Thread: 15k mile oil change

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I'm very skeptical about this new sythetic that says can go 15,000 miles between oil changes.
I believe that in a diesel that could be true, but a gasoline??
What do you guys think about this?

i run AMS oil in everything i got, change filter about every 12000 miles and oil about 25000. far as i know it works great. AMS oil has a better motor warranty than GM. oil co. couldnt tell you to stop changing you oil if they wanted to. they would go broke in about 60 days. so what the real truth is i dont know.

i think you can do it either way. the reason i do it is because i dont change oil like i should and thats the next best thing.

Most motor oils will actually last much longer than the 3000 mile intervals that most folks use and like mentioned above the problem is usually with contaminents in the oils as opposed to viscisity breakdown. This being said, your oil filter is the weak link. oil filters, as most of you know, have a bypass valve built inside of them so that when they get plugged up the bypass opens up and what then? You guessed it, no filter what so ever. The bypass is actually there so you don't blow oil filters up, very messy and not good for the motor depending on where and when this happens. Most conventional oils will actually last around 7-10K depending on your driving habits, I don't trust filters though. I will change them every 3K just because. The things you have to remember are already mentioned here, contaminents in the oil, and viscosity breakdown. Conytaminents can come from all kinds of places too. Here in the desert, lots of dust, carbon build up from inside the motor, fuel bypassing the rings, this is more common in carburated cars, not to mention any additives you may use. I would consider most of them junk, Amsoil is a great product, so is Prolong and Marvel mystery oil, but I would not depend on any of them for a whole lot of anything. I know people personally who have tried to get warranty stuff from amsoil and prolong both and believe it or not, the prolong folks were much easier to work with. The amsoil people wanted an oil sample from before engine failure and then after engine failure, who keeps oils amples from all of there oils changes. I know I don't.

All this being said, there are some good additives out there. Like I said I like Amsoil and Prolong, both should work well in theory. Rislone also makes a good additive as does Morey's and Lucas. Most of the rest are junk and I would not waste time and money on. As far as changing your oil regularly, my advice would be to just do it. All the additives in the world won't be as helpful as keeping good oil and filters in your car, they just help, I would consider them preventative maintenance, helpers if you will, all helping the greater good of keeping your engine running longer, stronger and better. Even the additive folks will tell you to keep your oil changed at regular intervals if asked in a way that could come back to them.

with conventional oil I don't mind changing it every 3k because you can get the stuff for $8 a gallon if you look around for a special. But I'm thinking of buying a new car with this new GM discount, and since this will be the first time I get to maintain a vehicle from the start I was thinking of using synthetic.
Man that stuff is expensive though. I certainly wouldn't leave oil in a gasoline engine for 15k miles, but I was thinking maybe I'd change it every 7500.

I've never seen this "ams" stuff, where do you get it?
Is it good to just replace the filter every 3k and then
add something like Lucas to put the additives back in?

first off amsoil is not a additive. at what point would you say this ansoil i use is gonna get so bad it will stop up my oil filter? sounds like one mans opinion to me. if reg. oil could have done the job there wouldn't be no need for synthetic oils to start with. if you want to believe everything the oil co. tell you , it fine with me. why wouldn't additive people tell you to change you oil ever 3000 miles, that's the only way they can sell you anything. i don't use additive in my cars i don't need to, and by the way the only filters I've ever blown off a motors had reg. motor oil in them.

Originally posted by tcodi
with conventional oil I don't mind changing it every 3k because you can get the stuff for $8 a gallon if you look around for a special. But I'm thinking of buying a new car with this new GM discount, and since this will be the first time I get to maintain a vehicle from the start I was thinking of using synthetic.
Man that stuff is expensive though. I certainly wouldn't leave oil in a gasoline engine for 15k miles, but I was thinking maybe I'd change it every 7500.

I've never seen this "ams" stuff, where do you get it?
Is it good to just replace the filter every 3k and then
add something like Lucas to put the additives back in?

I've used all kinds of oil and never had any problem with none of them but I have a friend that lives in Richmond that sell amsoil and sense i don't change it like i should i read up on it it and it sounded ok, so when i buy a car the first oil change i put it in and I've never had a problem. if i couldn't get it i wouldn't shot myself or nothing like that, but it works for me. most additive don't do nothing, i don't use them. go over to search and look up AMSOIL and read up on it. if you can believe the test it beats all other oils by a long ways. i don't believe much of anything i read, but it serve my need.

In 1980 I had a 78 --280Z . Penzoil was advertising a 7500 mile oil and STP was advertising a 15000 mile double oil filter. I tried both and at around 5400 miles my oil pressure dropped off by 50% at idle. I tried it again and met with the same results. One or both of them were giving up.

