I've gone about 5000 on most of my cars, with semi-syn/conventional oil most of the time. As shown in my recent Ford Five Hundred valve cover pic thread, https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/t...over-pics-186k-miles-conventional-oil.368547/ it hasn't really gone too bad.
However, I have a new to me 98 Camry with the 1MZFE V6 and 160K on it, and it's a very very nice car, not much rust, very clean body, paint, and interior, and it runs well. The story of the car is somewhat sad, I bought it from a lady I only knew a little (neighbor of a friend) who was on her deathbed at the time, and she died about two weeks after I got the car registered. It's all been really well maintained and perhaps just calling the mechanic she used is a better strategy than prognosticating on the internet.
So I was reading about sludge on this motor, and am wondering if people here think I should be fine on a 5K interval with today's API SP "conventional" syn blend oil or not. The oils I have a lot of on hand are NAPA blue bottle conventional, and some Valvoline Maxlife, both in 5w30. It doesn't seem to leak or use oil now, however, when I first got it for a few days it smelled like burning oil just a little bit, now that I've had it and it's been driving for a few weeks, the smell is about 99% gone. I've never seen any drops under the car yet, though.
The car was sitting without being driven since about 2020 when she got too sick, and the last oil change was done in 2020 as well, according to the sticker. The oil was essentially new in the crankcase, with only a few hundred miles on it and super clean looking. So I've put about a thousand miles on that oil now. Should I just keep running this oil, likely whatever shop bulk oil, until 3000 or 5000 miles, or should I get it out? It seems to have done well as a stop leak, so I'm hesitant to dump it, and the car seems to run fine and everything. I understand the risk is trapped moisture, but I figure over a thousand miles that's burnt off, so...
Also, what's more worrying, my neighbor who is a Camry fanatic looked it over, and my transmission fluid is fairly dark, and he suggested changing it soon. Should I drop the pan and change the filter, or just do a drain and fill with Valvoline Maxlife?
What do you guys think? Should I drain the old oil out early, or just leave it in? And of course, the main question, 3K or 5K OCIs with "conventional" oil in this car. Right now I have 2-3 oil changes left with NAPA/Valvoline, but it might get Supertech unless the NAPA Valvoline goes on sale again.
However, I have a new to me 98 Camry with the 1MZFE V6 and 160K on it, and it's a very very nice car, not much rust, very clean body, paint, and interior, and it runs well. The story of the car is somewhat sad, I bought it from a lady I only knew a little (neighbor of a friend) who was on her deathbed at the time, and she died about two weeks after I got the car registered. It's all been really well maintained and perhaps just calling the mechanic she used is a better strategy than prognosticating on the internet.
So I was reading about sludge on this motor, and am wondering if people here think I should be fine on a 5K interval with today's API SP "conventional" syn blend oil or not. The oils I have a lot of on hand are NAPA blue bottle conventional, and some Valvoline Maxlife, both in 5w30. It doesn't seem to leak or use oil now, however, when I first got it for a few days it smelled like burning oil just a little bit, now that I've had it and it's been driving for a few weeks, the smell is about 99% gone. I've never seen any drops under the car yet, though.
The car was sitting without being driven since about 2020 when she got too sick, and the last oil change was done in 2020 as well, according to the sticker. The oil was essentially new in the crankcase, with only a few hundred miles on it and super clean looking. So I've put about a thousand miles on that oil now. Should I just keep running this oil, likely whatever shop bulk oil, until 3000 or 5000 miles, or should I get it out? It seems to have done well as a stop leak, so I'm hesitant to dump it, and the car seems to run fine and everything. I understand the risk is trapped moisture, but I figure over a thousand miles that's burnt off, so...
Also, what's more worrying, my neighbor who is a Camry fanatic looked it over, and my transmission fluid is fairly dark, and he suggested changing it soon. Should I drop the pan and change the filter, or just do a drain and fill with Valvoline Maxlife?
What do you guys think? Should I drain the old oil out early, or just leave it in? And of course, the main question, 3K or 5K OCIs with "conventional" oil in this car. Right now I have 2-3 oil changes left with NAPA/Valvoline, but it might get Supertech unless the NAPA Valvoline goes on sale again.