regular oil and short drain interval - opinions?

[spyghost]

hi,

engine oils need to be changed regularly (period). no buts, no whatever.

however, a lot of synthetics specially claim long drain intervals, leaving their mineral/conventional counterparts less attractive to potential busy customers. this however comes at a price. synthetics (grp iv/v) costs more than mineral/conventional.

given this premise, it would be more costly then to have short drain intervals for synthetics - no questions about it.

since conventional/mineral oil costs a lot less than synthetics (grp iv/v), would it be better for an engine to receive mineral/conventional and short drain intervals?

btw, i am not promoting oil here, just an example. in my country mobil 1 xhp costs around $4.44 per liter while rp or redline 10w30 or redline costs around $12.22. now that's a lot. for my car the oil filter costs around $3.78. btw, i'm not including labor costs since i'll be doing diy. gasoline price is not included since it is somehow negligible since the store where i buy those stuff is just along the route to and from home/work. though i'll be diy'ing oil change, though it will consume time, let's not consider time factor for this.

just to be clear again, its not the brands that i am comparing here is the being convetional and synthetic (grp iv/v).

assuming that i will be using 4L of oil + filter, i'll be spending $21.54 for conventional and 52.66 for redline/rp. in theory, synthetics can last a year, while mineral/conventional 6 months. given the prices and the conditions presented above (such as labor costs and transportation cost negligible):
- a bi-annual convetional oil change will definitely cost less than an annual synthetic change;
- however, if i do a 3rd oil change and subsequent (quarterly or so) for a mineral/conventional, it would cost more than a synthetic;
- however, doing shorter drain intervals regardless of the oil will definitely assure a cleaner engine;
- however, this would cost more than a synthetic (grp iv/v) even if conventional/mineral oil was used.

given the conditions above, is it right to say that i'm guaranteed of a cleaner engine at the cost of more if i'll be doing short drain intervals using mineral/conventional oil?

 

[scoobie]

i also believe in short drain intervals. my brother's mitsubishi mirage was changed with conventional 5w30 at 2000 mile intervals. at 180,000 miles it is running BEAUTIFULLY!!! Now that he died, I have it, and I run 50:50 synth:conventional (it only has a 4 quart oil pan) with 3000 mile OCI. synthetic can be had on sale for 3$ per quart (NAPA this month) - so for an extra few bucks i really pamper it. to save the money for the fancy oil, i just change the filter every other time. I know I am being wasteful, of oil, but the used oil gets sent for recycling and re refinement, so it's not like i'm just dumping it in the garbage or anything

 

[360kid]

3000 mile oci, always no matter the oil. It's considered overkill but it works for me.

 

[live_to_hunt]

yeah I am 3 month 3000 mile guy my self filter and oil

 

[SuperDave456]

Time vs. Mileage... the discussion continues.

I knew a guy who changed his wife's Minivan oil every 2000 or two months due to her idling with the air conditioner going full blast. She would do it while watching the kids play soccer, or read a book while waiting for them after school.
Want a demonstration of SERIOUS use and abuse look to a mom with kids.

I also know folks who go 12,000 on Amsoil, even if it takes 18 months. They wont change it out until around 12,000.

Different strokes for different folks.

 

[hate2work]

Originally Posted By: spyghost
given the conditions above, is it right to say that i'm guaranteed of a cleaner engine at the cost of more if i'll be doing short drain intervals using mineral/conventional oil?


Guaranteed? No. But you might improve your chance of that happening.

I've thought of doing this myself, but I really like the longer OCIs I can do using a good syn.

 

[Audi Junkie]

If synth costs 2-3 times as much, you would have to run it 2-3 times as long to break-even. I think dino oil at 5000-6000 miles does a better job than synth at 10,000-12,000-15,000 miles. Makes sense to use the dino at a shorter interval if you don't mind the work. You can re-use the filter if using dino at a short interval. Just drain it out and replace.

 

[StevieC]

I was changing my Amsoil and EAO filter at 6K Miles but now I'm going to put that to 9500 Miles.

I will be posting a UOA here, as my UOA at 6K had lots of additive remaining.

 

[FZ1]

Fresher oil is better oil.

 

[HTSS_TR]

For most engines come with conventional oil from factory and it is recommended in the owner manual, then using synthetic only if you want to extend the oil change interval to twice as long or longer to justify the extra cost of synthetic oil.

For some high performance and turbo charged engines, synthetic oil may be required and you may not want to use conventional oil in those engines. Audi, MB, BMW, Porsche, Ferrari ... are recommending using synthetic only in most, if not all, their newer engines, If you are owner of one of these cars/SUV's then you should stay with synthetic oil.