Can Mobil 1 EP really go 15,000 mi?

[camrydriver111]

Originally Posted By: SilverC6
I like it when folks try to use the capabilities of EP oil to validate the neglect of vehicles.

Going 4 - 5 years without an oil and filter change is neglect, period.

That's assuming you are not sampling and doing UOA's on your oil and not using the best synthetic oil filters or bypass filtering.

Your 17 year old daughter would have at least pulled into a quickie oil change joint for a $24.95 special in that amount of time.


I find 4-5 years without oil change posts inspirational. Would love to see a UOA on that though. If it came back clean you would be the master of oil changes.

 

[GM4LIFE]

4-5 years without changing oil in a car is just crazy! Can't believe the engine hasn't failed or seized up yet. It has to be sludge by now.

 

[mike7139]

Originally Posted By: CrawfishTails
Originally Posted By: mike7139
Originally Posted By: CrawfishTails
Originally Posted By: mike7139
Going on 5 years now without an oil change on my 2001 Pontiac and the oil in it is Mobil 1 EP!!!!


Nice! How often do you change oil filter? Does it need make-up oil?


Still has the original oil filter from when I last changed it in 2010. I used the Mobil 1 EP oil filter and have probably added 1 quart of oil to it in that time. I hope to eventually get the oil changed sometime this spring.


Dude, cut that filter open and show us. You need a new one anyway. 4.5 years is a lot. Good chance its clogged and operating in bypass mode now.


I don't know how I would cut the filter open but what I do know is that I just checked the oil after work after the car had been sitting 8 hours and it showed right at the full mark and I did take a peak into the crankcase and everything still looked really clean which surprised me. I was going to take a few pics but didnt want to get my phone greasy. I live 5 miles from work and the car has a bad thermostat so maybe the car not getting up to operating temp(especially in the mornings) is keeping my oil in ok shape? Some say a bad thermostat will hurt ur oil but im not soo sure.

I would love to get the oil tested but dont know how I would do it.

 

[aquariuscsm]

There used to be a disclaimer on Mobil's site about the EP,saying to go by the oci recommendation listed in your owner's manual. I'd do that regardless of what oil you're using.

 

[LotI]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
There used to be a disclaimer on Mobil's site about the EP,saying to go by the oci recommendation listed in your owner's manual. I'd do that regardless of what oil you're using.

M1 EP Warranty
"What the period of coverage is
The Mobil 1 Extended Performance limited warranty is valid for 15,000 miles or your vehicle’s OEM recommended oil change interval, whichever is longer.

Additional requirements for all Mobil 1 Extended Performance products include:

Oils must be put in service not later than five (5) years from the date of purchase; and
an oil change must be completed every twelve (12) months

Be advised that if your vehicle is covered by a warranty, you should follow the vehicle’s oil life sensor or the oil change interval recommended in your owner’s manual to avoid a disruption in your vehicle warranty.

 

[bigt61]

A bad thermostat is rough on the oil IMO, maybe even more so than not changing it. At least you're keeping it topped off, that's the key. How many miles have you gone in the 5 years? I haven't changed the oil in my Aurora in 5 years, but it's only gone 1000 miles or so. It's fine, runs well, I need to drive it more but my Pontiac is just so darn comfortable. I love beaters now, you can park them anywhere and not care about a door ding. When driving in traffic, people with nice cars give you lots of room.

 

[camrydriver111]

Originally Posted By: LotI
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
There used to be a disclaimer on Mobil's site about the EP,saying to go by the oci recommendation listed in your owner's manual. I'd do that regardless of what oil you're using.

M1 EP Warranty
"What the period of coverage is
The Mobil 1 Extended Performance limited warranty is valid for 15,000 miles or your vehicle’s OEM recommended oil change interval, whichever is longer.

