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Comments
Given what you have posted,
..."simply because the oil life is so long per the monitor that there's no point switching to synthetic. My current batch of oil is 6 months and 4K miles old, and the monitor is only at 50%. That's good enough for me, although it has burned about 0.8 qt of oil. "...
You would have to burn brain cells on this issue when it is obvious that you would rather use in other places. Besides 5w20 conventional is a VERY ROBUST oil!!! Or let me put it more to the point. Oils that claim meeting the 5w20 Ford/Honda standards meet very high standards. I would have no hesitation in running 5w20 conventional oil 10,000 miles in a 2004 Honda Civic! As a point of departure, what the OLM is telling you is you are not driving your vehicle as gently as YOU perceive. Please understand I mean NO offense, but am merely reading the data you presented. So in terms of your data, "GENTLE" would indicate 5,000 miles at 40-50%.
In so far as burning .8 qt or 25.6 oz in 4,000 miles, that is perfectly in keeping with the normal stuff the dealer will tell you ie 1 qt in 1000-1500 miles is NORMAL.
BUT.... In the 2004 Honda Civic I run 0w20 Mobil One, 20,000 mile OCI's At most in 20,000 miles, I consume to the middle of the dipstick. Now I can not get to the precise oz as Honda does not seem to go by 1 quart low between min and max, but I know for sure half on the Honda Civic dipstick is less than 1/2 quart I am guessing 1/4 or 8 oz. Or this is what I SWAG that I add since I like to keep it AT MAX on the dipstick. So as a practical matter since it does fall between min and max I really do not need to top until the oil change at 20,000 miles interval.
Again the perception issue. My take is moderate to aggressive flogging, every so often is a good thing!
Mobil 1 can go 15k miles. I would not trust Valvoline to hold up that long.
blufz1:
Thanks. I'm not worried about voiding the warranty, or about the car. I actually trust myself more when it comes to oil changes. But I AM considering buying Honda's OEM oil filters from now on, as opposed to using aftermarket ones.
I also agree with the last two posts. I would have no issues using a FRAM. Note worthy, the Civic technical data indicates an every other OCI FILTER change. For my Civic that is 20,000 miles! Indeed I have run a past (since sold) Toyota Landcruiser app 250,000 miles on 17/18 PH8A FRAMS. I guess I am a belt and suspenders kind of guy!
Off topic, I have been running "cartridge type" (Mann's if anyone is interested) oil filters on a VW Jetta TDI. In app 100,000 miles, it appears to be a lot easier to deal with than any spin on I have ever used and I have been using them for over 50 years. Basically the oem builds only to 4 of typically 11 component pieces for a spin on filter. Therefore the resultant filter saves money!! So in theory all that savings (in theory of course) can go into "BETTER" quality media. One just R/R's the filter media only and literally spins on and off the plastic cap. The media has a design life of 30,000 miles. I do a 25,000 mile OCI so I don't even change it much anymore. Life is good!
The real HOT deal in add on, so called BY PASS oil filtering is the Amsoil EA model line!! One word: PRICEY !!!!!! 17-25 bux per filter! This does not count app $200-300 for (bypass) equipment and installation. It really filters down to small microns!!!! All indications by way of UOA's indicate it literally almost SCRUB's the oil. Now what this means about equipment longevity in the real world from a statistical analysis point of view remains to be seen.
Still I understand the numbers to be almost unbelieveable!! One can of course project, but how the projection turns in to reality is/can be a WAY different story. However if the projections are true, for me; I would be able to go from a 25,000 mile OCI to a CONSERVATIVE 50,000 mile OCI!!!??? 60-75,000 miles OCI would not be out of the question!!! WOW! Noteworthy, since it filters out down to very very fine microns, it actually cleans up new out of the bottle from the factory oil!!!!!!!!!! This alone is truly WEIRD.
Since the Amsoil EA product line is still very new, real world longitudinal UOA's still are being slowly collected and featured in www.bobsistheoilguy.com.
Best Regards,
Shipo
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=154461&highlight=amsoil+bypass+oil
Best Regards,
Shipo
Most other cars have your mentioned "idiot" gauge display, which was what I was thinking of before your post, which led to the dead level comment.
