How often do you change you SYNTHETIC oil??????? Why??
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Registered User
Joined: May 1999
Posts: 2,201
From: HI.
How often do you change you SYNTHETIC oil??????? Why??
I notice from a search that a lot of people use sythetics in their cars. I also noticed that they still changed oil every 3k or so. I know that sythetic oils lube better and do not break down as quickly so to my question. Why do people change it so often then? just because of possible dirt?
Patman.....what do you think?
Patman.....what do you think?
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,475
yea don't expect that engine to last long either 
doesn't matter if the oil is synthetic or not.. they all still get just as dirty... yea synthetic lubricates better but like i said it still get just as dirty as conventional oil...
i use mobil 1 tri-synthetic 15W-50 and i change the oil every 2000 miles
small price to pay for piece of mind on a HIGH HP motor 
doesn't matter if the oil is synthetic or not.. they all still get just as dirty... yea synthetic lubricates better but like i said it still get just as dirty as conventional oil...
i use mobil 1 tri-synthetic 15W-50 and i change the oil every 2000 miles
small price to pay for piece of mind on a HIGH HP motor
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Joined: Sep 1998
Posts: 679
From: Oakville, Ontario
Oil analysis has proven that people who do longer intervals (higher than 3k) aren't seeing an increase in engine wear, as long as they don't go beyond the service life of that oil. For instance, some guys will take an oil sample at 3000 miles, then continue to run the oil, and if you figure out the wear of the engine in ppm per 1000 miles, you can see it does not get any worse in the next 3000 miles compared to the first 3000 miles on that oil. You'll also see with oil analysis that oil does not get as "dirty" as many people think. Just because it's color changes does not mean it's not able to protect as well as new oil.
As long as you're using a good air filter (not a K&N or other high flow cotton gauze filter!) and a good synthetic oil, there is no reason you can't do 6000 mile intervals, and it will not shorten your engine life. But don't take my word for it, have an oil analysis done if you truly want to pinpoint which oil and which oil change interval works for your particular application. Before I started getting my oil analyzed, I was just guessing as to what works and what doesn't. Now I know the truth as to what works best for my engine.
Right now I just switched oils (to German Castrol Syntec 0w30) so I'm going to do a short 3k interval first, but will then be doing 6k intervals from then on, and possibly even 9k intervals once I've established how well this oil works or not.
Now back to the air filter issue for a moment. One thing I've noticed when viewing oil analysis reports is that the K&N air filter lets in more dirt on average than most. But part of the reason for that is that people clean them too often. A clean air filter lets in the most dirt of all, and it's filtering efficiency improves as it gets more dirty. So if you must run a K&N, let the thing get dirty! I have seen some good oil analysis results with people running K&Ns, but they must be quite dirty to trap more dirt. A paper air filter on the other hand, is better at trapping dirt right off the bat, although it too gets more efficient as it gets more dirty. I also recommend not changing these filters too often. In fact my LT1 was still on it's OEM filter up until well beyond 80,000 miles and when I did put on a fresh air filter, I only picked up 0.2mph at the strip (I changed it between rounds) but the dirt content in my oil has since gone up, along with slightly higher engine wear overall. So if you resist the urge to change your air filter, you are actually saving your engine from ingesting more dirt. This is an important factor in engine wear, the less dirt that gets into your oil, the better off your engine is.
As long as you're using a good air filter (not a K&N or other high flow cotton gauze filter!) and a good synthetic oil, there is no reason you can't do 6000 mile intervals, and it will not shorten your engine life. But don't take my word for it, have an oil analysis done if you truly want to pinpoint which oil and which oil change interval works for your particular application. Before I started getting my oil analyzed, I was just guessing as to what works and what doesn't. Now I know the truth as to what works best for my engine.
Right now I just switched oils (to German Castrol Syntec 0w30) so I'm going to do a short 3k interval first, but will then be doing 6k intervals from then on, and possibly even 9k intervals once I've established how well this oil works or not.
Now back to the air filter issue for a moment. One thing I've noticed when viewing oil analysis reports is that the K&N air filter lets in more dirt on average than most. But part of the reason for that is that people clean them too often. A clean air filter lets in the most dirt of all, and it's filtering efficiency improves as it gets more dirty. So if you must run a K&N, let the thing get dirty! I have seen some good oil analysis results with people running K&Ns, but they must be quite dirty to trap more dirt. A paper air filter on the other hand, is better at trapping dirt right off the bat, although it too gets more efficient as it gets more dirty. I also recommend not changing these filters too often. In fact my LT1 was still on it's OEM filter up until well beyond 80,000 miles and when I did put on a fresh air filter, I only picked up 0.2mph at the strip (I changed it between rounds) but the dirt content in my oil has since gone up, along with slightly higher engine wear overall. So if you resist the urge to change your air filter, you are actually saving your engine from ingesting more dirt. This is an important factor in engine wear, the less dirt that gets into your oil, the better off your engine is.
