Oil change every 3k or 5-10k?

[revivingsho]

I know it's gonna differ with driving styles and what type of oil you use, but which is true:
changing oil every 3k miles due to weakened additives, or changing every 5-10k miles won't make a difference? I'm more of a believer on the longer oil change intervals as I don't trust "Jiffy ****" standards, and I used to work there for like a week, and I learned so much that it's not even funny; how they do the service , and I learned that penzoil is bad

I change it every 5k miles with dino oil, I don't use the SHO as a track car. And my friend told me that the oil filter doesn't last more than 3k miles, so I change the filter at 3k, oil at 5k.

Or is this topic going to have 2 different answers forever?

 

[LJRuddy]

I usually go every 4-5k and i use Wix filters and GTX high mileage oil.

 

[1993MTXSHO]

I change every 3k, from what i hear the oil filter outlasts the oil, but changing at 3k really cant hurt, it always makes me feel better.

 

[blownatx95]

I change every 2,500. call me crazy but it makes me feel better with a high mileage car and original rod bearings

 

[SHOtimer]

You will get a ton of different answers on here - from people that use synthetic and go 25k between changes, or people like me that go 2-2.5k on dino oil and have a spotless motor.

Do what makes you feel good. FYI - the SHO motor likes Castrol GTX and not more than 3k changes....

Doug

 

[SHOtime2511]

You will get a ton of different answers on here - from people that use synthetic and go 25k between changes, or people like me that go 2-2.5k on dino oil and have a spotless motor.

Do what makes you feel good. FYI - the SHO motor likes Castrol GTX and not more than 3k changes....

Doug

agreed,change your oil every 3K,stay away from FRAM filers,there crap.

 

[Shoaz]

Do a search, there was a thread on this exact topic not that long ago.

There are lots of opinions, so do what you want.

FWIW, 5k mi oil changes are normal these days, especially if you're not in a dusty/dirty environment. If your car sees normal street duty and is otherwise well maintained, IMHO 5k mi oil and filter change is good. Even the Car Talk guys agree on this point.

If the oil is turning black before 5k mi, change it. That usually means, though, that the engine is already dirty inside or something else is going on to muck it up.

 

[blownatx95]

yes, steer clear of fram.

 

[1993MTXSHO]

yeah fram can eat me, its ironic that 500 miles after i put that filter on my car, my rod bearings schredded.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Having seen the insides of well over 1000 SHO motors, I'm a firm believer that any brand oil, conventional, blended, or synthetic, are all just as good if changed frequently enough. I've seen 300K mile motors with regular oil changes that had almost no wear and looked brand new inside, and 50K motors that looked like the oil had never been changed. We break in all of our rebuilt motors with Walmart conventional oil, and have never had a problem.

For most of our customers, I recommend a 5000 mile interval for normal everyday driving, or 3000 miles for someone who spends a lot of time with the accelerator on the floor. If you track your car, I recommend changing the oil reasonably soon after the event, even if you only have 500 miles on that oil. We don't see a lot of southwest cars except on camfests, but given the climate conditions along with dust I'd recommend a 3000 mile interval for those conditions as well.

FWIW, I run Amsoil in my car since I'm not always able to get to work on my own car as often as I like, and will usually run 7000-8000 miles between oil changes unless I've had the car on the track. While I love Amsoil, I'm not going to keep their oil in my car for 25K miles no matter what they say!

DIY oil changes are cheap. Let's say you change your oil every 3000 miles for 100000 miles. That's 33 oil changes. At ~$12 per oil change for 5 quarts of oil at ~$1.69/qt and a filter at ~$3.00, that's about $400 over 100K miles, or $.004 cents per mile in the cost-of-ownership. That's pretty cheap insurance to keep your engine well-running, and the improved fuel economy alone can offset the costs of the oil changes completely!

The bottom line is that more frequent oil changes won't cause any harm and can in the long run prolong the life and reliability of your engine. Less frequent oil changes on the other hand can do the opposite.

 

[sho_sc]

Having seen the insides of well over 1000 SHO motors, I'm a firm believer that any brand oil, conventional, blended, or synthetic, are all just as good if changed frequently enough. I've seen 300K mile motors with regular oil changes that had almost no wear and looked brand new inside, and 50K motors that looked like the oil had never been changed. We break in all of our rebuilt motors with Walmart conventional oil, and have never had a problem.

