Habit of driving effect oil change interval?

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PLease post the ways you drive and the oil change intervals. People say I am crazy changing the oil in my car (Mobil 1 10W30) every 5000 Km. But the way I drive is each day at least 4-5 times to redline ( 7200rpm). Then 80% highway, 20% city. Is this too much oil change?

I did notice a big change from Valvoline Durablend 10W40 to Mobil 1 10W30, mobil 1 is quieter, smoother and more powerful.

Car: 1991 Honda Civic 1.6CC
 
Your driving sounds a lot like mine, I redline my car many times per day, plus go drag racing about once a month. I will be doing 10,000km intervals (and possibly will go to 15,000km very soon) using German Castrol 0w30 in my 95 Firebird Formula.

Oil analysis is the best way to figure out if your choice in intervals is good or not.
 
I thought everyone posting is the "mpg" which counts people.
10000km! I wish I had a lab here to do oil tests. But in Hong Kong....no way.

Castrol RS ..how do i know it's german castrol? By the german writing on the back and Made in E.U?
 
In a real understanding, besides the "driver" that being equal... it has a lot to do with the oil. A lot!
Same method of travel and a different oil will give different results..>

Me:
Picture a New York Cabbie, that stops his car from
3-7 times a day to 50-60+ times a day, and all other times is normal traffic, Rush hour traffic (all three or four or five times a day), hitting a lot of "Go" lights (red or otherwise), ilde in between, with most of the miles on the streets, not on the expressway. On top of that, my foot frequents the base of the floor, and I have in 398K replaced 2 Clutch pads about to replace the third and my first brake pad... (yeah, I ride the brakes lightly and use my clutch more), reving up and down the engine here or there, whenever the morons are not too close to me.
 
Yes, it depends on your driving style. 5000km(3000miles)interval is for normal city driving and 10000km interval is for normal highway driving, probably not redline the engine. If you redline your engine a lot, keep the 5000km is needed. I have a BMW 740 and driving very gently, probably never run the engine over 2500rpm(I don't need to anyway), and now have almost 10000km on the Mobil1 5w50. Engine is still as smooth as the first day new oil in but I'll probably will change it soon. I'm from Hong Kong too.

*: I heard some people said that the Castrol RS sold in Hong Kong is from Singapore.
 
brichuen (and hung)
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I have many friends in HK, and make regular trips to the mainland via HK. Train (mostly), ferry, plane, car (a couple times in a right drive MB). What part do you live in? Most of my time is around Tsim Tsa Tsui (sorry I don't write Cantonese, only speak Putonghua, and write pinyin)

Anyway, I'll bet you could find a lab?? Have you looked hard?

Average People in HK just don't put miles on their cars (no where to drive I guess - you can open it up on the way to the airport!). Mostly time is the factor. The cabs do put miles on, nasty, but always running miles. Do you know what OCI's the (mostly) Toyota cabs use?

[ January 10, 2004, 10:59 AM: Message edited by: Pablo ]
 
Cars in Hong Kong are mostly pleasure vehicles, people usually drive their cars in weekend. For me, I drive my car quite a lot because I live in countryside(New Territories) and I need to drive for work. I put about 20000km a year on my car in the last few years.

Cabs(all diesel engines) in Hong Kong usually have arround 150000km a year(trust me,I know it pretty accurately),99.999...% of them use mineral oil, change oil every month.

[ January 10, 2004, 11:46 AM: Message edited by: hungdynasty ]
 
quote:

Originally posted by bricheun:

Castrol RS ..how do i know it's german castrol? By the german writing on the back and Made in E.U?


If it's sold in your area, it would be labelled as Castrol Formula SLX 0w30. Over here in North America it's repackaged as Castrol Syntec.
 
Hi, I live in Sheunh Shui N.T and drive to work in Chai Wan HK. I put on average 500km a week. I use my car as pleasure and transport and because I rebuilt my engine myself I hope to keep it at peak condition by using oil changes. I have used so many here, Speedmaster, Redline, Valvoline, Elf, Castrol GTX 2, RS (German 0W40) and now Mobil 1. I stayed away from Mobil 1 because there were just too many fakes. I have friends who said Mobil 1 actually smoked in their engines!!! I buy the ones from shops which import the american 10W30, great stuff. The other japanese brands are way too expensive and overly exagaerated by their marketing.

I will stick to my 6 week oil change program or 5000km interval. When the summer comes, I will something heavier like 10W40.

I would stay away from Valvoline from experience.

Any of you tried the vacuum chamber oil changer? It hold 6.5 litres of oil and is so simple to use, just put the pipe into the dipstick and suck the oil out...very clean and quick. i change te oil filter every other time. i hope this is ok.
I use the original japanese oil filters.

are you sure there are oil labs here? Costing an arm and a leg??
 
Bricheun, so far I don't find any problem regarding Mobil1, $69/L 5w50 if you buy it in Mongkok, 0w40 may be arround $80. I tried Castrol RS 10w60 a few times, great oil, my car ran very very smooth, actually smoother than Mobil1. Only thing is the 60 grade seems to take away some horse power. With Mobil1 engine runs a bit rougher and noiser but gain power. it depends on you like smoother or more power, both are great oil. I won't spend $500 for 4L of speedmaster, just not worth it. I do a lot of maintenance work by myself including oil change so I know how the used oil looks like when I drain it out.
 
same here, i do most of the maintenance around my friends garage in sheung shui or fanling.
Save quite abit of money I know I have done a good job.

I will try Castrol 0W40 next...
 
You guys drive a lot by HK standards. The names of areas you name such as Mongkok are familiar to me only as announced stops on th metro train...someday I'll have the time to explore HK more. Usually just a one day or less place in and out of DongGuan and my first taste of good xi fan in some weeks on the way out of mainland.

Funny, I had forgotten most the cabs are diesels.

As for labs, maybe quite expensive. I will ask some friends.

Fake oil, you wouldn't see that on the mainland, would you
rolleyes.gif
? I see some oil shops along the town streets in GuangDong, not in Shenzhen, though.
 
Fake oil is available in Hong Kong too. Costing around USD50-55 for 4 litres of Mobil 1, there is much profit to be made by using mobil 1 cases and labels, and using some cheap oil inside. That's why they put those "laser" labels on them now. But since I work for in an OEM factory inHong Kong and China I can source exactly the same stickers.
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I normally ask them open up a new carton box, then i can tell if it's fake or not or goto a well known shop.

Stay a bit longer next time and look around..there are many more shops and garages around the N.T...Mong Kok is a bit "cowboy" garage.


torco oil is available but after many attempts to contact the local dealer without success i tried to contact the american supplier since it is 3 times less cost. If I buy 2 boxes full i save 50%! But anyway, too much hassle so opted for Mobil 1. I suppose it will be good enough for my driving style.
 
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