regular oil and short drain interval - opinions?

[spyghost]

hi,

engine oils need to be changed regularly (period). no buts, no whatever.

however, a lot of synthetics specially claim long drain intervals, leaving their mineral/conventional counterparts less attractive to potential busy customers. this however comes at a price. synthetics (grp iv/v) costs more than mineral/conventional.

given this premise, it would be more costly then to have short drain intervals for synthetics - no questions about it.

since conventional/mineral oil costs a lot less than synthetics (grp iv/v), would it be better for an engine to receive mineral/conventional and short drain intervals?

btw, i am not promoting oil here, just an example. in mobil 1 xhp costs around 200.00 per liter while rp or redline 10w30 or redline costs around 550.00. now that's a lot. for my car the oil filter costs around 170.00. btw, i'm not including labor costs since i'll be doing diy. gasoline price is not included since it is somehow negligible since the store where i buy those stuff is just along the route to and from home/work. though i'll be diy'ing oil change, though it will consume time, let's not consider time factor for this.

just to be clear again, its not the brands that i am comparing here is the being convetional and synthetic (grp iv/v).

assuming that i will be using 4L of oil + filter, i'll be spending 970.00 for conventional and 2370.00 for redline/rp. in theory, synthetics can last a year, while mineral/conventional 6 months. given the prices and the conditions presented above (such as labor costs and transportation cost negligible):
- a bi-annual convetional oil change will definitely cost less than an annual synthetic change;
- however, if i do a 3rd oil change and subsequent (quarterly or so) for a mineral/conventional, it would cost more than a synthetic;
- however, doing shorter drain intervals regardless of the oil will definitely assure a cleaner engine;
- however, this would cost more than a synthetic (grp iv/v) even if conventional/mineral oil was used.

given the conditions above, is it right to say that i'm guaranteed of a cleaner engine at the cost of more if i'll be doing short drain intervals using mineral/conventional oil?

[1D4LV]

hi,

engine oils need to be changed regularly (period). no buts, no whatever.

however, a lot of synthetics specially claim long drain intervals, leaving their mineral/conventional counterparts less attractive to potential busy customers. this however comes at a price. synthetics (grp iv/v) costs more than mineral/conventional.

given this premise, it would be more costly then to have short drain intervals for synthetics - no questions about it.

since conventional/mineral oil costs a lot less than synthetics (grp iv/v), would it be better for an engine to receive mineral/conventional and short drain intervals?

btw, i am not promoting oil here, just an example. in mobil 1 xhp costs around 200.00 per liter while rp or redline 10w30 or redline costs around 550.00. now that's a lot. for my car the oil filter costs around 170.00. btw, i'm not including labor costs since i'll be doing diy. gasoline price is not included since it is somehow negligible since the store where i buy those stuff is just along the route to and from home/work. though i'll be diy'ing oil change, though it will consume time, let's not consider time factor for this.

just to be clear again, its not the brands that i am comparing here is the being convetional and synthetic (grp iv/v).

assuming that i will be using 4L of oil + filter, i'll be spending 970.00 for conventional and 2370.00 for redline/rp. in theory, synthetics can last a year, while mineral/conventional 6 months. given the prices and the conditions presented above (such as labor costs and transportation cost negligible):
- a bi-annual convetional oil change will definitely cost less than an annual synthetic change;
- however, if i do a 3rd oil change and subsequent (quarterly or so) for a mineral/conventional, it would cost more than a synthetic;
- however, doing shorter drain intervals regardless of the oil will definitely assure a cleaner engine;
- however, this would cost more than a synthetic (grp iv/v) even if conventional/mineral oil was used.

given the conditions above, is it right to say that i'm guaranteed of a cleaner engine at the cost of more if i'll be doing short drain intervals using mineral/conventional oil?

i have thought about this too and had the same results as yours. that is why, i went into the mineral oil/4 month interval route. this way, i can be assured that my engine is cleaner compared to the 8 month to one year interval synthetic route.

[oj88]

I'm on Honda synthetic oil, changed every 6 months or 10,000km, whichever comes first. This is done as part of the PMS.

The TS didn't mention that most of the sludge that's removed during an oil change are from the mineral oil itself due to oxidation. Synthetics removed most of the limitations found on mineral oils and so, they have higher tolerance to heat, stress, etc.... the reason why you can use it longer.

I consider driving in Metro Manila an "extreme" condition as far as the engine and drivetrain are concerned... all those bumper-to-bumper, stop and go traffic and the accompanying long idle times are definitely bad for our engine. So going the extra mile by using synthetic oil is a no brainer for me.

Here's a good read if you have free time. http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...etic-oil-42780

[Wh1stl3r]

hi,

engine oils need to be changed regularly (period). no buts, no whatever.

however, a lot of synthetics specially claim long drain intervals, leaving their mineral/conventional counterparts less attractive to potential busy customers. this however comes at a price. synthetics (grp iv/v) costs more than mineral/conventional.

given this premise, it would be more costly then to have short drain intervals for synthetics - no questions about it.

since conventional/mineral oil costs a lot less than synthetics (grp iv/v), would it be better for an engine to receive mineral/conventional and short drain intervals?

btw, i am not promoting oil here, just an example. in mobil 1 xhp costs around 200.00 per liter while rp or redline 10w30 or redline costs around 550.00. now that's a lot. for my car the oil filter costs around 170.00. btw, i'm not including labor costs since i'll be doing diy. gasoline price is not included since it is somehow negligible since the store where i buy those stuff is just along the route to and from home/work. though i'll be diy'ing oil change, though it will consume time, let's not consider time factor for this.

just to be clear again, its not the brands that i am comparing here is the being convetional and synthetic (grp iv/v).

assuming that i will be using 4L of oil + filter, i'll be spending 970.00 for conventional and 2370.00 for redline/rp. in theory, synthetics can last a year, while mineral/conventional 6 months. given the prices and the conditions presented above (such as labor costs and transportation cost negligible):
- a bi-annual convetional oil change will definitely cost less than an annual synthetic change;
- however, if i do a 3rd oil change and subsequent (quarterly or so) for a mineral/conventional, it would cost more than a synthetic;
- however, doing shorter drain intervals regardless of the oil will definitely assure a cleaner engine;
- however, this would cost more than a synthetic (grp iv/v) even if conventional/mineral oil was used.

given the conditions above, is it right to say that i'm guaranteed of a cleaner engine at the cost of more if i'll be doing short drain intervals using mineral/conventional oil?

According to the API, any oil meeting SM/CJ-4 specs will give you the best protection regardless of which basestock is used (II, III, IV, V).

The only way you can be certain of how a certain oil performs on your engine is having it tested for wear metals. I'm not sure where this can be done here in the Philippines.

The only gripe I have against extended oil changes is the use of the same filter. Assuming you use original oil filters (and you should) or better, I don't believe that at 10,000km it can filter out contaminants better than it can at 5,000km, specially in this dustball of a country.

I personally use basestock II/III SM oils for my gas engines and CH-4 for my diesels. For my out of warranty daily drives I change oil at 5,000km (maalikabok kasi dito). For my hardly used cars I change oil twice a year to get rid of condensation.