Am I wasting money changing Mobil 1 so often??

[Mystic]

I read an article recently in a 'Car Craft' magazine that compared synthetic oil with conventional motor oil. According to the article synthetic oil withstands heat much better then conventional motor oil. But also according to the article the additives in the synthetic oil are affected by heat as much as the additives in the conventional motor oil. So drivers of race cars were being advised to change synthetic oil in a race car engine after every race just like conventional motor oil is changed after every race. Not only heat breaks down the additives but also contaminates that build up in the oil, according to the article.

If it is true that the additives in synthetic oil break down as readily as the additives in conventional motor oil, then I think I will use synthetic oil only in the wintertime. No question that synthetic oil outflows conventional motor oil in extreme cold. Conventional oil could be used the rest of the year. There are several good brands of conventional motor oil-Pennzoil, Castrol, Chevron, etc. And I will use Auto-RX to help keep the engine clean.

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Originally posted by OdinsRageSS:
patman, i remember arguing with LS1 guys who change oil 2000-3000 miles, i was getting angry they kept saying oh well its cheap insurance. And all oil is bad after 3k!

lol

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It's so hard to convince a lot of these guys, they have been brainwashed by Jiffy Lube into the thinking that all oil instantly goes bad at 3k.

 

[DragRacer]

Wow! Thanks for all the great replies! So many thing I never even thought about. This car is my wife's daily driver and it has roughly 75,000 miles on it. It still looks like new on the outside and under the hood. I had an '88 Jetta that I changed oil(Valvoline conventional) on every 5K. I got tired of driving the stupid thing after 190,000 miles and finally traded it off. I just want this car to last as long as possible, thus the M1 and frequent oil changes. I will do a used oil analysis on it and maybe go ahead and stretch it out to the Honda recomended OCI.

To tell you the truth, I'm not all that crazy about the car....not enough leg room for me. Just can't seem to get comfortable in it. Also wasn't too pleased about how Honda treated me on a warranty issue(won't go into that). But my wifey loves the thing so we'll prolly keep it for a long long time.

 

[Eiron]

Hi DragRacer,

I was successful in running Mobil 1 in my 1990 Saab for more than a year in severe (short trip) service. If you're not completely comfortable going longer on your current Mobil 1 choice, switch to one of the "long life" versions for the extra safety of more additives & a better cushion of oil. Mobil 1 0W-40, 5W-40 & 15W-50 all offer boosted additive levels & higher film strength.

You can take a look at my results here.

 

[ekpolk]

quote:

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Originally posted by TheFuror:

quote:

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Originally posted by DragRacer:
My question is this....We bought a new 2001 Honda Accord a few years ago and I have never put anything but Mobil 1 5w30 in the engine. I'm a firm believer in the 3000 mile oil change rule and was changing the M1 every 3K for a while. I decided to go ahead and extend that to 4000 miles just because I got tired of changing oil all the time. Honda reccomends 7000 miles between oil changes, so am I totally wasting my money by changing oil so often?? I do not trade vehicles often. I'm the type of person that keeps a car until it's used up and I want this thing to last as long as possible. So.... any opinons??

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Oil is cheap. New Hondas are expensive. I like cheap better.

This is a hot topic, with many different opinions. My choice is perhaps to change too often, so I go with 3K OCI (using Kendall synthetic).

Best of luck.

Bob W.

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Shoot Bob, do you put a fresh set of top-of-the-line Michelins on your car every 10,000 miles? For the vast majority of people who do 3/3, they are effectively doing the same thing. We have reams and reams and reams of data in our own UOA section that shows that there's just no reason to do 3/3, especially with a good syn. With an occasional UOA or even just a careful look with a flashlight into the oil filler, 7k - 10k for High Mileage cars, or one year for many lower mileage vehicles is absolutely safe.

 

[brian fix]

you can run Mobil 1 for at least safely 7 to 9K safely,however rember filter change out roughly halfway through,,,,,,filters are important,,,have you ever considered Amsoil,as they have a good program for extended intervals,, check with the Amsoil sponsers on this Bobistheoilguy site,,there great...BL

 

[Ken2]

Used oil analysis is the only way to tell. If you don't want to do analysis yourself, follow ToyotaNSaturn's advice about looking at the reports of others elsewhere on this forum.

I have good oil analyses in my Toyota with 12,000 miles on Schaeffer's premium synthetic blend and the same filter all the way. There is no need to change the filter before the oil change.

I'd run Mobil 1 in that Honda for the full 7000. After a couple of runs at 7k, I'd pull a sample and get it checked with the thought of going to 10k.

There are different quality (different cost) additive packages available to oil blenders. Mobil 1, Schaeffer, and some others others buy top quality components for their oil and the oils last longer. It's really that simple. Amsoil does also, but I feel that their products are over priced and over hyped (sorry, Pablo.)


