What's the longest you would run oil?

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Please express the longest period of time you would comfortably allow your car to run between oil intervals, in miles.

Please express your answers as:

SYNTHETIC / CONVENTIONAL

Thank you very much for your answer!
 
personally I would run a good conventional oil like Castrol or Penzoil 4000 miles max., a good OTC synthetic like Mobil1 about 7000 miles max. . One of those expensive custom oils such as synergyn, redline, or amsoil I would probably take them to 9000 miles max. To me oil changes are cheap maintenance even with the most expensive brands, so it doesn't bother me throwing them out before they expire. These are the max miles I would take the oils, just my opinion no real science behind my estimates. I might even change the oils sooner than that, definitely not longer though. I like to keep the particle numbers low in my oils as much as possible. In a high revving motor such as yours that may be a good way to go as well.
 
I have several cars. I just wanted to get a good feel for what the locals think based on months of reading oil analysis.
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10K miles in the 245Ti this is like the 5th time and at 234K miles the analysis just keep getting better. TRO
20K miles in the 855 (14 months)ASL Ran out of time before I could do 25K miles
2 years in the SR5 (yikes 1000 miles)TRO
 
most dino oils.....maybe 20 minutes for a flush.

Better dinos (Castrol GTX/Penzoil).....3000-4000mi.

Good blends and type III synths(Schaeffer's/Syntec)...5000-7500mi. Maybe Schaeffer's up to 9000mi.

Mobil 1...10-15,000 or 1 year.

Redline...15-20,000 or 1 year.

Amsoil...20,000 or 1 year.

Given that 15-20,000mi in a year means a lot of highway miles that are relatively easy on an engine.

Check the ACEA A3 and A5 ratings on oils and you should get some idea as to their longevity.
 
With all highway driving I would feel comfortable running conventional to 5 or 6k, and synthetic (or Schaeffer's blend) as high as 12k.

I think for now I'm going to stick with 6k intervals on my car now though, simply because I always want to do a change right before winter and then again in spring (since a cold winter KILLS an oil) and then I want to do one change halfway through the summer so I can test out different things. Eventually when I'm done playing around with testing, I'll probably go with the one 6k interval through winter, and then run the springtime oil change right through till fall, which would be about 12k.
 
I have personally run intervals of 25,000 miles and on at least 2 occasions have gone much longer.

The oil was Amsoil 10W-40 and that was done from about 1978 to 1995. The last years I no longer had the long hauls and was working closer to home.

I was a Survey Technican for the M-DOT and travled all over the state for over 30 yrs. The most miles I ever put on any vehicle was about 150,000 miles but all the Chevy's I owned were like new when I traded or sold them off about every 4 yrs. I know some will flip out at this but my time was more important to me than some car. There were times I was logging 1000 miles a week. So when I saw Mobil 1 on the market and all the hype about synthetic oils in 1976-77 I knew this was the answer for me. In 1978 I started using Amsoil because of the 25,000 mile service and I am here to tell you it served me well for all those years. I ony wish I would have kept records of everything.

If someone were to give me any oil I wanted, I would say 'no thanks" and gladly pay for the Amsoil. In 25 yrs it has been very good to my cars and trucks.

I realize 25 + yrs experience means nothing to a lot of the people here but don't critize me it. I was using synthetic oil before a some of you were born or old enough to drive!
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LOL

[ February 06, 2003, 07:27 AM: Message edited by: Mike ]
 
I would be comfortable running any oil as long as the oil analysis indicated it was good for continued use.

Now on some of the conventional oil, it's not worth the time/effort of doing analysis.

Also I would not hesitate to run an oil longer if a by-pass system was installed.

Example would be to maybe, just maybe, put a by-pass on and try out the Schaffers run that stuff as long as I can..... Just can't believe that some folks aren't doing this already.

BTW, thus far, I have not changed my oil since August of 2001
 
Well as all things in life one cannot give a blanket statement. It depends on the engine and driving.

However, with that said i can go 7500 miles on Amsoil no questions asked in about anything engine. However, beyond that requires oil analysis. The most that I can go and feel comfortable with the analysis on one car is 12,000 miles.

Dino, no more then 5000 IMO.
 
quote:

Originally posted by S2000driver:
Please express the longest period of time you would comfortably allow your car to run between oil intervals, in miles.

