FAQ: Engine Oil - What type and change intervals?

Someone help straighten me or Ben out

Buapo wrote:

I use Mobile One Full-Synth, 10W-30 on my car, and still change it every 3,000 miles. Is that overkill?

Unless you drive like that psyco 97rivman. Or are constantly racing or driving like you are racing I think that changing that fully synthetic oil that often is overkill.

But having said that I used to change the oil in my 87GN every 3000 miles or less and I was using Mobil 1 in it. But looking back that was overkill even for a highly modified Turbo engine.
But I did not drive like a psycho

Bert

98RIV7777 wrote:

I dont think thats overkill, I think its just good to take care of your car, but hey why do you use 10w-30? I was told to use 5w-30 when I got the car and thats what I ALWAYS USE. Is this ok?

I use 10W 30W.
I think that is what the owners manual recommends.

But, it gets a lot colder up where youse guys are at than it does down here.

Bert

So is 5w-30 supposed to be used in colder weather is that why I was told to use it by the dealer? Because its 85 out right now but we get below -20 in the winter

98RIV7777 wrote:

So is 5w-30 supposed to be used in colder weather is that why I was told to use it by the dealer? Because its 85 out right now but we get below -20 in the winter

OK I got the owners manual for the 99Riv here.
For best fuel economy and cold starting select the lowest SAE viscosity grade oil for the expected temperature range.
Also:
As shown in the chart:
SAE 10W-30 is best for your vehicle. However you can use 5W-30 if it's going to be colder than 60*F before your next oil change.
When its very cold, you should use SAE 5W-30.

So if I lived up North I guess I would use the 5W-30 in the cold months and 10W-30 the rest of the time. But, I doubt the 5W-30 will hurt anything year round.

I realize this does not sound very clear. If you got the manual check the chart and it will explain it a lot better than me...

I'm sure one of these more knowledgeable and literate members will chime in and unmuddy the water somewhat...

Bert

You southern guys can run the 10W30 year round. In northern climates, 5W30 in winter temps makes a big difference in cold cranking, esp in below zero temps. I see -20 to -30 for winter lows. I'm due for an oil change now, will replace the 5W30 RP with 10W30 RP. As stated, the 5W30 spec is right out of the owners manual for cold weather driving. I put it in my last change before winter.

By the way, at normal engine operating temps, both oils have the same properties. The difference is their viscosities at cold temps at startup.

I wouldn't run 5W30 in the summer in our engines. They have looser tolerances in general than newer designed engines that recommend 5W year round. I'm not saying you couldn't get by with it, but why would you want to?

i noticed the topic of the thread and i was wondering the same thing myself. one time i was talking to my friend about something and he told me he never changed his engine oil, just added when low. hes a mechanic and drives a mid 90s jeep cherokee. it is driven about 2.5 hours daily too. i dont know if this is a good idea or not, but its interesting to think about as one of those things we do without really knowing why. i still change mine all the time though just in case cause i cant afford to find out what happens if u dont.

I think the article on page one explains pretty well why oil goes bad. We know the motor oil companies are trying to keep us changing our oil more frequently, but I still think there is truth in that article.

Once I had a '70s Dodge with I-6 engine. It was one of my first cars. In the beginning I changed the oil every 3k, like I'd been told to do. But then I got lazy and let it go for 10-15k miles without doing a thing. One day I heard some lifter noise, so I changed the oil, which was low and looked like tar! After some time, the noise went away, and I've always changed my oil religiously ever since. That car went on to last 235k+ miles, and the engine was running fine when I got rid of it.

Nowadays, engines run better and cleaner, so oil lasts longer, but the same things happen inside engines to cause the oil to go bad. I believe certain cars need their oil changed more often than others, but it never hurts to change it at 3k, and it's only what, $25? That's cheap insurance. So I agree with the motor oil companies that you should still change it at 3k unless you know for a fact that your car's engine doesn't require it. Imo, higer mileage engines, which burn oil and are dirty inside need the oil & filter changed more frequently than low-mileage ones.

As for the guy who only adds oil instead of changing it, well I know of a lot of people who would do the same thing - they think adding clean oil to dirty oil will make it cleaner. That's true, but where does all the dirt go? Into the filter. So, you can just add oil as long as you change the filter, but like I said on page one, I think you might as well just change the oil, too.

This thread reminds me of something that happened to my dad some 15 years ago... he took it into a very reputable (mom and pop) car shop - for a fixable flat tire repair, and an oil change.

