[sti777]

Check this link is interesting.



The-3-000-Mile-Oil-Change-Myth- Yahoo! Autos Article Page--

[mckman]

Interesting read, but not much we can do while under warranty. I think Subaru expects you to change your oil every 3,750 miles.

A turbocharged car is tough on oil, but modern synthetics are pretty good. We could probably go longer, but the cost of an individual oil change is low relative to a possible blown motor. BMW has very long service intervals, even in the new turbocharged motors.

I like this statement:

Oil doesn’t wear out


True to some extent, but the additives that give the oil its desirable properties do wear out over time.

I read an article once where the author had his oil analyzed at 3000 mile intervals and basically never changed it. However, his motor burned a quart or so every 3k (basically the motor changed the oil for you) and the additives in the new oil kept the old oil in decent shape. Not like I would try this approach in my car, but interesting nevertheless.

[IUSTi]

this was posted just 21 mins prior to your post

The 3,000 mile oil change "myth"

[wrb07sti]

Thats just out right stupidity to run your oil over 3K. I have always changed my oil at 2500 miles with royal purple and a K&N oil filter, in all my vehicles. Oil changes are cheap insurance.

[Capn How]

Originally Posted by mckman

Interesting read, but not much we can do while under warranty. I think Subaru expects you to change your oil every 3,750 miles.

A turbocharged car is tough on oil, but modern synthetics are pretty good. We could probably go longer, but the cost of an individual oil change is low relative to a possible blown motor. BMW has very long service intervals, even in the new turbocharged motors.

I like this statement:

Oil doesn’t wear out


True to some extent, but the additives that give the oil its desirable properties do wear out over time.

I read an article once where the author had his oil analyzed at 3000 mile intervals and basically never changed it. However, his motor burned a quart or so every 3k (basically the motor changed the oil for you) and the additives in the new oil kept the old oil in decent shape. Not like I would try this approach in my car, but interesting nevertheless.

BMW has long oil change intervals for marketing reasons. The new turbo BMW and Mini engines eat oil at about 1 qt for every 2000 miles. If you never check it, by the time you are due for an oil change, there will be no oil in the engine.

[davidmount]

Problem with synthetic is Subaru doesn't want people using it. I've heard it's because it "doesn't break down right," problem is they don't say how. I just put Royal Purple in a couple of days ago, synthetic worked fine for my other cars. I'd still rather change the oil a bit more often if it meant that my engine didn't go boom.

[bcfsc]

Originally Posted by davidmount

I'd still rather change the oil a bit more often if it meant that my engine didn't go boom.

+1 on that

[Garrett]

Originally Posted by bcfsc

+1 on that

Realistically, if you run 100% synthetic, you could get your oil filtered (high pressure osmosis, etc) and reuse it forever. And it might come to this as the world becomes more "Green".

Thats not saying additives can't be added back in, but you get the point.




-Garrett

[tyler_sti]

I change my oil when ever it gets dark brown and smells like crap. I attend quite a few track days, and drive my car the way its supposed to be drivin. So I'm changing my oil about every 1,300-1,850mi. I figure for like 40 bucks, why not. Plus my fumoto vlave makes things quite a bit quicker and cleaner

[Peleg]

Originally Posted by davidmount

Problem with synthetic is Subaru doesn't want people using it. I've heard it's because it "doesn't break down right," problem is they don't say how. I just put Royal Purple in a couple of days ago, synthetic worked fine for my other cars. I'd still rather change the oil a bit more often if it meant that my engine didn't go boom.

If you look at the owner's manual, you'll see that Subaru says that you can use synthetic oil as long as you adhere to the proper oil change intervals and the correct viscosity.

[mcbst]

a buddy of mine used to work on some industrial gas and diesel engines that ran a steady rpm 24/7 they would never change oil just filters and top off oil took samples and when a sample returned critical oil was changed

[fullerton]

Originally Posted by tyler_sti

I change my oil when ever it gets dark brown and smells like crap. I attend quite a few track days, and drive my car the way its supposed to be drivin. So I'm changing my oil about every 1,300-1,850mi. I figure for like 40 bucks, why not. Plus my fumoto vlave makes things quite a bit quicker and cleaner

Now THAT's probably overkill.

Why not send your oil to Blackstone and see what is actually going on? They'll tell you how long to safely run your oil.

[Elkwood]

I have gone really long time in some of my other vehicles between oil changes.

In fact in my vibe i went at least 20k one time hell not sure it wasn't more like 25kish. I put on roughly 94k miles in 2 years on it. Traded it in on a rsx.

In my last car which was a type s rsx i changed the oil about every 10k miles. I was pretty good about it too. Never went much over that. Put about 104kish in 3 years 2 months.

This one i plan to change it as called for in the book. For at least the first year then i'll go from their.

Man its just hard to have to change the oil that much on a modren car!!!

[shiplemw]

Originally Posted by mcbst

a buddy of mine used to work on some industrial gas and diesel engines that ran a steady rpm 24/7 they would never change oil just filters and top off oil took samples and when a sample returned critical oil was changed

Modern day industrial compressors are another good example. At a previous employer I had to setup maintenance intervals on two 100hp Ingersoll Rand compressors. They used a synthetic oil that cost $125 / gallon and each required ~7-8 gallons. We monitored it with samples sent out for testing and once it reached a certain level changed it out. Those things ran 24/7 in a production environment and we rarely changed the oil out but maybe once every year.