I started using royal purple when i did my last oil change. It seems to be working great and i noticed a little MPG increase. On the RP website they say that in new (clean) engines this oil only needs to be changed every 12,000 miles and to change the filter every 5,000 miles. I have and '08 F-150 5.4L BTW. My question is that is that is it ok to change it every 10,000 miles or so with regular filter changes on a clean engine? I order the X3 tuner from Troyer the other day and they said that i need to change the oil every 3000 miles even if i use RP. At the price of this full synthetic oil i am not willing to change it that often. Who is correct?

 

I've never seen anything on any UOA that would lead me to believe a 12,000 mile run on RP in any Triton is intelligent. Frankly, for a mostly PAO oil, it doesn't hold up to the long distances like something like Amsoil. It should be fine in a standard Triton to about 8000 miles but the problem you now have is the tuner. As the tuner has the ability to increase the timing curve, it also increases contaminants during the combustion process which gets washed into the oil. I wouldn't run it any longer than 5000 miles and that would be analysis at 3000 miles to make sure I wasn't destroying the oil and engine.

FWIW, RP has gotten their hand slapped for making fuel mileage claims and making more HP in their advertising. A good oil, no doubt, but slimmy advertising at best. There is nothing remarkable in the formulation to support their claims.

 

if your gonna run ANY oil 12k miles, AMSOIL would be the one to do it, my buddy runs royal purple in his 94 chevrolet and he changes it at 8k and when he drains it out it is BLACK, so then when he puts new oil in and runs the motor for a little bit to fill the filter up, the oil is black on the dipstick,

i wouldnt run any oil that long, 10k at most changing the filter out at 5k, i have heard you can run amsoil and a amsoil filter for the entire 10-12k

keep in mind if you decide to do this you will have to add .5-1 quart of oil each time you change the filter out

 

and i forgot to add (as labnerd did) i tried RP twice, and didnt notice any HP (didnt dyno it) and no fuel milage gains, i found that after my boss runs amsoil in his QX56 for about 8k and my bud with his chevrolet runs 8 and the amsoil comes out alot cleaner, that makes me a fan,

 

I'm running Mobil 1 EP and a Mobil 1 filter to around 8 to 10k. I wouldn't try running a standard filter much past 5k.

 

i have ran just about every full synthetic oil, and couldnt tell the difference between them all lol

I tried royal purple, Mobile 1 and so on...i do my oil changes every 6k or so..no mater which oil i use...but i only use full synthetic. My engine runs great, and oil is not black before and after changing oil..... with the exception that i need to change my fuel filter ASAP lol

i actually have a visgauge at the shop to where im going to start checking oil viscosity between changes to see how far the oil actually breaks down at the 6k mark.

 

i have run conventional oil up to 8 k in my 90 5th avenue. didnt care about the car since i had a 97 ranger also. 8k on the conventional came out very black but the new conventional made no difference in mpgs or performance than the stuff with 8k on it. well i have also run mobile1 extended performance synthetic in my ranger up to 8k with a motorcraft filter with no problems. oil did come out dark, but not black. so i did the same in my 04 f150 heritage and had same result. well now i have my 08 f150 and i used mototrcraft oil and filters, changing it at 3k and 6k, then at 9k i used the extended performance again but this time i found a extended performance filter also which both are supposed to be guaranteed for 15k under normal conditions. i have had that in for 9k now. i will probably change it soon just to see how it looks. if it still looks ok, i will go for maybe 11k next time and so on but never going over 15k. im guessing 9k should be a good area to change it. i have not noticed any decline in power or noise or mpgs so so far i am satisfied with it. i have used mobil1 since i used it in my 96 trans am and was impressed about how much better it made that car

 

you can't tell if oil is still good by the looks of it,

 

Personally, I would never keep any oil in a vehicle that I cared about for 12,000,miles!
5K is tops for me!......

 

The only way to truly tell if your oil is still good or not is with a UOA. Considering what it costs to get one of those done unless you have a connection, just change it at reasonable intervals.

 

I kept royal purple in my truck for at least 12k miles and change the filter every 6-8k.

 

Wow... Another OIL thread...

I've been here for some time now, as a lot of others, and have seen these a 'million' times... Same thing each time, page after page... Bottom line.. Do whatever makes you feel like you are getting the most out of whatever it is you do for your oil change routine..

I ran M1 for my time here in my F150.. Ran conventional Pennzoil for my whole life "before" I found F150Online!

Earlier this year, I saw that "You're thinking with your dipstick, Jimmy" commercial and laughed every time I saw it (still do).. I'm also a "John Force Racing" fan, but have never used Castrol products before, but decided to try it.. (Castrol EDGE) It's more expensive then M1, even at Walmart, but what the heck... I'm running it at 6,000 mile intervals (same as I did with the M1) and using the Walmart Motorcraft filters and so far the 203,000 mile 5.4 hasn't seized up yet!

Funny thing is the oil comes out "black", the same as it ever has since I've been changing oil in my families vehicles (and my own) since I pulled my first drain plug out some 35 years ago...

The only 'seized' engine my family has experienced was when my Mother's 1973 Chevy Impala 'stopped running' as she was coming up our long (and steep) driveway way back when (early 80's) and it was because "we" had failed to check the oil level in it for some time.... When Dad and I pulled the pan, there was only about 2 qts of sludge in the pan and all the nylon teeth from the timing chain gear in the pan! We still rip on Mom about that one, but she always just says... "well, you are the "MEN" of the family... You were supposed to check that..." ha, ha!

Get all the oil analysis you want, change it every 3,000 miles or every 15,000 miles.... Whatever... The only 'truly' thing that will cause the engine to seize is to not have enough oil in the pan or the oil pump fails... Even if the oil filter is totally plugged up, the bypass feature will still allow the oil to flow, as long as the oil pump pickup is submerged..

My sisters old Toyota Corolla was starting to run a little "hot" she said... I checked the dipstick and nothing registered.... "Well, there's your problem.." I said... Dumped 3 QTS of oil in it to bring it back to 'full'.... So, it was only running on 1 QT of oil! She drove that thing for another 2 years or so and it never skipped a beat.... (not sure if she ever changed the oil, but she said she checked it from 'time to time' and would add a QT or two when she did...)

She sold it in a running condition, so who knows how it's ended up, but still....

Well, if you've gotten this far in reading my post, you have no life! ha, ha! No really... Take it from an old fart who has seen it from all sides and it is that as long as you do 'something' with your oil from time to time, you will probably be fine for the long haul... How many folks even own the same vehicle for over 100,000 miles these days?? Not many....

Continue on with your fancy oil analysis and changing every 3,000 miles and expensive oil (I'm guilty of that... ) and as long as you sleep well at night, and your engine hasn't seized up on you yet, then call it good!

Mitch

 

I usually just change the oil at 5 to 6k max, even using RP but heard others run 10k+ and just change the filter at 5k. Can you pull the filter off without draining the pan and not get a quart or 2 all over?

 

Yes, there will be some oil in the filter but everything else is in the oil pan.

 

That is true, you have to taste it.