I'm not driving my car that much to get the 3750 miles, so I just went with my 1st 3 month marker. Just following the maintenance book since it said which ever comes first.

 

Good man! I'm actually shocked that the normal Mobil 1 is showing less than 5k intervals. How early did you switch to synthetic? One thing I've noticed over the years is the VQ has an extremely long break in period of close to 7-10k before wear metals start to taper off. I switched my 2k2 Maxima on the 2nd oil change around 5k and then did 10k after that until it was totalled with around 70k. I never went past 10k on the Maxima for no good reason as I had very positive reports from Blackstone. I did see people going up to 17k before blackstone said to change it. I did 15-20k intervals on my 94 Civic and drove the thing 250k or so before trading it in on a new vehicle. It still ran brand spankin new.

 

I just switched to Mobil 1 @ 8000 miles and plan on sticking to the @ 4000 miles change recommendation. Why do it with synthetic? Well frankly, oil is pretty dirt cheap in the grand scheme of things and whats the harm in paying for one extra change per year. I did the same with my Z and it served me well. I do a lot of hard driving, commute 50 miles a day and think its worth the minimal cost. Trying to push your luck to 17,000 is absurd IMO given that oil is not $500/quart.

 

i switched at 15k miles. I'm sure I could go more than 5k but i'm scared. the TBN is still pretty high. Do you know what the TBN starts at? I'm consistenly gettin mid 2's and they say that the oil is good up until around 1.

 

Well its because Mobil 1 is no longer a full real synthetic. They changed their formula recently.

Amsoil, Redline, RP are full PAO Synthetics. A cheaper shelf bought synthetic that has been showing better results than M1 lately is Penzoil Platnum.

 

I am up at 8,000 miles since april have only gotten 1 oil change and never have been back to the dealer. I am going for a nother oil change today, i know i know i should not have waited this long but is there really a reason to go to the dealer? At the place i get my oil changed they check all your levels and tires and everything just not internal motor parts. I dont want to void my warranty for not going to the dealer often enough

 

RP is definately not a good oil for extended drain intervals as it tends to shear down very quickly. PP is definately a good oil. They too recently changed their formula so it's just like regular M1. While not a true synthetic it's a damn good oil.

 

Why is it absurd? Would you get rid of your car just because it has high mileage? Blackstone labs will tell you everything about the chemistry of your current oil and it's condition. Why change it if there is no reason to? Would you change your oil every 1000 miles? You have to factor in what your time is worth. Say you make $50 an hour. It takes 30 minutes, so $25. The time it takes you to take your oil to be recycled. Say 45 minutes. There's another $37.50. Plus the cost of the oil, filter, etc. You could literally save a thousand dollars over 5 years depending on how much you drive and how much you make. Again, why would one want to change their oil 5 times over 15k when they could do it once? Actually somewhat twice since you would do at least 1 filter change. I've been doing extended drains since 1994 and I have never once had a oil related problem.

If anyone would like to learn everything about oil go to bobistheoilguy dot com.

 

I live for high mileage cars. I put almost 180,000 miles on my 92 Jetta and changed it along the same intervals because I drive a lot and oil is cheap. Again maybe if oil was $500 a quart I would feel and act differently but I frankly dont care if I spend an extra $80 a year on a couple extra oil changes, I just dont. So if you think that means I waste my money then so be it but I'll probably get over it.

Your timing analysis makes no sense because if you do it on the weekends I dont get paid to be at home. During the week if I need it done I go to the dealer and drop off my car/pick up a loaner in 5 minutes and it takes me 5 minutes on the backend. So 10 minutes. In the end yes I guess I would rather spend the $40 on an oil change than $25 to get my current oil tested - and maybe be told in the end I need to change it anyway.

These retarded threads come up every 2 weeks anyway cant we just make one of them a sticky and let the rest of them die on the vine...

 

I agree. RP isn't a good oil really at all. But it is still a PAO based oil so that is why I included it.

 

There were some analysis tests done on the Penzoil platnium. although it held up okay, I don't think the TBN numbers were that great? I forget

 

Timing makes all the sense in the world. How much is your time worth to you? Everyone must set a price on your valuable time.You also don't need to get your oil tested much. Do it at 5k and then 10k. After that you will probably never need to do it again. Why on earth anyone would want to change their oil just for the sake of changing it? I just bought a loaf of bread and even though the sell by date says it's good for 2 weeks, I'm gonna throw it out because I think it might be bad.

Another point is environmental impact on changing your oil more frequently than necessary. Jiffy Lube made the 3k oil change interval a household name. BMW, Mercedes and Honda all recommend long drain intervals. I change the oil in my wifes Nissan Titan once a year. Oil analysis shows it's absolutely fine.

 

Yes, its TBN numbers weren't great, but thats because its not marketed as an extended drain interval synthetic so it doesn't need to have a high TBN count. For those that change their oil every 3-5k, its probably the best choice. The wear ratings for PP were great though IIRC

 

ROFLMFAO, the environmental impact? If we really cared about that we would be biking to work or have plug-in Smart Cars and not 300hp beasts. Good grief, come on, the environmental impact...

 

Well oil is recycled so.....

BMW and Mercedes use 8-10 quart oil pans so that's not really a fair comparison.

But the oil analysis is a great thing to keep an eye on your engine's wear.