OCI Challenge: Dino every 5k/6mo. or Syn 10k/1yr?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Aug 24, 2009
Messages
225
Location
Hollywood, CA
What do you think is better for the engine:
OCI full drain and filter change.
Dino 5k/6months or Synthetic 10k/1year?

The car is a 2009 Lexus ES350
 
The real question is what is your driving pattern. If it's back and forth to work, less than 10 miles, then the oil doesn't get hot enough to burn off fuel dilution and water of combustion. In this case, the add pack in synthetic will be exhausted just as quickly as conventional and dino 5k/6 months will be a better choice.

If your average drive is more than 10 miles one way, then synthetic 10k/1 year would be a better choice from a economic standpoint.
 
If you are driving around North Hollywood I would go for the Dino 5K 6months, better to be safe in that kind of traffic. Of all the great filters and now SN oil any dino pretty much will always do.
smile.gif

Originally Posted By: TJPark01
What do you think is better for the engine:
OCI full drain and filter change.
Dino 5k/6months or Synthetic 10k/1year?

The car is a 2009 Lexus ES350
 
Originally Posted By: OldCowboy
If your average drive is more than 10 miles one way, then synthetic 10k/1 year would be a better choice from a economic standpoint.

Since synthetic is 2X as much or more than dino, the economics are a bit of a push. Even the filter is only 4 bucks for this engine as it uses a paper cartridge. My driving is a lot of city driving short trips on the weekdays. Weekends are long drives to play golf or some other leisure activity. I think this is probably similar to a lot of folks (15k miles a year). In that scenario, not factoring cost, what would you do?
 
Originally Posted By: ottotheclown
If you are driving around North Hollywood I would go for the Dino 5K 6months, better to be safe in that kind of traffic. Of all the great filters and now SN oil any dino pretty much will always do.
smile.gif


I'm kind of leaning that way. Simply because when I change the filter out, the cartridge housing is completely filled with chunks of debris and the filter cap is filled with a gooey sludge-like material that I have to fish out with a rag.
 
Ha, HA! Who do you think you are foolin'?

If you already have a sludged-up 2009 Lexus it probably hasn't had an oil & filter change since it was new!

Probably w/b a good candidate for an AutoRX cleanup...

Cheers!
 
Originally Posted By: Norm Olt
Ha, HA! Who do you think you are foolin'?

If you already have a sludged-up 2009 Lexus it probably hasn't had an oil & filter change since it was new!

Probably w/b a good candidate for an AutoRX cleanup...

Cheers!

I do it once every six month or 5k miles per manufacturers specs, but thank you for your kind and informative post.
 
Originally Posted By: TJPark01
Originally Posted By: ottotheclown
If you are driving around North Hollywood I would go for the Dino 5K 6months, better to be safe in that kind of traffic. Of all the great filters and now SN oil any dino pretty much will always do.
smile.gif


I'm kind of leaning that way. Simply because when I change the filter out, the cartridge housing is completely filled with chunks of debris and the filter cap is filled with a gooey sludge-like material that I have to fish out with a rag.

I would use dino with 4 month OCI.
 
dino at twice the frequency would be much better (this is assuming both are mid to high quality brands).

This is especially so with no huge temperature extremes. If you were in N dakota I wouldn't be as sure about my claim.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR

I would use dino with 4 month OCI.


I'm inclined to follow the Lexus specs Dino every 5k/6mo, simply because changing the oil is easy for me and no matter how good the oil is, it's going to get contaminated.
My other thought was to use M1 and swap the filter half way through the full OCI. But since I'm already down there under the car, why not go all the way?
 
You have a nice car and nice cars in your signature so I suspect you can afford the extra $10 an oil change for synthetic if you are doing it yourself. Skip Starbucks a few times to save money and put the good stuff in your car regularly.
 
