Every 5000 miles with synthetic or conventional oil.

 

IMHO if you're going to change your oil every 5,000 religiously (and you don't race or otherwise put your vehicle through extreme conditions) then don't waste your money with synthetic.

Personally I run 5W20 Full Synthetic on my '03 Rolla and usually change it every 8,000 or so. Been doing that for about 30,000 miles now (it now has about 120k) with no problems.

On my old '95 Escort I used AMSOil 5W20 and changed it once a year.. about every 12k-15k.. with no problems. My G/F won't let me let her Rolla go that long though.

 

I don't have to change my oil every 5,000 miles. I think I might start changing it every 6,000 and see how that goes.

 

I'm nor sure what you mean by "improvement". I use synthetic oil because I find it particularly vexing to own a car that burns oil.

Nearly 15 years ago, I bought a Volvo turbo and the general internet consensus at the time was to always use synthetic oil in a turbo. I've been changing the oil every 5000 miles and using Mobil-1 synthetic oil. 15 years and 195,000 miles later, it doesn't use oil between routine changes. I did an oil analysis a couple of years ago, and I was amazed by the numbers. This "sold" me, and I use synthetic oil in all our cars now. Usually Mobil-1 from Costco, BJ's or WalMart -- whichever is cheapest.

I change the oil at 5000 miles or annually whichever comes first. For non-turbos I suppose I could wait for 7500, except that would have me changing oil at odd mileages like 22,500 and I'm pretty sure I'd never remember this, so 5000 miles (or annually) it is for all our cars. (Also, annually for the snow thrower, garden equipment, etc.)

 

You can easily go 10000 with that oil. 7500 is a more realistic jump to make. Extend the interval and do a UOA after a few oil changes to verify everything is good.

Like mastertech said its kind of pointless to run a better, longer lasting oil, and change it at the same interval. I have seen Corollas go 200000K miles with 5k conventional oil changes. Save your money.

Also I would recommend a Purolator PureOne or Bosch Distance Plus oil filter. They filter a little better than the Wix and (great filter nonetheless) and the DP is designed for extended drains.

 

I now go 7500 using synthetic in my Accord and my GMC. Both have oil management on board and are showing something like 25 - 30% at 7500. My company sled Taurus goes 10K between changes and is smooth, quiet, and uses no oil between changes at 70K.

 

If I make the jump to 7500mi, what do I need to look out for? I check my oil level about once a month, and also check the color to make sure it doesn't appear too dirty.

 

I was quite surprised when I went to 7500 mile intervals. The drained oil looked no different than it did at 5000 miles (or 3000 for that matter). I originally sent off a sample for analysis from my truck and they said I had a good 5000 miles life left in the oil. I just can't force myself to go beyond 7500 in it.

It's always a good idea to check your oil at least twice a month. A small leak can crop up and result in a lot of oil lost (and possible engine failure) pretty quick if not caught early.

 

Oil color isn't a good indicator of condition. Checking the level regularly and roll with it.

 

I've heard that oils that don't discolor over time are bad because they aren't cleaning your engine...is this true?

I have Firestone change mine every 5000 (+1000 -500) miles. This thing hasn't burnt a drop, even after 6000 miles one time. Still check it at least every 2000 miles...can't be too careful.

 

Routine UOA's should be pulled if you are running any extended drain interval. Even though the quality of motor oils are constantly getting better and it "should" be safe to run it to 7500+ miles between oil changes, you'll want that UOA baseline your engine. Couple of time initially to get you setup - then one annually, to see how things are.

As for motor oil color - dirty or very dark colored oil doesn't necessarily mean that the oil is bad. Just means that it is doing its job by suspending dirt and soot particles.

As for oils that don't discolor as easily - harder to say. That would indicate a couple of things:
- the engine is already pretty clean to begin with
- the oil has a different solvency properties than the previous oil (makes larger clumps that are more readily filtered out of the oil)
- the oil is crap and deposits are not being suspended in solution but redeposited inside the engine.

