Bill Bowling

iTrader: (6)

I change my oil every 5K on all my cars. I have always used synthetics. My last Third Gen had 160K+ miles (and 17 years) and never smoked or needed any engine work.

BowlingSS

Swifster

My street vehicle is a 2001 Ford Ranger with 3.0L V-6 and rear wheel drive. I drive between 50,000-70,000 miles a year in the course of my job. I bought the truck used with 7800 on the odometer.

I changed the oil when purchased and again at 10,000 miles. Since then I've changed the oil and filter every 5000 miles as well as rotating the tires, as many maintenance schedules are based on 5000 mile intervals. I would class the type of driving I do as severe (like taxi's and police cars). I use 5W-30 Mobil 1.

Currently, this truck has appoximately 92,000 miles on it, including a trip to California in the middle of July using a tow dolly to tow my Studebaker back to Michigan. The oil in my truck looks like new, even when ready to replace after 5000 miles.

I will pass two tips on to everyone. First, if you buy a new vehicle, leave the original oil in for the first 1000 miles. Then change it with a petroleum based oil for the next 4000 miles. This will allow the rings to seal. Synthetic oils work too good and will not let the rings get a good seat. And a 4000 mile oil change will not hurt your car. Under normal use, everyone's service manual will show at least a 6000, if not 7500 mile oil change interval.

Second, no dip stick is perfect. Do not continue filling or stop filling based on the stick. Like every other part on your car, these are made to be within a certain tolerence. My truck takes 4.5 quarts of oil. Period! I do not top off to meet the full mark. The "FULL" mark on my truck is between the "ADD" and the "FULL" marks. I trust the owners manual more than the dip stick. If your car takes 5.0 quarts, why would you add a 1/2 quart to reach the "FULL" mark and overfill the oil pan???

Patman

Most engines will tolerate more oil than the manual says though. One of the smartest oil guys I know has a method of determining safe oil level where he slowly keeps adding more oil until he reaches a point where he sees oil bubbles on his dipstick immediately after shutdown. Then he knows the threshold and puts in slightly less than this. In some cases he says he is able to add as much as 1.25qts more than the manual says! He has oil analysis done on his vehicles, so he knows it is safe (and he's got over 250k on one of these vehicles with this method!)

Swifster

Hmmm, let's see. The reason to add this additional oil is...what? If he's checking his oil at shutdown and looking for bubbles (while the vehicle is level and standing still), what's happening while the vehicle is moving? What happens on turns, accelartion, or braking? How much of this oil is foaming while he's driving? Too much oil is just as bad as too little. Would it not make sense that if you overfill it this way, that the oil is now above the pan baffles and subject to windage (which is why they put the baffles in there in the first place)? I'm sorry, short of having an Accusump or a full dry sump system, I fail to see the advantage of adding additional oil.

I guess it's a matter of who you trust. Do you trust the one guy who does this, or the engineers who designed the engine, tested the engine, and in some cases raced the engine (C5R Program, Viper Program, etc.)? I think I'll trust that part of the original purchase price of my vehicle (in this case my Ranger) included a certain amount of engineering.

Patman

The engineers who designed the LS1 even tell you it's safe to put an extra 1.5 quarts of oil into it though! That's a well known fact, they say to do this when racing, so that tells you something right there.

More oil is good because it means you have less stress on it, and can go longer intervals too. Why do you think so many European engines use larger 8-10qt sumps? They go with longer intervals, and the higher amount of oil overall reduces the stress on that oil. Obviously you don't want to overfill to the point of it being whipped up by the crank, but my point is that there is a lot of leeway in most engines before this occurs, so if you fill it to the point just before this point, you're doing a good thing.

Sal2KZ28

Where is my tracking numer, you said you were going to ship them last Monday. I am still waiting for my floor mats.

Tranzor

Well, according to the manual for my car (which means the GM engineers in your example) recommends that I only use 5w30 (doesn't specify synthetic or non), and that I use a certain size of filter, along with 5.5 quarts of oil.

Based on real life recommendations, I use synthetic 0w40, a larger oil filter, and 6 quarts of oil per change. Even though I'm not doing EXACTLY what the manual says, I know I'm not hurting my car, in fact what I'm doing is actually a little better for the type of driving I do.

sawedoff

iTrader: (3)

Now for my usual response! I use Neo Sythetic race oil in 0w-5 and have been since I bought it new. It's around $10qt. Patman is absolutely correcto on the Mobil One that's used on the track being a completely different breed of mule than what you get at the local Wal Mart. A good team will NEVER give away information on what works for them. You got a typical blanket answer. In fact, alot of teams that say they use one brand, actually use another brand. Race oils are not the same as a passenger car oil. They are for completely different conditions of use. You can use a race oil for the street and have wonderful results. The testing on alot of the passenger car stuff, simply doesn't apply to a race oriented oil. What the big problem is here is a clash of worlds and practicality. A racer will change his oil after every race, because he has to. A dude on the street that has a real fast car will do alot of stuff for romantic ideals. For the LS1 engines, you really don't need a thick heavy oil. You can free up horsepower by using a high quality oil. If I were to use an oil from the Wal Mart, I would go with the lowest viscocity I could get away with. Sythetics are vastly superior to the old stuff in they way they perform, coat parts, flow when cold and hot,and flash point.

crainholio

iTrader: (2)

Here's a counterpoint: the LS1 crate engine installation manual specifies 10W-30. I'm in the midst of installing an LS1 into my project car, snagged the crate manual just to have more info on hand, and the oil spec caught my eye.