Last edited by Patman; Sep 27, 2003 at 05:35 AM.
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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 2,481
From: Arlington, VA
I change my Mobil 1 Synthetic every 3k miles. I have no reason not to change it so I do. I don't care if you all call me crazy, but I throw in 4 qts after the drain and run it for 10-15 minutes then drain it and fill it back up. I have to be nice to my engine. With the mods that I have, if I'm not, my 164,000 mile bottom end will be no more. But, on the other hand. I know for sure that I can go longer between intervals. I just don't 
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: May 1999
Posts: 2,201
From: HI.
Hey Patman......here lies the problem. Almost everyone here in the board runs a CAI type system which utilizes that type of air filter. Sooooooooo.... that being said, everyone is right changing their synthetic oil every 3k or so right?
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,475
Originally posted by Patman
Oil analysis has proven that people who do longer intervals (higher than 3k) aren't seeing an increase in engine wear, as long as they don't go beyond the service life of that oil. For instance, some guys will take an oil sample at 3000 miles, then continue to run the oil, and if you figure out the wear of the engine in ppm per 1000 miles, you can see it does not get any worse in the next 3000 miles compared to the first 3000 miles on that oil. You'll also see with oil analysis that oil does not get as "dirty" as many people think. Just because it's color changes does not mean it's not able to protect as well as new oil.
As long as you're using a good air filter (not a K&N or other high flow cotton gauze filter!) and a good synthetic oil, there is no reason you can't do 6000 mile intervals, and it will not shorten your engine life. But don't take my word for it, have an oil analysis done if you truly want to pinpoint which oil and which oil change interval works for your particular application. Before I started getting my oil analyzed, I was just guessing as to what works and what doesn't. Now I know the truth as to what works best for my engine.
Right now I just switched oils (to German Castrol Syntec 0w30) so I'm going to do a short 3k interval first, but will then be doing 6k intervals from then on, and possibly even 9k intervals once I've established how well this oil works or not.
Now back to the air filter issue for a moment. One thing I've noticed when viewing oil analysis reports is that the K&N air filter lets in more dirt on average than most. But part of the reason for that is that people clean them too often. A clean air filter lets in the most dirt of all, and it's filtering efficiency improves as it gets more dirty. So if you must run a K&N, let the thing get dirty! I have seen some good oil analysis results with people running K&Ns, but they must be quite dirty to trap more dirt. A paper air filter on the other hand, is better at trapping dirt right off the bat, although it too gets more efficient as it gets more dirty. I also recommend not changing these filters too often. In fact my LT1 was still on it's OEM filter up until well beyond 80,000 miles and when I did put on a fresh air filter, I only picked up 0.2mph at the strip (I changed it between rounds) but the dirt content in my oil has since gone up, along with slightly higher engine wear overall. So if you resist the urge to change your air filter, you are actually saving your engine from ingesting more dirt. This is an important factor in engine wear, the less dirt that gets into your oil, the better off your engine is.
Oil analysis has proven that people who do longer intervals (higher than 3k) aren't seeing an increase in engine wear, as long as they don't go beyond the service life of that oil. For instance, some guys will take an oil sample at 3000 miles, then continue to run the oil, and if you figure out the wear of the engine in ppm per 1000 miles, you can see it does not get any worse in the next 3000 miles compared to the first 3000 miles on that oil. You'll also see with oil analysis that oil does not get as "dirty" as many people think. Just because it's color changes does not mean it's not able to protect as well as new oil.
As long as you're using a good air filter (not a K&N or other high flow cotton gauze filter!) and a good synthetic oil, there is no reason you can't do 6000 mile intervals, and it will not shorten your engine life. But don't take my word for it, have an oil analysis done if you truly want to pinpoint which oil and which oil change interval works for your particular application. Before I started getting my oil analyzed, I was just guessing as to what works and what doesn't. Now I know the truth as to what works best for my engine.
Right now I just switched oils (to German Castrol Syntec 0w30) so I'm going to do a short 3k interval first, but will then be doing 6k intervals from then on, and possibly even 9k intervals once I've established how well this oil works or not.
