For Those Of U Using Synthetic Oil. How Many Miles Between Oil Changes?

[SoCalCobra311]

just changed my oil for the first time since I got the Cobra. I was bored and it wasnt due for another 2k miles but I dont trust the crap they put in it before me. Wanted to make sure I know what I'm running.

Mobil 5W-20. Motorcraft Filter. Was about $45 at Autozone, couldnt find it at Wal*Mart

 

[Petzuk]

Amsoil Series 2000 0W30 in my '03 Cobra and other 4 family cars. I change it in the spring and 6 months later in the fall, regardless of the mileage. My cars run between 7 and 15K miles per year.

No oil related problems in any of these engines.

We waste a lot of resources in the world changing perfectly good oil.

Has anyone ever experienced an oil related issue with an engine? Damn if I know someone who has.

 

[hmwave]

Just got my latest Blackstone report back.
Mobil 1 5W/30 from March '05 to Jan '06, 8000 miles. I usually change at 3000 but this fill ran to 8000 for various reasons. Mine is a daily driver.

Everything shows in very good shape expect for the the iron count and the oil was still in good lubricating order.

My previous Blackstone analysis on the car after 3000 miles on the oil showed iron at 16.
This latest change shows it at 50.
Blackstone commented it should have increased but expressed some surprise it had increased that much.
Mileage on the motor is 38K.

Any clues as to what could be wearing that made the iron content jump up so much?

Should I be worried?

 

[120 snake]

Mobil 1 0-20 Mobil 1 Oil Filter.... Every 5,000 To 6,000......or When Oil Starts To Change Color From Dark Brown To Light Black.

 

[Shadowgray03]

3000. Mobile 1 5W-30.

Ditto!

 

[FSTMRFR]

3000 m1 5/30

 

[silvercoffin]

...

Yeah but HOW LONG in between oil changes. Regular oil is supposed to break down or something after so many months. I guess thats why they always say 3000-5000 or 3 months. Does synthetic really not break down at all?

Should you change it after say...5 months even if you only put a few hundred miles on it?

I changed my oil the beginning of this racing season because it had been almost 6 months, but I only put maybe 200 miles on it if that! The oil was perfectly clean as it poured out!! I race my car almost every week so thats why I changed it, but I think it was probably a waste of money.

 

[brownbootsracin]

I got my oil changed first at 1K miles using sythetic oil. I am at about 5850 miles now and I am wondering if I went too long without an oil change... I thought with synthetic I should be doing it about every 5K miles... Is this correct? Well, I put up a poll anyway.

Ams Oil says you can go 20 K between oil changes or a full year! Others don't last as long. So i wouldn't worry about the oil breaking down. i run ams oil and still change it about every 3 K or 3 months. Which is over kill and a waist of money, I know, but it makes me feel warm and cozy to drain oil, and have it look almost a clean as the oil i replace it with.

 

[brownbootsracin]

Amsoil Series 2000 0W30 in my '03 Cobra and other 4 family cars. I change it in the spring and 6 months later in the fall, regardless of the mileage. My cars run between 7 and 15K miles per year.

No oil related problems in any of these engines.

We waste a lot of resources in the world changing perfectly good oil.

Has anyone ever experienced an oil related issue with an engine? Damn if I know someone who has.

Running AMS Oil. Not that i know of. I have heard of their diesel oil going 100 K between oil changes!!! Given the 100 K is done w/ in a years time, but still, it's a 100,000 miles between oil changes! We are not talking about cheap motors to replace too. The international and catapillar engines in them tractors are well over 100 G's to replace. Tractor guys sample their oil, send it to ams oil, and ams oil tells them when to change it. They even can tell you how your engine is running by analyzing the oil.