There's gunk in a car that new? Wow id run some diesel oil for an oil change or two and then to back to regular dino oil like Mobil Pennzoil ect.... And about the last 500 miles before an oil change dump some marvel mystery oil in it . I would do that for a couple oil changes at least. A lot of people won't agree with the diesel oil comment but an old farmer I know told me that trick when I bought a Mazda protege and did the valve cover and there was so much sludge . He said run diesel oil for awhile after I did what he said. I pulled the cover again and it was a lot cleaner. I changed my oil and filter every 3000 while doing this it worked great for me.
 
Originally Posted By: someguy
You have a nice car and nice cars in your signature so I suspect you can afford the extra $10 an oil change for synthetic if you are doing it yourself. Skip Starbucks a few times to save money and put the good stuff in your car regularly.
I hear you. It's not about saving money per say. It's more about not wasting it. I hate wasting anything.

Originally Posted By: chevyboy14
There's gunk in a car that new?

It's in the oil filter housing cap. You can't see it unless you are really looking for it. If you run your finger on top of the cap, it's there. Another reason to do the OCI yourself. A dealer or shop would never scoop that out of the housing.
 
I do 10K OCIs regardless of the conditions. I realize many here ring their hands over that, but it has always worked very well for me in varios engines over the years.
 
Main Street in Granite City IL, is very much different than on 10 in N. Hollywood. Also issues were found in filter with that mileage should not be. So sure 10 k is possible but why???????
confused.gif
 
I now run 5,000 mile 1 year OCI's on my 2002 F150 4.6. My drive to work is 10+ miles each way and an occasional longer trip. I'm in northern NJ, with all 4 seasons with winter being too long. My oil always comes out dark amber. I know that is not conclusive but I've always changed the oil at 5,000 miles max, usually about 6 months in the past but no more than 1 year. The oil is Motorcraft 5W-20 Blend and I use a Motorcraft FL820S oil filter. This has been since new. My truck will rust out before the engine fails internally from lack of oil changes. I only do 5,000 miles a year because I have another vehicle that I also use to go to work in the "good" weather.

Whimsey
 
Originally Posted By: OldCowboy
The real question is what is your driving pattern. If it's back and forth to work, less than 10 miles, then the oil doesn't get hot enough to burn off fuel dilution and water of combustion. In this case, the add pack in synthetic will be exhausted just as quickly as conventional and dino 5k/6 months will be a better choice.

If your average drive is more than 10 miles one way, then synthetic 10k/1 year would be a better choice from a economic standpoint.


Interesting. My Mom drives an 07 Lincoln MKZ. 5k a year. She goes to the dealer for oil changes. They told her the synthetics are better for the car because its time over miles. That dino degrades more rapidly than syn even though its not being used once its in the engine and exposed to elements. That the longer the car sits the more important oil flow at startup is. That a once a year/5k oil change should be synthetic. Otherwise its six months. At her dealer 2 dinos or one synthetic are the same price so they are not profiting from recommending one or other.
 
Originally Posted By: TJPark01
Simply because when I change the filter out, the cartridge housing is completely filled with chunks of debris and the filter cap is filled with a gooey sludge-like material that I have to fish out with a rag.


This is the 2GR-FE engine right? It's not known for sludge at all.

Sounds like you use a substandard oil or there is a major problem with the engine.

Could you please post some pictures. I will be changing oil in my 2GR-FE soon and will post pics of the filter. I do 5000 miles/ 6 months in mine (mostly short trips or longer trip every summer).
 
I change the oil in my dad's 2007 Lexus ES 350 with 50,000 miles on the odo. I have always used synthetic(Grp 3 and 4) every 6 months/5K miles due to warranty(extended warranty now) and never have found chuncks/gooey things to fish out. The oil does drain dark which I am attributing to the DI engine with fuel dilution(verified by UOA's).
If I were you, I would actually use synthetic(Grp III) like PP or Mobil 1 and change it out every 6 months/5000 miles. Isn't your car under warranty still and doesnt it still require 6 months/5000 miles changes for warranty reasons?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top