First time poster. Have spent some time lurking around there the past week. A lot of good information and real world experience. Always looking to learn more.
2002 Lincoln Continental Intec V8 265 hp, 66K miles. Bought the car from an elderly guy at 22K miles in 2009 (he averaged 3K mi/yr). For me 8K miles per year. Not garaged. My oil changes from 22K - 50K miles were pretty much any decent shelf brand 5W-20 conventional oil at 3K periodicity, most of them at the quick oil change places. At 50K miles started doing them myself at 4K miles with Formula Shell synthetic 5W-20 since BJ's always seemed to have this on special ($26/6 qts). Also figured the synthetic would help on those cold winter starts. I noticed that I started having to add 1 to 1-1/2 qts per OCI, especially in summer. That seemed odd. On my last oil change at 65K miles I switched back to Valvoline conventional 5W-20 SN. Still have 5 qts of Mobil super 5000 as well. Want to see if that usage goes back down. So far at 800 miles no usage. The car is driven on mostly short trips a few times each week...many of them only 4-6 miles when it gets turned off....and driven back home an hour or so later. I try to do at least one 10-15 mile continuous trip every week. The car is babied and spends nearly all its time under 2500 rpm. Is it a candidate for HM oil at this point? Would it make more sense to go an entire year on a M1 HM or PLAT HM? No other problems other than a small valve cover gasket leak. I've used Fram XG, Mobil 1, Puralator Pure 1, and Motorcraft oil filters. With the minimal miles we're putting on this car, it's age is going to kill the car long before the engine does. In another 5 yrs it will be 20 years old at 105K miles. Too bad I can't pile on those 25K annual highway miles like I did 10 yrs ago.
Other car is a 1999 Camaro SS (Z28) garage queen with 17K miles. I've had it 3 years. Previous owner changed the M1 5W-30 SN 2X per year. I've continued the same regimen. But that's only 600-800 miles per oil change! It's garaged and only sees about a half dozen colder temp starts of 25-35 deg F in the winter. Any time it's started up it goes for a 12-50 mile trip. In winter, roads clear, goes out 1-2X per month. Never sits for more than 6 weeks. In summer it's out a min. of once a week. The last oil change I upped it to one year/1500 miles using an M1 oil filter. It's not tracked or raced ever. General cruising with some spirited runs at times well under red line. I don't run it anywhere near its full potential. The PCV systems on these engines are known for oil use. I've usually topped off 1/2 qt every 1,000 miles. I've liked what I've read about the 0W-40 oils and am considering going to that in M1, Castrol Edge or GC, PUP. I suggest some might try going 2 years and 3K miles on a synthetic. Oil pressure is usually between 40-65 psi under all conditions.
Open to any and all suggestions. Both cars are using the factory recommended oil grades.
2002 Lincoln Continental Intec V8 265 hp, 66K miles. Bought the car from an elderly guy at 22K miles in 2009 (he averaged 3K mi/yr). For me 8K miles per year. Not garaged. My oil changes from 22K - 50K miles were pretty much any decent shelf brand 5W-20 conventional oil at 3K periodicity, most of them at the quick oil change places. At 50K miles started doing them myself at 4K miles with Formula Shell synthetic 5W-20 since BJ's always seemed to have this on special ($26/6 qts). Also figured the synthetic would help on those cold winter starts. I noticed that I started having to add 1 to 1-1/2 qts per OCI, especially in summer. That seemed odd. On my last oil change at 65K miles I switched back to Valvoline conventional 5W-20 SN. Still have 5 qts of Mobil super 5000 as well. Want to see if that usage goes back down. So far at 800 miles no usage. The car is driven on mostly short trips a few times each week...many of them only 4-6 miles when it gets turned off....and driven back home an hour or so later. I try to do at least one 10-15 mile continuous trip every week. The car is babied and spends nearly all its time under 2500 rpm. Is it a candidate for HM oil at this point? Would it make more sense to go an entire year on a M1 HM or PLAT HM? No other problems other than a small valve cover gasket leak. I've used Fram XG, Mobil 1, Puralator Pure 1, and Motorcraft oil filters. With the minimal miles we're putting on this car, it's age is going to kill the car long before the engine does. In another 5 yrs it will be 20 years old at 105K miles. Too bad I can't pile on those 25K annual highway miles like I did 10 yrs ago.
Other car is a 1999 Camaro SS (Z28) garage queen with 17K miles. I've had it 3 years. Previous owner changed the M1 5W-30 SN 2X per year. I've continued the same regimen. But that's only 600-800 miles per oil change! It's garaged and only sees about a half dozen colder temp starts of 25-35 deg F in the winter. Any time it's started up it goes for a 12-50 mile trip. In winter, roads clear, goes out 1-2X per month. Never sits for more than 6 weeks. In summer it's out a min. of once a week. The last oil change I upped it to one year/1500 miles using an M1 oil filter. It's not tracked or raced ever. General cruising with some spirited runs at times well under red line. I don't run it anywhere near its full potential. The PCV systems on these engines are known for oil use. I've usually topped off 1/2 qt every 1,000 miles. I've liked what I've read about the 0W-40 oils and am considering going to that in M1, Castrol Edge or GC, PUP. I suggest some might try going 2 years and 3K miles on a synthetic. Oil pressure is usually between 40-65 psi under all conditions.
Open to any and all suggestions. Both cars are using the factory recommended oil grades.
