Partsfreak
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My GMC Sierra has 194,000 on it and is still running fine. It has been run on Mobil 1 since new and is well maintained. It gets washed twice a year whether it needs it or not.
When is "high-mileage"?
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My Subaru is in the shop now for head gaskets and a (2nd) timing belt at 230,000. It's kind of difficult to drop a couple thousand on maintenance for a car with that mileage, but a new car would be 10x the cost, and I'm pretty confident this one still has at least another 100k left in her.
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My 06 Tacoma had 200k on it when I got rid of it and has over 300k now. Nothing major, just brakes and routine maintenance. I have 169k on my 2012 Tundra and it is going strong. Probably replace it in the next year or so and go back to a Tacoma. Tundra has had full synthetic it's whole life and I typically go 7500-10,000 miles between oil changes.
I actually might have the opportunity to buy back my 06 Tacoma as a first car for my son. If it is reasonable, I'll definitely get it.
I actually might have the opportunity to buy back my 06 Tacoma as a first car for my son. If it is reasonable, I'll definitely get it.
Please do not run your oil even amsoil for more than the suggested intervals. It is not because the oil breaks down or stops lubricating it is because through the process of combustion and heat andcool down cycles your oil will build up acids that actually eat away at bearing material. The viscosity will also start to change which is not a problem for older cars. Newer cars on the other hand use oil for much more than lubrication. It is used to control things like variable cam timing and valve timing. It has to be precisley metered at the right viscosity and pressure for these systems to work correctly. Newer vehicals are much more sensitive than older ones about oil changes because of these systems and smaller clearences. Deisels can run a little longer between changes than gas burners but this is the only exception. Ignore this warning at your own peril. I replace super expensive parts on a weekly basis from people trying to go just a little longer in between $30 oil changes. The downside is multiple thousand dollar repair jobs vs. 30 buck oil changes.
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THIS is important.
The additives are really what limits useful oil life. They do all kinds of things, one of the most important being the keeping of particulate and other contaminants suspended in the oil itself.
As long as they're suspended in the oil, they'll be run through the oil filter for removal AND they'll be flushed out during routine oil changes. When the oil loses the ability to maintain the contaminants suspended in the oil, they start settling out in the engine...and this is where crud buildup comes from.
The best way to determine exactly when to change you oil is by oil analysis...but for the cost of the analysis, you might as well just change your oil in passenger vehicles. Companies which use heavy construction equipment (where oil changes are measured in gallons, not quarts) do this.
The oil itself, especially synthetic oil, doesn't really "break down" unless it's been overheated.
So change your oil at recommended intervals.
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The recommended service level for most Amsoil passenger products is 20,000 miles. For heavy truck applications it's 60,000.
They do recommend analysis on heavy equipment and trucks.
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Yep...Mobil 1, which is my preferred oil, used to go by the 20,000 mile recommended oil change intervals, too, many years ago for all their oils if I recall correctly.
Now they have their "Mobil 1 Annual Protection" which is guaranteed for 20,000 miles or one year, whichever comes first. And they have a 15,000 mile one, too, their "Extended Performance" oil.
The rest of their oils is covered by their limited warranty of 10,000 miles or whatever your car manufacturer's recommended interval is...whichever is longer.
I have a brother who changes his Mobil 1 oil every 20,000 miles, period. Another who changes his every 20,000 or twice a year in Spring/Fall, whichever comes first. Me? I change it every 10,000.
And I use a high quality oil filter, too. Seems counter productive to spend $22 for a 5 quart jug of high quality synthetic Mobil 1 at Walmart and then moan about paying for a high quality oil filter.
If I recall correctly, you operate some heavy equipment, right? So you're probably more familiar with the oil analysis companies do on heavy equipment than the average Joe who only works on passenger vehicles.
Passenger vehicle oil change intervals are based on the average useful life of oil in the manufacturer's engine, which is a direct function of how well the engine is designed, built, and maintained. It also contains a "buffer" built in, and I suspect it's a rather significant buffer. Which means just because the manufacturer's recommended oil change interval is some number of miles doesn't mean that the oil suddenly looses all of its good qualities at one mile over that limit. I suspect there's probably a good couple thousand more miles or more left, but don't quote me on that.
And not every engine will necessarily live up to that potential oil change interval, either...if it's badly maintained or otherwise in need of repairs, the oil may exhaust its usefulness much sooner.