Well, my dad just walked over to a store while the work was being done, and he came back a little early - just in time to see the mechanic WIPING OFF the old oil filter. That's right, he took it off, and simply wiped the old oil off of it.

Needless to say, my dad was royally pissed off, and got his car out of there after demanding the oil filter be changed. He didn't pay, and left - didn't even say anything to the owner, who wasn't there. I would have said something, but that's just how my dad is when he's upset.

So anyway, it turns out the guy was doing all kinds of crooked shit like this and he got fired soon after. Imagine what ELSE the guy was doing!

It very much reminds me of this scam, which I'm sure many of you remember:

I run castrol syntec 0W-30 in the roadmaster. I leave it in for at least 10 000 miles but change the filter at 5000 miles. The oil doesn't just pour out of the threaded filter hole if you were wondering.

Even with regular oil, changing it at 3000 mi is a huge waste of money.

My fuel bill over 3,000 miles is close to $700. Changing the oil once for $25 during that time (vs. $15 for waiting to 5k) may not be absolutely necessary, but I wouldn't consider it wasting huge amounts of money.

I consider the $75 I pay for auto insurance during 3k miles to be a waste, but I pay for it anyway.

Do you get a low mileage discount? I get one for being under 7500 miles/yr. My monthly cost is under $40 for full coverage w/high limits. Now, I don't actually run that few miles anymore, but they haven't bothered to adjust my rates.

On topic now, thanks for the reminder, I need to change oil and send in another sample to test. Last test I had slightly elevated levels that could indicate some coolant in the oil. And it's time to get the 10W30 RP back in for summer.

Sorry, Dave, I mistyped (fixed). I drive a lot more than 3k mile/year. I'm doing the test as well. Sent for the kit last week.

I run 5w30 mobil1 full synthetic year round. Changes every 5000.

We just bought an '08 Passat Wagon with the 2.0 turbo 4 cyl. Factory recommends full synth oil with changes at every 10000 miles.

Regardless of operating conditions, or is there a different spec for severe condition usage?

Quote :

My fuel bill over 3,000 miles is close to $700. Changing the oil once for $25 during that time (vs. $15 for waiting to 5k) may not be absolutely necessary, but I wouldn't consider it wasting huge amounts of money.

I have to change the oil on my 3 cars and my GF's car. It adds up. I only use synthetic in the Roadmaster and sometimes the 87 turbo regal (never makes it to 3000 mi, but I change it every year). The riv gets 10w30 because I only use it in the summer and my GF's regal gets 5w30 for the winter and 10w30 for the summer.

97rivman wrote:

i use mobil 1 full synthetic, and it can seriously go 5000 miles before it ends up like conventional oil. It all depends on the way you drive though. After i went down to carbondale and back, my oil was shot to shit. 100-130 mph each way for 3 hours straight....

Mobil 1 is good oil though, but expensive. but if ur gonna drive like a pshyco...then opt for the better oil.

i agree alex, royal purple is my friend. i know im a few weeks im going to ahve a lead foot

Is Royal purple as good as Mobile 1 15,000mile guarentee though? Because I dont see them with a guarentee like that

This set of posts about Mobil1 may interest you as much as the current thread:

http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/mobil1.html

Albertj

This seems like a silly question, but what type of motor oil gets the best response in my car? I've been using a high-mileage formula from Quaker State on both my cars. Do you guys have any other reconmendations?

I use Mobil1 5w30 all year round. If I lived in the south I'd probably use 10w30. Change it too frequently, every 5000 miles, but that's in my nature.

I use royal purple full synthetic , i haven't driven any car long enough to really say whether its good or bad , but I've heard very good things.

We all have our preferences, in large part based upon our actual use of a particular brand/formulation/weight.

My recommendation would be to run a synthetic oil at the weight spec'd in your owners manual, and change it at whatever interval you are comfortable with. I've been testing my old oil at Blackstone Labs the last couple changes, and they don't want me to go over 3500-4000 miles, due to slightly elevated levels of coolant components. Not serious yet, but a looming problem. I need to swap my LIM gasket one of these days... I'm running Royal Purple 5W30 in winter, 10W30 in summer, per the manual's specs on weight vs ambient temps. It's expensive stuff, about $7/qt.

I run the cheapest I can find.

I've put hundreds of thousands of miles driving all over the US and never had a problem with internals. Expensive oil is highly overrated. Of course this is just my opinion.