Additional requirements for all Mobil 1 Extended Performance products include:

Oils must be put in service not later than five (5) years from the date of purchase; and
an oil change must be completed every twelve (12) months

Be advised that if your vehicle is covered by a warranty, you should follow the vehicle’s oil life sensor or the oil change interval recommended in your owner’s manual to avoid a disruption in your vehicle warranty.


So according to Mobil you can go over your reccomended OCI. They do add a disclaimer about manufacturer warranty though.

People say follow manufacturer no matter what, but a lot of manufacturers like Toyota spec conservative OCIs of 5k miles. This is probably to protect the engine regardless of what oil you're using. If you're doing that there is no sense of buying M1 EP.

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
There used to be a disclaimer on Mobil's site about the EP,saying to go by the oci recommendation listed in your owner's manual. I'd do that regardless of what oil you're using.


That was for engine warranty concerns only. 15K with EP performs very well.

 

[Oil Changer]

It's called ignorance on your part, period. How is it neglect if the oil is still good? How is it neglect when the filter is still capable? How is it that M1 EP and M1 filer is not some of the best available?

Your 17 y/o daughter will total the vehicle because she was texting and driving long before you can call 15k on a M1 setup neglect.

Originally Posted By: SilverC6
I like it when folks try to use the capabilities of EP oil to validate the neglect of vehicles.

Going 4 - 5 years without an oil and filter change is neglect, period.

That's assuming you are not sampling and doing UOA's on your oil and not using the best synthetic oil filters or bypass filtering.

Your 17 year old daughter would have at least pulled into a quickie oil change joint for a $24.95 special in that amount of time.

 

[mike7139]

Originally Posted By: bigt61
A bad thermostat is rough on the oil IMO, maybe even more so than not changing it. At least you're keeping it topped off, that's the key. How many miles have you gone in the 5 years? I haven't changed the oil in my Aurora in 5 years, but it's only gone 1000 miles or so. It's fine, runs well, I need to drive it more but my Pontiac is just so darn comfortable. I love beaters now, you can park them anywhere and not care about a door ding. When driving in traffic, people with nice cars give you lots of room.


Its lower I want to say roughly 15k-20k miles driven in that time. I had the exact mileage when I last changed it but I lost the paper that I had written it down on. I live 5 miles from work so I only drive it 10 miles a day total plus one day on the weekends for miscellaneous errands. I never let the car heat up I always fire it up and drive off immediately but I try to keep the rpm's around 2k during acceleration.

 

[SilverC6]

Originally Posted By: Oil Changer
It's called ignorance on your part, period. How is it neglect if the oil is still good? How is it neglect when the filter is still capable? How is it that M1 EP and M1 filer is not some of the best available?

Your 17 y/o daughter will total the vehicle because she was texting and driving long before you can call 15k on a M1 setup neglect.


Don't let truth and common sense get in your way there buddy....

M1EP will go 15,000 miles in an annual OCI.

You might even push out to two years.

But 5 years is too long if you're not sampling and doing UOA's.

Lots of opportunities for contamination with that kind of sporadic vehicle usage.

But you know better than auto manufacturers and oil companies.

I'll be driving in my over-maintained vehicles long after your car is in the crusher.

 

[dlundblad]

If you get your vehicle up to temp with some healthy highway miles at least once (preferably more..) a week, you should be able to easily get 15k out of the oil. Personally, if I drove 500+ miles a week in an econbox, I'd run the stuff without hesitation. Until then, I enjoy oil changing too much to run synthetic in something that isn't required.

I'd never go over 7500 without a recommended service interval, OLM or UOA to back it up.

Don't drive a few 5 mile drives a day and expect it to be a "lifetime" fill either. Lol.

 

[oilboy123]

Yes it's very doable. I had been doing 9000 mile oil changes for about the first 90000 miles in my 98 Taurus. From 90K-210K I have been doing 13-15K miles using Amsoil Signature 0w-30. I have done a UOA every once in awhile. I changed the oil pan, valve cover, timing cover gaskets etc about 20K ago and the engine was pretty clean. I still go about 5,000 on a qt. So I'm pretty happy.

