Oil 5000 miles +

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by genethekiller

I have a great mechanic here in Germany, good honest guy always looking for ways to save me money, (a la buying oil from US shops, 5w-30 is ridiculously expensive in Europe)

But every time I take my car to him for an oil change, he tells me I don't need to bring it in that often. It's been nearly 5000 miles, I always change early, just a couple hundred miles or so, but I don't think he gets it.

The US EPA has been leading changes in oil composition in the US. Possibly they are leading the EU or vice versa on this kind of change. Standards have been falling since 1990 for phosphorous content in oils.

The EPA wants reduce Phosphorous content in oils. Phosphorous reduces wear in "tight spaces" under starvation conditions, like in overhead valve assemblies. Phosphorous also "poisons" catalysts in catalytic converters, leading to their expiration. This annoys the EPA, which would like emission control systems to last up to and beyond 100,000 miles (160,000 klicks).

So the US EPA has been encouraging oil makers to shift to oils that contain other critical additives, such as Moly Di-sulfide. Will these substitutes work in the long term? Who can say? Molydisulfide is a great grease additive and dry lubricant, but oils are not dry lubricants and do other things besides lubricate.

Engine oil serves many functions in an automobile. Besides lubricating the crankshaft, bearings and inside walls of cylinders it also removes heat and combustion products. Which of these functions fails first? I do not know. I do know that Yaris do run kind of hot and do need protection.

I rarely go above 6,000 miles on synthetic. To me saving twenty or thirty bucks a year for oil and slightly raising the risk of reduced reliability is not worth it to me. I make a decent living and insist upon a reliable form of transportation, especially as I am out and about into the wee hours of the morning.

There is not even the awful practice of pouring oil down storm drains or burning it in incinerators to deter us today. Quite a few firms will recycle old oil, returning it to service. Castrol, for example, uses a lot of recycled oil. So to me pouring used oil into the tanks of Advance Auto or other firms does not cause me any worries.

We have a member here who achieved 300,000 miles of engine wear, apparently a lot of it at high speeds. He claims to have changed the oil every 5,000 miles. FWIW.

Gene