i30ish

How important is it to use a brand name oil? I do oil changes every 3 months because I barely hit 1500 miles in 3 months. So should I be spending money on mobil or castrol “quality” over smaller brands they use at gas stations to do a 13.95 oil change?

Bobo

You should use a decent quality oil and filter. I sense your car is not run on the highway very much, so it consequently does not get up to operating temperature very often, which is not good for the oil.

At any rate, changing the oil every 3 months after 1,500 miles is a waste of money regardless of what kind of driving you do.

You should be able to extend your oil change interval to at least 6 months and possibly longer.

mtrai760

iTrader: (19)

+1. Use a good quality oil and filter and extend your oil changes out to 6 months. No need to change every 3 months, or even 3k miles for that matter, that is a waste of money.

i30ish

I’m not using synthetic oil. I was told that oil (not synthetic) starts to brake down after 3 months no matter how many miles is on it.
I always get OEM filter, so no worries there, i was just interested in oil. No, i don not get too many highway miles, 98% stop and go, New York you know.

Bobo

Oil does not break down after 3 months, particularly if it isn't being used much. The 3-month oil change is a myth perpetrated by the oil industry and lube joints and has no basis in fact.

i30ish

are there any reads online on this? so since i'll be doing only 2 oil changes instead of 4, i might as well get castrol, plus i'll be doing oil changes myself. Thanks for the info!

99grnmaxgxe

iTrader: (11)

Yes get Castrol!

mtrai760

iTrader: (19)

check out www.bobistheoilguy.com for all you ever wanted to know about oil

CreativeDesignz

iTrader: (3)

castrol GTX FTW for cheap oil

hellfyre

i definitely put only 1.2K on my car in 3 months. I still use M1 oil with OEM filter and change it every 4 months. Oil comes out looking like it did when I put it in.

Still don't want to going with a cheaper oil since I have 110K on the car.

SilverMax_04

Don't go for cheaper oil, go for longer oil change intervals. Mobil 1 in normal operation can easily go for 10 K miles. I change my M 1 at 7.5 K miles to keep my powertrain warranty in effect. When I pass 60 K miles and this warranty ends, I will probably go to 10 K mile change intervals.

The earlier advice on this thread from Bobo and mtrai are right on, except for the change I suggest below.

In the past there was general advice to at least change your oil every 6 months, no matter what the mileage. But with the not well publicized (but it did happen) fact that the government has mandated ultra-low-sulfur gasoline beginning last March, this advice can be rewritten to say that you should at least change your oil once a year -- in the event that you do not hit the mileage mark for an oil change.

i30ish

so mobil 1 or gtx every 6 months or every 10k should be good? Forgot to mention, i have 115.5k on my car. thanks guys!

SilverMax_04

If you want to change every 6 months, use the cheaper Castrol. There have also been reports of engines with the mileage you have on yours developing leaks when changed from dino motor oil (Castrol GTX) to synthetic motor oil. If this engine has been running on synthetic for most of those miles, there should be no problems staying with synthetic. But I would not change synthetic every 6 months unless it hits the mileage mark for a change -- something like 10 K miles.

CCS2k1Max

iTrader: (2)

Havoline dino seems to be a BITOG favorite for the higher than usual moly content.

i30ish

M1 and gtx are not synthetic right, if so i think you lost us somewhere. The car never ran on synthetic and i'm not planing to run it on synthetic in the future, regular oil only.

CCS2k1Max

iTrader: (2)

Mobil 1 and Mobil 1 Extended Performance ARE full synthetic. Mobil Clean 5000 is "regular."

i30ish

yeah, i got everyone confused, sorry. i was talking about regular oil all along, just used a wrong name.