Are we wasting too much money on oil changes? I think we do.
I helped a friend rebuild a 56 Chevy straight six and the block has no oil filter. Hmm. That and oil companies recommending 3,000 mile oil changes while the engineers that designed the engines recommend 7,500 mile using conventional oil. So I decided to research synthetics. Like what I found on this site.
http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/mobil1.html
They sited that too many oil changes wear down engine faster (backed up with links for Ford and SAE reports). They recommend changing filter more frequently. So I like the 15,000 synthetic oil change, and changing filters around 7,500 miles.
Might do some filter research later. The last time I did; I discovered that cheap knock-off filters are made by the same company that make brand name oil filters. So I have a few Walmart brand filters stocked up already.
I know everyone has the "I changed mine every 3k and never had a problem"
My 1997 Pathy LE has 180k miles, I changed conventional oil at 7 to 8k miles. I burn no oil and I still runs like a champ.
Save money, hours of you life, and less toxic waste. Service at or above 15,000 miles.
3k $25 conventional oil and filter is $1500 at 180,000 miles
8k $25 conventional oil and filter is $562 at 180,000 miles
15k $30 synthetic oil and 2 filters is $360 at 180,000 miles
22k $35 synthetic oil and 3 filters is $286 at 180,000 miles
Anyone find research on higher mileage, lab tested, results for regular synthetics? By regular I mean cheap. 5 quarts under $25.
Get started, Advanced has this oil at $4 a quart, and with rebate free to go synthetic.
http://www.quakerstatewarranty.com/medi ... te_1_8.pdf
Truth on oil changes and why go synthetic
Moderator: volvite
In our mining applications (D11 dozers with V12's, 777, 789, rock trucks, etc.) our real world history shows semi-synthetic to be the best option. Granted that's a totally different environment (much worse!!) than driving a car, but we get 25% more life from the engines with 20% longer drain intervals than manufacturer recommended. These engines are a minimum of $100k to rebuild and we have over 500 pieces of BIG equipment. So trust me, we've done the research.
For my personal vehicle I use the fully synthetic simply because i'm not as price sensitive and willing to go a little longer on drain intervals. Now that my warranty is up, I'm on the 10k plan with the Pathfinder using synthetic. Normally I run Mobil 1 but NAPA had their synthetic (which is Valvoline) on sale for $2.99 a quart this month. Personally I think the cheapest synthetic will work perfectly fine in our relatively mundane appliacation. I have done testing on conventional oil (bulk at the Honda dealer) at 6k miles on a previous vehicle and it was perfectly fine. The cheapest synthetic should be capable of at least 10k under similar use.
Oh and my Dodge below is used nearly 100% for towing and is on 12k intervals with synthetic. 190k on the odo and the last sample showed no problems internally.
For my personal vehicle I use the fully synthetic simply because i'm not as price sensitive and willing to go a little longer on drain intervals. Now that my warranty is up, I'm on the 10k plan with the Pathfinder using synthetic. Normally I run Mobil 1 but NAPA had their synthetic (which is Valvoline) on sale for $2.99 a quart this month. Personally I think the cheapest synthetic will work perfectly fine in our relatively mundane appliacation. I have done testing on conventional oil (bulk at the Honda dealer) at 6k miles on a previous vehicle and it was perfectly fine. The cheapest synthetic should be capable of at least 10k under similar use.
Oh and my Dodge below is used nearly 100% for towing and is on 12k intervals with synthetic. 190k on the odo and the last sample showed no problems internally.
My personal observations:
Synthetic is easy to pour in cold weather. Inside the crankcase, the oil starts lubricating sooner than conventional, a good thing.
From what I’ve been told, the oil breaks down faster due to heat. If I add a little MotorKote with the bar oil for the Stihl 041 chainsaw, I notice the bar runs cooler & can make fewer bar adjustments. Using that reasoning I figure I can go at least 5K on syn with no worries at all.
