Am I wasting money changing Mobil1 so often??

[DragRacer]

Hey all. First post here. Just found this site and there's so much great info on here that it's hard to digest. I have no idea what all these test specs mean that are all over the board but I guess I'll figure it out if I do enough reading.

My question is this....
We bought a new 2001 Honda Accord a few years ago and I have never put anything but Mobil1 5W-30 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??

[ January 19, 2005, 04:42 PM: Message edited by: DragRacer ]

 

[Bagger_Matt]

My general rule is to use Mobil1 and change it at the factory change interval. Water would last 3,000 miles in a honda motor( ha ha)

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

DragRace,

Spend some time in the UOA section to find cars with the same engine as yours to see what others are doing. If they go 7000 miles per drain, why can't you?

As always, perform a UOA to make sure nothing is wrong to begin with.

If you decide to use Lube Control with M1, you could easily hit 10,000 miles or more, no problem with a decent oil filter!

 

[rshaw125]

Two things I have noticed while reading this board for several months.
1. Hondas on 10,000 miles OCI's on synthetic are plentiful.

2. A lot of people talk about the high quality of some of these oils but don't practise extended OCI's themselves.

Only 3,000 miles on Mobil 1 in a Honda? Yeah its a waste of money and oil.

 

[mountravlr]

You could go longer with Mobil 1. They took M1 in a Camaro to 18,000 miles, with a filter change and UOA's every so often: http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/mobil1.html

 

[TheFuror]

quote:

---

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 Mobil1 5W-30 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??

---

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.

 

[Patman]

Just yesterday I saw one Corvette owner on the Corvetteforum message board who says he changes his Mobil 1 every 2500 miles. That's not as bad as one guy I remember from one of the LS1 message boards who said he changes his Mobil 1 every 1000 miles! What a waste.

 

[jsharp]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Patman:
That's not as bad as one guy I remember from one of the LS1 message boards who said he changes his Mobil 1 every 1000 miles! What a waste.

---

If he was close by I'd ask him to drain it into a clean container. I've a couple vehicles that I could use it in...

 

[MillerMan]

it depends on how many miles are on the car and how you drive it, if your pounding on it all the time, change the M1 every 3000 to 4000 miles

if the it doesn't burn oil and it looks kind a clean go up to 6000 miles

 

[TheFuror]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Patman:
Just yesterday I saw one Corvette owner on the Corvetteforum message board who says he changes his Mobil 1 every 2500 miles. That's not as bad as one guy I remember from one of the LS1 message boards who said he changes his Mobil 1 every 1000 miles! What a waste.

---

I dunno...I mean, having the Elizabeth Taylor of automobiles (Corvettes are almost too good looking) would seem to warrant extra care....

Bob W.

 

[radiometer]

DragRacer, In a word "Yes". While you won't hurt anything with 3k OCI on Mobil 1 it is a bit of a waste.
Best of luck with that Honda. My family has had excellent long lasting service with them.

 

[rjundi]

Using ANY proper speced oil (this includes cheapo dino's) your engine will last a long time at the 3k interval. You probably will see 300k-400k on this with regular maintenance. The likely case is that another component will wear out that is too expensive to repair and car will be junked or sold with a decently running engine.

 

[3putter]

Are you wasting $$ ? I think so. You're also wasting resources, and mother earth needs a break as well.

Welcome to the forum. I never realized what a hot topic oil changes are until I stumbled across this site.

 

[Rob Taggs]

To each his own. I change every 2,000 to 3,000 miles. Additives deplete, TBN goes down among other things. Does not bother me a bit to change this often. Not to mention the bits of debris that keep making their way through the filter and get recirculated through the motor when leaving oil in 10's of thousands of miles. Its your money and car, go with what your gut tells you.

 

[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.

I really don't know if this is important or not, just thought I would throw this out, as I don't understand why it happens but it does.

 

[Gary Allan]

Well ..you see DR ..it's kinda like being in prison ..on in a manufacturing job (w/union wages) for a LONG time (almost identical - either way you can't leave). When those gates open (or close as it may be) ..some just don't know how to "come out" and act any different.

So ..I suggest a sorta "halfway house" for you adjustment to contemporary OCIs (you know ..those that the manufacturers consider "normal").

Do a UOA on your next OCI. You'll probably see that the stuff is hardly breaking a sweat. You then extend your OCI 25% (or a convenient number of miles) and retest. Continue to increase the OCI until everyone here says "...hmmm...looks like you could have squeezed out another few thousand miles out of this oil".

By then ...you will probably be beyond the factory recommendations. If you're like most, you will fall into a 6 month OCI for the sake of convenience (Spring-Fall type thing).

We will help you break the bonds of the 3k/3m OCI prison. If you choose to still hang out in the neighborhood (5k-6k like many) ..then at least you know the door is open and unlocked

 

[KW]

quote:

---

Originally posted by DragRacer:
Hey all. First post here. Just found this site and there's so much great info on here that it's hard to digest. I have no idea what all these test specs mean that are all over the board but I guess I'll figure it out if I do enough reading.

My question is this....
We bought a new 2001 Honda Accord a few years ago and I have never put anything but Mobil1 5W-30 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??

---

With the top grade oil that you are using I see no reason not to go to the 7K that Honda recommends or maybe even longer with a UOA to let you know when the oil is winding down.

 

[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

 

[2004 F150 4x4]

I changed the Mobil 1 10w-30 in my 96 GMC at 3000 miles for years and you could not tell me different. When I stopped pulling a heavy bass boat I went to 5000 oci just so it would be easy to track. No problems with 5k/oci. You are wasting your money doing 3k/oci BUT its your money and if it makes you feel better then keep doing it.

 

[GreenElixer]

DragRacer,
Gotta put in my 2 cents, as a fellow Honda owner. I would agree with those who say 3k OCI is a waste with M1. If your engine does not currently use/burn oil and is in good condition, then I would believe you could easily do 10k OCI on that Honda. As always, to keep your mind at ease, take advantage of a Used Oil Analysis to see how the engine wears at 10k. Also, I would suggest, if you are still somewhat cautious, change the oil filter only at the 5k mark and top off with 1/2 quart of fresh makeup oil to help boost the additives and TBN of the oil in your sump. Good luck with that Honda!!