synthetic oil change

[cindygolucky]

I have been running Mobl1 in my chevy cruze. How often should oil be changed and is it really worth the extra$$ I realize this is not gun related but was wanting opinions anyway

 

[atvdave]

When I got my new truck, I was told 5K for conventional & 10K for synthetic.

 

[SEIndSAM]

Does your cars computer tell you when the oil needs changed. Every car I have had in the last 10 years or so has a sensor that checks the oil and flashed "change oil soon" when it's needed.

I routinely go 7500-9000 miles on conventional oil, changing when the car tells me. I have 160K on my current work car and the one I retired a couple years ago has 265K with out motor issues

 

[shawnba67]

It all depends, if you live in Indiana you are on the severe use schedule. Nothing you can do about it. Newer engines run quite a bit hotter than they used to, some have thermo stats at 215 degree's. so they are cooling down to above the water vapor temp. Oil coking or sludge is a real problem in these new engines and extended oil changes make it worse.Most all timing chain tensioners are oil pressure activated so a little sludge goes a long way. With syn I personally would go 5k with a good conventional 3k is a rule of thumb. You can safely stretch a little if you have a long high way commute, but in town I wouldn't. Remember that owners manual is factoring in cost of ownership in its schedule and counting on vevicles being traded every 50k miles. YMMV this is just my personal opionion based of of 14 years as a service tech at a Dodge dealer.( I still beleive the 2.7 would have been a success with syn oil)
MY local NAPA has full syn on sale for $3.50 a qt You may be able to get your oil much cheaper at WAL MART Just take it with you and have your regular lube shop use it instead of house brand.

 

[Brandon]

I go by the censor. The M5 has only asked for one a year, but I only put about 6-7k a year on it. It like full synthetic castro 10w60.

 

[churchmouse]

We do our oil changes routinely at 3500/4000 depending on amount of highway versus city driving. Not hard to track. We use conventional oil.
We also rotate the tires at every oil change. As we have 4WD trucks/SUV's and a custom van this allows us to get the max mileage from the tires.

We used to use Mobil 1 Synthetic when we had more Hi-performance cars but the trucks do just fine on the conventional.
My last service duty van had near 300 K on the clock and running strong when I sold it.

 

[mrjarrell]

You can get 10,000 miles out of synthetic, easily. More depending on the car and your usage. Just don't switch from synthetic to conventional. It's not good for the engine. In my old truck I used to use synthetic and only changed out about once every 6-8 months. I just kept a watch on the oils condition. Ran like a champ and rarely used up any of the oil. My new vehicle has a monitor and lets me know when it's oil life is down to 15% and then I go change it. I've only had to change it once since I bought it and it was at about the 5-6 month mark and the oils condition was still pretty good. Synthetic is definitely the way to go. I've always been a fan of Mobile One, even back when it initially his the market at the end of the 70's. It's only gotten better over the years.

 

[The Keymaster]

I change my full synthetic every 7500. I change the conventional oil every 3000. I do not go longer than that because the detergents in the oil break down, and that allows sludge to form. Also all oil filters are not created equal. A higher quality oil filter will help keep your engine free of harmful particles.

 

[RobbyMaQ]

Some good reading...
Synthetic Oil Life Study

 

[KLB]

If you really want to know you need to get some used oil analyses done on your oil. That way you can see how your oil is holding up to your driving.

This site does them
Blackstone Labs

This site is great for getting info about different oils in different engines.
- Bob is the Oil Guy

 

[85t5mcss]

Me personally? I run conventional 5,000 miles. I've had the analysis done by POST and shows all to be good. I've run synthetics 10,000 miles with same results. But I do change the filter at 5,000 and top the engine off. The analysis is great because you are protecting your investment. The results shoe PPM on several different metals and alerts you to potential wear and also looks at fuel and coolant to provide you with some information on the health of the engine. Parts stores that sell WIX filters sell this kit and all you do is put you sample in the bottle and mail it.

Nothing wrong with running synthetics and then switching to conventional later on. It's an old myth. Synthetics also mix with conventional now unlike 20 years ago. But no reason to switch to synthetic on high mileage engine. Usually results in cleaning carbon from the inside of the engine which results in an oil leak that was plugged up or seeping before. Not the oils fault, it's just how it works. But synthetics get a bad rap for it nonetheless.

