One con is the layers of skin that get removed all too easily when the wrench slips!
cons of changing oil too often?
- Thread starter JHZR2
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Who says that you throw the oil away? I can just wait until another one of my dino vehicles also is ready for an oil change ...or just save it until it is.
btw-stripped drain plugs are for amateurs/novices or victims of the same.
Patman
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At what point do you guys consider that someone is changing their oil too often when using synthetic?
I've always felt like sticking with 5-6k intervals even with synthetic, but do you guys think this is still too often?
I've always felt like sticking with 5-6k intervals even with synthetic, but do you guys think this is still too often?
Pure and simple, changing your oil too often wastes natural resources (regardless of oil type) and does add (in general) to the wastestream (even if you do dump it in your neighbor's yard
)
Patman - I've always felt like sticking with 5-6k intervals even with synthetic, but do you guys think this is still too often?
Before I retired I was running 30,000 miles a year. I used Mobil 1 5w30 and ran 10,000 OCIs. Oil looked good coming out, the engine stayed clean, and would use 1 quart in 10,000 miles.
The studies I have seen support the 7,500 to 10,000 mile OCI program. For me the optimum program would be 6 months or 10,000 miles given you get a decent amount of "hot" miles in (few short trips).
Before I retired I was running 30,000 miles a year. I used Mobil 1 5w30 and ran 10,000 OCIs. Oil looked good coming out, the engine stayed clean, and would use 1 quart in 10,000 miles.
The studies I have seen support the 7,500 to 10,000 mile OCI program. For me the optimum program would be 6 months or 10,000 miles given you get a decent amount of "hot" miles in (few short trips).
Patman
Staff member
If I was doing 30k a year I'd probably go with 10k intervals too. In fact, if I didn't live in a climate that got so cold for 4 months, I'd probably go longer as well.
I do about 18-20k per year though, and so changing it 3 times per year seems about right to me. Going by my oil life monitor in my Corvette, it showed 50% oil life when I was at the 4000 mile mark on this interval. So the most I would probably ever go in this car would be 8k. I might just do that next summer actually, I'll wait to do the oil change until the oil life monitor shows 0%.
I do about 18-20k per year though, and so changing it 3 times per year seems about right to me. Going by my oil life monitor in my Corvette, it showed 50% oil life when I was at the 4000 mile mark on this interval. So the most I would probably ever go in this car would be 8k. I might just do that next summer actually, I'll wait to do the oil change until the oil life monitor shows 0%.
You've got good oil in there Patman so I don't see any risk using the oil life monitor. It will be interesting to see how the monitor tracks with used oil analysis...
Patman
Staff member
True, I probably could be safe if I always went by the monitor, but part of my reasoning for my oil change timing is also to make sure I don't need to change the oil in the dead of winter. So I also try to time it so that I'm doing a change right before the winter begins. So by doing it every 5-6k it ends up working out so that I'm never in need of a change in January or February for instance.
Makes sense. I know how much fun it is changing in the dead of winter. Even with a heated shop laying in salt and slush has little going for it.
I'd just like to see how much life the oil really has left in our opinion here after the oil life monitor tells you to change. I bet with good oil there a pretty good margin.
A friend has a C5 with the monitor and he's running M1. Maybe I can convince him to follow the monitor and do a used oil analysis when he changes...
Patman
Staff member
The most interesting part about it is that in 2001, the Corvette's oil change interval from GM changed from 10,000 miles to 15,000 miles, so the oil life monitor on the 2001 and up now reflects that. So under no circumstances would my 98 Corvette's OLM ever specify anything higher than 10k.
The funny thing is that the 97-00 LS1 Corvette has the same oil system and oil capacity as the 01-04 (6.5 qts), so it's not like they changed anything which would allow the oil to last longer. The only significant difference in the 01-04 engine was a different intake manifold (they decided to use the LS6 engine's better manifold on the LS1 so that they didn't need to produce two different intakes anymore) but that wouldn't affect the oil's life.
