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Intervals between oil changes? Synthetic

  • Thread starter Thread starter JBushman73
  • Start date Start date Jun 27, 2006
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JBushman73

Founding Member
Aug 29, 2001
172
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Roanoke, VA
Jun 27, 2006
#1
  • Jun 27, 2006
  • #1
To make a long story short.

I've had my P1 running now for about the 3 weeks and have stayed out of the throttle. I finally hooked up an air/oil separator Saturday.

So now its time to get on it.
The 1st time that I do, the car died. Vacuum lines separated, IAT sensor popped out, the plugs were covered blacker than the cave that Osama hides in. Had it towed to a shop. The mechanic put in autolite platinums, hooked up the vacuum lines, got the gas out of the chambers, changed the oil and put in 5w-30 Castrol Fully Synthetic. My question is........... can I go longer than 3k miles with this stuff (synthetic) in it?

Thanks.
 

03ghoststang

Well-Known Member
Jul 16, 2005
1,930
1
57
Los Angeles, California
Jun 27, 2006
#2
  • Jun 27, 2006
  • #2
you can but i would just stick to changing it every 3000 miles, but you can change it lets say 4500 miles or something like that
 

HoustonGT

Gilded Gelding
Apr 6, 2003
1,418
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Houston
Jun 27, 2006
#3
  • Jun 27, 2006
  • #3
I have Mobil 1 full synthetic and plan on chaging every 4500-5000 miles and im not worried about it
 

hognutz

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Nov 12, 2002
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albany, oregon
Jun 27, 2006
#4
  • Jun 27, 2006
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the answer is simply yes. as for how long I would go to castrols website and look at thier recomened serive interval. Not all synthetics are the same. there are grades to them as well. you need to find out what is in your car to make an exact milage decision.

3k is just stupid. My recomended 5k stock. so I don't kow why you would change it more often than ford recomends and that was a blend I do belive.

read, read, read. Don't be the 3k mile sheep because you are afaid to just educate yourself. there are some synthetics that can go 15k, 20k, etc. you only need to change synthetic oils when it is bad. most poeple use rules of thumb because they don't want to test.

if you do want to change at 3k save the coin and run dino.
 

hognutz

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Jun 27, 2006
#5
  • Jun 27, 2006
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dp
 

hognutz

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Nov 12, 2002
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Jun 27, 2006
#6
  • Jun 27, 2006
  • #6
dp
 

hognutz

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#7
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dp
 
R

RoadconeTuning

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Apr 4, 2006
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Upstate, SC
Jun 27, 2006
#8
  • Jun 27, 2006
  • #8
the 5k mile suggestion is for grandma who never shifts higher than 2200 rpm...

if your gonna be beating on a car its better to do it ever 2000 or so... i usually just do it when the oil starts to look dirty...
 

03ghoststang

Well-Known Member
Jul 16, 2005
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Los Angeles, California
Jun 27, 2006
#9
  • Jun 27, 2006
  • #9
hognutz said:
the answer is simply yes. as for how long I would go to castrols website and look at thier recomened serive interval. Not all synthetics are the same. there are grades to them as well. you need to find out what is in your car to make an exact milage decision.

3k is just stupid. My recomended 5k stock. so I don't kow why you would change it more often than ford recomends and that was a blend I do belive.

read, read, read. Don't be the 3k mile sheep because you are afaid to just educate yourself. there are some synthetics that can go 15k, 20k, etc. you only need to change synthetic oils when it is bad. most poeple use rules of thumb because they don't want to test.

if you do want to change at 3k save the coin and run dino.
Click to expand...

i agree with you i know taht mercedes benz there oil change interval is every 10K so you can run it more than the old days of regular motor oil but everyone has different point of view on it
 

JBushman73

Founding Member
Aug 29, 2001
172
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Roanoke, VA
Jun 27, 2006
#10
  • Jun 27, 2006
  • #10
Thanks for the replies. I was just curious as to what others were doing when it came to running synthetic.

 

HoustonGT

Gilded Gelding
Apr 6, 2003
1,418
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Houston
Jun 27, 2006
#11
  • Jun 27, 2006
  • #11
RoadconeTuning said:
the 5k mile suggestion is for grandma who never shifts higher than 2200 rpm...

if your gonna be beating on a car its better to do it ever 2000 or so... i usually just do it when the oil starts to look dirty...
Click to expand...
There is no way in hell id switch my synthetic oil every 2000 miles, its completely unnecessary
 

hognutz

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Nov 12, 2002
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Jun 27, 2006
#12
  • Jun 27, 2006
  • #12
RoadconeTuning said:
the 5k mile suggestion is for grandma who never shifts higher than 2200 rpm...

if your gonna be beating on a car its better to do it ever 2000 or so... i usually just do it when the oil starts to look dirty...
Click to expand...


the color of the oil is completely irrelevent. ther is no good full synthetic oil that will be broken down at 2k. no way no how.


