Could have went on a while longer, but I got this M1 with a trade from a friend, and installed it almost right away not knowing the oil change history.
Oil level seemed alright the first couple weeks after changing the oil. I checked it a few weeks later, looked down about half a quart. Didn't have the time to go get some more M1 so i waited a week or two more and it was down almost 2 quarts. Took 1.8 quarts to bring it back to full. So its consuming oil, but my explorer drips on my driveway but doesn't consume this much. The stratus doesn't leave its mark though, and it doesn't burn any blue. Oil pan looked a bit when I changed it out though.
The reason I changed it so early in M1's life (3951 km, 2455 miles) was due to it being down another two quarts of oil about a month later. I didn't feel like puttin in an expensive oil (its about 9-11$ a quart here depending where you look). Also Mobil 1 showed a bad UOA in my friends 94 shadow 2.5L with excessive iron and wear from the bearings, and that thing made a lot of noise during cold starts. Now its on SSO and doing just fine. Thats what I plan to do with this car in the future.
Now its on Valvoline maxlife since April 3rd and i've put almost 2500 km on it, and its still looks between 7/8 to the full line or at full on the dipstick, depending if you let it sit overnight or not. I'm kind of sold on the seal conditioners. Engine seems slightly quieter on the maxlife then on the M1.
It looks like a great canadate for extended drains. I'm planning to run the maxlife to 6500 - 7000km, and then run another diet of maxlife, then possibly switch to AMS in this car (now that I have a vehicle that isn't wearing excessively, like my explorer, found a chunk of a piston in the oil pan, still runs though. Pennz Plat keeps that happy)
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