In the winter it would stabalize at 89 degrees C and on a hot day in the summer it would be about 110 degrees C.
I just had an air bubble in the cooling system of my Jeep 4.0; it "fixed" itself in a couple of days. Many BMW systems can be a real bear to bleed. Some have two or more bleeder screws.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
An engine is considered cold until oil temp has reached 90 degrees C.
As with everything else, it depends.
If the OAT is 120 in the shade then an engine that is shutdown when at operating temperature could take hours to cool off. If the OAT is 20 below then it will be considered a cold start after only a half of an hour or so, certainly an hour at the most.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Actually a good question. From a specification, R&D, design, test, manufacture test and improvement point of view, I do not really know the brass tacks technical view. However I know for example, OLM's count ALL starts, over a mileage parameter, i.e., 7,500,10,000, 15,000 miles OCI, with a known TBN, i.e., 7/12 (and in some diesel and power plant generator applications: HOURS) point of view. So a "START" is one factor (of many) in the algorithm/s used for the "useful oil life remaining" calculation/s.
Common wisdom indicates that so called "cold" starts are one major cause of wear.
Corrective actions might include use of "pre" oilers. However there are really no independent studies of how much longer use of a pre oiler will extend the life of those components affected. Most studies are from UOA's, from which a conclusion can be deduced. The OVERWHELMING majority of the passenger vehicle fleet do not use this mitigation.
Another is the use of bypass oil filtering. The concept here of course is to filter out from a smaller portion of oil those (smaller sized) particles which MAY be deposited as a combustion byproduct, internal engine wear or a combination there of, and redeposit the so called "filtered oil back into the over all sump. Any and all of those have been identified to increase wear in the oil using a given oil capacity. The OVERWHELMING majority of the passenger vehicle fleet do not use this mitigation.
Another common mitigation: use of 0w oils, which allow faster oil flow (to those areas of greatest wear), thus cutting down (faster)the lack of oil lubrication during early engine operation. The OVERWHELMING majority of the passenger vehicle fleet do not use this mitigation.
I use only synthetic lubricants in my vehicles, lawn mowers, and anything else I own that has an engine on it. that being said I also use an engine oil analysis program to monitor the quality of the oil in my truck, a 2008 Ford F250 with the 6.4L powerstroke.
Synthetic lubricants can and regularly do last 25000 miles or more, I send mine off for analysis every 5000 miles to make sure it is still good for service, they send me bak the information on how my oil compares to new motor oil, and there isn't that much degradation over 5000 miles with synthetics. I buy my engine oil from an AMSOIL Dealer here locally, he has a website where I purchase it from it's www.supersynthetic.com . I will not put anything else in a vehicle, that is my personal preference. I am an aircraft mechanic, I have never in the last 9 1/2 years changed the oil on an aircraft turbine engine, I have changed lots of filters, but never the oil. Synthetic engine oils can last indeffinately provided they are monitored for degradation using oil analysis. I plan on running my engine oil until the tests come back that say The oil is no good anymore.
Have a great day
qball1976
Interesting that the email address given on www.supersynthetic.com is "qball@supersynthetic.com", almost the same as the user ID on your first and only post here at Edmund's.
I guessing that you are hardly a disinterested party. Nice try, though. "Johnny, what do we have for our contestant?"
Yet not many people question the behavior of changing @ 5,000 miles when 10,000 miles will do!? Nor the almost ridiculous (on the Corvette boards) 3,000 mles when 15,000 will do!?
Assuming the above is the case, then yes, 8,000 mile OCIs should be just fine. After a couple of oil changes, you might want to consider sending in an oil sample and having it analyzed. My bet is that you'll find that 10,000 to 12,000 is perfectly acceptable.
Best Regards,
Shipo
I am a disinterested party altair4, I was just stating the facts that I have regarding synthetic lubricants.
That was my first and only post until now, and I look foreward to posting here again, and again.
Have a great Day
qball1976 not to be confused with qball@supersynthetic.com
My apologies to gbal1976. Simply goes to show that when we jump to conclusions, we screw up bigtime.
Sorry.
qball1976
qball1976
qball1976