The 0W-20 Oil Change Hustle & DIY vs carfax documentation

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

My FRS saw an oil change someplace between 7,000 and 7,500 for the whole 130,000 miles I owned it. Even then the oil looked just about like new.

but but you have no data that it can last over 200k miles! you must be lying!

[NikolaiCherepanov]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Thinner oils developed with the synthetics.
The purpose behind them is simple fuel economy and reduced emissions.
Modern engines also have much better machining and tolerances so thicker oil is not needed.
The manufacturers gave up on the whole disposable, 3 year car thing in the mid nighties when they started actually making rust resistant panels.
Running thicker oil than recommended in a modern engine can wear it out even faster than using the proper grade oil. Thicker is not "better
The idea that they recommend thinner oil to sell more cars is asinine.

That's why I switched the other cars to a slightly thinner full synthetic because LiquiMoly doesnt make a full synthetic 10W-40, now it wasn't fun doing that because it ate all those old seals and I had to replace every single one of them, but instead of 29MPG I get 32-34MPG now. If cars with thinner oils blew engines all the time the companies that make said cars would never sell them so I would love to know where that conspiracy started.

[MisterGoober]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Amateur attempt at twisting the point. Please argue in good faith. Even I'm admitting that my 3500-mile changes are BS.

BS but cheap insurance. A bottle of half-decent non-esoteric 0W-20 such as Pennzoil Platinum, Mobil 1, Castrol, etc. goes for $25, maybe $35-40 if you include the extra quart. $10 or less for the filter. That's less than $200/year worst case (depending on how much you drive). Cheap insurance.

Just swapped the factory fill for Mobil1 Extended Performance at 1000mi. Will do the next change 5k mi later at 6k when the sticker says I need it.

My Subaru dealer is pretty reasonable with oil changes, on my last car, I would do one at the dealer, one at home, etc. Dealer has records of oil changes if anything went wrong.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by MisterGoober

BS but cheap insurance. A bottle of half-decent non-esoteric 0W-20 such as Pennzoil Platinum, Mobil 1, Castrol, etc. goes for $25, maybe $35-40 if you include the extra quart. $10 or less for the filter. That's less than $200/year worst case (depending on how much you drive). Cheap insurance.

Just swapped the factory fill for Mobil1 Extended Performance at 1000mi. Will do the next change 5k mi later at 6k when the sticker says I need it.

My Subaru dealer is pretty reasonable with oil changes, on my last car, I would do one at the dealer, one at home, etc. Dealer has records of oil changes if anything went wrong.

Agreed. If my ears and ass say it's time, I'll spend the extra few bucks even if the data indicate otherwise.

[racingfool]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

hearing the engine clatter from the slightly used oil

There's some finely tuned ears.

[spcmafia]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Agreed. If my ears and ass say it's time, I'll spend the extra few bucks even if the data indicate otherwise.

Hence my quote.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by racingfool

There's some finely tuned ears.

Originally Posted by spcmafia

Hence my quote.

*sigh* It's a heavy cross to bear.

[Stonehorsw]

Ford does a good job via algorithm, but their manual serves as reference for mileage. People from cold climates or with heavy commutes may benefit from shortened intervals. Note: table below is specific for Duratec engine, and not to be used for FA. FA engine may need different intervals, intend is just to provide a reference that depending on usage, intervals may be changed.

From what I read on the forum, gen1 did not even had time intervals and lessons learned drove to a change on that and added 6Mo intervals.

[Capt Spaulding]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

My FRS saw an oil change someplace between 7,000 and 7,500 for the whole 130,000 miles I owned it. Even then the oil looked just about like new.
Since it is tracked now it gets them more often but there has never been a single engine issue ever.

Subaru states that 96% of their cars sold in the last 10 years are still on the road so if their plan was to sell more by having engines go they really suck at it.

I recall back in the late 70s Harley Davidson made some really lousy engines. They often countered their crappy rep by saying something similar. Many of us in the Japanese bike community loved it. If 90% were "still on the road," the remaining 10% must have made it home.

No dig at Subie, but making claims like that opens a door to ridicule.

That said, I've spent decades on various ICE related fora and oil threads have been among the most entertaining / head scratching discussions on all of them. This is a pretty tame one. The VFR (Honda) forum had a guy who claimed to be a tribologist who swore up and down that if you didn't use a specific 20w-50 in that engine you would crash, burst into flames, and die. Well, not exactly but close. I ran it on Shell 0w-40 diesel oil for 40k miles and the engine was like new.

Ever since I took the "**** Doctor"s performance advice and dipped Mr. Happy in Ghost pepper sauce I have been suspicious of internet experts of any sort. The guy claiming that short OCIs "won't hurt" is, in my experience, probably correct. The claim about them reducing the amount of blow-by oil coming through the crankcase ventilation system has a "Ghost pepper" ring to it.

My cars get the oil changed at irregular intervals depending on their use during the OCI. My wife's V6 Camry has a recommended OCI of 10k miles/6 months on 0w-20. I generally use 7k unless the 7k has a lot of long hiway trips in it, then I'll stretch it a bit. My V6 F150 has a 5k / 6 month recommendation on 5w-20 blend. I generally stick with it, but will stretch the time to 12 months, maybe thirteen. The BRZ gets driven so little (particularly in the Covid period) that, for the last couple of years, I've been changing it at 14 months just to have a chance to get under the car. She likes it on top.

[MyHybridBurnsGasAndTires]

Originally Posted by NikolaiCherepanov

thats my favorite line from the kids at facebook

[2020BRZtS]

My dealer gave me access to manage carfax about 18 months after buying it. I also put all my info in VinWiki.

There's a lot of leeway in changing your oil if you aren't tracking and you don't run it dry.

My BRZ does not get driven much but I am changing every 6 months during the warranty period. After that I will switch to 5K or 12 mo. I use Mobil1 0W20 Synthetic

My scion is 14 years old and I change the oil every three years with conventional oil. It has 105K, never lost a drop.

I once drove my '95 Celica for 50K miles between oil changes and added a quart every 6 to 9 months. It was totaled with 172K on it but up to that point it ran like the day I drove it off the showroom floor. This car was crazy reliable though. I put 4 sets of tires on it, a set of rear brakes, and 1 battery in 13 years.

My '79 Celica was every 7500 miles and I sold it with 278K on it.

[x808drifter]

I reached 18k miles between changes with the oil still being able to be used further.
That is 1.5 years for me.
No measurable loss of oil.

I have since decided to just do it yearly-ish.

Generic Mobile 1 0W20

[racingfool]

Generic Mobile 1?

[NikolaiCherepanov]

Originally Posted by 2020BRZtS

My dealer gave me access to manage carfax about 18 months after buying it. I also put all my info in VinWiki.

There's a lot of leeway in changing your oil if you aren't tracking and you don't run it dry.

My BRZ does not get driven much but I am changing every 6 months during the warranty period. After that I will switch to 5K or 12 mo. I use Mobil1 0W20 Synthetic

My scion is 14 years old and I change the oil every three years with conventional oil. It has 105K, never lost a drop.

I once drove my '95 Celica for 50K miles between oil changes and added a quart every 6 to 9 months. It was totaled with 172K on it but up to that point it ran like the day I drove it off the showroom floor. This car was crazy reliable though. I put 4 sets of tires on it, a set of rear brakes, and 1 battery in 13 years.

My '79 Celica was every 7500 miles and I sold it with 278K on it.

A Celica would outlive every person on this planet......