Please express your answers as:

SYNTHETIC / CONVENTIONAL

Thank you very much for your answer!


My GF's VW TDI runs 10k intervals on D1. My turbocharged and track driven Miata runs 5k miles on M1. My '87 Audi 4000 quattro isn't running, but if it were (when it does
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) I'll probably run Delvac 1300 at 5k.

$0.02,
Robert
 
I've been changing every 3k miles. However, it takes me almost 8 months to get to 3k miles. I read that it is safe if it is within one year? I only drive 90 miles a week. My trips are at least 10 miles everytime I start up my car. 92 Mitsubishi Mirage-1.5 Liter. I have used up the last bottles in my case of maxlife in October 2002 and will be switching to pennzoil high mileage or castrol gtx for some moly. Oh I was using bosch oil filters for the past two years but now I'm switching to supertech 6607. The filter is small but I only have 1.5 liter, wouldn't hurt?
 
The longest distance for a synthetic oil was 12,000 miles for Amsoil 10W30 ATM in the 1986 Suburban with large FF and a BE-90 by-pass filter. Analysis showed the oil was thickening up due to oxidation, so I changed it out. Have since switched to Schaeffer's 703 in this vehicle since I no longer use it for daily drive.

In my other vehicles, I run 3.7k to 5.5k using Mobil 1 10W30 SS with 132 and LC, the reason being these vehicle's engines really beat an oil.

The longest I have ever driven with dino was 3,750 miles in the '86 Burb, it was an older Pennzoil formula with Z-7.
 
I don't like going over 8k. I havn't sent any of the oil off for analysis, but I feel chaning the oil at 8k intervals is safe. It doesn't cost much and I'd rather keep new oil in the engine. Overkill? Probably, but like i said, i don't have to worry about whether the oil has held up.
 
I think conventional oil of good quality 5000 miles in normal situation maybe 3000 in older engine with its associated problems. Synthetic I run currently to 7500 but may adjust back to 5000 with current oil analysis results.
 
An off-the shelf dino oil, 4000, maybe 5000 miles max-then only w/oil analysis.

Most ots blends, same as above.

Ots Synthetics, no more than 8,000 to 10,000 miles, ditto.

"Special" oils"? I now have over 8900 miles on the Schaeffer blend in my car- plan to change it this weekend at 9000 miles if weather permits. I won't panic if I have to leave it in for an extra 600 miles or so. I base this on the results of my last analysis at 6000 miles. The Schaeffer dino-moly? I'd be willing to run it at least the 7,500 miles my owners manual recommends for light service, *without* doing analysis, based on my results with their very similar blend. Amsoil? I have no experience with it, but it seems to be better than M1, I might gouyp to 12,000 miles or so with analysis.
 
In my '96 Ford Powerstroke diesel I go 25k between changes using Amsoil S3000 5W-30 with an amsoil BE110 by-pass filter. I also use an engine-saver pre and postluber oil pump to prevent dry starts and oil coking in the turbo bearings. I've been doing it this way since the truck had 23.5k on the odometer. It now has 148.5k and doesn't burn or leak any oil to speak of. If anybody's heard of this type of plan damaging a diesel like mine, please let me know.
 
quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
In my '96 Ford Powerstroke diesel I go 25k between changes using Amsoil S3000 5W-30 with an amsoil BE110 by-pass filter. I also use an engine-saver pre and postluber oil pump to prevent dry starts and oil coking in the turbo bearings. I've been doing it this way since the truck had 23.5k on the odometer. It now has 148.5k and doesn't burn or leak any oil to speak of. If anybody's heard of this type of plan damaging a diesel like mine, please let me know.

With 148.5k and no oil burning, it sounds like your plan works great!


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I take care of 5 vehicles in the family and use dino oil. I run it 4000 to 5000 miles on those cars without an oil change light. On my wife's 92 Cadillac It typically will go 5000 to 6000 miles before the oil change light turns on. I consider all of my cars to be easy on oil. With this oil change interval, all of the engines are sludge and varnish free except for a recenty acquired Honda.

I used to own Dodges in the 70's and 80's which I feel in hindsight were hard on oil. The oil typically blackened quickly and appeared to have thinned down when changed at 3000 miles. I have never done an oil analysis on any of my cars.
 
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