justinhazard

my RA gets fed mobil 1 5-30 synthetic. It uses a lot of oil IMO. By the time im at 6,000 kms it is below the low spot on the dipstick. I did the last 2 changes so thats how i know enough was put in. And the car only has 18,000 kms on it. Although when I went and got my first oil change the oil level was very very low. I got it done at walmart and the guy did everything in front of me, there wasn't much oil in there and walmart made me sign a piece of paper saying they aren't responsible for any damage, which of course, they shouldn't be since i brought it to them like that. Obviously the dealer must not have topped up the oil in the car before they gave it to me, because it had about 1/4 of what it should've had. The car is running fine though (thank god) and the oil has been changed regularly by me now. Not willing to trust anyone with my car anymore, not even the dealer, as sad as it is.

Punkskalar

iTrader: (1)

you guys really should run the 5w20... You will get better gas mileage than if you run a 5w30 and 10w30 is only dragging the motor down making it work harder than needed... I run Mobil 5w20 Full Synthetic since 18K, as I wanted the motor to be fully broken in before making the switch... I do still change it every 3,750 miles, even though some people believe synthetic lasts longer, im not gonna debate that, but its not an excuse to go 7,000 miles on oil if you do run synthetic... 5,000 is as much as you should go on any oil... 10w30 is way to heavy for our cars, you will notice more valve tick when the car is cold...


Ive worked in Car Sales before, and all that 7500 mile oil change talk is a sales tactic... Im also an ASE Certified Master Technician at Honda and have seen cars that only change oil at 7500 miles routinely come in with sludge/varnish issues... Pull your dipstick, if you see any varnish or gold colored sludge starting to build up, you need to change your oil more often... If under the oil cap you see thick deposits that arek kinda hard and rough like, then you need to cahnge your oil more often...

In our cars, I would only run a heavier oil if the engine was either poorly maintained, or if the car has more than 115K or so on it, to cushion some of the worn parts...

Joe Spingler

Punkskalar gives good advice. I would also get a used oil analysis done including a TBN, or Total Base Number, which gives you an idea of the additives package left in the oil. Blackstone laboratories offers this service, and it's reasonably priced. Go to bobistheoilguy.com to learn everything you ever wanted to know about oil. I disagree that 5K is the most you should go, specifically if you are using synthetic. Too each their own though.