Still...the bottom line is the same. Change your oil/filter when you're supposed to. Doesn't get much simpler than that.
OP
I feel 20k oil changes are ridiculous. Heck..I don't even do 10k oil changes. I do 5k! When I had my Yukon with the 5.3L...I was using Mobil 1 Extended Protection oil and a K&N oil filter. The Mobil 1 EP guarantees 15k protection and I was still changing every 5k!!!!
I use Pennzoil Platinum in the Mrs Toyota after reading online how it actually did better than Mobil 1 in a few tests.
Bobistheoilguy.com is a great forum to learn a lot about oil.
I MIGHT would run Amsoil for 10k...But that's a big might. Have you ever noticed that a vehicle's oil monitor is set to about 5k miles?? At least mine start telling me around that time.
Again follow you vehicle manufacturers recommendations...But changing more often will definitely extend the life of your engine!!
DS
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I do. Met and spoke with a couple running amsoil. Nobody running traditional is going that long.
The 3 I met all run analysis at 30,000 and change the filters.
I just hit 160k on my Jeep Liberty and if the tranny holds out I'll get another 100k on that engine.
RedneckFur
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Most of my cars make till around 200K before I've sold them. My 94 Nissan pickup made it to 230K, and was still running well, but had an oil leak. My 99 Chevy blazer was at 191K when I traded it in. No engine problems, no leaks, and not burning any oil, but the computer was going bad, and the doors were starting to fall off. The cost to repair would be 2-3X the trade in value.
Recently purchased a 2016 Nissan Frontier. Only 13K on it so far, and I hope to keep it till 200K. Will take over 20 years, because I only put about 5-7K miles on a car a year.
Still have my 2003 Mustang GT. 88K Miles on her. Aside from a dent in the fender and the AC needing service, it runs like a dream. I think about selling it every now and then.
In the back yard I have my old 1999 F150. Made it to 349,000 miles when the head gasket developed a minor leak. It still runs and drives, but misfires under load. Going to clean it up and sell it soon. It would make a great fixer upper to someone who wants to do the work.
I've run either Castrol GTX or Mobil 1 in all of my cars, and Fram or Purolator filters. K&N Air filters.
Recently purchased a 2016 Nissan Frontier. Only 13K on it so far, and I hope to keep it till 200K. Will take over 20 years, because I only put about 5-7K miles on a car a year.
Still have my 2003 Mustang GT. 88K Miles on her. Aside from a dent in the fender and the AC needing service, it runs like a dream. I think about selling it every now and then.
In the back yard I have my old 1999 F150. Made it to 349,000 miles when the head gasket developed a minor leak. It still runs and drives, but misfires under load. Going to clean it up and sell it soon. It would make a great fixer upper to someone who wants to do the work.
I've run either Castrol GTX or Mobil 1 in all of my cars, and Fram or Purolator filters. K&N Air filters.
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spittinfire
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This. The biggest thing you're doing when you change oil is removing dirt and keeping all the moving parts clean. In a typical street engine the oil is dirty long before the oil has failed.
My Ranger has 400k miles on the original engine and I've always used "standard" oil.
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I'm drive older vehicles, the lowest mileage one has 160K on it. I use conventional in one, and a synthetic blend oil in the other two. It is changed at 5-6K miles or 6 months, whichever comes first.
My experience is that 200K is pretty standard, with 300K not being out of reach. Oil changes are important, as are transmission fluid, gear oil, etc... Don't forget all the various filters either.
My experience is that 200K is pretty standard, with 300K not being out of reach. Oil changes are important, as are transmission fluid, gear oil, etc... Don't forget all the various filters either.
I use amsoil in my 6.7 diesel. Oil change at 22,500. Filters every 7500. Have been doing that since my first 7.3 in 1999. I had 700k on one 7.3.
Not necessary, but hey...changing your oil MORE often than recommended certainly won't hurt your engine!
If it works for you, and gives you peace of mind...have at it!
People should keep in mind that "dirty" oil is not "bad". It means the oil is doing its job, keeping contaminants in solution so that they will be filtered out, as well as removed when the oil is drained for an oil change.
Not too difficult if you have the time and a place to do it, along with a few special tools, engine support bar and transmission jack,
I use ratchet straps to secure the transmission to the jack so it will not move out of place.
Most cars today have a cradle that the engine and transmission sit inside, gives strength to the front end,
you need to lower that to the ground and then the transmission can be unbolted and lowered easily.
