Originally Posted By: AnarchyX
I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't interessted.
Also, seeing as how the amount of time people keep their vehicles keeps increasing as time goes by, obviously the effectiveness of an oil, for over 200k miles, at least, is an honest question.
If not, then anyone can claim "Just change it every year or so because by the time you worry whether or not it's the smart thing to do, you'll have gotten rid of the vehicle anyway"
That allows for companies to claim "will never be a factor in an engine lubrication problem" because it doesn't have time to be effective.
Kind of like clogged arteries. So long as you get killed in some kind of accident before you grow old and die of the heart attack due to poor diet, you don't end up a statistic for heart problem deaths (which would have happened had you grown old). Doesn't mean there weren't problems happening, you just didn't last long enough for them to be the factor they would have been if you had.
Basically I'm just wondering if it really is just as good for the engine, in the long run of even just say 300k miles, to wait 6-8k miles for an oil change as opposed to the 3k mile OCI.
That is a slightly different question. You will see many, many posters with cars well past 100k or even 200k. I think that you will find that the consensus is that in the modern era, oil will hold up 6-7k. I am currently trying to stretch to a 10k OCI on my 01 Acura TL, for example. There is much opinion on which oil is best, but I think you'll also find that the consensus is for high-quality synthetics that are at the viscosity and specs called for by the manufacturer. With all that, you may not make it to 500k, but it won't be because of an oil failure. I don't think most of us will see 1MM miles!!!