I've heard some people say that they don't change their oil until 5,000 miles on synthetic oil. I was wondering what most of you do, since this is the first car I've own to use synthetic. Do you change it at 3,000 miles? 5,000 miles? or more?:eek:

I was wondering about synthetic oils, a friend that is in college for automotive told me not use synthetics cause my car isnt made for it.............anyone know if this is true

Plurbe,
Your friend is full of beans.
I plan to change my synthetic oil every 3K or so. The manual says 5K intervals I think, and that is on dino oil. However, I think it's a pretty good insurance policy to change more often.
Long intervals are problematic if your filter does not hold up even if your oil can technically handle it...

I change synthetic oil (amsoil) every 6,000 miles and oil filter change every 3,000 miles.

Some folks do it every 6000, some 7500, and some who really dont care about their car 12,000.

I personally use Mobil 1 Oil, and Filters, and change every 3000 miles. I play hard on my engine and want to treat it as good as possible, and I dont like the idea of contaminates in the oil for more than 3000 miles.

Just how I was raised though. Not like oil is THAT expensive. I mean for 5 quarts of Mobil1, and a Mobil 1 filter = 20 - 25$. Every 2 months isn't too bad. Considering going to Speedy Lube will cost like 35$ to use their KMart filter and crap oil. and 50+$ to use syntetic oil and their Kmart filter.

I change mine every 3,000 miles, but don't worry if I run a little over the mileage.

I run Mobil 1 Synthetic in my RS and change it every 3000 miles. This is the best policy, not only does it keep you on top of your maintenance issues by making you look under the hood and undercarriage, but it also takes care of problems like our cars burning oil! (mine does at least) (stay on top of it!!)
Do it every three thousand - mine is dirty at that point and DIRTY IS BAD.

DIY and it's not that pricey either.

-Adam

I agree with Zerly every 3k do a filter and top it off, then every 6k do the oil AND filter.

Tats.

In the past when using Amsoil, I would change my oil every 2 events ( dyno tuning, or days at the track ). If for some reason there weren't any events going on, I would change it between 4-5K miles, but I'm really picky about my engine's life. That was using an Amsoil filter that held a lot of contaminants vs the OEM one. I plan to do the same if I find the Amsoil filter being a better choice vs the OEM one ( filtration and capacity ). Whenever I can't get ahold of Amsoil, I'll go with Mobil1 and the OEM filter and change it every 3K miles.

Ah, I never thought of replacing only the filter.

-Gerlando.
http://www.clubSTi.com

Well I suppose how often to change also depends on your local conditions and how you drive. If I were a city driver with a lot of stops every day I would change every 3,000 miles. My driving is mostly country which is more like lower speed highway driving I plan on changing Spring and Fall which will amount to every 5,000 miles. Of course I haven’t quite made up my mind yet. I just changed to synthetics at 4,000 miles before Winter using Amsoil and a Purolater filter.

Pete - I was planning to change my Mobil 1 at the 7500 factory interval, but with all the track days, and my aggressive driving, I've decided to change every 3750... Plus, I found the oil pretty "dirty" at 3000 miles last time, not long after Mont-Tremblant.

-Ray

mobil 1 5w-30 every 3000 miles

shaun

Wow, I expected to see more longer intervals. I'm putting in synth at my next change (10k), and had planned to go 5k miles per change. I guess I'll take a good look at it around 3k.

Many guys on the quattro list run 10k+ on synth. A number run 25k, changing the filter a few times in there. Seems crazy to me, but they've got big mileage cars...

YMM definitely V! :p

I do my oil change buy smell and color, if it smells like gas and look dark it's time for a change. I use Castrol Syntec & Tough Guard

I go 5k miles between changes (filter & oil). I use Mobil 1 10w30 year round here in south carolina.

If I'm going on a road trip or have *really* been beating on the car then I will change it before the trip or if it is looking nasty at 3k miles.

Mobil 1 tends to hold up pretty well though.

Every 5000 is more than safe.

Alright guys.......... I know I'll hear something about this.... here it goes.

My father, who is a Diesel Marine Mechanic, and is a major advocate of Amsoil (The oil I use), has told me repeatedly that due to synthetics superior chemical formula you do can change the oil once every six months or 12,000 miles, and do a filter swap every 3 months or 6,000 miles, which ever comes first.

