I'm going to try synthetic oil. I've read dozens of posts, read manufacturers sites, etc and I think it would be worth a try. You only live once! I'm not trying to start the Ford vs Chevy war (synth vs dino) here, just stating what I'm doing and seeing what others have to say. I just did a full oil change and put in Mobil 1. I'm going to run 3 weeks or so, 800-1000 miles, and change it again before my trip. I've read that synth can basically clean an engine and remove dino sludge and I don't want to be pumping sludge 7 hours each way. Anyway, I'm going to try 9000 mile changes w/3000 mile filter changes. I found bulk 5qt jugs at Wal-Mart for $17.88, about $3.58 / qt. I am going to try to test the oil at each filter change to make sure I don't run too long. At least for the first 2-3 changes. I know a guy w/a BMW and they tell him to change oil every 14-16k miles and he does w/no filter change in between. Wow! I would at least change the filter but I don't know what BMW does for filtration. Another guy was testing every 3000 at the filter change and changing oil at 12,000 miles. His oil tested so well that he switched to 15,000 mile change intervals. I'll keep you posted and let me know if anyone else does the extended change interval and if you test.

 

In my opinion, the frequency with which you change your oil is more important than the type of oil you use. That being said, I change my Mobil 1 10w-30 and filter every 3000 miles. I also add a quart of Slick 50 every 50k miles, so what do I know.

Take care,
-Chris

 

that slick 50 is great..my rocker arms were getting mighty loud the other morning(well loud to me) so later that day I decided to give slick50 a try and I havn't heard a sigle ping on a cold morning for a week.

 

I swear by it too, but there are alot of others who will tell you it's junk. They'll show you websites with charts and studies, all saying that Slick 50 doesn't do anything at all, but we both know better. I no longer argue with them. It's not worth the effort. I have witnessed near-miracles that were thanks to Slick 50, so I'm convinced. Screw everybody else.

Take care,
-Chris

 

amen!

 

I know all the arguments for changing more often but I have to believe that todays oils, especially synthetics, are far better than 20, even 5, years ago. I found a post on www.edmunds.com referring to a 60,000 mile study involving a taxicab fleet. Some were changed at 3000 and some at 6000. No appreciable difference was found in the cars after the 60,000 miles. Also, they used dino oil in the test. I'm going to change the filter every 3000 to get rid of 'dirt' but I believe the oil will be just fine.