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mobile 1 extended life results after 15k....

thats cool! previous Bob had mobil one in the car, and i dunno how long he went but with mobil one id at least go 5000+ miles, i dont think 3000 mile oil changes are necessary at TRUST ME, i worked at jiffy lube for 6 months, i know its unnecessary. and so is everything jiffy lube sells (by the way never by jiffy lubes synthetic oil in the drums... just dont, that is if anyone gos to jiffy lube here)

You worked at jiffy lube? well then, ill just toss aside the information that the engineers and professionals have reccomended. I mean, you Have worked at jiffy lube, what better knowledge of cars???

I changed the oil in my contour every 3-5000 KM'S Anytime it got black or dirty i swapped it. Why not.. its like 50 bucks for an oil change, and if it helps my motor last that much longer, than i'll do it.
 
massive overkill maybe? black oil just means theres some carbon in it, and i'm pretty sure that it does nothing to hamper its lubricating properties (until the filter clogs up, which is when you need to change)
 
the purpose of oil is to keep your engine well lubricated. if you want to believe motor oils will last for 5k, 10k, 15k, or 25k, then go ahead and service your engine at these intervals. because they actually will. the oils are proven to not break down until a certain milage point. but the oil still is home to many particles of crap that filters cannot pick up, especially after 3k which is the reccommendation from your owners manual for severe driving. no one on this forum falls under the catagory of "normal driving conditions," no matter how much you pamper your engine. with all this crap that's just floating around in your engine, what's lubricating it? :shrug:

so yeah, your oil might not break down for a while but every time your engine is running it shaves off the tinniest metal fileings that get caught inbetween your moving parts, which i personally don't want floating through my engine.

the next time you change your oil, cut open your oil filter and look at how many shavings are sitting in between the paper fins. the oil filter does it's best to pick these up, but can't get them all. imagine those all at one time traveling through your internals before it gets to your filter. IF the filter even picks it up. then imagine running the same oil for 3000 miles. if your rpms average 3000 on the freeway and drive at a mile a minute, your engine goes around 9,000,000 times before you change your oil. that's a lot of wear on your parts.

the best thing to do if you really want to run the oil for that long is to still change the oil filter every 3k. but doing that, you still have to get another quart of oil to top off what was lost from the filter.

but seriouisly what's the point. if your going to go through the hassle to change the filter, you might as well take out the plug and drain the oil too.

i can't stop you from going long intervals on your engine oil, but if you're a real entusiast who actually cares about their cars, you might want to keep them running clean.

i run mobil one extended performance and a wix filter and change the oil every 2500 miles. i have 170,000 miles on the engine and had never had problems.
 
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2500 miles sounds pretty rediculous to me. Bit if it makes you feel better and you can afford it, go ahead. As for me, I use the Motorcraft filter, Mobil1 Extended, and typically go about 6 to 8 thousand miles in between changes. Longer is probably ok, and shorter can't hurt either. I'm just not one to go for any kind of extremes. I would say stick to a reasonable interval and don't drive like you're trying to blow your car up, and you shouldn't have problems.
 
2500 miles sounds pretty rediculous to me. Bit if it makes you feel better and you can afford it, go ahead.quote]


i've worked at a quick lube for three years. finally i'll be getting out, because i'm graduating high school and moving down to illinois to go to school, but i got everything for super cheap. that might be why i do everything so often. it seems normal to me. but i could see where everyone else could be coming from.
 
Silverfrost,

5K miles between oil changes is no longer on the high side of realism. The oils available today have improved dramatically even over oils from 10 years ago. Todays dino oils perform in many ways as well or better than synthetics did 20 years ago. There are only three good justifications to use synthetic today: 1) extended oil drain intervals 2) exposure to temperature extremes 3) bragging rights as to how much you spend on an oil change. On the last point, using synthetic when you don't need it is about like buying yourself a mink lined jock strap.
 
i like mink lined jock straps :eek:.

but seriously when should you or shouldn't you be using synthetic?
Synthetic is good but I have only had dino (conventional) oil in my Contour since 11 years ago. Of course, I do not get to redline with the ATX. I think the most I have actually seen is probably 6,500 rpm two weeks ago. As mine is an ATX, I was surprised it did not go to 3rd from 2nd earlier (or maybe did not go to 2nd from 1st). I did go 5k miles every oil change until after the "free oil change" expired from the dealer. IIRC, it was at 24K that I started going to 3k/3 months. I feel this is cheap insurance for many drivers out there who never check their oil levels in between oil changes. I do the 3K/3 months out of habit (I used to go 2.5k before I bought the Contour. It was easier to remember the mileage interval). Recently, the 3 months do not apply, I think I hit 3K in 6 weeks the past oil change. I check the oil every other gas fill up.
 
he is right, i work at a dealership and we have cut open filters before and there is a huge difference. fram is better than many of the other aftermarkets but the factory filters are still the best!
 
i never bought into those extended performace oils. i just run synthetic and change every 3,000 miles or 3 months. last time my oil was still clean( golden)and clear.
 
Let's face it, we can baby our engines, change the oil every weekend if you want, and drive like they're made of porcelain china or something, but your car is still gonna rust away or get hit sooner or later. I say, find a balance between economy and maintenance. Sure, the 3000 mile oil change may indeed save a little bit of wear and tear on your engine. But these engines often go 200k or more miles anyway. It may last longer, but chances are, something else is going to happen to the car before the engine goes.

I'm a dealership tech, I do this for a living, and while I recognize that more frequent changing of oil may have its benefits, it's certainly outweighed by the time you're losing that you could be spending with your family and the money it costs. If you want maximum service life for your vehicle without being insane about it, just stick to a moderate interval of 5-8000 miles using synthetic or 4000-5000 with conventional oil.

If you just love being stuck out in the driveway changing oil, go ahead and do it more. But in my opinion, your time and money could be better spent.
 
he is right, 4-5000 miles for conventional oil is just fine. but even if your rig doesn't use oil, please check your oil once in awhile. i work at a dealer where we have hondas and its so funny because they recommend 7,500 with conventional oil and these people never check their oil because "they own a honda", its comical the look on their face when they lock up their engine that "lasts forever" because they were too arrogant to check their oil!!! lol :laugh:
 
yea allot of people that own Honda's and Toyota's do that. Ive seen it as well. but i don't spend much time on my car at all. i don't drive much anymore.(personal problems) but i still love working on my car. i change my dad's 02 Camry v6 every 5,000. he drives all highway. on con. oil. my moms 04 highlander v6 i change every 3,000 with synth. all in town driving. my mom gave me control over he cars service. and they both want there cars to last as long as they can. so far the highlander with 20,000 miles its perfect. the Camry with 95,000 miles is darn near perfect. o and non or our cars have rust.:cool:
 
Run Valvoline and change it every 3-4k. Now on the g/f's new Mazda 6 I run the FoMoCo semi synthetic and change it every 5k. Guys at bobistheoilguy have sent samples of it and it has looked great at 5k. I use that with a Motorcraft filter. The entire change is $17 from Walmart. Doing it yourself of course. Just changed it last week and it looked carmelish at 5k still. Impressive. If I ran a full synth no way would I change it under 5k.
 
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