Drive magazine article.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

What are you boys smoking down there at AHQ??????

Changing oil every 1500 miles????

Feeling the difference with Neo???? (that's one hell of a butt dyno you have!)

Changing oil before AND after high RPM driving???? (I hope your not saying oil needs changing before AND after a day at the track)

Jesus give me strength

 

No smoking at AHQ!

 

I hope that is a joke - 1500 miles between oil changes??? That is absurd for a daily driver. I can understand that logic for a track/competition car but not for a daily driver.

Anyone concerned about OCI's should have an oil sample analyzed by blackstone labs - that is the only way to truly know whats going on with the oil. There are MANY highly modified turbo subarus running over 5K miles on a single OCI that have excellent oil analysis - Some even run them up to 7K with great results (bluesubie on nasioc)

www.bobistheoilguy.com

 

There are many schools of thought about changing oil - I'll stick with the 3k or 3 months method on my moderately driven car.

 

I try to change mine every 5 or 6k. I use to do it every 3k with conventional, but yeah. I stick synthetic in there now so I don't have to change it so often. Time is money, and in my case, money will be tight for a little longer.

 

hey u guys.. this is just advice.. u dont have to listen to it...

 

We are sharing information.

 

1500 miles??? WTF?

is this an advertisement to come get oil changes?

Seriously. SOA says 7500 miles.


My person experience has been that at 1500-2000 miles my oil is FULL AND CLEAN. Why change full/clean oil? Why waste $40 and 20 minutes of my time?

I change my oil every 3500-4000 miles and ask anyone that's driven with me... I'd bet on the daily driven subarus I'm in the top 5-10% for flogging their cars on a daily basis. I am **** as hell with upkeep on my car. I have 130,000 on my car as of the end of this week. I use 10-40.

I do recommend being a little extra **** if you say go on a spirited drive and definitely if you do a track day. That's special and different circumstances. Changing the oil on a daily driven car in under 3000 miles is ridiculous.

Shoot in my 1953 cadillac with flowthrough oil filter that's ABOVE the engine and runs on lead additive I only do it every 1000-1500 and that's ridiculously **** and it get dirtier MUCH faster than synthetic.


As for changing. Yeah once you go syth. you should stay that way but it's not going to destroy anything if you switch back to regular oil. I got oil changes at the dealership the first 60,000. Switch to syth and did my own for about 35k. Had some issues and took it back in for repairs and had them handle maint. the next 10k or so. All regular oil. Then went back to syth. at around 110k. I spoke with my dealership and SOA directly to ensure that this would be o.k. and they said that it was an urban legend... not being able to switch.


So I'd say for track driven cars your advise is right on but for daily driven cars its excessive and counter to most everything I've read for the last 4 plus years.

 

SOA says 7500 on CONVENTIONAL. So 5-6k on syth daily driving should be fine.


I think the most important issue in this is to be aware that our cars can chew through oil when the pedal goes down so constantly being aware of oil levels and its cleanliness is important. I think that should determine when you change your oil.

And anyone that doesn't change their oil before and after a track day is nuts.

 

I agree that it's absolutely crucial to check the oil often, I beat my car hard and check the oil once or twice a week (turbo subies do tend to consume oil) but checking is much different than changing. If you are low a half quart or quart, just add some in and recheck, no need to change the oil if you are a tad bit low.

 

1500-2000 is very often...

and 15w/20w oil is very thick for daily driven cars.


On my RS I change the oil 3500-5000, depends on when I feel like it and how I've been driving it. I use Mobil 1 synthetic. It's important to change your oil, yes, but oil doesn't dissolve or break down as fast as 2000 miles for most folks. i do recommend changing your oil before a track day, and if you have sticky rubber like R-comps that maybe 15w would be good for some insurance. But every day folks with every day driving, 2000 miles w/15w oil is overkill.

 

As far as oil starvation goes with Boxer engines, it really just depends on the engine. I've personally had my modified engine go 5000 and the oil is just starting to turn. But when I changed it, it was full. I have heard of some people having bad experiences with their engine using up oil and in 2000 miles having low oil levels. This is just a case by case basis. There is nothing to say that other cars are perfectly fine going more miles. I would track my car one weekend and auto-x the next 3. The oil would still be perfect and full afterwards. So it really just depends. It's the same with some people that have gone through engine after engine even driving normal and not maxing out the revs, but other people go over 100,000 hard driving miles with upgraded turbo and all supporting mods.

 

That'd be me.