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I think I am inclined to go that route with our Jetta 2.5...or actually to let the shop use what they want/stock, which is the Amsoil. I do want to check what I'll be charged for it first though, as the website shows nearly $9.20 per quart.
Not a fan of the cultish MLM marketing and all, so I certainly am not willing to pay more for amsoil than Mobil 1 would cost me.
I use the best conventional oil I can find, I use Honda filters on the Hondas and Ford filters on the Ford. I change oil twice a year, usually around the 4-6000 mile mark and THAT is good enough. At least for me.
Amzoil reminds me of Amway in the medhod in which it is marketed. A hyped up waste of money at least in my not so humble opinion.
One thing I won't use are those much advertised "orange" oil filters. I've seen one cut in half and they don't put much in there compared to a factory filter.
Now one reason to so call "switch" is indeed the "drift" to the 0w20 viscosity. Again the Ford & Honda specifications remaining obstensibly the same. For whatever reasons, the refiners and blenders have not seen fit to use a conventional oil to drop from 5 to ZERO for the winter portion 5w20 to 0w20. I also understand (you can confirm or deny) that Civic Hybrid's specify 0w20 oil (with the Ford/Honda specifications).
Now the "ORANGE" paint has little to no effect over the Honda's oem "blue" paint. That being said, I understand that FRAM makes oem Honda oil filters. albeit in "BLUE."
The Sandman
2023 Hyundai Kona Limited AWD (wife) / 2025 VW GTI (me) / 2019 Chevrolet Cruze Premier RS (daughter #1) / 2020 Hyundai Accent SE (daughter #2) / 2023 Subaru Impreza Base (son)
I guess I'm old school and I like to take better care of my cars instead of following the minimum requirements. Maybe I spend a bit too much but it makes me feel better.
You don't have to buy synthetic to get 0-20 oil. I don't think I would use that. Just seems too thin to me.
I have no idea who makes Honda's oil filters but I do know that Fram makes a lot of different quality filters.
You can use whatever makes you happy!
I don't think there is a "right" answer here hence by feelings toward the wisdom of using synthetics.
Many refiner's, blenders when simultaneously bound and not bound by governments, oem specifications, etc.,etc., are in fact "dumbing down " the already secret to technically incomprehensible formulas. Consumers pretty much buy whatever products on ... trust. Specifications, while varying in importance from marginal to MOST, are seldom (really) understood. In many cases, the only thing oems really say is; if you do not use specification oil XYZ you can have catastrophic failure to denial of warranty. Verification protocols, procedures have been, are available. They have been for the better part of 30 years. Scant few (% wise) are aware of them. Scant fewer even use them. People that use them (UOA's) sometimes do not even know what they mean or even how to use the FYI's.
So for example, most folks don't even know that one major but side bar advantage to synthetic is a 71.4% higher TBN (7 vs 12)
That said, virtually all quality synthetic oils are good for an easy ten to twelve thousand miles when run in a normal healty engine. I've run UOAs on four different cars, two were good for about twelve thousand miles pretty much regardless of how the car was driven, and the other two were good for about fifteen thousand miles. There was one exception in the fifteen thousand mile group; one of those two cars was driven almost exclusively at sedate speeds on the highway between upper New England and Long Island on a weekly basis during one OCI period, and for that particular oil change, the OLM didn't recommend oil service until the eighteen thousand mile point. The UOA came back showing the oil was not-quite exhausted (IIRC, the TBN was something like 1.4).
I will point out that not long ago, 15 to 18k OCI's were literally like falling off the flat side of the earth.
So for example while this is a tad more specialized, to be called a VW 507.00 oil it has to meet 50,000 KMS (converts to 31,069 miles) . Indeed it can NOT be called a VW 507.00 if it does not meet that. Here is a 2005 Total Quartz INEO 5w30 specification http://www.lubadmin.com/upload/produit/FichePDF/lang_1/5833.pdf
So as you can see it has been around for at least 6/7 MY's. Mobil One has a product to meet the VW 507.00 specification, aka M1 5w30 ESP. As you have noted its information sets the upper mileage recommendation to 15,000 miles. https://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Oils/Mobil_1_ESP_Formula_5W-30.asp- x
In fact the only thing different that what I said about statistically being just fine is the ... range. On their oils they say 3,000 to 15,000 miles.
They used a roll of toilet paper and their claim to fame was you NEVER needed to change your oil, just the roll of toilet paper.
And people used STP too!
I never used it either but a lot of people did.
I once pried a valve cover off a 235 Chevy pickup and you have NO IDEA how glooped up it was!
Besides never having an oil change, every time it was low on oil, the owner would pour in a can of STP!
IRONICALLY, the stuff was great for installing bearings. We would mix up some light oil + STP and dip the bearings in it (especially cam bearings). This of course was a minimal amount of STP, and we drained it all out once the engine had run at fast idle for 1/2 hour in its first start-up after rebuild.
