I have a 1998 RL with 91,000 miles on it and it's time to change the oil. What kind of oil should I use? Should I go synthetic? What viscosity should I use? I read in the manual that I should change it every 7,500 miles. Should I really wait that long, or I should I do it closer to 3,000? Also, if I change it myself, what kind of oil filter should I use? Thanks!

 

Well mine is an 96 RL with 145,950 miles on it. I had been using Castrol High mileage oil since 75,000 miles, before that I used Castrol synthetic oil. I'm telling you the truth my car has never been to the dealer nor repair shop...lol. that why I love my RL so much, its so fucking reliable!!!!

 

O BTW, I change my oil every 3,000 miles, and I'm using Mobile 1 oil filter. I change the oil filter every 6,000 miles lol its so expensive.....Change the oil by yourself man!!

 

I change oil and filter on all of my cars every 4000 miles and use regular 10-30 in the Acuras. This has worked out well for me as I get 200K plus miles out of my engines with virtually no oil burning. The only vehicle of mine that gets synthetic is my Honda CBR 600 sport bike. Of course the red line is 13500 rpm and it is in the 10000 rpm range quite often.

We bought a new 1992 Legend coupe and traded it in 2003 when it had 270K miles for a '02 RL. At 270K miles it was barely burning any oil.

The '02 RL was a certified pre owned car and had 10K miles on it when we bought it. It now has 95K miles and we will drive it until at least 250K miles.

I also have a 1987 Mazda 626 GT turbo that has 230K miles on it and I have changed oil every 4000 miles. I used 10-30 up until about 150K miles and now use thicker oil as it is starting to burn some oil. This car still gives me 30 mpg city driving.

Changing every 3000 miles is too often. It won't hurt the car but it is unnecessary. It is an extra expense and you are putting extra waste oil into the system. With todays advance oil formulations and effective filters every 4000 miles is sufficient in my opinion if you drive in normal conditions.

Consumer Reports magazine did a test about 10 years ago on oil. They took 80 New York city taxi's with brand new engines and used different oils in each one of them. Different weights and regular and synthetic. Oil was changed on a periodic schedule. After 80K miles all of the engines were taken apart and various internal parts were measured for wear. There was no measureable difference between the regular and synthetic or the different weights.

 

128K on my 99 so far I use Mobile1 extended performance with a K&N filter. I also use Lucas additive. The RL is built reliable as a tank. I once let the oil go for 8,000 miles and it came out clean with no clumping at all.

 

To the OP, check your manual for oil change interval and the weight of it. You can use 5W-30 or 10W-30. 3000 or 4000 mile oil change is too much. I think the manual for that car says every 7500 miles. Pick any oil filter that you like except Fram. When you change the oil change the filter as well. It's that simple and this will make your car last a long time.

 

what is wrong with Fram oil filter? I used them before nothing wrong with it. They are the cheapest oil filter you can buy lol....

 

My 99 RL has 160K miles. Changed the oil every 4 mos ( about 5K miles). I use a Fram filter and the cheapest oil I can find. Of course get the right viscosity. Done this for 30 years and never had any engine wear or oil burning.

 

Many people don't like Fram as they are inexpensive and probably not "as good" when compared to more expensive filters. However, I have a 1987 Mazda 626 with a 2 liter turbo that has 220,000 and is going strong. I have used Fram for the past 21 years and changed oil every 4000 miles. Changing oil every 4-5000 miles is more important than the filter brand.