Yesterday, I worked with a friend who has an 87 Chevy truck, that he bought new in 1986, that now has 406,800 miles on the odometer which stopped working last year when the clutch was replaced. So it has more miles than that. It has had 3,000-4,000 mile oil changes using Pennzoil 10-30. The engine has never had the heads off or any major work(except water pump). I've always obsessed about types of oil, oil filter selection, and oil change intervals. I nearly always put between 100,000 and 200,000 miles or more on my cars. Have never had a car use oil except my 1964 1/2 Mustang, back in 1965, which had a bad motor from the start. I use Pennzoil syn in CRV and have been using Mobil 1 Extended Range 5-30 in Si but am changing to 0-30 Amsoil for Si. However, I think many of us, self included, obsess over something that is truly not a problem unless we really use our cars to the extreme limit; and even then, is likely not a problem. IMO, any of the synthetics will provide better protection than we will ever need. Spending more and changing more often will likely just be wasting money. I change at 10-15% on the gauge. I've been driving for 50 years, maintained my own cars, worked as an oil chemist for a while doing longevity research, so I've had some experience along this line. I do believe our Si engines, especially if mod'd, ask a lot more out of oil than that 87 Chevy truck, but I also believe they are a lot higher quality. These are just my opinions, only substantiated by my experience.
It is natural to want to take the very best care of our pride and joy, but it can get to where more done and more money spent is just wasted. The 3,000 mile oil change is way out dated.
It is natural to want to take the very best care of our pride and joy, but it can get to where more done and more money spent is just wasted. The 3,000 mile oil change is way out dated.