J RIDE 81

I usaully read on this forum that people go a lot longer in till they get their oil changed. I have only floored the car about 4 to 5 times since it was new. I'm not hard on the gas at all. In fact, I usually stay at lower speeds keeping the RPMS between 1000 and 2000. I take great care of it. Is their an explanation as to why my oil life is not lasting as long. Any help, Thanks in advance.

JoganJani

Check the oil on the stick, are there any drips under the car? As I've gathered from manual, the oil life indicator calculates considering the engine usage controlled by factors like RPMs, gas fills etc. Also, I got <15% at about 5200 miles. So you are pretty close I'd say.

lindros2

i was at 30% at 3800 miles so I think we're similar if not exact. 40% at 2350 seems a bit low but still plausable (ESPECIALLY since it's the summer months - my experience was October - March).

I'm back at 30% (heading towards second oil service) at 8200 miles (total) so my oil life is improving (and once again, this is during summer months).

-josh

04tlnbppar

hmm.... interesting, my TL is 27xx with 60%

ANTHONY741

2800 miles with 60% here

J RIDE 81

How do you guys drive your cars. I find this kinda weird. I hope their are no problems.

DopeTL04

I have 5500 miles and mine is at 20%....that does seem a little weird, because if my calculations are correct, you will be due for a oil change at about 4000 miles!!...

berlinrl

2700 with 70%

Stikman

I'm currently at 3250 miles with 50% life left in the oil. I like flying like a bat out of hell from the stop lights and on the freeway on-ramps, so I gun it pretty good. It might suck up gas quicker, but it hasn't seemed to degrade the oil life for me. Do you spend a lot of time in "idle"? I think part of the calculation comes from total engine rotations. Just a thought.

J RIDE 81

I do spend a lot of time in idle. Do you think that might be the cause to why the oil life is falling so much faster then some other owners? Thanks all for your help on this.

caball88

with newer cars its not so surprising to now obey the 3k oil change ruotine that we are all use to. my mid usually goes to around 4K when it hits 10%. the MID is a nice reminder but its not dynamic. i use synthetic oil and there is no difference in the MID. it still detects the same amount of time for oil change.

direk_04TL

it definitely has something to do with RPMS, the number of rotations an engine goes through, and climate. after my first oil change at 3850 (hey what can i say, i was excited and drove it hard most of the time during the summer -- after break-in of course) , i have now mellowed down and at 5100 miles, im still at 80% oil!

pgould

I'm just a hair under 4500 miles and have <10% oil life...but then mine's a 6MT and I love to hear this engine sing!

lindros2

My highway driving is pretty "spirited" (consistent 70-85MPH). I live in the city (Atlanta), so a lot of street driving. I imagine if I lived in suburbia and drove a little less spirited I'd get more out of my oil...

I'm happy with 5000-7000 mile intervals. I'm averaging one every six months which is pretty good. 9 months, 8000 miles, and that had two long trips (~800 miles and ~600 miles).

-josh

w1n78

it seems that most of those miles are not highway miles or mostly stop and go miles. i had my first oil change at 6800 miles and still at < 20%. 95% of my driving is on the highway though. so that's my guess at why you are experiencing this

Dkrudop

5500+ with <20% here. Looks like I'll be heading in for first service pretty soon.

J RIDE 81

Well this kind of worrys me because it seems that most of you have higher mileage before your first oil change. Are their any other explanations to why. Like I said, I'm usually very easy on the car.

bluenose

Its not just the number of miles but how these miles were put on. City and short distance driving will require more frequent changes than highway.

foot3ch

Mine is about 2900 miles with 70% oil life. Mostly freeway tho.

wonder

3700 miles with 50% for me. Probably 75% highway miles. I think that makes a difference.

Road Rage

Idling leads to high oil temperatures, so it is not surprising that your oil life is where it is at. Oil temps are usually at least 20-30 deg higher than cooplant temps. In the TL, the fan does not cycle on until the coolant is well over 210-215 degF (I will have to check with my OBD scanner). The tthemostat does not even fully open until 194degF. Idling with the air conditioning on in hot temps will shorten the life of all the fluids - it gets quite hot under the hood, esp with a powerful engine, FWD transaxle, etc.

Short trips are also bad, since the engine and all its parts do not reach homesostasis, and the richer condition at startup will cause some fuel blowby into the oil, weakening it. I am sure the algo also figures in the trip length, temperatures of the coolant, length of trip, etc.

RPM are just part of it - at idle, RPM are low - but at speed on the highway, the fans do not have to run, as the air movement through the radiator and the cooling of the oil via the oil pan, will keep coolant and oil temps well below what they are at idle. The least stress on the oil is on the highway, since the oil is not "loaded" - it runs in elastohydrodynamic mode, where the vis of the oil is enough to keep parts separated. This is also true in the transaxle. When you accelrate or coast, friction rises, because the gears are not completely in "elasto" mode, but are actually in sem-boundary mode, where the gear faces or clutches slide over one another, separated by the anti-wear additives. These are sacrificial additives, and get depleted over time.

