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“Best” oil for my car threads.

My Focus does about 15,000 miles a year. The recommended service internal for oil changes is every 7,500 miles. So it gets an oil change every 6 months.

My fiancés Beetle, and before that her Chevy Sonic do a lot less than that. So they will get an oil change once a year.

My Mustang is a 2017, and only has 11,000 miles on it. I think I got the oil changed two years ago. I probably should chance it once a year as well.
 
spicer said:
That used to be in the owners manual. I remember reading it in the owners manual for the new 64 Pontiac my folks bought given as generalization for conditions of operation. The standard oil change frequency was given as 3000 miles, if I remember correctly.
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But oils and engine engineering have improved significantly since then. The oil chemist bubby I mentioned up thread says "if you still change your oil every 3k let me have it and I will run it some more"

Of course he is making a point as someone that knows what he speaks of.
 
GChief said:
But oils and engine engineering have improved significantly since then. The oil chemist bubby I mentioned up thread says "if you still change your oil every 3k let me have it and I will run it some more"

Of course he is making a point as someone that knows what he speaks of.
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Yes, of course oil and engine engineering has improved, that is a given. Operating conditions always matter, improvements didn't obviate that, just changed the schedule. I change oil and filter every five thousand miles come hell or high water.
 
GChief said:
Well then you are just wasting your money ;) :D
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In part, it might be, like your chemist friend, I know s''t too and five thousand mile intervals cover all of it, and that's worth something. Feelings ya know, feels good to know its covered. Some things are worth over thinking, with others a consensus of experience is good. Five thousand mile changes has it covered :)
 
spicer said:
In part, it might be, like your chemist friend, I know s''t too and five thousand mile intervals cover all of it, and that's worth something. Feelings ya know, feels good to know its covered. Some things are worth over thinking, with others a consensus of experience is good. Five thousand mile changes has it covered :)
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I know you understood, but for others...

joking-kidding.gif

Inline with the thread direction :)
 
I still tend to change mine at comparatively low miles for age reasons. The Towncar has about 1500 miles on it's oil. I think I last changed it 4 years ago. I will not feel bad about changing it at 3K miles.

I know someone is screaming at their screen about how old the oil is.
 
gadget73 said:
Just a thought, outside of the car world most equipment has service intervals based on run hours. A car that goes 3000 miles at an average speed of 25 mph and a car that goes 3000 at an average speed of 50 don't have the same amount of use on the oil. Those mileage numbers aren't set in stone, and really should be considered based on actual use conditions.
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Most oil change interval recommendations have both a mileage limit and a time limit. The time limit isn't based on run time but is maximum time between changes.
 
highvoltage_ said:
That's where we are with our vehicles. We don't put enough miles on them in a year, so we just do yearly changes.
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Don't let anyone tell you that you have to change the oil every 6 months, even if you never drive the car. Oil doesn't go bad just sitting in an unused engine.

That thought has led to an incredible amount of angst on many auto websites. There was one guy who was convinced that trapped oxidants in his oil were eating into the bearing surfaces. So he drained all the oil from the car while it was sitting over the winter. Unfortunately, he forgot to put new oil in the Spring. No bueno.

Just put in new oil and a filter before the hibernation period. :thumbsup:

Think of it this way. How many times do you change the transmission and differential oil when the car is not in use? :idea:
 
I remember changing the oil in my vehicles in the late sixties and the seventies...even the higher viscosity oils would be quite thin and watery when you drained the sump...I do not see the same today with synthetic oils, they do not seem to break down like the mineral based oils did...I always used to use Havoline or Castrol back then...tried Arco Graphite in one engine, this was before synthetics were widely available or even known about, and that was the only engine I ever had that had a piston top separate...and was such a black and nasty mess to deal with...

In the early eighties a friend of mine worked at a Chevron polyalphaolefin producing refinery. He said that the production lines for motor oil would have several different brands of synthetic oil coming down the same line and that the only thing different was the additive packs they added to the PAO base.

Back then he also recommended that I put synthetic in my Yamaha Turbo Seca and said I wouldn't believe the change...I normally used Havoline Supreme with an EP concentrate added for the gearbox...I have a Barnett clutch in the bike as the stock one wouldn't take the Turbo's power without slipping...well, I did the change, just the recommended weight, with Mobil 1...it was really a big change...whereas before it took me about a mile before the turbo spooled up quickly and the shifter felt snick-snick smooth now only took a block...

Never went back to mineral or semi-synthetic after that.
 
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