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These two are the same engines. One has always changed oil & filter on regular basis. The latter one is a female owner that has neglected her cars engine.
Oil technology has advanced a lot in the last 10-15 years. The 3k mile oil change is a thing of the past though some people still like to waste their money. Even with non-synthetic oil, people can easily go 5k miles under most conditions, ie., not towing, extreme weather, racing, etc...
The quality of synthetic has definitely made things much easier for consumers, bad for the quick change places, though.
Personally, I use full synthetic and change my oil twice a year, once before summer and once before winter.
Well, I still use the manufacturers oil change interval from 1979 which was every 7500 miles or 12 months, whichever comes first. I use conventional Valvoline 10W30. I have had my 79 Thunderbird since 04/2003 and have had no problems at all. I know oil has to be better than in 1979. I just wanted opinions on the Next Gen oil. It's been an interesting discussion. In the smaller 2.3 and 3.3 liter engine starting in 1978, Ford said you could go 10,000 miles or 12 months between changes! That's why I have always felt that Ford was at least using semi-synthetic oil at that time. Maybe I'm wrong. Don't know why the V8's would have had less mileage, since supposedly smaller engines of the time worked harder which should wear out the oil faster.
yowps, that's a 3S-FE Toyota engine, IIRC, and they tend to be sludge monkeys particularly if driven mostly for short trips.
I run 15K OCI in my Scirocco, *BUT* consider the oil I use (Redline) and the driving I do (40 to 60 MPH cruising on "blue" roads, mostly. 40 to 50 miles one way to work). I'm not set up to post a picture of the cam valley, but I can assure you it looks like brand new in there.
Also it ain't just the oil, I'm using a Pure 1 filter. In some ways you are better off with cheap oil and a first class filter, than with a first class oil and a cheap filter. If a dirt (sand, mostly) particle gets into the oil and it's the right size to bridge the oil film, makes no difference what oil you are running or how new it is, that particle is going to do it's dirty work.
I have run this engine over 200K miles mostly with Redline 10-30 or 10-40, I now use the 10-40 all the time, it makes over 90 PSI on cold start, and 45 to 60 PSI with hot (100C) oil cruising 2250 to 2750 RPM.
Given the results, I guess I am doing something right...
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