This is a very good question with applications and information to this august center of information and truth in lubrication. Amsoil will tell you a mileage with the caveat of a year. If you dig around deep enough I think Mobil One will also say a year.
To tell you the truth, I do not think I have seen a UOA or even a VOA study done with this longitudinal variable in mind(shelf life vs activity duty life). So, I must confess ignorance on this point. Or
So that we are clear
1. Buy quantities of all test subject oils
2 Do a VOA when bought off the dealer's shelf and each year for 5 years or whenever do a VOA
3. Use subject oils a prescribed mileage and do a uoa and seal up the residuals and do a UOA at prescribed time frames such as 1,2,3,4,5, years or longer to check for further degradation.
So from a theory point of view oil analysis will take a chemical snapshot of your engine and it really the best if you have ANY doubt. So if the need for engine information coincides with whether you change oil or not, you of course do the engine information and "hang" the incidental oil change cost. But here again, the economic reality collides with the intellectual parameters. For 35 dollars, which would you do? Get the oil analysis (to analysize engine information ONLY) and on the remote chance you are "running on empty" so to speak then spend 26 dollars more to change the oil? Or JUST change oil?? For example: I use 6.5 qt @4 per qt= 26 dollars!!???
On a practical level, I have let vehicles go almost 3 years (5k per year) to hit the 15k mark.
The poster above me states an interesting preference. Again, I have personally not done an A/B/C test side by side with/against Amsoil, Germ GC oils. My choice was guided somewhat by the fact that Amsoil costs more, both at specialty stores and by shipment or even independent dealers, is less widely available and I desire to stock as little as possible, i.e. not pay 2x the shipping costs. To me from information and data I have read here and other places, certain Amsoil oils are probably slightly better. So I would not fault anybody who prefers to use Amsoil and pay the extra "freight." I actually could have a requirement for German GC (oem fill on the Jetta TDI) but it is more costly and less widely available also. I do use another Mobil One product; Truck & SUV, aka, Delvac One 5w40 in a TDI application. On that one, I go 20,000 miles between oil and filter changes.
I mean, On a recent trip, I have walked into an auto store in Taos, NM (FAR FROM HOME) looking for a quart of 5w30 Mobil One and just as soon as I walked out the door, poured it into my Z06 Corvette. If Amsoil, German GC, etc were as this painlessly avaliable, perhaps the discussion would widen.
[ December 17, 2004, 01:53 PM: Message edited by: ruking77 ]
To tell you the truth, I do not think I have seen a UOA or even a VOA study done with this longitudinal variable in mind(shelf life vs activity duty life). So, I must confess ignorance on this point. Or
1. Buy quantities of all test subject oils
2 Do a VOA when bought off the dealer's shelf and each year for 5 years or whenever do a VOA
3. Use subject oils a prescribed mileage and do a uoa and seal up the residuals and do a UOA at prescribed time frames such as 1,2,3,4,5, years or longer to check for further degradation.
So from a theory point of view oil analysis will take a chemical snapshot of your engine and it really the best if you have ANY doubt. So if the need for engine information coincides with whether you change oil or not, you of course do the engine information and "hang" the incidental oil change cost. But here again, the economic reality collides with the intellectual parameters. For 35 dollars, which would you do? Get the oil analysis (to analysize engine information ONLY) and on the remote chance you are "running on empty" so to speak then spend 26 dollars more to change the oil? Or JUST change oil?? For example: I use 6.5 qt @4 per qt= 26 dollars!!???
On a practical level, I have let vehicles go almost 3 years (5k per year) to hit the 15k mark.
The poster above me states an interesting preference. Again, I have personally not done an A/B/C test side by side with/against Amsoil, Germ GC oils. My choice was guided somewhat by the fact that Amsoil costs more, both at specialty stores and by shipment or even independent dealers, is less widely available and I desire to stock as little as possible, i.e. not pay 2x the shipping costs. To me from information and data I have read here and other places, certain Amsoil oils are probably slightly better. So I would not fault anybody who prefers to use Amsoil and pay the extra "freight." I actually could have a requirement for German GC (oem fill on the Jetta TDI) but it is more costly and less widely available also. I do use another Mobil One product; Truck & SUV, aka, Delvac One 5w40 in a TDI application. On that one, I go 20,000 miles between oil and filter changes.
I mean, On a recent trip, I have walked into an auto store in Taos, NM (FAR FROM HOME) looking for a quart of 5w30 Mobil One and just as soon as I walked out the door, poured it into my Z06 Corvette. If Amsoil, German GC, etc were as this painlessly avaliable, perhaps the discussion would widen.
[ December 17, 2004, 01:53 PM: Message edited by: ruking77 ]