The sable is on #2 and my taurus will have #3 installed in the next few weeks if I have time.
I also have a hydraulic scissor hoist I recently purchased, should have got it ten years ago
but that is not necessary to do the transmission swap. I also have full Ford shop manuals .
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What happens if your suffer a catastrophic engine failure of some sort during the warranty period and the dealer learns about 20,000 mile oil changes? Has such ever happened to anyone? Chevy and Kia both have had some engines kaboom fairly regularly over the past few years. I wonder if they would have replaced them if the oil change intervals were longer than their recommended intervals.
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We had a company car Ford Escape go 45,000 miles without an oil change. Guy never serviced it after getting it. It was an eco boost and required a new engine and turbos. Roughly $10k later it is back on the road and he is out of a job.
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Oil dicsussions can turn as raging as caliber discussions. I think it's partly on how most of us were raised. "Change the oil every 3000 miles son. And always use penzoil 20w50 in every engine."
The words of my old man. He felt like the thicker the oil was the better. And I followed that advice for years.
Then I started using "synthetic" branded oils. And of course I worked in the car industry and found out about tighter tolerances in new engines and higher viscosity can cause one to fail. Darn near had to break my old man's arm to keep him from putting 20W50 in my moms new car 10 years ago.
I just recently (in the grand scheme of things) discovered Amsoil. I have done the research and spoken with other fleet managers about their results. They are getting 3 times the life with it and testing the oil so it's verified. They are seeing improved fuel economy 1-2 mpg which is a lot in big trucks) and they are seeing quicker engine starts especially in the winter.
I have been running it as a test in my 04 f250 and I am seeing the same. I'm at 12,000 miles as of yesterday. Going to change and test the oil at the same time at 15,000.
I don't know what else I can tell you. Do the research yourself. But if you think I'm going to run something stupid in a fleet of 8 trucks with a replacement cost of $180,000 per unit you're crazy. All of the data check out so far. It will save me aproximately 960 gallons of oil a year.
That means nothing if I destroy a $30,000 motor in the process. I know that which is why I've done all the research, talked to others running it and I've set up a test platform.
The words of my old man. He felt like the thicker the oil was the better. And I followed that advice for years.
Then I started using "synthetic" branded oils. And of course I worked in the car industry and found out about tighter tolerances in new engines and higher viscosity can cause one to fail. Darn near had to break my old man's arm to keep him from putting 20W50 in my moms new car 10 years ago.
I just recently (in the grand scheme of things) discovered Amsoil. I have done the research and spoken with other fleet managers about their results. They are getting 3 times the life with it and testing the oil so it's verified. They are seeing improved fuel economy 1-2 mpg which is a lot in big trucks) and they are seeing quicker engine starts especially in the winter.
I have been running it as a test in my 04 f250 and I am seeing the same. I'm at 12,000 miles as of yesterday. Going to change and test the oil at the same time at 15,000.
I don't know what else I can tell you. Do the research yourself. But if you think I'm going to run something stupid in a fleet of 8 trucks with a replacement cost of $180,000 per unit you're crazy. All of the data check out so far. It will save me aproximately 960 gallons of oil a year.
That means nothing if I destroy a $30,000 motor in the process. I know that which is why I've done all the research, talked to others running it and I've set up a test platform.
Way back in the day. In the early 90's I got my money's worth out of the amsoil. All of.my family dirt track raced and we would use it in our race cars for 4 or 5 races. Change the oil, run it in our daily drivers for 3000 miles then either used it in the lawn mowers or used it as bar oil for the chainsaws. So to me it's worth the money.
Well, if there's no evidence as to the excessive oil change interval, how are they to find out unless someone tells them? If you do your oil changes, you're the only one with that info. If you take the vehicle to Jiffy Lube, they might know this, if they track it.
Basically, unless the dealership is doing all the routine oil changes, they're not going to know.
If the engine fails catastrophically, and it's honestly not your fault, then push the dealership on the factory warranty.
If you're keeping up on your maintenance on the vehicle and not deliberately abusing it, then it shouldn't fail during the warranty period. And, quite frankly, if you're using a full synthetic oil with a high quality oil filter, I honestly wouldn't call 20,000 mile oil change intervals "abusive" to your vehicle.
OP
True true true my friend. I'm gonna keep on with what has been working for me, however.. I do plan on getting a new Dirtyscrew and will definitely be looking into Amsoil if I do.
DS
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