Mobil 1 synthetic oil change

[Ted K]

I just change my engine oil out to Mobil 1 synthetic. How often do you change your oil now?

[billb]

You may want to gradually increase your change intervals to help flush out sludge/varnish.

[ryan roopnarine]

as mobil 1 is kinda thin, i generally wait until i start getting about 1-2 mpg extra, which is around 6k-7k miles. about 6500 miles is safe, though.

[632 Regal]

5000-7500 id change it out at 5000 the first time.

[silverz06vette]

I change it at 7500 miles in the BMWs with 10w-30.

In my Z06 I use 5w-30 or 10w-30. I track this car and have ran the same oil for 3 track w/e's=5 days total and 4400 miles of street driving. The oil reached 290*f every session. (4-6 thirty min sessions a day)

I sent off the oil to blackstone labs. It came back looking very good, they said the oil still had life left and it could of went longer.

http://www.z06vette.com/gallery/data/500/3312oil_report3.jpg

So unless you track your car I don't think that you are even close to wearing out Mobil 1 at 7500 miles+.

[Tiger]

Wow... u drive 15,000 miles a year on the 540i?

[MantecaBMW]

I put about 38k on my 530 annually. Still using Dino oil and change about every 4-5k miles. It has 210k miles and was wondering if switching to synthetic hurt the engine. What are the risks and what benefits would I get?

Anybody know?

[western99]

I like to keep her nice and clean inside. I use 5w 30 in her

[632 Regal]

no risk with changing to synthetic. Benefits are longer change intervals, quicker pressure at startup with 0wt-40 which means less startup wear and incase of serious problems the chance of riuning the bottom end (rod & crank bearings) is almost nil.

[Tiger]

If engine doesn't leak, then go and try it. Benefit is more power... more lively engine. Not any negative at all...

[liquidtiger720]

are there any benifits that reg. oil has over synthetic?

im thinking about using synthetic, but not sure what weight to use yet.

do you think 25w40 would be too thick? or should i stick with 10w40

[Tiger]

10W30 or 0W49 is the way to go on synthetic... Nothing dino can do better than syntetic aside from leak.

[cary]

A few comments:

1) SilverZ06- You should try a heavy 30 weight like german castrol 0w-30, or Mobil 1 0w-40. There are plethera of UOA's on bobistheoilguy.com on the same motor and people have found the iron and lead drop considerably on that motor by going to a heavy 30 weight/low 40 weight. The motor just likes a slightly heavier oil.

2) Comparing UOA's from one engine type to another tells you nothing about how long you can run the oil. Different engines wear down oils at different rates. It is a function of engine design, sump capacity, driving style, driving conditions (cold, hot, short trips, highway, etc), and many other factors. You can use UOA's from the same engine with different oils to get an idea of which oils hold up better.

3) The proper oil for BMW's is the Mobil 0w-40, NOT ANY OF THE MOBIL 1 30 WEIGHTS. Mobil 1 30 weights are formulated on the thin side of 30 weight, nearly 20 weight. BMW's require an A3 rated oil (HTHS of 3.5 or greater) which the Mobil 1 30 weights are not (Thea are ACEA A5 rated oils with a HTHS of 2.9-3.5). The 0w-40 is A3 and BMW LL-98/01 approved. In fact it is the only Mobil 1 oil that carries the BMW LL approval (as well as Saab, Mercedes 229.3 & 229.5 and Porsche approval). Note that the German Castrol 0w-30 people refer to is a heavy 30 weight and because of that carries an A3 and BMW LL-98/01 approval. Same goes for BMW's own 5w-30 synthetic (it is Castrol Softec TXT oil from europe with some extra additives).

4) The benifits of Synthetic are true, but not as great as many want to believe. The primary benifits are the ability to make things like 0w-40 and 5w-40 oils that pump better at low temperatures compared to mineral oils. The second primary benifit is the the better basestocks of synthetic allow the additive packages to be stronger and hold up longer so change intervals can be extended. Where you will often see mineral oils give up at 5000-7500 miles, synthetics will continue to work well in the same motor out to 10,000-12,500 miles and sometimes further.

[PhilipJCaputo]

I do mobile 1 0w40 when the lights go down, which is usually about 6500-7000 mi ish

I think the last time around I pushed it a little longer due to a 2 week, 4000 mile road trip... plus its 50 bucks in parts to do the oil myself, so I don't really want to change it more than I have to.

But with the canister filter I don't even lift the car to do the oil...

Yep...