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If you run Dino oil then 3 months or 3K miles PERIOD.
FALSE, I'm running some dino that states 5k intervals.
If you did a UOA You would know in most cases you can go much longer than 5k on dino and many do go out to 10k.
Synthetic is good for around 5K or 5 months.
Again FALSE.
You don't want to know what comes out of these cars when people leave the oil in for 7500 miles like the manual recommends.
Like what?
More soot?
By 7500 miles the oil is so contaminated it's not protecting anything.
Wrong contaminates, (most) have nothing to do with the lubricity of the oil, only dilution by fuel will lower the lubricity
People also need to pay attention to the time frame. I see people everyday that tell me they change their oil every 3K no matter what then I look at the sticker on the window and realize they only drive 3K a year and they wonder why we're pulling the motor at 20K for a rebuild.
Really, if they drove it long enough to get the oil hot enough to burn off any water from condensation it would not be a proublem
Turbo cars are much harder on oils and in my opinion should use synthetic only.
Not all call for synthetic oil. The proublem comes in folks not allowing the turbo to cool before they shut it down, not the type of oil.
Far too many people don't understand what is happening inside a turbo when they shut the car off after beating the crap out of it and again wonder why we're rebuilding turbos at 10K. Small factory turbo's can spin for 20 to 30 seconds after you shut the motor off and the oil pressure is gone. As you can imagine this is an issue.
The issue is the turbo is HOT. When you just shut it down the oil crystallizes or cokes gumming up the bearing.
Someone mentioned oil formulations changing. This is true and while they are getting better at tolerating heat they are getting worse at wear protection as many of the key wear inhibitors are being removed. Over all oil is not getting better, it's getting worse.
Oil is getting much better at lubricating and the packages that are added help to stop sludge build up and add lubricity are getting better all the time.
Get your self a free subscription to a Mag called " Lube and Greases" and you too can know what is going on in the oil industry. Or stop by Bob is the oil guy's site
Oil change and basic servicing incidents and their relationship to longevity
@15,000 miles driven per year
/3000mi = 5 incidents
/5000mi = 3 incidents
most will say 3-5 incidents per year (even if it isn't true)
that make 4 incidents per year the threshold or "par"
the incremental cost/hassle of doing the 5th one... even at $100...
comes out to less than $2 per week.
$2/week is CHEAP insurance.
Do the extra oil change.
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The key to longevity question raised by the OP beyond these basic truths is that absent your own (:cough: hack) technical expertise... is to have the entirety of the engine compartment and suspension looked at by someone you trust to both actually know their $hite but also that you trust to deal honestly with you.
I have never seen an oil related engine failure although I am sure they are possible. In my experience an annual oil/filter change (or every 15K miles) will be adequate. I have seen vehicles go many years and a lot of miles with only a top off and filter change every few years.
$2/week is CHEAP insurance.
Do the extra oil change.
And pour money down the drain.
Your better off buying a high quality oil filter and running it much longer knowing your catching the contaminants.
Lets say we are not talking a small 4 banger gas engine that uses 5qt but a larger engine that holds 3gal of oil or more like my 6cyl,
Dino at $12 a gal or a cheep styn at $24 a gal .
a quality oil filter $27-$32 bucks.
and your going to dump it out every 3k
The AVG driver goes what in a year, something like 24k. so your going to change it 8 times if you change it every 3k
Today's oil isn't your daddy's oil and your engine is being built to tighter tolerances with better materials. This lowers the contaminants.
lastly. if your changing your oil every 3k and your using synthetic oil, can you put me in your will because you have money to throw away.
I bet if you had an oil analysis done just one time you would think twice about changing your oil at 3k.
Blackstone Labs
"Buddy, you should use whatever you want. Synthetic oil won't guarantee a longer engine life any more than my eating organic food will guarantee I'll live until I'm 90. We here at Blackstone generally use regular petroleum-based oil because honestly, it works just as well for us."
And pour money down the drain.
Your better off... yadda yadda yadda
sniiiiiiiiiiiiiip
The key to longevity question raised by the OP beyond these basic truths is that absent your own (:cough: hack) technical expertise... is to have the entirety of the engine compartment and suspension looked at by someone you trust to both actually know their $hite but also that you trust to deal honestly with you.
I guess I need to add the unstated implication in this:
The oil change is mostly incidental to longevity... not causal.
Every 18.-20.000 Miles with Audi Longlife Oil. Currently about 90k miles on the clock and never had any issues.
Imho there is no need to change oil every 3-5k miles... in Europe about 15-20k kilometers are quite common. With long-life oil about 30k. I see no reason to support the oil industry more than necessary.
I've only been driving for a little over a year but I've been pretty good on keeping up with the every 3,000 mile thing, except last time I was about 200 miles over when I finally got back in (full-time job, full-time school). Haven't had any engine problems yet (knocking on wood).
I've only been driving for a little over a year but I've been pretty good on keeping up with the every 3,000 mile thing, except last time I was about 200 miles over when I finally got back in (full-time job, full-time school). Haven't had any engine problems yet (knocking on wood).
As a new driver where did you get the idea that 3000 mile oil changes were a better idea than what the manufacturer recommends?
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