Now, my father is a TOP NOTCH mechanic and he's been doing this for a living for over 20 years....... using Amsoil for most of it.

Personally, I think I'd like to change it ever 8,000 and do a filter every 3,000..... because of my driving.

You also have to remember, if you use a good filter your oil might look dirty, but it really has a lot of life left........

Sooooooooooo what I'm going to do is send a sample of oil to the lab for Analysis to see if it's doing its job, and make a decision. I'll let you guys know what they tell me.

*Hopefully they won't tell me I have like parts of my pistons floating around in there* hehe j/k



My only suggestion is.............. do what you feel safe with and you should be fine.....

Flame away
:devil:


P.S. This Post was Edited. I'm sorry fellas (and gals) My source was mistaken. On a turbocharged engine you need to change the oil ever 12,000 miles and filter ever 6,000 or so......... SORRY for any confusion.

Change every 3000 miles, clean oil is better than dirty oil. Besides, you really don't need to lift the wrx to change oil. I did it last weekend without lifting the car, piece of cake.

I installed a FumotoValve on my RS I can change my oil without using a ramp just reach up and under and swap oil filters, and open the valve with one hand under the car to drain the oil

I believe that when Mobil 1 first came out, Mobil claimed that it NEVER had to be changed. Of course, every car manufacturer went ballistic! I'm not sure what Mobil claims now for longevity, but BlueDemon's dad is probably on target with 25k miles. The bigger problem is the dirt that the oil carries. The Mobil 1 filter filters down to a much smaller particle than conventional filters. I have a friend who changes his Mobil 1 oil every 15k miles and changes the Mobil 1 filter every 7500 miles. His car has well over 200k miles. He's never had an engine problem. His previous car went well over 200k miles and the engine was tight right up until his daughter totaled it.

Personally, I'm using Mobil1 15-50, and a subie filter and change every 5k miles or so. Working so far.

Cool!!! Thanks for the opinions guys!! I was gonna wait till 5K to change my oil, but I think I'm gonna change it anyway this weekend. I'm running 10w30 right now. So, I'm gonna change the weight anyway for winter time. Plus, I plan on running a rally-x next weekend, and want to have some fresh oil in there.

I change the oil and filter every 3000-3500 miles. I use Mobile 1 synthetic and a Bosche filter. The way I see it, change it when the oil appears dirty, which is typically around 3000 miles. Also, what can it hurt to change it this often. It is a simple 15 minute, $25.00 way of helping to prolong the life of the engine.

Not to mention turbo engines degrades the oil faster (much more heat than your NA engine.) Turboed engine usually require some constant oil changes to remain in top shape.

When you change your filter, do you change it when the engine is cold? (so less oil runs out)

OR do you do the typical oil-change warm up drive before?

I can't really picture removing a filter w/o a bunch of oil dumping out.

Dirt in oil is semi bad but what is rally bad, and why you should change it, is because the oils viscocity breaks down over time. The dirt (carbon and stuff) in the oil in softer than the metal so it should not scar the metal at all. WHat hurts the engine is when the oil becomes less viscous and can't do it's job anymore. Instead it acts more like water and can't fill in all the places it is supposed to and absorb the vibrations it is supposed to. When this happens, you get metal on metal and your engine seizes.

So, dirty oil doesn't tell as much as a lab result on the viscocity of it which is what really counts :)

Eric

I would like to find out what is a good compromise for oil change because I want my car to run a long time, but I don't want to use more oil than I really needed to. If you think about it from a $$$ standpoint and a destroying our earth standpoint, I don't want to change it every 3k if it won't hurt it to change it every 5k.

The oil I use (Amsoil series 3000) is designed specifically for turbo diesel or turbo gasoline engines. It is designed this way with the tremendous amount of heat the oil will be dealing with, due to the turbos. Even still, changing the oil every 12,000 miles on an engine running harder than normal would be MORE THAN SAFE. Now, if you take your car to the track and run it all day there, then sure your oil will need to be changed........ but not necessarily right away.....