For most of our customers, I recommend a 5000 mile interval for normal everyday driving, or 3000 miles for someone who spends a lot of time with the accelerator on the floor. If you track your car, I recommend changing the oil reasonably soon after the event, even if you only have 500 miles on that oil. We don't see a lot of southwest cars except on camfests, but given the climate conditions along with dust I'd recommend a 3000 mile interval for those conditions as well.

FWIW, I run Amsoil in my car since I'm not always able to get to work on my own car as often as I like, and will usually run 7000-8000 miles between oil changes unless I've had the car on the track. While I love Amsoil, I'm not going to keep their oil in my car for 25K miles no matter what they say!

DIY oil changes are cheap. Let's say you change your oil every 3000 miles for 100000 miles. That's 33 oil changes. At ~$12 per oil change for 5 quarts of oil at ~$1.69/qt and a filter at ~$3.00, that's about $400 over 100K miles, or $.004 cents per mile in the cost-of-ownership. That's pretty cheap insurance to keep your engine well-running, and the improved fuel economy alone can offset the costs of the oil changes completely!

The bottom line is that more frequent oil changes won't cause any harm and can in the long run prolong the life and reliability of your engine. Less frequent oil changes on the other hand can do the opposite.

Hear, hear ... you have pretty much summed up what I have figured out over my many years of owning a SHO (among other cars). However, I do really believe that the 2K-3K oil change is a hold over from the days when car's cooling systems didn't get much above 170F to burn off all of the gas contamination.

 

[JEM]

6K oil changes, Shell Rotella T Synthetic 5W-40 (the SHO motor has enough sliding bits in the valvetrain to make me want the EP additives in diesel oil, cats are cheaper than cams), Wix or NAPA (made by Wix) filters.

 

[crazy_canadian]

I change the oil at 3k with Castrol GTX 5w30 and a Motomaster (canadian tire oem standards) Mustang 5.0L oil filter and use 5.5 quarts.

 

[sdpatt]

I agree that frequent oil changes are the best insurance you can buy for your engine's life. I have replaced the Castrol GTX in my SHO 111 times at the 3,000-mile interval that has proven to help an engine last a very long time. Castrol should pay me for all the advertising I have done for them. I sure buy it.

 

[revivingsho]

Thanks everyone for their opinions, Mr Anonymous did have the best answer. He's right it's not much of a money difference whether you change often or not, but we can sometimes be lazy just to do simple oil change We should sticky Mr Anonymous' opinion heh.

Now is it good to use Castrol GTX or High Mileage one? and if it's over 100k on motor, and I live in nice warm weather, so is 10w-30 good? or 10w-40? I know 5w-30 is too thin for high mileage cars, but just want to be clear.

 

[sdpatt]

I live in Texas where winter temps never get below the 0F lower limit for the 10W-30 oil specified in the owners manual and summer temps regularly exceed the 100F upper limit for 5W-30. I run the Castrol GTX High Mileage 10W-30 and have only used that or the "regular" GTX 10W-30 for the life of my car's engine. Is 335,300 miles enough to be considered "high mileage?"

 

[JEM]

Now is it good to use Castrol GTX or High Mileage one? and if it's over 100k on motor, and I live in nice warm weather, so is 10w-30 good? or 10w-40? I know 5w-30 is too thin for high mileage cars, but just want to be clear.

10W-30, 10W-40, 5W-30 doesn't tell you enough. Even the '30-weight' part is a range, and some oils within the same range are thinner than others (Mobil1 oils, for instance, tend to run thin.)

All else being equal, a 5W-30 and a 10W-30 are the same oil at operating temperature.

The fount of most knowledge on the topic is at the Bobistheoilguy forums:

http://theoildrop.server101.com/forums/ubbthreads.php

But then I haven't used anything non-synthetic for anything but engine break-in in ten years, and I also think 3000mi oil changes for road cars to be a waste of time, effort, and money...

 

[dpsutphin]

I agree that frequent oil changes are the best insurance you can buy for your engine's life. I have replaced the Castrol GTX in my SHO 111 times at the 3,000-mile interval that has proven to help an engine last a very long time. Castrol should pay me for all the advertising I have done for them. I sure buy it.

And because of your sucess with it, I have changed from Mobil One to Castrol. It seems to work just as well, and changing it more frequently can only help. Put me in for a testimonial, if Castrol ever decides to pay you...lol.

 

[drivinhard]

Here's a co-workers 96 Camry I'm working on. Regular 3000 mile changes here

 

[LJRuddy]

Ok, who put charcoal in their oil???


That looks terrible. I can only imagine what the oil pan and underside of the engine looks like...