Oil Change 3 months or 3000 miles..... Also Synthetics....... are they worth it?

[Aquaman]

So people always say change your oil every 3000 miles or 3 months.......... but if you have not driven 3000 miles in 3 months do you still have to change the oil? Seems like a waste to change the oil if you have not driven the miles.

Also Synthetics....... are they worth it? I'm running a 1990 Civic Si (10 years old this year) & I'll probably drive it till I can't drive it anymore. My brother in law says that I should switch to syntheic oil. What are the benefits of using syntheic oil?

Thanks.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[toph99]

DO NOT switch to synthetic if you have been using regular oil the whole time. the regular oil builds up a sludge, and the synthetic will break it down. If this sludge breaks down, you will find yourself with quite a few leaks and may even start burning oil. on a new car, synthetic can be worth the $, but don't use it if you have been using dino juice for 12 years. just what i've been told.

 

[Aquaman]

Originally posted by: toph99
DO NOT switch to synthetic if you have been using regular oil the whole time. the regular oil builds up a sludge, and the synthetic will break it down. If this sludge breaks down, you will find yourself with quite a few leaks and may even start burning oil. on a new car, synthetic can be worth the $, but don't use it if you have been using dino juice for 12 years. just what i've been told.

How about if you flush you engine to get ride of the sludge?

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[JC]

Originally posted by: toph99
DO NOT switch to synthetic if you have been using regular oil the whole time. the regular oil builds up a sludge, and the synthetic will break it down. If this sludge breaks down, you will find yourself with quite a few leaks and may even start burning oil. on a new car, synthetic can be worth the $, but don't use it if you have been using dino juice for 12 years. just what i've been told.

True.

As far as the 3000mi interval, short trips are even harder on the oil than lots of highway mileage. When the engine doesn't get fully warmed up, acids and moisture build up and aren't burned off. So if you drive less than 3000/3, it may be even more important.

JC

 

[JC]

How about if you flush you engine?

The only way you'll really clean it out is to take it apart, and hot tank it.

JC

 

[Vic]

Synthetic is only for new cars, or for cars that have ALWAYS been using synthetic. If you use regular oil just once, don't switch back to synthetic.
3,000 miles is (IMO) excessive. Most manufacturers call for 5,000 to even 10,000 between changes. Follow your owners manual, not the recommendation oil companies. For example, Honda says the oil in my Acura should be changed every 7,500 miles, so I change it every 5,000-6,000 and always use synthetic. At 71,000 miles it has never burned or leaked a drop, the old oil is still practically fresh at each change, and it still drives like new.

 

[Moohooya]

The major benifit of synthetic is your pocket will be lighter, and the stores cash till heavier.

Every 3,000 or 3 months is a load of BS. Basically here in the US oil is relativly cheap when compared to the rest of the world, and so they can sell this every 3,000 miles stuff as people can afford it.

It *COULD* be as frequent as every 3,000 miles if you drive in extreme conditions. Short journeys, very cold weather etc. I live in Maine (wher it is cold) and drive 7 miles to work. My car has a computer that tells me when I need to change my oil, but I ignore the computer and do it every 5,000 miles. The computer almost never tells me as I always change the oil before it feels it is necessary. The only time the light comes on is one or two thousand miles after the previous change and so obviously at the last change they forgot to reset the computer. (It doesn't test the oil quality, but keeps track of the expected condition given my driving habits, engine temperature etc etc.) The manual says that for most people the light will come on every 7,500 miles, which I guess is about what I see when they don't reset it.

As a car gets older, I'd be less worried about it. After all killing a $1,500 car isn't as bad as a new $20,000 car that I'll be paying for another 4 years. Having said that, it may burn more oil, and the oil may get dirtier faster, so all in all I'd keep to the same 5,000 miles.

BTW in Europe where oil is more expensive they recomend 9,000 miles. Yep three times this crazy 3,000 miles here. Also their engines are smaller and thus run faster and hotter, so the oil condition is more important than here in our big slower running engines. There *might* be extreme and a ploy by the manufactorers to make maintenence costs appear less, but I doubt it. And even if so, the figures would only be a thousand or so too high, so perhaps the 7,500 is a pretty reasonable number. Not a number by the local garage to get lots of business, or a number by Eurpoean manufactorers to make running costs lower.

