OIL QUESTION

Use whatever oil viscosity is recommended for your conditions listed in the manual. And avoid advertising bs from the mfg or owners. IE if the local Lubimart has Pennzoil syn half price, buy that. Putting purple or red dye in an oil may make it way cool, but you have to pay to be cool.

Filters have been tested and the top ratings go to Mobil 1, K&N and Wix. NAPA gold is usually a Wix filter. Absolute garbage in a league all their own is Fram.

Thanks for the reply Tony

One other question comes to mind regarding the oil filters. With the added mileage that the synthetic oil can be run between changes, do you change the filter (for example) at 10,000 miles when you change the oil or would you change the filter at 5,000 miles and then change the oil and filter at the

10,000 mile mark. On all the write ups I have been reading on the subject no one seems to mention this aspect. On big diesel engines you have a differential pressure gauge/switch across the filter so you know when the filter needs changing but for car/truck engines there seems to be no real consensus. With regular oil I change the filter every time I change the oil but this synthetic stuff is a different beast.

Bill

Do you know if the Mopar oil filter is made by Fram?

Not in Canada. It used to be made by Dana (same as Wix IIRC)

I would change the filter at 5000 and cut it open to see how it looked. Would likely continue to change at 5000 or better intervals.

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Using one of the better filters, I wouldn't bother changing the filter at 5000 if you change the oil at 10K. Filters like Mopar, AC, Motorcraft are usually supplied by various makers after a bidding process. In the filter tests AC initially tested fabulous and then went to hell. They cut them open and found 2 obviously different manufacturers. Mobil 1 and K & N are built to spec. and their higher quality is easily seen before you even cut them open. You can get them online for less, though Mobil 1 is so popular even Walmarts, etc, sometimes carry them.

I have been using STP and Mobil 1 filters, and Mobil 5W30 oil, changing at 10,000 mile intervals. Currently have over 136,000 miles on a 98 Dodge Stratus with the Mitsubishi 2.5L V6. Runs quiet and still gets me over 31 MPG on the highway. If you make frequent short trips of 10 minutes or so in duration, the oil needs to be changed more frequently, perhaps every four months, regardless if it is synthetic or conventional. In that case it might make more sense to use conventional oil.

Bill Falc> I was thinking of changing my oil over to the new synthetic stuff. I drive

Thanks for the input Tony, I think based on what I have read and the response here, we are going over to sythentic. I have never cut one of these filters open after it was used to see whats in there but will also do that just for future reference.

Bill

Before you jump on the synthetic band wagon, look at the driving conditions you are in. If the filter is blocked after 5k that means that the oil is dirty after 5k. Whether you are running syn or reg, if it's dirty it needs to be changed. Even if the molecular structure of syn oil doesn't start to break down until after 10k if may be dirty long before that.