Oil Change Interval

Given that synthetic oil lasts longer, is it necessary/advisable to use standard 5000-mile interval?

Reply to
Patrick Page
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What does your owner's manual say about synth oil?

Reply to
mark digital©

For warranty claims, you should stay with the US' standard maintenance interval. (I assume that you have a NHW20, which has a 6 month/5000 mile interval. The NHW11 (Classic) has a 6 month/7500 mile interval.) Outside of warranty, you can use whatever interval you want...

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for the US scheduled maintenanceguide.

If you were in the UK/Europe, the standard interval is 1 year/10,000 miles. But I hear that the quality of oil is a little better there, besides the maintenance intervals being a cultural thing... (Much like how I always get reminder stickers for 3 months/3000 miles on my Prius, which I ignore and follow the scheduled maintenance guide...)

Reply to
mrv

Reply to
Patrick Page

When Mobil 1 first reached the market, we did the SOAP (Spectrographic Oil Analysis Program) on our racing engines, and synthetic definitely lasted longer according to the data. However, those engines subjected lubricants to very high pressures and temperatures, apparently tolerated better by synthetic than organic.

I think some aircraft engine makers/users have similar numbers.

The important question is whether the longer life, better protection, and higher cost all balance out to a net savings. As I see it, if you're driving a race car or an airplane, probably. But my Prius engine doesn't get hot enough to hurt when I touch it at the end of a trip, and the oil looks fresh even at changing time. In these cars, I don't think synthetic will make a difference.

Ike

Patrick Page wrote:

Reply to
Ike

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