Now back to the air filter issue for a moment. One thing I've noticed when viewing oil analysis reports is that the K&N air filter lets in more dirt on average than most. But part of the reason for that is that people clean them too often. A clean air filter lets in the most dirt of all, and it's filtering efficiency improves as it gets more dirty. So if you must run a K&N, let the thing get dirty! I have seen some good oil analysis results with people running K&Ns, but they must be quite dirty to trap more dirt. A paper air filter on the other hand, is better at trapping dirt right off the bat, although it too gets more efficient as it gets more dirty. I also recommend not changing these filters too often. In fact my LT1 was still on it's OEM filter up until well beyond 80,000 miles and when I did put on a fresh air filter, I only picked up 0.2mph at the strip (I changed it between rounds) but the dirt content in my oil has since gone up, along with slightly higher engine wear overall. So if you resist the urge to change your air filter, you are actually saving your engine from ingesting more dirt. This is an important factor in engine wear, the less dirt that gets into your oil, the better off your engine is.
whatever.... 0w-30? what did you do a honda b18 motor swap into your car or something
0W-30 in an LT1, hope you live at the north pole or some $hit
Originally posted by scoobysnax83
I change my Mobil 1 Synthetic every 3k miles. I have no reason not to change it so I do. I don't care if you all call me crazy, but I throw in 4 qts after the drain and run it for 10-15 minutes then drain it and fill it back up. I have to be nice to my engine. With the mods that I have, if I'm not, my 164,000 mile bottom end will be no more. But, on the other hand. I know for sure that I can go longer between intervals. I just don't
I change my Mobil 1 Synthetic every 3k miles. I have no reason not to change it so I do. I don't care if you all call me crazy, but I throw in 4 qts after the drain and run it for 10-15 minutes then drain it and fill it back up. I have to be nice to my engine. With the mods that I have, if I'm not, my 164,000 mile bottom end will be no more. But, on the other hand. I know for sure that I can go longer between intervals. I just don't
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 735
From: BTR, Louisiana
It really irratates me when someone who has been around for a while makes an intelligent post and then substanciates it such as Patmat did, and is rediculed for it.
You people are retarted. Instead of trying to learn the point of what he said (HAVE YOUR OIL ANALYZED to know how long of intervals you can run), there are people responding with "forget it, I'll change mine every 3K miles and pour another four quarts down the drain in the process". Call it "more safe than sorry", but what reason other than that do you have for changing your oil so often? More safe than sorry is usually the solution to a problem that you don't really understand. Do your own dirty work people. Want your engine to last longer? Don't spin it to 6K RPM so often. (We all know that's no fun though).
Igonorance is an expensive problem in some regard I guess. It amazes me, if you don't know how to deal with something instead of investigating it... you just ignore it. ???
Ben T.
You people are retarted. Instead of trying to learn the point of what he said (HAVE YOUR OIL ANALYZED to know how long of intervals you can run), there are people responding with "forget it, I'll change mine every 3K miles and pour another four quarts down the drain in the process". Call it "more safe than sorry", but what reason other than that do you have for changing your oil so often? More safe than sorry is usually the solution to a problem that you don't really understand. Do your own dirty work people. Want your engine to last longer? Don't spin it to 6K RPM so often. (We all know that's no fun though).
Igonorance is an expensive problem in some regard I guess. It amazes me, if you don't know how to deal with something instead of investigating it... you just ignore it. ???
Ben T.
Banned
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,475
Originally posted by StudyTime
It really irratates me when someone who has been around for a while makes an intelligent post and then substanciates it such as Patmat did, and is rediculed for it.
You people are retarted. Instead of trying to learn the point of what he said (HAVE YOUR OIL ANALYZED to know how long of intervals you can run), there are people responding with "forget it, I'll change mine every 3K miles and pour another four quarts down the drain in the process". Call it "more safe than sorry", but what reason other than that do you have for changing your oil so often? More safe than sorry is usually the solution to a problem that you don't really understand. Do your own dirty work people. Want your engine to last longer? Don't spin it to 6K RPM so often. (We all know that's no fun though).
Igonorance is an expensive problem in some regard I guess. It amazes me, if you don't know how to deal with something instead of investigating it... you just ignore it. ???
Ben T.
It really irratates me when someone who has been around for a while makes an intelligent post and then substanciates it such as Patmat did, and is rediculed for it.
