Black TL

I'm running synthetic Mobil 1 and it's been about 8000 miles since I changed my oil. I've been meaning to make an appointment for a 60k service but I haven't had time and wont for another 3 weeks. How bad is this? I know with regular oil you can do 4k but with synthetic, I have heard of people going over 10k miles.

Rosh

this is me

change my oil two times already and getting the third one soon.
currently 7200miles. Getting the third one when i hit 7500.
I dun drive my car much so even though i dun exceed or meet the milage, I usually change it every 4-5 months.

Crav4Speed

Rosh, do you ever check your PM's???

I also use Mobil 1 Synthetic and I change it every 3k miles. The longest I've gone is 6k miles on synthetic

badazzTL

around 4500 on synthetic

spyder5786

errr u guys all use synthetic...? Heh..i use what the manual says..which is 5w-30?? how much more does synthetic cost?

Darkshear

iTrader: (1)

went 5500 miles, wont go farther, i dont care what the manual says

vxnova

You should not exceed 5k before oil change.

ranberndt

Mobil1 SS 5w30 will easily go 7500miles in a TL-S.

I use oil analysis & they tell me it's good for 9k miles.

excellent oil.

AndySara

errr u guys all use synthetic...? Heh..i use what the manual says..which is 5w-30?? how much more does synthetic cost?

Mobil 1 - About $26-$28 for a case of 6 bottles (6 quarts)

Comet2404

LOL... I'm gonna get flamed for this one. But when I had my old infiniti I30 (99), I accidentally wiped off the sticker that reminds me what milage to change it at, and when I did take it to the dealer, i thought it was like 4K since the last one, and it turned out to be 9,500 miles! LOL... Jim, the service guy at Troncalli Infiniti gave me about a 30 minute long lecture. No wonder I started having problems with the damned car... although I'm glad, cause I got my TL now! I baby it, cripes, it hasn't been driven in a week... well thats probably because I lost my license!!!! But I spoke with my lawyer today and we're gonna get this to court ASAP. My TL is begging me to come drive it! But back on topic, I only go 2800-3000 miles before changing it. 4K on synthetic.

spyder5786

ummm i use penzoil 5w-30...

canada-tl

Jiffy Lube must love you guys. There's no reason to change your oil at 3000 miles. 5000 miles is fine.

fsttyms1

i change mine the last day of every month. (which is usually 4-4500 miles. some times more some times less) castrol 5w30 winter 10w30 summer

AK_MOBBER

I once went around 7- 8000 miles using mobil 1 synthetic and a fram X2 oil filter. I would not do it again or reccomend it to anyone! When I finally changed the oil it was black, really really black! I have only seen worse looking oil on a couple occasions!! Now I won't go over 5,000

Darkshear

iTrader: (1)

I know the 02-03 TL's use synthetic, any advantage to use it in my '99?

2_tl_owner

I know I'll get flamed for this, but I change it every 7500 miles whether it needs it or not LOL. That's what the manual calls for and that's good enough for me. I have over 81,000 miles on my '99 TL and still have the original transmission, so it must be okay.

I use half synthetic and half regular.

ymckoon

I change it every 7500 miles or so with Redline synthetic.

spyder5786

Yeah why is synthetic oil so much better?

medic

three major reasons people use synthetic - flows better, doesn't wear as fast, holds more contaminents

btw, using a blend is a waste...1/2 synthetic and 1/2 dyno oil does not give you any more substantial protection than just using stright on dyno. The dyno oil you put in will still break down at the same time period/milage interval as usual so you will still need to switch your oil at the same time as if you'd been running dyno. Wait a week, save your lunch money and just go with full synthetic if you want to go that route.

badazzTL

Professor

I changed mine continously in my old '93 Accord. It ran out on the ground faster than you could pour it in. Of course with 283K miles, it should.

tuRb0mikEy

I'm currently at 4100k with my current oil..i ran a lot of highway miles recently and i've been checking the oil. But today i'm going in for a change. Time for Mobil 1..i switch to synthetic when the weather gets hot.

luvmy99

My whole family has been using 5W30 Mobil 1 since 1983. We only change it every 10,000 miles. We've put 100K+ on several cars since then and have NEVER had any engine trouble.
My brother sold his hand-me-down 1984 Maxima with 165K on it to a mechanic who decided to rebuild the engine even though it was running great and losing very little oil. When he got into it it looked brand new with no discernable wear, so he just put it back together and kept driving it.
By the way, it always looks pitch black when we change it at 10,000 miles. That's because synthetic oil does a better job of suspending contaminants. The oil looks black but the engine is clean.
Several years ago my father had brain lock and forgot to change the oil in my mom's 1987 Taurus for over 30,000 miles. It finally started belching black smoke, which reminded him to change the oil. He changed it, the exhaust cleared up, it quit using oil, and he drove it up until 2 years ago, eventually putting 200K+ miles on it with no engine trouble.
-JP

gobluetwo

fyi, the oil is SUPPOSED to be black when you change it. if it isn't, that either means you have the cleanest running engine in the world, or that the oil is trapping no contaminants. dark color just means the oil is doing its job.

just follow the maintenance schedule in your owner's manual. even 10k miles probably won't do any permanent damage (if any), but that's more than i'd be comfortable with.

the 3k mile myth is perpetuated by petroleum companies and any place that changes oil, like jiffy lube or precision tune. extra protection? that's like getting a new shirt because the one you wore today got dirty...

there are plenty of motor oil FAQ's floating around the internet... do a google search and read up!

jdone

The TL service manual says 7500. Consumer Reports did a major test with NYC cabs that showed even this is probably too often. And no, your car does not get harder use than a NY taxi.

wibiker

Never get worried about black oil, if its black the detergent in the oil is working, it's job is to keep dirt in suspension so it drains out. You want to worry when you have a longer than normal change and it comes out clean looking, where is the byproduct of combustion?, stuck to inner parts. Most syn. oil is very high in wear additives and high in detergent. My wifes 2003 TL gets changed at 3-4000 miles, all babied highway miles. I use 5w20 Honda oil because I can get it though work for same as most other brands. My 96 Ram 1500 with a 5.2 has 173,000 miles and I change oil at 4-5000 miles with standard oil, no leaks and always full when I change it but I never , never idle it, most damage to internals comes from incomplete combustion from cold engines, idling warms up slower which puts more condensation in oil and the byproduct of that in oil is acid, if you idle your oil sample will have a High T.A.N number (acid) and a low T.B.N Number (the ability to hold acid in suspension) take care

rozello

Why are you guys using an oil other than 5w-20? The owner's manual and the sign on the engine say 5w-20 on my '03 TL-S.

A number of you use a different weight? Why?

Mr Hyde

I wouldnt sweat 8k at all. Its at the high end of whats recommended now anyway, and in cars like BMW who do free maintenance, oil changes are now at pretty long intervals. Of course when owners paid for them, they were at every 3k, so take that for what its worth, but for a full syntehtic, 8k is not that big a deal.

1SICKLEX

Change your oil every 3-5k miles to ensure maximum protection to your car.

edgalang

The dollar is there to give you an idea how big the filter is over stock.

Tom Blasing

Does anybody make a 5W20 synthetic??

edgalang

Amsoil and Redline does. I use to use Redline 5w20 before I switched to Amsoil.