quote:
originally posted by Doug Hillary:
In Australia an oil change with a synthetic is about $A180 or so
IMHO there is also no point in trashing a perfectly good and scarce resource if there is no need to
Yowiee!! That is a lot of loot for just one oil change!
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Ok, agreed it's good not to be wasteful, but are we really doing our engines any favors by subjecting the same batch of oil to extremes in hot and cold temperatures for 4 entire seasons? Let's face it, this oil is going to get beat to a pulp by the time a full year is up, and quite possibly sheared down out of grade.
Plus, going that long, there is a good chance the oil could see contamination from a number of different sources: fuel, water condensation, coolant seepage, dirt particles--for some engines, maybe all four of these!
If the contamination occurs early on, then it really is "Good-Night-Irene"--you are stuck with carrying this crud in your engine for the whole year until the next change!
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Unless the owner is doing an awful lot of topping up during the year or using a by-pass filter, I'd get the oil out of there every six months at the latest, especially for our limited-duty Civic here.
The Porsches do have a larger oil capacity, and they say you can go 15K, but Porsche is still in the business of selling cars. They want the cars to last long enough to keep the customer happy, but not so long that they never sell you another one, so I'd take that 15k with a grain of salt.
Then too, these are also very special cars--often with collector car potential
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--having owned a couple myself, I think that's another reason to change the oil out earlier regardless of manufacturer specs (and even if my wallet thinks otherwise.)
[ August 31, 2003, 06:52 PM: Message edited by: Rexman ]