RE: oil changes

["Brian Shorey" <bshorey@domain.elided>]

> <<  I have a
>  car that's been running on Amsoil for 160,000 miles.  (With oil and
filter
>  changes every 12,000.)  It has no sludge in it at all.  >>
>
> Rich,
>   Are you saying with synthetic oils you can go 12,000 miles between
changes?
>  Are the filters still filtering after that many miles?  I have been
changing
> my Mobile 1 every 5, 000 miles.  How does one decide when to change it?

amsoil has a recommended change interval of 20k miles, if i remember
correctly.  the filters are supposed to be good for something less than
that, maybe 10k - 12k miles.

i think jess liao had the best recommendation for determination of change
intervals a while back - pay attention to what's coming out - if it's dirty,
change more frequently, if it's clean, back off a little.  unless you're
using conventional motor oils, in which case breakdown is an issue and you
should be going no more than 3k miles per oil change, whether it comes out
clean or not.

personally, i use mobil 1 and change every 5k miles or every fall as i put
the cars away for storage, whichever comes first.  i don't like to let
engines sit all winter with contaminants in the oil.

btw, somebody mentioned consumer reports concluding that synthetics had no
real advantages over conventional oils.  i seem to remember that conclusion
being based on similar change intervals, and that they mentioned that you
could extend change intervals with synthetics, thus making them more cost
effective.

my .02,

bs

p.s.  thanks to everyone who responded on the rollbar rules - i love this
digest!

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