else - I'll bite the bullet and head to Walmart.

quote:

Originally posted by Oldrider:
Lots of good oil info here; thank you. But little said about filters. Those "free filters with a 5 qt. jug" are usually a Fram or some other cheapie. You want to filter the good/synthetic/high mileage oil you paying for, buy a Wix. Best filter you can get. Cut your Fram open and unroll the media. Do the same with a Wix. More media. Overall construction's better too.
Since you want to take care of lubrication, fine. Change your air filter at recommended intervals too. Dirty air will do as much if not more damage to the upper end of a motor.

I use Fram. 3,000 mile oil changes, filter change, cut the filter, tear the media, inspect with a magnet, flush through a coffee filter; standard for any oil change.

I use K&N air filters, and wash and re-oil each time an oil change is done.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
I like OEM, Amsoil, Mobil, Purolator or NAPA oil filters.

Last time I checked, NAPA filters were made by WIX. Purolator makes a good filter for a fair price. Ultimately, I think there are only like four manufacturers of oil filters today anyway.

Though I have nothing statistical to back up this comment, I really don't believe current oil filters can adequately cover the extended service intervals some motor oils claim. Though the oil might make it 10k+ miles, I don't trust the oil filter to make it that far, so I change my truck's oil and filter every 7k miles.

quote:

Originally posted by DonDraper:

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by DonDraper:
Well it has to meet VW "502 00" spec.

And my first question to a high end technical support contact with VW would be "what's so special about "502 00 spec and why does it matter?" Much of this silly BS by manufacturers is just that, BS. Similarly, Honda 'requires' 0w20 synthetic in my wife's 2013 Honda Pilot. No other weight is acceptable. Yet the 2013 Honda Pilot sold in Australia and New Zealand (built on the same assembly line as our Pilot) is spec'd for 5w30. Same vehicle, same motor, built on the same assembly line, but different requirements for oil weight. Total BS. Can you say CAFE requirements. When I made the technical adviser at the local dealership aware of this reality, he had no answer for me (he also didn't know about the different weight requirements).

Well when you get the answer to your question from VW - and if you can prove that it's just a made up story and that I should ignore the sticker in my engine bay that says I better use VW 50200 oil or else - I'll bite the bullet and head to Walmart.

So you have no interest in knowing what that standard is and why its so important that VW would all but 'mandate' a specific oil for your car? A friend of mine's 2016 Porsche Carrera 3 (an insanely high performance motor), runs off the shelf Mobil 1 full synthetic, so I'm particularly intrigued why VW would spec something beyond that standard for a daily driver.

6 months or 6K, full synthetic. I have lifetime oil changes with tire rotation every oil change.
I plan on 1) keeping the car for a long time and 2) not moving away, so I will be getting my money's worth out of this deal

Bruce

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by DonDraper:
Well it has to meet VW "502 00" spec.

And my first question to a high end technical support contact with VW would be "what's so special about "502 00 spec and why does it matter?" Much of this silly BS by manufacturers is just that, BS. Similarly, Honda 'requires' 0w20 synthetic in my wife's 2013 Honda Pilot. No other weight is acceptable. Yet the 2013 Honda Pilot sold in Australia and New Zealand (built on the same assembly line as our Pilot) is spec'd for 5w30. Same vehicle, same motor, built on the same assembly line, but different requirements for oil weight. Total BS. Can you say CAFE requirements. When I made the technical adviser at the local dealership aware of this reality, he had no answer for me (he also didn't know about the different weight requirements).

You wouldn’t think it’s “bs” if your engine fails under warranty and VW refuses to repair/replace the engine because you didn’t use a 502.00 spec oil. There are several oils in the US that meet that specification. I’m not saying I agree with VW but you’d better make sure you’re using an oil that meets that spec, or else.

The oil and oil pan are the garbage can for your engine. Gasoline, burned and unburned is the trash, by and large. All things equal doubling your fuel economy doubles your oil life.

My F-150 holds 7.7 qts of oil and gets 20 mpg and has a 10,000 mile oil life monitor setting. I use Blackstone Labs to verify my oil is coming out soon enough. 10,000 miles leaves a nice cushion, about %20 by their estimation.

Works for me.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by DonDraper:

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by DonDraper:
Well it has to meet VW "502 00" spec.

And my first question to a high end technical support contact with VW would be "what's so special about "502 00 spec and why does it matter?" Much of this silly BS by manufacturers is just that, BS. Similarly, Honda 'requires' 0w20 synthetic in my wife's 2013 Honda Pilot. No other weight is acceptable. Yet the 2013 Honda Pilot sold in Australia and New Zealand (built on the same assembly line as our Pilot) is spec'd for 5w30. Same vehicle, same motor, built on the same assembly line, but different requirements for oil weight. Total BS. Can you say CAFE requirements. When I made the technical adviser at the local dealership aware of this reality, he had no answer for me (he also didn't know about the different weight requirements).

Well when you get the answer to your question from VW - and if you can prove that it's just a made up story and that I should ignore the sticker in my engine bay that says I better use VW 50200 oil or else - I'll bite the bullet and head to Walmart.

So you have no interest in knowing what that standard is and why its so important that VW would all but 'mandate' a specific oil for your car? A friend of mine's 2016 Porsche Carrera 3 (an insanely high performance motor), runs off the shelf Mobil 1 full synthetic, so I'm particularly intrigued why VW would spec something beyond that standard for a daily driver.

I already know what the standard is and what it means, and how one acquires it. Most of the German cars have similar requirements for their oil. I know my engine isn't going to die if I put a proper weight synthetic that doesn't meet the spec. But this Lubro Moly Leichtlauf 5w40 can go 9K or more and I never burn oil. It's not terribly expensive, and I don't have to step foot into a Walmart. I'll stick with it for the time being.

Well speaking of changing oil your lawnmower engine is probably the hardest working engine you have, most don’t even have an oil filter plus they run in a cloud of dust. Many people never change oil in their mowers just add some when low, partly because some mower engines (you listening Honda) don’t even have a drain plug making you have to tip the whole mower over or suck out what you can.
I change mine when I put it away at the end of the season then again about half way through the season. And with full synthetic. You?

I change the oil (tip it over) in my lawnmower at the end of the season before I store it.