schmoozer

Hey everyone,

I'm just wondering how many months I can safely go running Mobil 1. Its been roughly 6 months now, but I've only put ~2k miles on the car with the Mobil 1. I don't mind changing it right now, but if its not necessary then I might as well save the money. Also, I switched over to synthetic at 121K (123K now) and as far as I know the engine has been running dino oil for its life prior to this. I'm not sure if this would warrant a sooner oil change or not.

Let me know

BDSL

I change mine 1 year or 8k miles which ever comes first.

Lexmex

Depends on how you drive the vehicle. On Mobil 1 (5W30) you can depending on your driving style go 8k as BDSL suggested, in fact on just about any synthetic oil. However, my experiences with Mobil 1 were not completely satisfactory and I felt the oil was thinning out after a while enough that I had to use additives.

Right now, I use a Castrol Syntec 0W30 and run 7k changes, but am going to switch for a test to the new Pennzoil Ultra Euro 5W30 (that's close to what the Syntec I currently run is) and see how she performs at the same mileage.

mtnman82

Lots of opinions out there on the oils... Personally, I don't like to go more than a year time-wise even if it's relatively low miles on the oil. I would venture to say you're safe to go a whole year between changes at your present rate. Be sure to change the filter as well as the oil when you do it.

BTW, I just had an oil analysis done (www.blackstone-labs.com) on my MB - 10k miles & 13~14 months on Mobile 1 European folrmula (0w-40) - and the report said I could go longer. I won't of course and didn't mean to let it slip to over 12 months, but the oil still met specs and had sufficient additives in it. MB actually recommends 13k oil changes, but they have a special cartridge filter which I'm sure is part of the deal.

intermec

in the LS forum we talked about this issue as well and it turns out your oil will last longer than you expected. 3k, 5k oil change is it necessary? probably not. We still do it anyway since it is not that expensive and just make us 'feel' better.

there isn't any benefit of doing oil change at 3k this day

angmedic91

iTrader: (5)

Im using Mobil 1 synthetic also, but change mine every 5k or 1 year. I made the switch at 135,000 miles.

krb90

100% agree.

deece

I also use Castrol Syntec and I change every 5000 km (Canadian). If you're using a synthetic oil, you usually can run up to 8000 km depending on you're driving style. If you're constantly taking off the line and burying the redline, I'd recommend you change it more often, if you can afford to change your oil more often lets say every 3k, a synthetic oil might not be worth it for you. Changing your filter more often as well as your oil will lengthen your car's life, doesn't necessarily have to run on synthetic.

BDSL

5000 km oil change interval on synthetic oil is a little excessive. My 97 ES300 owner's manual specifies oil change interval 6000 km or 6 months (petrol oil).

I change my oil (synthetic) every 12,000 km. I change my oil filter every 6000km.

BoostedE21

IMO, changing oil before 10-15k miles on full synthetic is just wasteful. You can get an oil analysis done for a few bucks that will tell you how much longer your oil will "last," and give you an idea of how long you can use similar oil in the future.

mtnman82

Changing the filter in between oil changes isn't necessarily a good thing. The filter will do a better job of filtering as it is used. To a point of course, and at some point it will get clogged too much and start to prevent oil flow.

Some folks from the oil industry took a look at my report and I guess it wasn't as good as I was thinking. They said the oil had thickenned and was almost out of additives and recommended 8k mile changes or no more than a year. We also had a discussion on filters, which is where I got the statement above from.

The mobil 1 I had tested was in a car that rarely went out of town - mainly short trips of 5 miles or less. I also never had to top off (add oil) during the 10k miles I ran it - adding a qt would have helped the readings. If you are on the highway a lot, you might be able to go longer.

Time-wise, 12 months was the longest recommended change interval, even if there are low miles on the oil.

Not trying to bag on anyone ... just passing along what I've learned. Personally, I will be going to 8K mile/1 year oil & filter changes (whichever comes first). I'm also going to have the analysis again @ 8K miles and see where things are (but that won't be for another year).

Everyone's driving habits are different, so I would highly recommend the oil analysis. An added benefit of the analysis is that if there's something going wrong internal to your engine, they might be able to catch it before you notice anything.

vntperform

iTrader: (15)

I go a max of 6k miles or 1 year whichever comes first; I've been using Mobil 1 in all of my cars since 1994.

venomous

As others have said, depending on driving style, 1 year or 8-10K miles should be fine. Make sure you are using a quality filter like Mobil 1, K&N, Purolator, or WIX (Napa).

kluthage42

I'm at 10500 on Amsoil Extended Life car has 115k on it. Haven't noticed a drop in performance at all. Been running synthetic since 75k. BMW goes 15k before changing their oil. I know the 1MZ is prone to sludge, but frequent seafoam in the tank and vacuum system and she still runs strong.

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

How do you guys go a full year without chaning your oil? I change mine about every 2.5-3 months with semi synthetic castrol at 5k. Do you guys just never drive your cars?