However, I'm sticking to 5,000, it is such an easy number. Every 5,000 oil & filter change, every 10,000 oil, filter & rotate tires.

 

[ElFenix]

acura says 3750 for the 2001 CL. weird.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
acura says 3750 for the 2001 CL. weird.

I have a 98 Integra GSR.

 

[Maverick]

My dad was telling me that when a car gets over 100k miles you should change the oil every 3000 miles. But otherwise you can go a little bit longer.

 

[StageLeft]

Doubt it's worth playing with Synthetic for you now. What you could look at though is valvoline max life. It's got some additives for engines with more than 75,000 one of which is a seal-enhancing treatment supposed to reduce oil leaks in older cars. This is like the oil stop-leak stuff you can buy and add. Some people say this stuff is bad (stop leak) because although it stops leaks it weakens the seals or something but if a major oil manufacturer is adding a seal-treating chemical to one of their oils I'd be decently confident that it's really not that unsafe and may be worth looking into.

 

[NutBucket]

I've got 130K on my Honda and change it maybe every 5k or so with Castrol GTX 10w-40. Engine runs smooth and never burns oil. I think the recommended interval is 7500.

You'll get a different answer from every mechanic.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: toph99
DO NOT switch to synthetic if you have been using regular oil the whole time. the regular oil builds up a sludge, and the synthetic will break it down. If this sludge breaks down, you will find yourself with quite a few leaks and may even start burning oil. on a new car, synthetic can be worth the $, but don't use it if you have been using dino juice for 12 years. just what i've been told.

Sorry but that is incorrect. I am a mechanic and have broken many an engine down and also have studied, wrote a report about it for a class once, how oil works and what happens.
You should be able to break a engine down at 100K and see very little sludge if any, IF the car has been maintained. Sludge builds up when oil breaks down. It breaks down by several ways. some are going to long on oil changes, using a oil to thick, having a BAD design engine(see toyota, jeep, etc), driving very short trips and/or stop and go driving, not replacing PCV valves and keeping the enigne clean(the inside not the motor itself) driving to hard or the motor is to hot(See Bad Owner) etc.....

But PLEASE change your oil every 3K or 3 months UNLESS 80% or more of your drving is highway driving with little speed changes. If you use a good Synthetic then you can go UP TO 4K or 3 months.

As such using Syn. oil after using regular will not hurt the motor. Now mind you Syn. oil is thinner and can leak easier, so that is why a lot of people beat up there cars or buy a used car and put Syn. in it and it starts to leak or burn. Its not the oils fault, its the motors fault(caused by a bad owner)

Also for just about all the cars on the road use 10W30 year round.
5W30 if you live in a cold climate.
15W40 for Diesel motors.
20W50 if you have a really old car/truck that burns or leaks real bad and it is not to cold, if it is cold then use 15W40.

NEVER USE 10w40.

And only use good oils. Some are...

Mobil
Exxon
Valvoline
Havoline

And never use Castrol. I have broken down motors with that in it and was even once charged extra to get a block clean as Castrol is JUNK, I know this first hand, so don't give me any junk from I heard this or saw a commercial.... Even Castrols Syntec oil IS NOT SYNTHETIC. Mobil sued them and came to find out, to be able to call your oil Syn. , only the polymers have to be Syn. the Base can be regular oil, Like Castrols Syntec. So castrol won as they just meet standards to call their oil syn.

 

[Howard]

The major benifit of synthetic is your pocket will be lighter, and the stores cash till heavier.

Try to fix up t3r gr@mm3r, pleez.

Also their engines are smaller and thus run faster and hotter

 

[StattlichPassat]

If you know when to safely switch to synthetic oils, then go for it. My '86 Volkswagen GTI has been running pretty well without skipping a beat for the last 133k miles in part due largely to it not seeing a drop of anything but Mobil1 synthetic.

