Synthetic Oil ?

Let me restate, maybe that is why synthetics, because they burn cleaner.

Basia

People who have engines with oil consumption problems reported the problems early in engine life, including when the car was brand new. My engine has not exhibited this problem (as well as my son's FB engine which is two months older than mine) and that is all I was saying, so the "apologist" label irks me. Too much oil consumption is a known problem in some FB engines manufactured before a specific date. An engine "using" a small amount of oil between oil changes is normal and is not a bad thing as you noted.

Carmakers have been specifying the use of synthetic oil for years now, this is nothing new.

My Mazda rotary had a metering pump and an oil line to the big carburetor which added engine oil to the gas. This lubricated the apex seals. It was pretty neat stuff. This probably wouldn't work so great in engines with valves instead of ports.

I'm guessing the change has to do with longer service life of the oil which sounds like a good idea to me.

Like I said - there was basically a SPDT switch in the odometer that tripped every 3000? miles, turning the light on, and a second SPDT switch under the dash to turn it back off. On the early ones if you changed the change interval, the light would still come on at the preset mileage point - not knowing when you changed it or reset it. I'm sure with digital speedometers that has changed somewhat - but you have not said what year thet "friend"'s toyota was.

On the Silverado, it's three taps of the gas pedal prior to starting, to reset the oil change light. YMMV depending on model and year, I suppose.

Terry