quote:Originally posted by JasonD:
...I change my oil every 2,500 miles - I think it's the safest way to go. Why risk extending it?
Isn’t it for you at least a little bit strange recommendation for oil change at 3.000 miles TODAY? That is perfectly same as before 30 and more years!
Therefore, all developments in distillation, chemistry, (engine) materials, metalworking… are completely denied. The engines are greatly upgraded, better built, longer lasting – but oils are same for decades! Nothing changed!
It is for sure that you are ready to admit that European manufacturers are making good and reliable cars. Small numbers would be used if anyone tried to count those who wouldn’t like to drive Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Ferrari… But, on the other side, widely accepted rule of 3.000 miles is exactly telling that (particular) European engineers are stupid enough to recommend (and use!) extended drains. Equal definition is applicable for design teams in Japanese and some N.American companies for inclining toward extended drains.
Before 30 years nobody, but really nobody, haven’t been thinking about natural resources, about emissions and about Earth’s future. Do you agree with me that today it is a must? Any oversight today could have great impact for the next generations. Therefore, we have to take care about resources, to use environmentally friendlier materials, to use all available potentials. It is not only a slogan that each drop (action and result) counts. Is there any reason (except your personal opinion) why you would drink just a couple of sips of your Starbuck’s coffee instead of drinking it all? Beside your personal opinion mainly based on non-technical parameters, could you name technological reasons for not using all the potentials of oil in your engine? You, and unfortunately not only you, voluntarily shortened recommended oil drain interval for 500 miles. Let’s try to turn it into numbers! If million North American drivers is doing similar four times per year two billion miles of oil use is wasted, not mentioning energy for distillation, fuel for transportation and 12 million quarts of oil waste more per year. Do you really like to be part of it or you just do not care for others?
Isn’t it strange to you that average North American driver still is not familiar with synthetic lubricants? Germans successfully used them long time ago in WWII but, on the other side of Ocean, average driver still wonders about 10.000, 15.000, 25.000 or even 35.000 mile oil change! It is not important for him that at all these oil drain recommendations are established for 35 years now and that numerous UOA confirmed them (read as: there is no risk). Simultaneously the same driver never heard about (decades old) Moss-Magnusson Act because car dealers (and manufacturers with them) by all available ways push him to make frequent oil changes and generate money for them and their protégés (read lubricant manufacturers).
If you found at least one good reason to use all 3.000 miles of your oil or, even better, to use synthetic in the future I definitely haven’t been wasting my time by writing this.