I put synthetic mobile one oil in my car for the first time at 57000 miles. My cars at 65000 now. When would be a good time to change the oil?

thanks

 

Check the oil to see how dirty it is....

 

I used to use dino oil every 3,750 miles, then I switched to Synthetic @ 15k & changed every 7.5k after that. Then after 60k, I changed every 10k miles.

BTW...I use an oversized filter for my extended drain intervals.

 

synthetic or not, that's bad.

 

Here we go again.

Oil Change Intervals

Synthetic Oil Life Study

Mobil 1 Test Results

Time to do some reading.

 

based on what I read, I agree with edgalang. I'm on mobil1 syn too. Couple of friends even had their oil tested when they kept it in for 7500 miles+.

 

i just change my synth at 5-6k .....at 7k my oil came out dirty.

 

this thread really should get a sticky... seems like it comes up nearly every other week or so...

 

I don't understand why edgalang would increase the intervals with an increase in engine wear and tear.
And those articles were silly to me. Yeah, they did all this testing, yada yada, but you cannot duplicate an engine to get fair analysis. Parts wear more than others, even in the same engine design.
They were good articles though.
I wouldnt trust an oil and filter (large or small) on for that long.
I used to work in an aircraft engine repair and overhaul facility. I have seen what neglect can do.
I run M1 with a fram tough guard filter and change about every 5k miles or so.
I did half that time when I originally went synthetic (2.5k). Reason being it would be a good flush of the old stuff (like it matters) and also when running a much cleaner oil, or using an oil additive or "detergent," it is important to change often initially because all of the deposits that have accumulated in the engine are now being loosened and re-introduced into the system. I've seen this out in the field. We have to inspect every filter at an oil change and they would be full of carbon deposits after adding additives or switching to Synthetic. This after 100 hours or so of use.

To each his own, I suppose.

 

don't buy into the hype

 

Oil is cheap, engines are not. I use Mobil 1 5w30 and a K&N HP1004 oil filter. I change every 5000 miles.

 

wow, your post deserves a

i do the same thing.

 

When the oil starts to look brown, I change it. That happens to be at around 3k miles.

Mobil1 10W30, Mobil1 M1-104 oversize filter. Every 3000 miles. Like dj5 said, the engine is more important to me and I'm not going to put it through abuse just because I want to eek out another thousand, or even another 3500 miles like others do. I'm not saying they are wrong. People have their own ways to do it, and who am I to say? It's their car, their oil, their money.

But I would rather be on the safe side, and replace at every 3k miles.

 

so the color of the oil is determines when the oil needs to be changed? i as well change it every 10k using amsoil and mobil one oversize. but im thinking in going back to manfacturer recommendation of 7500 just to play it safe.

besides the manfacturer states 7500 on normal driving conditions so if we are using M1 or amsoil plus over size filter i feel pretty comfortable leaving it over 3 to 5k which seems to be the norm here...

 

It depends on weather conditions, how you drive the car, quality of the oil, quality of the filter, age/mileage of the car, how well the car has been cared for in the past, etc....

I would just check the integrity of the oil and determine it based on that...

 

What does TBN stand for? And where do you get this number from?

 

TBN stands for Total Base Number. It's the oil's capacity to neutralize the acids generated from combustion. To measure it, you must send your oil sample to a lab for testing i.e.: Blackstone Labs

In most cases, if you sent in a M1 sample for analysis that had 4K miles on it you'd be surprised how such a dirty looking sample is actually still quite viable. You can go +5K miles quite easily on a high quality synthetic oil and filter and have no problems.

 

i get mine tested every oil change (mobil 1 5w30) which is around 10,000 miles (severe driving i might add. lots of redlining and it idles all day long) and im consistantly in the 3 to 5 for a TBN. i had my standard oil checked afew times before i went to synthetic (around 100k) and it usually had 4000 miles on it and the best tbn i ever had was 3.
synthetic is good for atleast 8 to 10k miles safely for normal drivers

 

Thx TLgunner. But to send your oil sample in for testing...sounds like more trouble than it's worth? I mean, if you want to use synthetic oil to reduce heat generated or to prolong the life of the car, OK, sounds good to me. But to actually go and calculate what your TBN is...seems like overkill to me.

I mean if a person is really keen on finding out what his TBN is, yeah ok, sure, go ahead. But the average Joe on the street is not going to look at this and say, hey, this is something we should all do. A regular oil change as recommended by Honda would solve this controversy of when to change your oil? I mean a regular oil change is not that expensive. And if you take good care of your car, your engine should last at least 10 years or so (which by that time, most people will have traded their cars in for a newer one).

 

Yeah, IIRC M1's TBN starts out over 9 and Blackstone warns you if your sample reads around 1. There are other criteria that'll determine if the oil needs changing (viscosity, insolubles, presence of fuel, water or antifreeze), but if your filter is doing its job and the engine is in good shape, M1 and other synthetics can take quite a beating before they need changing. Again, just because the oil has darkened, it doesn't mean the oil is spent.

 

why is it alot of trouble? you email or call them up they send you a free sample kit. you change your oil you fill the container they give you while its coming out of the oil pan. you package it up (all in the kit) mail it of to them along with 20 bucks and they send you results with in 2 days of reciving it. they tell you more than just oil life. they break down what they find in your oil. its a nice piece of mind to know how your engine is doing. for some one who puts on like 10-15k a year on maybe its not worth it, but for those who actually drive there cars and have alot of miles on it, it doesnt hurt to get it tested. and it also helps to determine what mileage intervals you should change your oil. the old 3000 mile thing isnt needed any more. oils and engines have come along way since then. the stealer will tell you 3000 just to make more money.

 

This is a little off topic, but I was wondering which oil weight is the best to use? The engine says 5-20 because you get better fuel efficiency. Is there any other reason to use the heavier weight oil?

 

honda went to that to help meet cafe standards in 2001-or 02 i cant remember which. before that it was 5w30. typicaly you would use a thinner weight in the winter and a heavier weight in the summer or if you do severe driving. 5w30 is the norm, it offers better protection

 

Agree, since moving from the sunny south to Chicago. I will use mobil 1 5w30 in the summer and probably change to 0w30 in the winter

 

http://bobistheoilguy.com

This site will explain alot of the questions you have regarding oil.

Be sure to check out the forums.

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