From Amsoil:

Normal Service – Up to 25,000 miles, 700 hours of operation or one year, whichever comes first, in personal vehicles not operating under Severe Service.
Severe Service – Up to 15,000 miles, 700 hours of operation or one year, whichever comes first.

Severe Service: Primarily short trips (less than 10 miles [16 km]); turbo/supercharged engines; commercial or fleet vehicles; excessive idling; first-time use of AMSOIL motor oil in a vehicle with more than 100,000 miles; frequent towing, hauling, plowing or driving in dusty conditions.

 

[CELICA_XX]

Originally Posted By: mike7139
the car has a bad thermostat so maybe the car not getting up to operating temp(especially in the mornings) is keeping my oil in ok shape? Some say a bad thermostat will hurt ur oil but im not soo sure.

Having a bad thermostat is not "helping" your car in any way.

 

[doublebase]

Personally I think with so many cars have variable valve timing - and the way manufacturers accomplish this - I'd be careful of going 15k between oil changes. Also with the prominence of timing chains (over belts) nowadays, you have to consider the importance of good, clean oil. I have heard of horror stories going wrong with both systems because of lack of oil changes, and not using the right oil, and of course letting it run low. Dirty oil seems to do a number on the screens in some VVT systems and some chains are prone to stretching on the wrong oil.

So oil is important. I do think on some cars going over 10k would be ok, but you must be very diligent in checking the level...and using a high quality product....I think the mobil 1 is high quality. But I personally wouldn't go that far.

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: doublebase
Personally I think with so many cars have variable valve timing - and the way manufacturers accomplish this - I'd be careful of going 15k between oil changes. Also with the prominence of timing chains (over belts) nowadays, you have to consider the importance of good, clean oil. I have heard of horror stories going wrong with both systems because of lack of oil changes, and not using the right oil, and of course letting it run low. Dirty oil seems to do a number on the screens in some VVT systems and some chains are prone to stretching on the wrong oil.

So oil is important. I do think on some cars going over 10k would be ok, but you must be very diligent in checking the level...and using a high quality product....I think the mobil 1 is high quality. But I personally wouldn't go that far.


M1 doesn't exclude engines with VVT from their 15K warranty with EP oils. Clean engines is a strong point with using M1 oils, so chains and valve guides are better protected when sludge and heavy varnish aren't present. My Fusion has VVT and the cyl head and timing chain are like new clean at 10K OCIs.

 

[bubbatime]

Originally Posted By: mike7139
Going on 5 years now without an oil change on my 2001 Pontiac and the oil in it is Mobil 1 EP!!!!


Fantastic maintenance plan you got going there.

 

[CrawfishTails]

Originally Posted By: bubbatime
Originally Posted By: mike7139
Going on 5 years now without an oil change on my 2001 Pontiac and the oil in it is Mobil 1 EP!!!!

Fantastic maintenance plan you got going there.


I like this! This is when you learn what can happen. (Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Guess what DAY it is??? Its change-your-oil-day, not hump-day!)

Whether you can do this or not I thought always hinged on how much make-up oil you have to add, which can make all the difference. Also, shows how tough Mike's Buick 3.8L iron-head-block engine really is. Knew those were tough.

 

[Tony10s]

Originally Posted By: bubbatime
Originally Posted By: mike7139
Going on 5 years now without an oil change on my 2001 Pontiac and the oil in it is Mobil 1 EP!!!!


Fantastic maintenance plan you got going there.

 

[slo town]

Folks, the Mike7139 is playing all of you. Go back and read all his comments. He's saying everything he can to make his supposed 5 year OCI sound even worse than it already is.

Next he's going to claim he has 200K on his original air filter - and he drives on nothing but dirt roads - and he's never checked it - and he doesn't even know where it's located - but his car still runs great. And oh, he still has the original tires and has never once checked the air pressures but it corners like a Porsche.

He's goofing you guys.

Scott