UOA would be definitely be useful here. A change to a different brand/formulation would be helpful as well - just to see what happens.

 

Mobil 1 extended performance full synthetic 5w-30 w/ the mobil 1 extended perf. filter.. I change oil every 10k miles, filter every 5k.

Next change, which is in 1500 miles or so, I will send out a sample for analysis..

But my 'rolla only has 46k miles.. So can't speak for long term effects..

 

Why are UOA's useful? It's like $25 a sample. Rivals the cost of the actual oil change (is it even worth it?)...does that include a blank, or is the blank charged separately? Or do you guys download COA's for your oil when you buy it and just trust those?

 

Why are UOA's useful? It's like $25 a sample. Rivals the cost of the actual oil change (is it even worth it?)

No, not from an accounting perspective, unless you're a fleet or commercial vehicle owner. For a private car owner, UOA (Used Oil Analysis) probably isn't "worth" it. But for me, cars are a hobby -- and probably just a little cheaper hobby than wine or women -- so I can justify the $25 from the perspective of curiosity and psychic satisfaction. I easily waste more than $25 on each of our cars more often than by getting an oil analysis.

A few oil changes and years ago, my Volvo's oil analysis showed higher than normal silica content. Not hugely higher, just slight. Blackstone suggested checking for a vacuum leak. I asked my Volvo shop to check for a leak the next time I was in for service and they couldn't find anything. I did a little more exploring and found that the engine air filter wasn't seated correctly and that there was a very slight air leak around the filter. I thought that was a pretty good pick up from an oil analysis!

 

UOA's are just tools for determining if your engine, engine oil, and filtration systems are good candidates for extended oil changes and for general engine health.

For some owners - $25 or so to run the test and get an extra piece of information they didn't have before, is completely worth the added cost. Like a battery gauge or oil pressure gauge - do you absolutely need them, probably not, but they do provide some very useful diagnostic information for owners.

Usually, it is not for testing the oil itself, but to see if the engine is healthy enough for extended drains and if your filter can get the job done.

Obviously, this is a long haul prospect. If you plan on trading in cars on a pretty regular basis, then save the money and stick with a conservative oil change interval. If you plan on running your car out to 200K miles or more, driving it into the ground - then UOA prices are just a miniscule expenditure in the long run.

Not always about saving money - indeed, in some cases, you'll spend more just running synthetic motor oils vs conventional oils. More about saving time, reducing the number of times to do a drain and refill, reducing the amount of waste oil generated.

I my case. My 2002 Corolla was put in an extended oil drain plan since 36K miles (had a free maintenance plan up to 3 years/36K miles - after this, oil changes were on me). It now has over 200K miles.

If I was sticking with the conventional 5K mile OCI - I was looking at 33 oil changes over those past 8 years. Running extended oil changes (started at 12K miles and dropped down to 8K currently, to keep additive pack and insoluables in check). I'm looking at 18 changes instead. Assuming that I use the same "tall" filters - it averages out to about $20 per change with conventional and $32 per change with synthetic. Even with the added UOA costs, worked out to be about the same amount of money spent over that period of time - but with 15 fewer oil changes, 15 less gallons of waste oil produced - to go the same amount of distance. Couple that with good oil flow in cold weather, higher temperature resistance and (knock on wood) so far zero oil consumption on my 2002 Corolla - works out to be a pretty decent deal for me.

 

does anyone know if there is a "tall" oil filter for my '06? Would love to have that extra capacity.. The stock size is so tiny.. lol

 

Yes, you can use the one for the camry, which is the same as the one from the 9th gen XRS. I believe it is about half an inch longer.

 

Yes the Camry/XRS Purolator PL14477 is the filter I recommend. Better filtration and much higher quality (its pretty ridiculous how low quality OEM is) than OEM.

 

I'm ~800 miles into the first extended oil drain plan after switching to Amsoil XL oil and filter. So I'll come back in a year...