 

[Ron Stopfer]

We all know that the technology has jumped by leaps and bounds in POL (Petrolem, Oils and Lubricants); this is a no-brainer. However, has the oil and air "filters" also made such leaps and bounds? About 10 years ago I went to a BMW Tech Session in Saint Louie, and one of the oil czars was giving his speel on his oils and this subject of filters came up. They recommended BMW OEM filters w/their specific brand oil. Reasoning went like this: Aftermarket air/oil filters were not up to BMW specs (don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger here, folks). One of their engineers opined that the cold air induction air filters (like I have on my '03 Sonic Blue Cobra (the best color)) were so porous that they subsequently allowed in "X" times more dirt particles, as opposed to an OEM filter. I can believe that, as my K&N air filter lets in so much air that the difference in power was immediately evident (which is a good thing). Having said that, less restricted filtering = more air in at a given time = more dirt in the engine = more work and expectations placed on the oil filter. In a given period of time and/or mileage, say....6 months or 15,000 miles, we would have to expect to get more dirt inside our engine with a more porous filter than with the less porous and more restrictive OEM air filter. I don't care how good a particular oil is, if the oil filter is totally plugged with dirt, if we have more fine dirt particles running through our engine than what we would like, then our engine and our wallets would appear to be the big losers. I "love" my cold air induction (K&N)! But, having said that, my bacon is right at the Ford dealer getting the oil changed at "at least" 3K/3mo. I rationalize that I can get my oil changed twice as often using dinosaur OEM oil as opposed to synthetic. Or, every 3/3 in lieu of 6/6. Of course, this would all be predicated on how dusty or dirty the air is in the area where you drive. I have my oil done at my Ford dealership, and one of the side benefits to getting my oil changed at my Ford dealer is that there are a bunch of young gear heads who treat my car as they would their own, at least there in the garage (but they "might" not be big on Focus or Fiesta-type models....). I think the bottom line here is to get a sample of our oil sent in to a testing laboratory for analysis. That is when the phat lady sings to us one way or another. Last thing is, when I bought the car (new), the SVT dealership gave me something in writing that said every time I brought my Cobra in for service it would receive a complimetary car wash. They have never done this, not once. I've never asked them to do it, but I wouldn't expect to have to ask (I have never had to ask the BMW or Porsche dealers to wash my cars when they do something on them! They just automatically do it, as they should.). Anyone else have their SVT cars automatically washed when they take the car in for any type of work or service?

 

[TRMNATR]

You can figure the Ford guys recommend you change your synthetic every 5k, so 6k is safe. That's why I change it every 4k miles @ $70 a pop.

 

[Ron Stopfer]

Speaking solely on my own experiences, no Ford dealership I have ever been to has never recommended synthetic in either my Cobra, or my F-250 V-10, or my two F-150's, or my sister-in-law's Focus (or whatever little car she has), or any car I have ever taken to them for LOF. They told me they could/would get it if I wanted it, after I asked them if they had synthetic, but they have never pushed it one iota.

 

[94-98 Trans Am]

I change it when it changes color significantly? My GTO get changed every 8k with castrol syntec 5w-30. Still clean, could probably go longer but I don't trust the oil filter. I could just change the filter, but Im under the car so might as well change the oil.

The cobra get changed at around 3k, because it only gets driven about 5k a year.

-Corey

 

[tankerman1981]

change mine probably between 2500-3500k....

 

[apogue97cobra]

i change my mobil 1 about every 2000-3000, but thats because i dont drive it every day, if i did, i would be comfortable going 4000-5000

 

[SikSnke]

Royal purple every 5-6k and filters every 3k. I run an oil lab and am a mechanical engineer. Most synthetic oils do not break down unless extremely heated. The only reason you even need to change the oil is due to contamination. But you can not keep contamination out of the oil so you have to change it. You can extend the life of your synthetic oil by changing the filter about every 3k to remove some of the contamination. The reason the ferrous material was higher on the above oil analysis sheet is because of normal wear on the motor which contaminates the oil. This ferrous contamination then leads to more ferrous wear and contamination because it increases friction. If the oil filter would have been changed half way through the cycle then it would have had normal levels of ferrous material. Just my opinion.

 

[SVT4ME]

Just a little bit of insurance so I change at 2K

 

[coakeson]

I have a question that maybe a mechanical engineer can answer. Is it bad to switch from say a 10w30 synthetic oil to a 5w30 syntheti oil? My buddy is the grandson of the Lucas Oil Company owners and he called the tech guys there and they said that it is bad to go down in weight but it is fine to go from 5w30 to 10w30. Also say that I want to switch from like Lucas Oil to Royal Purple or some other brand, should put in the new oil and then change it again at like 1000 miles or does it matter as long as I use the same weight oil? Right now I use 5 qts Lucas 10w30 full synthetic and 1 qt of the Lucas Oil Stabilizer and I change it every 3000 miles.

 

[gotwood]

every 3000 to 5000 miles here