Silver Bullet

3300 miles and 50%. Combo highway and city with some spirited driving, 6MT also.

Rocketsfan

I just hit 14,000 miles and am at 10%. Will be doing my 2nd oil change soon. My first oil change was at 6890 miles.

JetJock

I'm at 60% with 2300 miles on the od. 6MT and what I would consider normal driving for a MT car. I hardly ever shift below 2000rpm...and normally rev the engine to 3000-4000 between shifts. I bought the car in March...so I'll probably change the oil in September regardless of what the meter says. I hate to keep oil in the engine more than 6months...I dunno if I'm being too conservative, but it's just me.

seamg

I seem to blow through oil. I do drive the car pretty hard. I think its because of the lite weight 5W-20 oil, it breaks down pretty quickly when driven hard. Its too bad because this engine begs to be driven. Oh well, not such a big deal really.

J RIDE 81

Great post. Thank You!

Shinj1EVA

i'm gonna see if my dealer's willing to use 5W-30 amsoil when i go in for my A service

chaeric

My car is at 4500 miles with 50% oil life according to the MID. About 80% of the miles on the car has been highway miles. But during the break in period, I kept the rpm under 3000 until I hit around 3000 miles on the odometer. My TL is a 5AT and I must have used the SS like maybe a dozen times since I got the car on June 1st.

theclutch

reach >15% around 5800...going to service tomorrow...

PossibleTL

I thought you could go around 7500 miles before getting your oil changed? Is this truth or what?

rets

Depend on how/where you drive, 7500 miles is possible. This will be the feast ppl in NYC cannot achieve though.

GunnmeTaLCURA04

Hey ROCKETSFAN... so saying this.. means you are doing another A service? Or is it asking for B service?

glnn01

I guess this answers my question that I left previously in another post. With the warm weather I experienced last weekend, I found myself using the A/C a bit more. I guess that's why my car is reading 90% oil life with about 520 miles on the car. Thanks for the heads up!

cpurick

I would say short trips. If the oil doesn't get up to temp on a regular basis then contaminants in the oil -- fuel, moisture that might otherwise boil off -- just sit there in the oil and go to work on your metals.

Road Rage

For those of you trusting the MiD for extended OCI's (oil change intervals), I would suggest going to BITOG (bobistheoilguy.com), becoming a member (free), and then reading the UOA's of Mobil mineral oil. That will tell you a lot about how much of the oil's capability is left after 7500 miles - almost always, it has had it by 5K.

Dr.Murdock

i have almsot 1k miles and its at 90% oil life.

AcuraVic

Have you noticed any performance increases with the synthetic ?

Road Rage

You won't see any - today's "conventional oils" have made such advances in anti-friction additives and improved polymeric viscosity improvers that the difference in performance is negligible. Synoil's advantage would be in constant high RPM use, in terms of helping reduce wear and heat. So if you race, that would be an advantage, but for street driving, it will not give you half a sec in 1/4 for example.

In terms of MPG, again, the advantage is fractional, if any. Synoils give better engine protection at extremely low and high temperatures, but few of us live in the Arctic or Death Valley. They also provide higher film strength, important if you were frequently towing a boat, which is unlikely.

The main benefit of synoils today is allowing longer oil change intervals, and possibly extended engine life at the very end of an engine's typical lifecycle. But people who still change their Mobil1 at 3K miles are pissing away money, and not reaping that benefit. hey can provide a buffer of a few seconds if one were to have a catastrophic loss of oil, which could mean the difference between losing and saving an engine.

Ester-based synoils are great for car collectors, because esters never fully drain back to the crankcase - they have an electrical affinity for metal, and provide excellent protection during very very cold starts (that is, an engine only cranked 1/month or longer).

I have studied tribology for nearly 30 years, and far more advancements have been made in conventional oils than synoils in the past 15 years. The gap between the advantages of synoils has been narrowed considerably.

For many people, the best conventional oils are all they really need. And the best oil I have found, and the one i use, is a synblend, exploiting the best of both mineral and synoil properties.

This might be helpful to you:
http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/index....owtopic=169852

J RIDE 81

Just as a quick update since i started this thread. I am now at 15% with 3500 Miles. I am scheduled for service A next Sat. I think there was a lot of useful information given on this site so I dont believe I have to worry about having any problems. Anyone else experiene a similar drop in % for MID. If yes, are you a city driver? Do you leave the car at idle a lot?

jobes

J Ride,

I'm at <15% and 6300 going in for A1 next Saturday at Arlington. I was told $129 but hey they even offered me a loaner for the day. Oh, thanks great deal.