EDIT: oil changed every 5-6k miles.

 

[Aquaman]

Thank you everyone for participataing I guess I'll go with the older car oils like the valvoline max life

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[RU482]

hey Marlin1975

Just curious, my honda's require 5W20. Am I right in thinking that the 5 is the weight for cold starting and the 20 is when the engine is heated up?

If so, should I switch to something like 5W30 in the summer, or just keep using 5W20? Curious

I've got ~10000 miles on my Civic, is it still OK to switch to synthetic? Presumably mobil1. Is 0W30 OK? How about AMSOIL? Never seen it, just heard of it.

 

[Pacfanweb]

If you change your oil every 3 months, 3k miles like you're supposed to, then synthetic has nothing to offer you. The supposed advantage of synthetic is a resistance to contamination vs. regular oil.

It isn't worth it. You'll have to go twice as long or more on the synthetic oil to make it worthwhile.

Nobody that anyone here knows has EVER had an oil-related failure unless is resulted from the oil not being changed regularly.

Use what your car's manufacturer calls for as far as weight goes, and change it every 3 months/3k miles, and you'll never have a problem.

 

[TechnoKid]

NEVER USE 10w40.

Why not? Don't some european cars use this weight? I know that some audis require and reccomend the use of a 0w40, but thats for a cold climate and sustained highspeed driving...for normal, audi owners reccomend 5w40.

All in all though, I use a 10w30 all around. In california, it doesn't get cold enough to necessitate the use of a 0w or 5w oil, except in the snowy regions...the foothils of tahoe etc...

Oil Links
This has some good stuff on oil info; its from an Audi A6 links page.

**BTW**
don't use fram filters. heres why:

NTPOG filter review
and
Engine oil filter study

Don't use oem honda filters if you have a honda car. the ntpog filter review should explain why not....I reccomend a purolator pureOne filter, I belive its #pl14459 (oversized is #pl24458, holds more oil and has more filter media, $5.99 at partsamerica.com). Anything but a fram or fram copy or a honda oem filter, unless its a japan one, but those are very hard to find in the states, and plus, you can get a better filter for the same price.

Bosch and mobil 1 are good filters too.
Oh, and just as a tip, when changing your oil, always change the drain plug washer along with it.

 

[ThisIsMatt]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: toph99
DO NOT switch to synthetic if you have been using regular oil the whole time. the regular oil builds up a sludge, and the synthetic will break it down. If this sludge breaks down, you will find yourself with quite a few leaks and may even start burning oil. on a new car, synthetic can be worth the $, but don't use it if you have been using dino juice for 12 years. just what i've been told.

Sorry but that is incorrect. I am a mechanic and have broken many an engine down and also have studied, wrote a report about it for a class once, how oil works and what happens.
You should be able to break a engine down at 100K and see very little sludge if any, IF the car has been maintained. Sludge builds up when oil breaks down. It breaks down by several ways. some are going to long on oil changes, using a oil to thick, having a BAD design engine(see toyota, jeep, etc), driving very short trips and/or stop and go driving, not replacing PCV valves and keeping the enigne clean(the inside not the motor itself) driving to hard or the motor is to hot(See Bad Owner) etc.....

But PLEASE change your oil every 3K or 3 months UNLESS 80% or more of your drving is highway driving with little speed changes. If you use a good Synthetic then you can go UP TO 4K or 3 months.

As such using Syn. oil after using regular will not hurt the motor. Now mind you Syn. oil is thinner and can leak easier, so that is why a lot of people beat up there cars or buy a used car and put Syn. in it and it starts to leak or burn. Its not the oils fault, its the motors fault(caused by a bad owner)

Also for just about all the cars on the road use 10W30 year round.
5W30 if you live in a cold climate.
15W40 for Diesel motors.
20W50 if you have a really old car/truck that burns or leaks real bad and it is not to cold, if it is cold then use 15W40.

NEVER USE 10w40.

And only use good oils. Some are...