Edit:I've been using Wix #4077 analysis kit. The analysis is the price of the empty bottle you buy (about $12). Then you ship it in and they send results. My last one took about a month to get back. And probably goes without saying but catch the sample as it comes out of the oil pan to avoid contamination from drain pans.

 

[Bennettjh]

I run conventional in oil in my vehicles. If I can't see the dipstick through the oil, it's changed. Probably overkill but never had any trouble. 4.0L Jeeps, BTW.

 

[Butch627]

My family has been running Mobil 1 since the early 80's when we got it for 1.88 a quart, We used to go 10k between changes and always sold the cars off with over 200k on them with no engine woes. A couple of years ago there was some discussion on the web that the formula of the standard Mobil1 had been cheapened and it wasn't nearly as good as it used to be. My current ride is a 03 Honda Civic Vtech and the engine starts getting really noisy at about 7000 miles after an oil change so that's my new interval. It is at 140k and doesn't use any oil between changes. I don't know if my engine is particularly hard on oil or if there is truth to the rumors of the formula being cheapened, but out of at least a dozen cars we have owned this is the first time this situation has happened

 

[stephen87]

I run conventional in my cars for about 6K miles. Synthetics get changes a little less frequently, usually about 8-9k miles. My car is an '08 G6 and I have no issues. The car before was an S10 that didn't have any issues.

 

[Bunnykid68]

20 years ago they said every 5000 miles. The oil we use today is much better than it was 20 years ago without a doubt. My 1996 Chevy Astro said every 3000 miles for city driving or 7500 miles for highway miles. You do the math, oil companies want to sell oil, car manufactures know that the fresher the oil in the engine the better off the engine is going to be.

 

[PwrCruz]

Use Mobil1 full synthetic in all my vehicles and just do an oil filter change at 3-5k and a full change at 10k.
Also agree that once you switch from conventional to syn never change back of course that's what I was told when I started using syn so I've just stuck to that.

 

[Bunnykid68]

I also think all oils are a synthetic blend today as well and not just straight dino oil

 

[j706]

I know with the 2011 Chevrolet Caprice cops cars the GM tecs told our maintenance crew to change the oil by using the on board alert system. Our fleet guys were concerned about not doing oil changes at 3k. GM reminded them that the drive train is warranted for 5 years/100k. We keep cars a max of 4 years. We have had no problems so far out of ours. My car has 55k on it and it has had four or five services since I signed for it in 2011 with 14 miles on it. Also worth noting, a cop car engine has a rough life with all the idle time, high speeds ect. I think it pretty amazing that an engine oil will last that long.

 

[Principal Skinr]

I know with the 2011 Chevrolet Caprice cops cars the GM tecs told our maintenance crew to change the oil by using the on board alert system. Our fleet guys were concerned about not doing oil changes at 3k. GM reminded them that the drive train is warranted for 5 years/100k. We keep cars a max of 4 years. We have had no problems so far out of ours. My car has 55k on it and it has had four or five services since I signed for it in 2011 with 14 miles on it. Also worth noting, a cop car engine has a rough life with all the idle time, high speeds ect. I think it pretty amazing that an engine oil will last that long.

Right on. The GM OLM (Oil Life Monitor) is the best in the industry, and counts several factors, including total engine revolutions. It is considered the standard of the industry. It is calibrated for conventional oil, and gives a safety margin after reaching 0%. With a good synthetic, like M1, the safety margin would be greater. I've got a Chevy van with 127,000 miles on it and it has had a steady diet of synthetic oil, mostly M1, with no issues. It typically goes 9k on the OLM, but I've let it go a little over 10 before, with no worries. I'm looking to go 250k on this vehicle before trading it for another just like it.

 

[Mackey]

I change the oil when I get a "time to change the oil" vibe.
That's the extend of my scientific calculation.
I did start writing the milage and date down and shoving it in the glove box so maybe I'll get better.
When I was younger it was every 3K mile or 3 months, but life's too short to be changing oil so much.