What do you guys think about this article?

http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/mobil1.html

My favorite part - "Engine wear actually decreases as oil ages. This has also been substantiated in testing conducted by Ford Motor Co. and ConocoPhillips, and reported in SAE Technical Paper 2003-01-3119. What this means is that compulsive oil changers are actually causing more engine wear than the people who let their engine's oil get some age on it."

Im sorry, but the above is not processing. Someone with more oil knowledge, please elaborate.

 

I know something about motor oil, having worked 35 years for an oil company (but not in the lubes dept) before I retired. I can not speak to the point about engine wear decreasing as oil ages - may or may not happen. I do know that changing your oil every 3 K miles is a gross waste of money and resources - particularly if you are using a synthetic motor oil.

I change my motor oil every 10 K miles (actually went 12.3 K on the last change because of being on a long trip). I get the oil tested by Blackstone Labs after every change (particularly after they found antifreeze in the oil from my Dodge pickup truck - cracked heads). I had been using Mobil 1 but have a lot of Pennzoil synthetic that I got for a great price, so will be switching to that at next change because the Mobil 1 is all gone.

I do agree with that cited site that you should change your filter if you run your oil for extended intervals. I could go to 15 K intervals or longer, but don't want to bother with changing the filter somewhere in the middle. So I get the best filters I can find and change at 10 K - more for the filter than for the synthetic motor oil. I currently have 113 K miles on the Max. As long is my Max was covered by the Nissan warranty, I changed my motor oil at 7.5 K miles (with is the maximum that Nissan recommends).

Quoting the lab from my 12.3 K mile test. "Thanks for the note that you'll be switching oil brands. You have a nicely wearing engine so just about anything you can find on a store shelf should work for you. You could try whatever ends up to be on sale wherever you're shopping, and it wouldn't even have to be a synthetic. Even with the cheapest brand you can find, you'll probably still have no problems running 12,000 miles (or more) on your oil. At any rate, we only bring this up for lack of other problems to talk about. Your engine is wearing like a champ and the TBN is still fine at 3.0. Try 14,000 miles."

Quoting the lab from my previous test where the oil went for 10 K miles: "The Nissan 3.5L V-6 engine in your Maxima is not showing any signs of slowing down as it passes the 100,000 mile mark. All wear metals are in the correct proportions to one another and at very nice levels after a 10,013 mile oil run, and that is a very good indication that no issues are developing with your engine's internal parts that share the oil. The viscosity of this oil mixture was reading at the top end of the 5W/30 range, and no coolant was present. The TBN showed plenty of active additive remaining at 4.7. Try 12,000 miles next. Great engine."

A great deal has changed with vehicles since the old standard of changing motor oil every 3 K miles was established in the 1950s or so.
I will list the changes in order of importance:

- Gasoline no longer contains as much sulfur as the gasolines produced back then. When gasoline is burned it produces about a gallon of water from burning a gallon of gasoline. Some of that water will condense in the engine and end up in the motor oil. Add the sulfur that does not get burned in the combustion process to the water and you end up with weak sulfuric acid in the motor oil. The sulfur content (by law) in gasoline has been reduced so much that this is no longer a problem. Back then the acid would play hell with the motor oil.

- Motor oils and their additives are substantiall improved over those from the 50s.

- Oil filters can be made better than those used back then. Some of the cheaper ones are not better, so get a good filter.

I would recommend that all of you try a longer OCI (oil change interval) and then test the used oil at Blackstone to see what you are throwing away. Go for 7.5 K miles on your first try and don't void the Nissan warranty.

 

Thanks alot for your input Silvermax. I did hear oil starts to breakdown or something of that nature and build moisture inside of it when you have it in your car for more then 6 months. What do you think about this? I only put on 5k on my BMW synthetic motor oil in the last 6 months, but I did add about a quart in the process cause it burns some oil here and there. Think I should go till March for the full 12 months and 10k miles? Personally all my cars felt more sluggish past the 3-4k mile mark. Could be my mind just playing tricks on me though.

Im also really interested to find out if oil really does protect better as the miles roll on. Sounds almost dumb to even think that.

 

Interesting. I will stick to 3-5K intervals thou. Have multiple cars running that interval and are all strong over 200K.

 

It is not about the car, it is about wasting resources.

Go for the 5 K miles and then send in a sample to the lab to find out how bad it is when you throw it away. You will likely find that it still has a good deal of life left in it at that point.

It is really funny how people get something in their head and then don't listen to the reasons why what they think is no longer applicable in today's world. That describes you.

 

Don't go all the way the first time. Change at 7.5K miles and get the oil tested by a lab. They will tell you whether there was still enough life left at that point to go to the 10K mile point. To some extent it depends on the type of driving you do. If it is mainly short trips in the city without a lot of highway miles, then the oil should be changed sooner than if you do a lot of longer highway driving. With my Max, I do a good deal of highway driving - this is the easiest on motor oil compared to short trips in the city with a lot of stopping and starting.

 

It has been working why change? Im pretty sure the cars that are running synthetic oil does have some life left. But i would rather change it early that too late, my cars have no oil life sensor or something of that nature. I remember sporadically to change the oil typically between after 2-3months, and i just change it on the spot.

You call it a waste of resources but i call it preventative maintenance.

 

I do a mix of both. But I think it would be wise to wait till about 7k and just keep adding oil in the process.

 

silvermax what kind of filter do you use and how often do you change it?

 

Interesting. Id like to try this lab testing you are speaking of Silvermax. What does a test like that typically cost?

 

This has changed over the years. I started out using the Nissan OEM filter, until it was reported on this site that Nissan had cheapened the filter. I then switched to a Mobil 1 filter that was larger than the Nissan filer. (When you go to extended drain intervals, you don't want your filter to plug up, so larger is better - provided the quality is there).

The Mobil 1 dropped this larger filter, and recommended a smaller filter. So I am now using the NAPA Gold filter #13n81. I have been happy with all of the filters that I used, but disappointed that two manufacturers cut quality to save money - at my expense.

I change the filter every time I change motor oil (currently 10 K miles). I agree with the point that the filter is in many ways more important than the oil. Some recommend changing filters every 5 K miles. IMHO that is a bit extreme if you are using a large quality filter. I also know (from Blackstone Labs) that I can run my oil past 10 or even 12 K miles. But I am not ready to change the filter at some mid point in an OCI that could approach 15 K miles or so. So I get quality filters and try to change oil and filter at about 10 K miles (other than my last change that went to 12 K miles).

Slightly different topic: With all motor oils, you should shake the container before opeing it and pouring the oil into your engine. You do this to properly mix all of the additives that motor oil contains. They tend to be heavier than the oil and sink to the bottom if not shaken.

 

I use Blackstone labs. They have a basic test for $25 and also offer that test plus a more expensive test of TBN for a total of $35. I have been paying for the more expensive test to be completely certain that there was life remaining in my used oil. I will do that one more time now that I am changing motor oil. Then when I know that there remains TBN life in the used oil, I will drop back to the cheaper test after that.

You can contact Blackstone at this address:
bstone@blackstone-labs.com

They will send you (snail mail) the stuff you need to collect and mail them a small sample of used motor oil.

Their address is:
Blackstone Labs
416 E. PETTIT AVE.
FORT WAYNE, IN 46806
(260) 744-2380

 

thank you sir!

 

Thanks silvermax

 

Sounds like management at my work! Change can be good as we learn better ways of doing things. To each his own tho. I will say my friend used to be a crew chief and built motors....without dragging out a thread his thoughts on oil are inline w silver max. Good thread!