Perhaps the more "UP on these issues" people know that ULSD (ultra low sulfur diesel) has a 15 ppm sulfur standard per Oct 2006 mandates. Most folks do not know that it is nominally delivered @ 5-7 ppm sulfur to the pumps to avoid even a hint of non compliance.
On the other hand, ask most to those very same folks what RUG to PUG's ppm sulfur is; and you in most cases, will draw a BLANK; as most folks know beyond "excathedra" that RUG to PUG is WAY cleaner than ULSD.
Well, funny thing, RUG to PUG standards is @ 30 ppm sulfur. It also can be delivered nominally @ the pumps @ up to 90 ppm sulfur with off line mitigation (aka FEES) So by law RUG to PUG can 1. be delivered 2 times to 18 times DIRTIER @ the pumps than ULSD 2. standard to standard RUG to PUG can be delivered up to 3 times DIRTIER than the standard. 3. on the other hand ULSD is delivered @ 67% to 53% (better) under the standards. 4. 98% of the passenger vehicle fleet use RUG to PUG 5. like for like more rug to pug is used over ULSD.
So what does all this blather have to do with synthetic oils?... All things being equal.... longer useful life. But like I have said refiners and blenders are industrious, they do work hard on dumbing it down.
So for example, my take is start with the greater OCI and use UOA's to confirm or deny. THEN adjust if needed/wanted. Most people that use UOA's (and there are VERY VERY few) go the other way, take the shortest OCI and adjust upwards.
As I had theorized before reading the full report, it showed the wear metal PPM counts peaking between seven and nine thousand miles and then dropping to about the three thousand mile level when the fifteen thousand mile mark rolled around. That said, the TBN was looking pretty sketchy by that last UOA.
It took me years to trust a 7500 OCI, and I'm going to need oil analysis to get me to 10K---I just can't bring myself to do it without science behind me. :P
Between my wife and myself, we often managed a combined sixty to seventy thousand miles per year of driving (and even closer to ninety one year). If I was to adhere to a five thousand or seventy-five hundred mile OCI for our cars, I'd be changing the oil in one of our cars every couple of week on average. That one of our daily drivers is good for twelve thousand and the other fifteen thousand, I'm able to spend less time under our cars.
Oh, and then there's the cold weather starting thing; the 0W-30 and 0W-40 oil that I use in our cars allows them to crank almost as if it's a warm summer day, even if the vehicle is completely cold soaked in temperatures well below zero.
The orange ones that come from Wal Mart aren't going to be the same as the ones Honda uses.
And, you are correct. Honda stretched oil changes on Civics in 2001 to 10,000 miles with a filter change every other time.
I'm sure a HUGE factor in this decision was the bean counters wanthing to make the Total Cost of Ownership numbers look good.
If you ask any Honda Technician if they follow that reccomendation on their personal cars, guess what the answer would be?
And, I can't even fathom the thought of keeping an oil filter on my car for 20,000 miles!
Not with 20,000 mile oil changes. Nope!
Let me ask you a question.
If two identical cars were for sale. Same car, same age and same 100,000 miles. Same price, same condition.
Would you rather buy the car that the owner skimped on oil changes and only did them every 20,000 miles or would you buy the car that had 5000 mile oil changes?
Just curious...
I guess we all need to do what we feel comfortable with.
I'm sure it can be a safe interval, but that doesn't mean it is a safe interval. If that were my operational norm, I would have a couple of UOA reports to support my decision.
Speaking of which, I need to pull an oil sample on my Forester.
I opted for TBN on my first two samples in March and July of 2010 since it was my first oil in the car (after the car's initial 2500 mile run up from Seattle), but I won't do TBN on this mid-cycle sample. I will opt for TBN in July when I put in new oil again (assuming the results are favorable on this sample, which will have about 8,000 since the July change). If it is good this July, I will not do a TBN again for this car unless I change my brand of oil.
Just to clarify, by the TBN being "good," I am looking for a number near or above three. After all, I don't drive exactly the same number of miles every year and prefer an annual change interval.
They did not have a filter to fit our Jetta, it would be special order and not eligible for the deal. So I got a filter for a different vehicle, that I will use some other time. The NAPA store apparently has Mann and NAPA Gold in stock and Checker has Wix. From what I have read these all seem to be highly regarded, but most of what I have found is pretty old so I thought I'd check on current opinions.
Most of the brands of which you speak are really re-packaged Mann, Bosch, Meyle, Hengst, etc., anyway. There is really little demand outside of known frequented logistic channels, which is probably why they do look ...OLD. For whatever reasons those brands who do repackaging in which you speak, usuallly cost more than the actual oem ...brands. They are usually not nearly as old either. So for example, I bought a slug of Mann branded oil filters for 4.50 each, including shipping. I priced the "correct" size in a FRAM rebranded/repackage and it was 12.99 (as I remember)