RE: Oil Change Intervals

[esw5@postoffice2.mail.cornell.edu (Ernest Wong)]

[from Bill Samaras]
>Nope.  
>
>My average change interval is/was 7K miles.  I only changed the filter when I
>changed the oil.  I know it's better to change more frequently, but at 1K miles
>a week, it's just too much to do.  My thinking was that since Mobil-1 costs
>twice as much, I'd leave it in twice as long. If I had the time, I'd change the
>oil more often.  I really can't say that I caused any damage from my scheme,
>but I do think changing the oil more often is goodness.
>
>...bill
>
[stuff deleted]
Holy cow! 1K miles a week. You must enjoy driving your Audi a lot!!
>From what I've heard about oils, it's the detergents in the oil that dies.
Synthetic and regular oils both depend on the detergents to keep engine
clean. I think even sythetic oil loses the cleaning ability after 3 months.
With your short time period oil change, I don't think the 7K distance will
do that much harm. But that's just what I feel. I try to get fresh oil in
my car every 3 months and that is nearly always with less than 2K miles. 
BTW, Bill. Have you been using pure synth oil or the partial synth Mobil 1.
I remember reading the bottles at K-Mart and some of the weights, 10W-30
for example, were described as being a synthetic oil in a regular oil
carrier. The new Mobil 1's all list the oil as being a fully synthetic oil.
I'm confused.
Ernest Wong
esw5@cornell.edu