daanbc05

I have seen the commercial twice now, I believe it is MOBIL 1 that say's its a oil that suppose to last a year. Change your oil once a year? Is this possible now? I remember when plugs had to be changed every 15k. Now they are up to 100k. So is the new synthetic stuff good enough in our engines for a whole year? I'm skeptic about this. I already pushed my old blazer I had with the synthetic. I'd go about 5 to 6 months before change. But I never really did ALOT of milage. Probably 7k a year at most. What are your thoughts on this new commercial?

PittsDriver

The general recommendation for oil for many years is to do annual oil changes on low mileage vehicles. I don't see any problem running synthetic oil 5K miles between changes in normal use.

2008__XL

Personally, I'd never do it. Motorcraft blend 5w20 every 5k and play it safe.

techrep

iTrader: (1)

Once a year... so is that what mileage ? My 10K or his 20K.. I think the only time you should use once a year is like stated above.. if you only drive it 5 or 6K a year.

redfishtd

Its the combustion carbon in the oil system that blocks passages in new motors. Especially the ones using dirty oil for hydraulically controlling cams with VCT"s . The 5.4 3v being one of the most trouble some but it seems there will be more of them . I can't speak to acid build up but I would suspect some .
Less than 5 k syn for me .

FrozenTundraGuy

Briggs & Stratton are promoting lawn mower engines that you NEVER have to change the oil, just add it when needed. I DON'T think so!

FrozenTundraGuy

If you read the fine print on the back of the new Mobil 1 once a year oil; it says not to use it for once a year if: vehicle is still in factory warranty, you do any trailer towing, or other "severe service" conditions. Looks like their lawyers are doing some CYA.

daanbc05

Ahh, then it's a marketing tool for them. As I said before, I was feeling safe changing my synthetic oil's at 5k or 6 months depending on milage. i can't see where there would be an oil for a truck that would be ok to run for a whole year before changing.

PittsDriver

Oil changes in all our internal combustion machines are so cheap that it is easy to follow the manufacturers recommendations. However, this is one of those things that nearly all of us overthink way too much. It's hard to imagine that your oil choice and how long between changes will affect anything in an engine until way out there in the many hundreds of thousands of miles and even then, if you're changing your oil every 3,000 miles over 500,000 miles then you've done 167 oil & filter changes that cost as much as a top end overhaul of the engine.

I ran a Honda self propelled lawn mower for 20 years without ever changing the oil in it. Just checked it at the beginning of the season when I sharpened the blade and in a lot of mowing over that 20 years, maybe added a few drops to it a few times. It was still making plenty of power when I scraped it after the carburetor on it needed replacing due to too many years of leaving ethanol in it. Same thing with my Mitsubishi portable generator. Just add a few drops when needed over the last 15 years and it runs like a top.

Is any of that a reason to not change your oil at least annually in a low mileage year? It's so inexpensive to do, why not just change it. And if it makes you sleep better to change it over 3,000 miles or 6 months then by all means do it. No question you should do it during the warranty so they don't have anything to point fingers about.

nrivera04

The average person drives 12K annually. M1 always boasts a 10-15k interval so of course they can get away with saying "change it once a year". I'm with you guys as far as agreeing upon the 5K interval with synblend - at least for the 3V motor. There are times I would push my 4.6 to 8-10K when money was tight, but prolly wouldn't do it now.

One of the biggest things though is trying to break the stigma of the 3K oil change... Times and technology have definitely changed, yet there's people still changing religiously at 3K.