Oil change recommendations?

[SVOboy]

Last time I put 5w20 ford fully sythetic oil in, said it improved FE right on the container!

[Krieg]

There is no question that it improves FE slightly.

The question is, is the decrease in protection worth the increase in FE?

I think that both Ford and Honda have been recommending 0W20 for some time now. I have not heard of any rash of early engine failures.

[nascarnation]

I'm running yellow bottle Pennzoil ($2/qt) 5W20 in an old Saturn with 130,000 miles. It seems fine. If it blows up I'll let everyone know.

[SVOboy]

Originally Posted by Krieg

There is no question that it improves FE slightly.

The question is, is the decrease in protection worth the increase in FE?

I think that both Ford and Honda have been recommending 0W20 for some time now. I have not heard of any rash of early engine failures.

As far as I know Honda has only put 0w20 in the Insight, and has moved to 5w20 in nearly everything else. Don't think it's universal yet.

[Krieg]

Originally Posted by nascarnation

I'm running yellow bottle Pennzoil ($2/qt) 5W20 in an old Saturn with 130,000 miles. It seems fine. If it blows up I'll let everyone know.

Awesome. Thanks for being a gunea pig!

Have you noticed much of a FE improvement since the switch?

[ajax_6531]

On the newer cars, honda recommends 5w20 and so forth. On the older cars, 5 or 10w30. As for my cars, I use Mobil 1 synthetic without the high mileage crap. I use Fram Toughguard oil filters and change my oil every 3000 miles, too. I haven't had a problem with leaking. I've heard that the detergents in the synthetic oils clean out the gunk that builds up from the non-synthetic oil. These days, there is just as much detergent in either type of oil. I have seen better mileage with the synthetic. The more you keep the oil in the engine, the more chance it has at accumulating 'crap' in that time. By the way, I have a 97 Civic, an 05 Accord, and a 92 F150. No problems yet.

[Zukibot]

I do like that Valvoline Max Life Synth/Conv blend. Good stuff.

I don't like the Valvoline oil change places though. I've heard too many horror stories.

[othergames]

Originally Posted by Krieg

Wasn't Honda using 0W20 in 2000?

That Max Life stuff is thicker and will slightly decrease your mileage.

Best thing for mileage would be 0W20 synthetic. Look into the extended interval oils. Go well beyond 7500 miles between changes.

Also, just wondering why anyone who hypermiles would change their oil more than absolutely necessary? Seems counterintuitive to me. Wasting money on oil changes but trying to save money on gas?

Some people place more emphasis on the conservancy of resources, I'm sure.

Keep in mind that a dirtier oil will be significantly thicker, though I have NO IDEA how it will lessen MPG. The closer the oil's similarity to its original state, the higher the mileage.

[Vince-HX]

I have always gone with Castrol, and @ 180,000 miles the recommended 5-30 still works just fine. And I change based one how dirty the oil is not really on mileage, usually anywhere from 3-5k. Your oil is your engines blood, ide rather err on the safe side then try and push it ya know.

[Krieg]

Yeah, I'm more on the "save money" page than "save the environment", but that's important too.

Any way you cut it, changing your SYNTHETIC oil at 3k is wasteful. I'm wondering if oil analysis is the way to go for someone that concerned with his oil. I mean, if the $20 cost of the analysis saves one oil change, you've made your money back and then some.

And if I were doing oil analysis, I would TOTALLY try 0W20. That would ensure that its not doing major damage.