motor oils, opinions please

[Hahnsb2]

"While the wear metals all accumulated steadily over the course of the test, the highest concentrations of accumulation per mile occurred in the first 3,000 miles of the test! From the 3,000-mile mark all the way to 18,000 miles, only lead showed an increase in per-mile wear beyond 3,000 miles. Yet even with an increased wear rate, lead wore the least in terms of absolute wear. For iron and copper, the longer the oil remained in service, the lower the wear rate got.

In case it isn't obvious yet, this means that the most wear occurs in the first 3,000 miles."
Bottom of page http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/mobil1.html

Take it with a grain of salt as it is after all, only one test.

 

[Kona]

Extended service intervals are great for a part (differentials) that often neglected. I mentioned something that effect in my last post.

Synthetics last longer, that is a given. But if you change your engine oil at 3-4k there is little advantage to using it.

All right, so I did not pay attention. Yes if you change it every 3k the price/benefit level goes way down.

 

[shadetree]

Chinamart Supertech synthetic. I go 10k changes. It's as good as most of the high dollar oils for the intended purposes. Changing oil at 3k is a waste of money and resources unless your vehicle is used in extreme conditions. Your owners manual will tell you this. shady

I almost fall off my chair every time I read that. Do you know what a paraffin is? Hint: it's NOT a synonym for paraffin wax.

ALL mineral oils are paraffin based. So is gasoline (mostly), propane, methane, etc. A paraffin is a linear chain hydrocarbon with all single-bonds. That's all.

I love how these old wives tales get passed on thru the years, just like the Fram filter fiasco. OOOPS!!! I said it.....hehe shady

 

[superrocker10]

i use motorcraft synthetic blend 5w-30 and motorcraft filters. but thats only because i get them free from work...

 

[hihoslvr]

Changing ever 3,000 miles is excessive. Go 5k with conventional, even more with synthetic. I used to do it every 3k, but I'm slowly accepting the fact that 5k is ok. I'm currently changing it every 4k, trying to ease myself into it lol. Or every 6 months, whichever comes first. Synthetic can go a year though if you don't put too many miles on it. Oh yeah and I'm using Motorcraft 5w-30 synthetic blend, GREAT stuff. I switched all my vehicles over to it.

Does anyone else read the owners manual? I'd go with that... it probably says something like use Motorcraft partial syntehtic blend (which is relatively inexpensive), 5w-30 for your engine, like you say, and at a 5,000 to 7,500 mile interval. When all else fails - read the instructions.

 

[Kona]

You did notice the big spike in early wear was while the car was still in engine break-in?