So in other words, since my 98 Corvette's OLM is much more conservative, I could most definitely trust it.
The 99-02 F-bodies had an OLM in them, and they were calibrated based on conventional oil, so owners could completely trust them too if they ran synthetic oil. Although in their case it wasn't a digital countdown like on the Corvette, so you'd never know when it was going to reach it's end point, it would just pop up telling you to change the oil now.
I didn't know they changed the way the monitor worked in 2001. I'm not sure of the year of the friends car but I'm positive it's a 2001 or later. He takes the car on trips and drives it on weekends so I'd think it would be easy on the oil and the monitor would reflect this. He's not a hard driver either. No trips to the dragstrip or autocrossing for him.
I'd just like to see what a quality oil looks like after being run 10K or more miles and changed according to the monitor vs. what we all think here. Maybe things like this will put the 3months/3000 mile changes behind us for good...
I'd just like to see what a quality oil looks like after being run 10K or more miles and changed according to the monitor vs. what we all think here. Maybe things like this will put the 3months/3000 mile changes behind us for good...
JHZR2
Staff member
my o4 saab 9-3 must have the sme oil life monitor. I believe it automatically reverts to the oil change indicator if 15k or 1 year has passed (maybe its 2 years). My car's computer gives me a percentage and a number of days until change. based upon used oil analysis Ive seen here for the new saab 9-3 using the 0w30 saab turbo Full Synthetic oil, Id say I definitely trust the gm oil life monitor, even though it is based upon correlations from lab data and used oil analysis showing the relation of number of cold starts, revs, idle time, etc., and is not a true sensor.
Ill be running my oil to probably 14k, as I do all highway miles in the new saab... and baby it even after breakin. I like getting 36-38 mpg in it
2500 miles now and counting.
JMH
Ill be running my oil to probably 14k, as I do all highway miles in the new saab... and baby it even after breakin. I like getting 36-38 mpg in it
JMH
My 2003 Explorer has an OLM. On dino it usually tells me a change is needed around 6,000 miles. I have been using Mobil 1 and running it to 7,500 - 8,000 miles. In the manual it mentions how you can reprogram the OLM if you intend to use synthetic. Its default setting is obviouly for dino.
Why have I not changed it? Because I think I am going to start using Motorcraft SM GF-4.
Why have I not changed it? Because I think I am going to start using Motorcraft SM GF-4.
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How would this sound? Drain oil after normal OCI. DO NOT replace the filter. Fill with oil and run for one warm up cycle. Drain into clean container and draw UOA sample ..return to engine. This would establish the baseline of the dirty oil in the filter and the particles that are "statically" in suspension at the beginning of the OCI. Then take sample @ 1000 miles. If wear metals are higher than the static/baseline readings, it has nothing to do with the filter change ..and everything to do with the resuspension of deposit materials. That is, unless the theory of the oil itself actually causing wear has any merit.
To isolate that ..hmmm, I guess I would just repeat the same short OCI, leaving the old filter intact and see if wear metals continued to decrease or stayed the same (close) in subsequent short (1000 mile) OCIs. That should close all the doors on the debate ...I would think.
Gary Allen - How would this sound? Drain oil after normal OCI. DO NOT replace the filter. Fill with oil and run for one warm up cycle. Drain into clean container and draw UOA sample ..return to engine. This would establish the baseline of the dirty oil in the filter and the particles that are "statically" in suspension at the beginning of the OCI. Then take sample @ 1000 miles. If wear metals are higher than the static/baseline readings, it has nothing to do with the filter change ..and everything to do with the resuspension of deposit materials. That is, unless the theory of the oil itself actually causing wear has any merit.
Way more complicated than I would have thought but knock your sox off.
Way more complicated than I would have thought but knock your sox off.
I notice that even when I pre-fill my filter, it takes a couple of seconds to get oil pressure when starting the engine the first time after an oil/filter change. The MC FL400S filter has a good ADBV and I get pressure almost instantly for starts after that. That couple of seconds of no pressure is enough to make me not drain the oil prematurely.
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