You people are retarted. Instead of trying to learn the point of what he said (HAVE YOUR OIL ANALYZED to know how long of intervals you can run), there are people responding with "forget it, I'll change mine every 3K miles and pour another four quarts down the drain in the process". Call it "more safe than sorry", but what reason other than that do you have for changing your oil so often? More safe than sorry is usually the solution to a problem that you don't really understand. Do your own dirty work people. Want your engine to last longer? Don't spin it to 6K RPM so often. (We all know that's no fun though).
Igonorance is an expensive problem in some regard I guess. It amazes me, if you don't know how to deal with something instead of investigating it... you just ignore it. ???
Ben T.
guess maybe i should run some prolong in my engine too, or maybe i could get some of that new castrol oil with protection BEYOND 3000 miles for people that are TOO LAZY to change their oil and would rather buy a new shortblock because of it
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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 2,481
From: Arlington, VA
Originally posted by InjectedSS
uhh well lemme think.... when you spin your engine to 7K, pull low tens and have a lot of money invested in a motor then why skimp out on the BLOOD of your engine
guess maybe i should run some prolong in my engine too, or maybe i could get some of that new castrol oil with protection BEYOND 3000 miles for people that are TOO LAZY to change their oil and would rather buy a new shortblock because of it
uhh well lemme think.... when you spin your engine to 7K, pull low tens and have a lot of money invested in a motor then why skimp out on the BLOOD of your engine
guess maybe i should run some prolong in my engine too, or maybe i could get some of that new castrol oil with protection BEYOND 3000 miles for people that are TOO LAZY to change their oil and would rather buy a new shortblock because of it
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,620
From: Dover DE
having the oil analyzed is a good way to determine oil change intervals,i fully agree.
i disagree with having to wait for the analasis to come back in a week or so.
Injected,0w-30 is fine if the engine is in good running order,i know many people that run only that and never have a problem. Why do you think that is such a bad idea?
I chande my oil every 2k miles or so in the summer,but fall/winter it'll go as far as 4k miles or 6 months on the same oil (mainly due to extended drives or sitting in the garage).
the reason i change it so much in the summer is due to nitrous and slightly rich tuneup i run. im not gonna deal with getting that oil analized when i dont have time to wait foir results and i can change it in 20 minutes.
i disagree with having to wait for the analasis to come back in a week or so.
Injected,0w-30 is fine if the engine is in good running order,i know many people that run only that and never have a problem. Why do you think that is such a bad idea?
I chande my oil every 2k miles or so in the summer,but fall/winter it'll go as far as 4k miles or 6 months on the same oil (mainly due to extended drives or sitting in the garage).
the reason i change it so much in the summer is due to nitrous and slightly rich tuneup i run. im not gonna deal with getting that oil analized when i dont have time to wait foir results and i can change it in 20 minutes.
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Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 479
From: Rockville Centre, NY, USA
Patman is right on alot of accounts. Changing oil when it has reached the end of its useful life is a good course. Right before the end is prefereable. Oil analysis will give you the specs you require to determine this.
I use the same Castrol Syntec he's referring to. It is a thicker oil than the specs would lead you to believe. It is the thicker equivalent to the Mobil 1 Tri Synthetic 5W 30 most prefer here. All oils are not created equal.
Made in Germany for the performance cars that fly on the AutoBahn. One of the top oils for the community that does do oil analysis. Hard to find in the USA. It is green in tint.
Oil analysis is not for all. If your car is a keeper it is a good idea to do it periodically as part of your routine maintenance. If you are a racer it is a good idea to run a few samples after a few race days where you have done engine modifications when you change out your fluids.
In respnse to the poster.
I change my synthetic oil in the 5,000 to 6,000 interval and replace oil filter with a long Mobil 1 or AC/Delco filter with the anti drainback valves.
I use the same Castrol Syntec he's referring to. It is a thicker oil than the specs would lead you to believe. It is the thicker equivalent to the Mobil 1 Tri Synthetic 5W 30 most prefer here. All oils are not created equal.
Made in Germany for the performance cars that fly on the AutoBahn. One of the top oils for the community that does do oil analysis. Hard to find in the USA. It is green in tint.
Oil analysis is not for all. If your car is a keeper it is a good idea to do it periodically as part of your routine maintenance. If you are a racer it is a good idea to run a few samples after a few race days where you have done engine modifications when you change out your fluids.
In respnse to the poster.
I change my synthetic oil in the 5,000 to 6,000 interval and replace oil filter with a long Mobil 1 or AC/Delco filter with the anti drainback valves.