If you don't belive me send a sample to be tested. it will come back perfect at 3X that milage.

I have noticed in these thread that there are just many myths about oil. every thread like this will get argued to death by people who don't crap about oil. I am by no means a petrolium engineer or anything but there are certain truths about oil. It is not bad till it is bad and you can test it but not with your eyes. So if you are saying your oil is bad but have never tested it you are just auming it you don't know it.
 

BennyBlown2v

New Member
Dec 9, 2004
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Carmel, INdiana
Jun 27, 2006
#13
  • Jun 27, 2006
  • #13
For a blower car, you should change the oil as often as possible. No sense fugging up your motor because you were lazy or something.
 

hognutz

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Nov 12, 2002
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Jun 27, 2006
#14
  • Jun 27, 2006
  • #14
BennyDaBall said:
For a blower car, you should change the oil as often as possible. No sense fugging up your motor because you were lazy or something.
Click to expand...


really? that is funny my truck runs 40lbs of boost and runs a normal service interval. What the hell do engineers for cummins and dodge know though.
 

MineralMan

Active Member
May 17, 2005
146
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38
San Diego, CA
Jun 27, 2006
#15
  • Jun 27, 2006
  • #15
I run Valvoline Syn Power 5w-20, change every 5K miles... just as Ford recommends. I've had no issues at all.
 

HoustonGT

Gilded Gelding
Apr 6, 2003
1,418
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Houston
Jun 27, 2006
#16
  • Jun 27, 2006
  • #16
hognutz said:
really? that is funny my truck runs 40lbs of boost and runs a normal service interval. What the hell do engineers for cummins and dodge know though.
Click to expand...
Diesels are different though
 

hognutz

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Nov 12, 2002
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Jun 27, 2006
#17
  • Jun 27, 2006
  • #17
HoustonGT said:
Diesels are different though
Click to expand...

still stock sevice interval boosted or not. if you go look at a non turbo vs a turbo diesel the oil change interval is the same. they will schedule it different for heavy towing though.

I was not try to say that the mustang vs truck sevice interval are the same.


boost is boost, lubrication is lubrication. a 03-04 cobra does not ahve 1000 mile sevice interval or anthing becaue it is boosted.

for example my truck makes a crapload of boost. the older trucks only make about half that. oil change interval is stillthe same from the manufacturer.
 
B

bdcardinal

tree hugger
Jun 10, 2003
3,612
16
69
santa barbara, CA
Jun 27, 2006
#18
  • Jun 27, 2006
  • #18
i change mine about every 4k miles. i use mobil 1 5w30.

i was looking at some oil change intervals for german cars. for a lot of hte new porsches, they dont want you to come back for 20k miles for the oil change. most bmws and mercedes now are around 15k miles.
 

sgarlic

Founding Member
Apr 21, 2001
3,085
1
56
Jun 27, 2006
#19
  • Jun 27, 2006
  • #19
5k is the interval in normal climates. If you live where it's dusty, operate mostly stop and go driving, etc, it's 3k.

For you guys who are just following the crowd, I suggest you check out the Bobistheoilguy forums. I personally tested some Mobil 1 5w20 I ran hard for 1500 miles, sitting in there for 6 months. The analysis came back just fine, with no contaminants, and plenty of service life left. On a side note, Motorcraft syn-blend oils have some of the best used oil analysis results you'll ever see on that forum I referred to earlier. Motorcraft is great oil.

Knowing this, I would personally throw out the "3 months" or "5 months" portion of the oil change interval, and go strictly by mileage, unless you just leave the car sitting for months at a time, no driving, or don't ever let it get to operating temp to flash the contaminates out of the oil. The benefit of running synthetic is longer time between oil changes, and great protection throughout the operating range. Changing full synthetic after 3k miles is a waste of money, and you'd be just as well protected running Motorcraft for 1/3 the price.

It takes me around 9 months to put 3k on a car, since I have several and drive less than a mile to work each day. There's no way I'm changing the oil after only 400-500 miles.

5k is easily attainable even out of dino oils. People running full synthetic on stock setups should be doing around 7500 between changes, boosted setups perhaps should change a little earlier.
 

loosescrew79

New Member
Dec 18, 2004
313
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Jun 27, 2006
#20
  • Jun 27, 2006
  • #20
I change mine about 4500 also. All my driving is city driving and yes I'm pretty hard on the throttle.

I do check it every 2000 miles to see how it looks. Normally around 4000 it starts to look dirty
 
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