You mean like this poster did.......

 

with little/no details on how he drove the car, or the conditions, ie did he auto-x, or track his car, did he drive in dusty conditions it's hard to make any descision based on his oil test


to anybody that wants to run 15,000 + miles on an oil change, I sure would get it tested

 

Non turbo car using Amisol... totally different situation. It doesn't surprise me that he had good results since he's using an excellent oil (better than BMW/Regular Mobil 1), and his oil is not put under the stree/heat of a turbo engine.

There was a good write-up on an Camaro/Firebird forum that I came across a while back with a guy using Mobil 1 Extended who would check his oil at BlackStone every few thousand miles. The only way he made the 20k miles was because his engine burned oil and he would have to top it off every once in a while. Each top-off would really bring the oil back from borderline to doing fine. It was pretty interesting how that work.

 

That sounds like this test. I read that sometime ago. IIRC, found it through Google when trying to sort out the difference between different synthetics.

"Topping up the crankcase is a critical component of extended oil change intervals, and frequent filter changes are most likely the key to extreme-length intervals. The cumulative effect of even minor top-ups, let alone a filter change, substantially increases the longevity of the oil."

"Based on the results we've got here, we'd recommend 8,000 miles between oil changes on an engine that uses no oil at all, perhaps 10,000 miles on an engine that uses some oil, and 15,000 miles or beyond with a filter change every 5,000 miles. This, of course, isn't any kind of guarantee, and you must evaluate for yourself what your engine requires. One thing we're pretty sure about though: 3,000-mile intervals is a huge waste of resources."

The 5,000 mile filter change caught my attention. However, a Camero filter is a Camero filter and a MINI R56 filter... well you get the idea.

 

Yes, but with an MCS and MINI branded Castrol oil.

 

The Mini filter is about 3 times more money than it should cost.

The Camaro is also not turbo charged, so I don't know who well it would translate here.

I wish one of the people here who promote long intervals would send a sample every 5k miles just for ***** and giggles and tell use what they find.

 

I belong to the "change it every 5 to 7 thousand miles" camp. In real time this translates to every 6 to 8 months. I'll be the first to admit that I do this mostly because it brings me peace of mind. There are, however, a couple other reasons I do it based on real life experiences. First, I know the MINI runs a bit on the rich side, hence, more chance of fuel contamination of the oil causing early breakdown. This is compounded by the fact that I drive my car hard which also increases the possibilities of contamination and heat related issues. Second, I like to use the oil change to check for internal problems. Every pan that gets drained gets a thorough magenetic search for metal particles. Past experience has taught me the benefits of doing this. If something crops up, like excessive metal particles, I'd rather know about it sooner than later.
Maybe, if all is analyzed, it may be deemed unnecessary to change oil at this interval. To me, however, spending $30 once, or twice, a year is a small price to pay to help protect a $24K investment.

 

Not sure where you're getting your information, but Mobil 1 5W-30 (both the "regular" and the "extended performance" varieties) meets or exceeds API specifications SM, SL and SJ.

 

I definitely agree. I have been using synthetic for years (Mobil 1 and Castrol Syntec) and change it around 5000 miles, and plan on doing the same with my MCS. I put over 130,000 miles on two vehicles i owned without any engine problems.

 

Frankly, engine wear simply isn't the problem that it used to be decades ago. I've sold my last few cars with between 160,000 and 230,000 miles on them, using non-synthetic oil and the factory-recommended change intervals. All of the cars had high/consistent compression readings, and the only time any of them ever consumed oil between changes was when the non-metallic valve guide seals shrunk and cracked with age, allowing oil to seep down the valve stems and into the combustion chambers while the car was parked overnight.

And when the cylinder heads were pulled to replace the seals, the cylinder walls always looked like new - no "ring ridge" at the top of the piston's stroke and no scoring on the cylinder walls. In fact, you could still see the cross-hatch marks from when the cylinders were honed at the factory.

I'm currently waiting on the results from Blackstone from my wife's first oil change on her MINI (factory oil left in the engine until the first recommended oil change at about 11,500 miles). I'll post the results when I get them. My MINI will be due for its second oil change at about 28,000 miles, and I'll post lab results from that one as well. Since both cars have a number of autocross events under their belts, I think the results will be both interesting and useful.

 

I was just curious if you'd gotten the results back yet and, if so, what they were.

 

I don't have her results in front of me, but they were pretty much the same as the results of the first oil change in my MINI at 12,500 miles, shown in this thread.

In a nutshell, the factory oil was shot by the time the first recommended oil change came around.

The post I linked to above shows all of the oil analyses I've had done on my car so far.

 

Here's my theory: It's my car, I paid for it, so I do as I please. If you do the math on "wasting oil" by doing a change at 7,500 vs. 15,000, there's not much of a case.

Using my car as an example with a 5.3 quart capacity. Over 150,000 miles, changing the oil at 7,500 vs. 15,000 uses 13.25 gallons of extra oil. Figuring 15,000 miles per year, I "waste" a measly 1.325 gallons of oil every year. Oil that goes to the recycling center, not down the drain, or in a lake.

I also plan on keeping my car to 250,000 miles. I think keeping a car for a long time and doing strict preventative maintenance yields FAR less pollution and waste than constantly buying new ones.

 

i change my oil(redline) and filter(oem) every 6 months needed or not regardless of mileage.dealer told me to change it at one year if mileage on computer not met.

 

Once a year!?!? You'll damage your engine for sure. Ugh, it's bad enough having problems with long lines at dealerships but it's even worse when you get recommendations that just don't sound right! I think even synthetic oils will have problems if you change it only once a year!