Originally Posted By: Trav
Originally Posted By: BalticBob
Why do some car owners try to get the last mile out of a oil change?
Compared to engine damage from dirty oil, they are not that costly.
Even a low price oil and filter changed at 5-8K is better than extending any oil/filter combination. The whole point of a oil change is to get the dirty oil out and clean oil in, right?
I agree with the UOA group, that is the only way to know when oil needs to be replaced.
That mileage is different for every car (even if the same model), because of different driving habits, etc.
Even with a UOA at a high mile interval, it would be better to put the UOA cost into a fresh oil change.
When in doubt, change it out.
Now I wait for the posts to correct my skewed reasoning !
With you 100% on this. In the US oil is dirt cheap so unless I am looking for something specific like water or excess fuel I don't frig around with UOA I just change the oil.
I don't get using dino either to save a buck a qt then stretch it out to the last mile. I can almost see it in Europe where a top shelf synthetic can cost $100 a gallon but $30 or less for 5 qts is lunacy IMO.
Well, this is mixing a bunch of stuff and some assumptions ... You are conflating "synthetic" (whatever that means in the USA ...) with top shelf. It may be, but it might not be too.
In marine and small aviation, there is a call for dino, and a exclusion for synthetic. It has to do, in part, with surface tension (lower in true synthetics) and the amount the equipment sits. Drain-off is a very real concern for some engines. High quality dino oil resist drain-off very well, so they are called out.
As far as dino vs syn and long distances, over the road trucks run 25,000 miles or more on high quality dino between changes. It all depends on the oil in question. Run cheap dollar store brand off the wall oil for 10K - not a good idea. Run delo 400 or Delvac that far, sure easy enough
Do I do it - no. As I have said many times before, I want to get under the vehicle and see how things are going. Check brakes, grease fittings, etc. While I'm doing that and oil change is incidental and easy.
But some folks literally drive a car until wheels fall off and then gripe that it's cars/mfg's fault ...