🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <711@drutx.UUCP>, grl@drutx.UUCP (LymanGR) writes:
>Having paid an arm and a leg for an oil change using MOBIL 1
>synthetic motor oil, I am curious about how long this stuff
>really lasts.  I purchased the 5W-30, which is working nicely
>with the weather I've been experiencing (15 degrees F).
>However, the owner's manual recommends that 5W-30 be used
>only up to 60 degrees F.  Does this mean that I should change
>the oil next summer?  MOBIL states that the oil is good for
>24,000 miles or one year (whichever comes first).
>
>What do YOU think?
>
>drutx!grl		Randy Lyman
>

Certainly follow the owner's manual scrupulously if the engine is still under
any kind of extended warranty, such as many modern models have.

Depends on the kind of car you have, too, whether you would wish to risk the
5w30 during warmer temperatures.  It might not be wise in, say, a turbo engine
to do this.  In my ancient Chevy Vega, the manual says that a 5w30 oil is safe
clear up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and Mobil 1 works nicely in that infamous
engine (though with some leaks; the stuff gets past gaskets a lot more freely
than conventional oils, it seems).

If you are worried about temperature ranges, and the oil is still apparently
clean come warm weather, you could always save it in a clean, covered con-
tainer (clean the bottom of the oil pan too before draining).  My main concern
is that the oil gets grungier and grungier with suspended combustion products
and carbon with use, and I don't like to have too much of this circulating
about the engine even when passed through the filter to remove granular par-
ticles, though I have seen stories in various mechanical magazines which claim
all sorts of long life for this oil and I think it's probably true.  If you can
change it yourself at all it will be a lot cheaper, obviously, to change
it fairly often (you may also do a more conscientious job yourself; a lot
of garages don't even wait to let the last half quart or so of oil out before
closing up the drain and adding the new oil).

'Nough foaming at the mouth for now, gotta go....
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