You have to understand....... even Petroleum Oils can go 3-5K miles before a change is necessary. So the people who are changing their Synthetic Oils ever 3-5K miles are being overly cautious, or they run their cars on the track every weekend, for multiple runs.


Like I said, I'm going to send my oil in to the lab for analysis, just to back up these claims....... also, just to make sure I'm not screwing something up ;-)

Really though, Grandpa Rex is correct............ most well built engines will go 200,000+ miles if they are not overheated, regular preventative maint. is done, and nothing else drastically terrible happens to your car.............


All I can say is....... it's your car, your money, so you do what makes you feel safe.

Blue

Corpsie,
I change my oil after the oil has been warmed up. Typically I'll flip the lever on my fumotovalve then unscrew oil filter until hot oil starts to seep out then go away for 15 or 20 minutes. After that, the oil on the outside of the filter is cooled and I can take it off easily.

Stanley,

Are you talking about just changing the filter or changing the oil and the filter? Since you mention flipping your fumotovalve, I assume you're talkling about changing your oil and filter.

I just want to know about the "filter only" changes. I've never heard of that until I read this thread.

Yeah,
I'm talking about doing a complete oil change. I'm still using dino oil and plan to switch to Mobil 1 on my next oil change...
Anyway, when I was researching synthetic oil last spring, I had the question: "how do you change the filter without changing the oil?" I asked a Bimmer nut I work with and he said he drains the oil into a clean drain pan, changes the filter, then pours the oil from the pan right back in his engine! Sounds a little "aggressive" to me, I am planning on springing for the extra 20 bucks or so and using new oil when I change my filter.
I thought your question was on how to get the filter off with warm oil in it and not burning yourself...

Blue: Let us know the results of Amsoil's analysis. I am very interested in the results. My technical nature says you are correct, but my emotional side is feeling a little "protective" of my relatively new powerplant!

Ok.... Corpsie.... You CAN change the oil filter only, but of course you're going to dump some oil in the process. That's why you have your pan handy ;-)

You lose some oil, but because the Suby has a Vertical Oil fiter, you just fill the new sucker up (like 3/4 to close to full) *So you don't get a dry start*, screw it on (Carefully!) and then top off until you reach the correct level....

This way you have a new filter, and a little new "blood" flowing through your baby.

It's what I do ;-)

Blue

I still think that is weird

;) :p

Everything is weird until you try it and like the results ;-)

I was thinking about doing the filter only scenario but am going to wait until 10k miles on my car. Everyone here says to wait that long for the synthetic switch, so I'm gonna be normal until then. But the filter every 3k and oil every 6k sounds like a fine idea on synthetic. I went every 4-5k in my sonoma and it was running like a champ at 90k when I sold it. Anyway, I like the idea of not wasting oil if I don't have to. If everyone could go longer on their oil between changes, we would save a LOT of oil!!! Oh, and money!!! But until the engine has been around for 10k, I'm gonna do the every 3k with regular oil and a good filter.

And when you change your oil you prefer which oil filter?

Had my oil changed yesterday, and the technician put in regular oil instead of the Mobil1 that I had brought for him to use. He started the car, ran it for a while and then realized that he'd made a mistake. He then drained it again, replaced the filter and installed my M1.

I asked Mobil if this was a problem for an engine that has been run the past 12k miles on M1. Here's their reply:

Thank you for your inquiry.


Mobil 1 is compatible with other conventional motor oils and can be
mixed with them. There are no detrimental effects.

I changed the oil in my jeep to synthetic with 150,000 miles, now its got 200,000 and doesn't smoke or leak. i dunno why, maybe it was built on a wednesday.

For all of those who are switching from Petroleum to Synthetic with a lot of miles on your car...... You are going to want to do an Engine Oil Flush. Suck a quart of oil from your dipstick opening, and the put in the flush, let it run at idle for 15-20 mins......... then drain. This will remove much of the deposits which your petroleum has left in your engine..... plus it gets it ready for the synthetic change.....

My buddy and I did this on his 99 Steeda Mustang and the thing loves him like a daddy ;-)

If you do your switch early enough, you don't need to worry about the flush.

I switched from petroleum to synthetic after my 1,000 mile break in.

Hope it helps.

Blue