Mobil
Exxon
Valvoline
Havoline

And never use Castrol. I have broken down motors with that in it and was even once charged extra to get a block clean as Castrol is JUNK, I know this first hand, so don't give me any junk from I heard this or saw a commercial.... Even Castrols Syntec oil IS NOT SYNTHETIC. Mobil sued them and came to find out, to be able to call your oil Syn. , only the polymers have to be Syn. the Base can be regular oil, Like Castrols Syntec. So castrol won as they just meet standards to call their oil syn.

My family has always used castrol gtx and will most likely continue to do so. Every car we've owned (honda/toyota) has lasted past 180K miles (except for those totalled and those still running which are at ~143K, ~174K, ~130K running strong).

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: ThisIsMatt

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

And never use Castrol. I have broken down motors with that in it and was even once charged extra to get a block clean as Castrol is JUNK, I know this first hand, so don't give me any junk from I heard this or saw a commercial.... Even Castrols Syntec oil IS NOT SYNTHETIC. Mobil sued them and came to find out, to be able to call your oil Syn. , only the polymers have to be Syn. the Base can be regular oil, Like Castrols Syntec. So castrol won as they just meet standards to call their oil syn.

My family has always used castrol gtx and will most likely continue to do so. Every car we've owned (honda/toyota) has lasted past 180K miles (except for those totalled and those still running which are at ~143K, ~174K, ~130K running strong).

Me too, my 3G accord ran on castrol GTX for it's entire life until I wrecked it at 150K miles and the motor showed no signs of weakness in that entire time. Which is pretty remarkable considering that I would redline the car several times in a day, hit 100+ whenever freeway conditions permitted and powerbraked once a week or so.

I do know that castrol syntec isn't true synthetic, but that's not really relevant to the quality of their other oils.

 

[Freejack2]

I have mine changed as close to 3000 miles as possible. Granted at 100,000 miles it'll be 33, 3000 mile oil changes, vs 20, 5000 mile changes. I pay about $25 for an oil change so it's $325 over the life of the car. On the other hand if it saves me even one major repair it's paid for itself!

 

[TechnoKid]

Originally posted by: OuterSquare

Originally posted by: ThisIsMatt

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

And never use Castrol. I have broken down motors with that in it and was even once charged extra to get a block clean as Castrol is JUNK, I know this first hand, so don't give me any junk from I heard this or saw a commercial.... Even Castrols Syntec oil IS NOT SYNTHETIC. Mobil sued them and came to find out, to be able to call your oil Syn. , only the polymers have to be Syn. the Base can be regular oil, Like Castrols Syntec. So castrol won as they just meet standards to call their oil syn.

My family has always used castrol gtx and will most likely continue to do so. Every car we've owned (honda/toyota) has lasted past 180K miles (except for those totalled and those still running which are at ~143K, ~174K, ~130K running strong).

Me too, my 3G accord ran on castrol GTX for it's entire life until I wrecked it at 150K miles and the motor showed no signs of weakness in that entire time. Which is pretty remarkable considering that I would redline the car several times in a day, hit 100+ whenever freeway conditions permitted and powerbraked once a week or so.

I do know that castrol syntec isn't true synthetic, but that's not really relevant to the quality of their other oils.

I too agree that castrol gtx is a good dyno oil. There syntec oils are nothing more than a hyrocracked dyno oil with additives, but again, it really has little to do with quality of their other oils.

 

[TechnoKid]

Originally posted by: Freejack2
I have mine changed as close to 3000 miles as possible. Granted at 100,000 miles it'll be 33, 3000 mile oil changes, vs 20, 5000 mile changes. I pay about $25 for an oil change so it's $325 over the life of the car. On the other hand if it saves me even one major repair it's paid for itself!

Have you thought about getting an oil analysis done? Those can really tell you not only if your oil is still good, but the wear condition on your engine.

 

[Freejack2]

The car only has 25k or something within a few thousand of that so I'm not too worried now. I don't even know if I'll keep this car for 100k.

Originally posted by: TechnoKid
Have you thought about getting an oil analysis done? Those can really tell you not only if your oil is still good, but the wear condition on your engine.