I have a friend who use to drain the synthetic oil out of his race car and put in in his 4 cylinder S 10 pickup. He drove that S10 over 300,000 miles and claims he never changed the oil more than 10 times. He would however, change the filter from time to time.

Mobil 1 has recently started advertising their 5000 mile synthetic oil. I have beeen using the old mobil 1 and the Purolator,pure one oil filter for years and running 5000 miles on the oil change . My Camry LE has 57000 miles and looks and runs like new . My 92 GMC pickup has 168000 miles, runs perfect, burns no oil,and gets 19 MPG.

I believe there have been test to prove that some of these synthetics loose absolutely no lubricating qualities at 3000 miles.

The oil companies dont want you to know that. They want to sell oil.

sounds good to me, thats why i put synthetic in last round, because i would never get my conventional oil changed until 4-6 thousand. i think with todays oils being better refined and new engines burning cleaner, frequent oil changes are not as critical as they once were. i took a leap of faith once and bought a 88 bonniville with 163,000 miles on it and the previous owner i know didnt change the oil until 7-8 thousand miles, i sold the care with 225,000 on it and the oil pressure was still high and it still burned no oil.

disclaimer- my T/A gets is oil changed every 3,000 or every year. also never buy a mechanics vehicle, i know i would never buy anything i owned

First off lt1s10, why are you always on my butt, sounds to me like waht you posted originally was quite an opinion myself, and not chaning your oil for 15-25K miles and bragging about it is just stupid. The fact that filters plug up is not an opinion and just because you use amsoil doesn;t mean that you suddenly don't have to worry about contaminents in the oil. Judging by the tone of your last post I must have struck a chord somewhere. As afr as believing what the oil companies tell me, please, that's what I'm trying to get you to NOT do. My opinion is based on much more than just oil company propaganda. I guess this may turn into another one of those "In my changing of over 100 clutches" thread. I, like the rest here was offering my experience, if you don't like it, don't read it, but you don't need to get all huffy because your "opinion" differs from mine. I never said I didn't like amsoil, as a matter of fact if you look it back over you would see the opposite, and yes ams also makes additives, as well as oil, grease, trans fluids, and also offer many filters.

So from what I read on this last post I guess you're saying that running Amsoil will keep all those contaminents from getting into your oil? So if I run a carbed motor will it keep the gas from running down the cylinders too? And no dirt anymore? Wow, a magic snake oil that will cure all, if that's not one man's opinion I don't know what is.

Let me try to say this again, but more basically, I'll try not to say anything too offensive. There is no such thing as a magic oil that will keep you from having to change your oil at regular intervals. There is no subsitute for regular oil changes and oil less compressors usually suck too. Lubrication is key to keeping your engine running a long and happy life, why would you skimp on something as cheap and easy as an oil change. I'll give you that synthetics will go longer without changes and lube better. The last new car I had I used Mobil 1 synthetics and went 6K between changes. I did change the filter at 3K, better safe than sorry. Yes this is an opinion, just like ALL the rest.

Just for the guys who don't know what it is or where to get it here is a link to Amsoil . It is a good product, I have used it in the past and I know others besides folks here who swear by it also, What I'm saying is that NOTHING is an alternative to regular oil changes. Some things are just better to use if you're too lazy to do them. And that is a FACT.

We need oil that lasts longer I paid 25 bucks for the last case of castrol !!!!!

I told the guy what oil I used and told him"I think you can do it either way. the reason I do it is because i don't change oil like I should and that's the next best thing" and you come along and proceded to tell me how stupid and dumb it was not to change oil every 3000 miles and how it was gonna blow oil filters off and a bunch of other crap and you say im starting a fight. how some people try to turn things like that around always amazes me. you call me stupid and say I'm picking on you. this post can turn into anything you want it to but it takes two to make a argument. O I know sense you think I'm wrong I'm doing the arguing. i really don't know what to say to someone that comes on a forum like this and call somebody stupid for no reason. "i must be loosing my mind", but i really dont know how to answer that. all i can say i dont think its a good idea going around calling poeple stupid to often.

Let's not start another war in here. When I read most posts, I just nod my head or shake it.......either way.I feel no compunction to blast someone who says something stupid(IMHO) I just shake my head, laugh, and move on. Believe me, that is easier than starting a pissing contest to see who is smarter. And as an aside, I don't think anyone should consider themselves too smart .......I've seen the poor grammar and misused quotes and sayings ,,,,,,,but I would never post a reply telling someone they were ignorant...and believe me, I make some bonehead comments too.........just grin get a good laugh and move on.....life is too short to be angry all the time.