Ken

 

[Stinky Peterson]

I agree with Brian about changing filter halfway through. Some filters will probably go over 10,000 miles while other's will not. To be on the safe side change it at 5000-6000 miles and cut the filter open to see how it is holding up. Also check for debris. Believe it on not cutting a filter is almost as good as oil analysis.

Stinky

 

[99]

Patman-keep in mind that most of those guys are fanatics that don't even put that many miles on their cars in a year or even two years. And when they do drive them, it's for a stroll around town, so the oil never really gets hot enough to burn off condensation. On the other hand, some of those guys beat the living snot out of their cars and that means sustained higher oil temps. Both situations require more frequent changes.

I'm one of those guys that changes out Mobil 1 15W50/Mobil 1 filters every 3000 miles on my driven hard/occasionally drag raced 509ci Z28, so I can relate to the "early drainers" out there. Having 4.56 gears with 26in tall tires makes for high crusing/very high highway rpms too, so my oil lives a hard life.

[ January 22, 2005, 01:46 AM: Message edited by: 99 ]

 

[pajim17057]

quote:

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Originally posted by DKT:
Just to put in my 2 cents. If you look at the "interpreting wear metals" on the link that mountravlr provided, it shows that the wear metals actually go up in the 1st 3,000 miles in an oil change (PPM/1000 miles). I plotted the data from the 14,000 miles on Amsoil and the same trend appears. Makeup oil may have something to do with it, but the lower wear metals over time is quite significant.

So you may be wearing our engine out prematurely by changing so frequently. Granted, I'm new at this and ony have had 3 oil tests performed, but I'm intending to extend my oil change interval until Terry tells me to stop.

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I think the reason for this is pretty simple. When you change you oil. You don't get all the old oil out. No matter how long you let it drain. You will still have old oil with wear metels in mix with the new oil. That is why you get an initial jump in wear metels.

 

[Mike_dup1]

quote:

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Patman-keep in mind that most of those guys are fanatics

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NO, that can't be so

There are also those that are "penny wise and pound foolish"

 

[1999nick]

quote:

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Originally posted by brian fix:
you can run Mobil 1 for at least safely 7 to 9K safely,however rember filter change out roughly halfway through,,,,,,filters are important,,,have you ever considered Amsoil,as they have a good program for extended intervals,, check with the Amsoil sponsers on this Bobistheoilguy site,,there great...BL

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Doesn't Honda recommend changing the filter every other oil change?

 

[99]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mike:

quote:

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Patman-keep in mind that most of those guys are fanatics

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NO, that can't be so

There are also those that are "penny wise and pound foolish"

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I don't know what you are trying to say, but when you drop $40-50K for a Vette and worship it like it's your first born child, the cost of changing out the oil/filter frequently is a non issue. Or if you have nearly $12K invested in a engine (myself), the cost of changing the oil every 3K is also a non-issue. You really have to be a die hard car guy to understand. Try telling Austin Coil to leave the oil in for longer than usual and see what happens to you.

 

[HOndaGuy]

Go the 7500 miles with Mobil 1 5w30 and filter for peace of mind.

 

[TheFuror]

quote:

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Originally posted by ekpolk:
Shoot Bob, do you put a fresh set of top-of-the-line Michelins on your car every 10,000 miles?

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Actually, I do....

No, of course not. And, I completley understand your point. This line of reasoning (extended OCI with used oil analysis) is really very powerful and my 3K OCI is probably more an ingrained habit than based on any real need.

Bob W.

 

[Tree Hugger]

quote:

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Originally posted by TheFuror:

quote:

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Originally posted by ekpolk:
Shoot Bob, do you put a fresh set of top-of-the-line Michelins on your car every 10,000 miles?

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Actually, I do....

No, of course not. And, I completley understand your point. This line of reasoning (extended OCI with used oil analysis) is really very powerful and my 3K OCI is probably more an ingrained habit than based on any real need.

Bob W.

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You can forget the 'probably'.

 

[TheFuror]

quote:

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Originally posted by Tree Hugger:

quote:

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Originally posted by TheFuror:

quote:

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Originally posted by ekpolk:
Shoot Bob, do you put a fresh set of top-of-the-line Michelins on your car every 10,000 miles?

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Actually, I do....

No, of course not. And, I completley understand your point. This line of reasoning (extended OCI with used oil analysis) is really very powerful and my 3K OCI is probably more an ingrained habit than based on any real need.

Bob W.

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You can forget the 'probably'.

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Yeah, you're probably right....

Bob W.

 

[Tones]

DragRacer, you didn't say whether your Honda is a 4 cylinder or a 6 cylinder (or maybe I missed it). Not sure on 2001, but in general the 6 cylinder is prone to fuel dilution and is harder on the oil than a 4 cylinder. Also, if your wife is doing a lot of short trips, you can get some fuel dilution. If either of these cases applies to you, I am going to be the dissenter and recommend you stick with the 4k OCIs.