Skinny2: Don’t know why your maint shop doesn’t use it. Truckers that have tried it swear by it. It is shipped out of the Col, OH area. When I & others tried to get it stocked for our plant the request was denied. Reason: Felt too much would “disappear” out the back door.
Side note:
My sister drove 80 miles to see us & got 21.9 on a PT Cruiser. Was complaining of poor MPG, so put in the additive & tells me it got 24.0 on the way home. Can you say: “Less friction”?
Synthetic is easy to pour in cold weather. Inside the crankcase, the oil starts lubricating sooner than conventional, a good thing.
From what I’ve been told, the oil breaks down faster due to heat. If I add a little MotorKote with the bar oil for the Stihl 041 chainsaw, I notice the bar runs cooler & can make fewer bar adjustments. Using that reasoning I figure I can go at least 5K on syn with no worries at all.
Skinny2: Don’t know why your maint shop doesn’t use it. Truckers that have tried it swear by it. It is shipped out of the Col, OH area. When I & others tried to get it stocked for our plant the request was denied. Reason: Felt too much would “disappear” out the back door.
Side note:
My sister drove 80 miles to see us & got 21.9 on a PT Cruiser. Was complaining of poor MPG, so put in the additive & tells me it got 24.0 on the way home. Can you say: “Less friction”?
-
05Pathfinder
- Posts: 88
- Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2010 11:47 am
Less friction - probably. But it could also be road conditions, im not sure if you thought of it or just didnt mention it because it doesnt matter BUT...
It could have been mostly uphill one way and also a big factor could be the wind if it is consistently one way. Or there could have been more traffic causing different driving speeds.
Just being the devils advocate here.
It could have been mostly uphill one way and also a big factor could be the wind if it is consistently one way. Or there could have been more traffic causing different driving speeds.
Just being the devils advocate here.
We have found the bang for the buck is with the semi synthetic, at least in our applications. There's a lot of factors at play, but the basis is we see the most cost savings when factoring the cost of the oil, extended intervals, and engine life. We rebuild these every 2-3 years or 10,000-15,000 hours.CPLTECH wrote: Skinny2: Don’t know why your maint shop doesn’t use it. Truckers that have tried it swear by it. It is shipped out of the Col, OH area. When I & others tried to get it stocked for our plant the request was denied. Reason: Felt too much would “disappear” out the back door.
Side note:
My sister drove 80 miles to see us & got 21.9 on a PT Cruiser. Was complaining of poor MPG, so put in the additive & tells me it got 24.0 on the way home. Can you say: “Less friction”?
As for your sister....I'm sure there may be a microscopic amount of less friction, but there are far too many other factors at play for mpg. Wind, traffic, etc. will have far larger impact. In fact I routinely get 2mpg better running east vs west when there are strong headwinds. The pathfinder is quite a sail.
-
RacerZX
- Site Admin
- Posts: 869
- Joined: Wed Jun 14, 2006 10:00 am
- Location: Silicon Valley, CA
- Contact:
Claiming that changing too often causes engine wear is bizzare, I'd look askance at anything coming from a report claiming that.
On a previous vehicle I carefully tracked MPG on a test run, changed engine and all gear oils to synthetic, and then ran the test again and got a 1MPG increase. If that's not clear proof of a decrease in friction I don't know what is...
On a previous vehicle I carefully tracked MPG on a test run, changed engine and all gear oils to synthetic, and then ran the test again and got a 1MPG increase. If that's not clear proof of a decrease in friction I don't know what is...
Serveral months ago my PF got identical MPG's each direction, so I go with less friction.05Pathfinder wrote:Less friction - probably. But it could also be road conditions, im not sure if you thought of it or just didnt mention it because it doesnt matter BUT...
It could have been mostly uphill one way and also a big factor could be the wind if it is consistently one way. Or there could have been more traffic causing different driving speeds.
Just being the devils advocate here.
Find Your Forum!