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It's that time again, I try and change my oil at least every 6mths and having read enough of @RustyNissanPrairie's posts I have ventured onto Autodoc. Bejeesus, there's some choice. It'll be getting a Mann Filter, but oil wise, what to go for? If it meets 504/507 standard then is it all good? Particularly looking at the Mannol, because I'll sort the wife's car at the same time if it's a decent oil.
Autodoc is great but can you not find what you want on car parts 4 less / euro car parts / GSF car parts?
Oil really should give you 12 months protection at the very least, why change sooner?
I use Mannol myself, it's cheap as piss and seems absolutely fine. Even cheaper now with amazon stocking it. Felt a bit strange doing an engine swap in my mx5 then filling it with Literally The Cheapest Fully Synth Oil On The Internet tm but if it's got the right letters I don't stress much. I'll put the same (well, same make, different thickness) in the subaru once it's got its new engine.
If you like to do frequent swaps they do a 20l which is even cheaper.
Oil really should give you 12 months protection at the very least, why change sooner?
504/507 is long life oil too.
Get oil analysis done instead of the oil change to find out if it really needs changing. Frequent short trips and lots of failed revenue can deplete even long life oils.
If it does need doing or you are just interested in minimising wear as you aim to keep the car long term. Get a a quality oil that doesn't just meet the minimum required for 5O7/504.
There is a school of thought that the more manufacturer standards an oil meets, the more robust it will be.
Shell, Total from the big names. Millers, Motul from the smaller ones spring to mind from oil analysis I have had done. ( That was in 505.01 oil though).
Fuchs is UK made or blended at least, as is Millers it you want to support UK jobs.
It may be a small point to add, but a bonus one in my eyes, Fuchs has been excellent for me, and they're (possibly) new oil bottles, black rather than grey, have a nice little pull tab system for the seal. comes off in a bit of a spiral nice and easy to pull.
simple things....
Try Smith and Allan for oils.
I tend to get stuff from Opie oils, as they're the cheapest I've found for my diesel Octavia. Last two times has been Motul as it meets the specs, is cheaper than a lot of the other brands. Plus they used to sponsor an F1 team or two many years ago so clearly they must be good 😁
Been using these guys for the motorbikes and my car which I do myself: https://www.westwayoils.co.uk/
The wife's car gets whatever the merc specialist doing the service is using
I tend to buy OE oil as its not actually much more than the cheap stuff (I just paid £30 delivered for 6L of Merc oil) and then I don't have to worry if it could be 10W-40 or 5W-40 maybe depending on the engine or the year or whatever the options might be.
time, milage and use.
you cannot blanket statement such as below. unless its snake oil -
Oil really should give you 12 months protection at the very least, why change sooner?
Oil choice for our cars has always been whatever was on offer in Halfords / ECP that meets the spec. So unless something was on offer within a couple of quid of the QX stuff then it was the ECP own brand.
Never suffered anything that looked like engine wear and they've all (so far) made it to 150k-175k miles without any engine issues.
There is a school of thought that the more manufacturer standards an oil meets, the more robust it will be.
I'd disagree with that statement.
A lot of the standards are to specify a maximum amount of certain additives because they reduce friction/wear but attack copper alloys or pollute catalysts. The same principle applies to superseded standards. Don't just assume that the 2020 standard is better than the 2005 standard, it potentially means they had to take something out because it polluted the SCR for example, the 'old' standard may be a better lubricant, just worse by some other criteria.
you cannot blanket statement such as below. unless its snake oil -
Oil really should give you 12 months protection at the very least, why change sooner?
50/50 on this, I don't see the point in doing it any sooner than recommended. Unless your use is vastly different to what the manufacturer intended.
If you do track days, or do the kind of driving trips that really should be done on foot then maybe. For the other 99.9% of cars?
Particularly for synthetic oils that don't break down like mineral oils did.
50/50 on this, I don't see the point in doing it any sooner than recommended
whos recommendations do you go by ? By the manufacturer selling to fleet who really dont want to service in the 3 years they own it or the oil manufacturer ?
The same engine can be seen to have varying different recomendations based on year of manufacture , the badge on the front of the car - even the model of car its in.
See also timing belt times.
The manufacturers want their cars on the road running fine after 20 years. That kind of customer sentiment is very persistent.
Also, I had variable service intervals on the Passat. One time it came on after 6k miles when I'd been doing many short runs with hard accelerations trying to sort an issue, another after 17k when it was running fine on motorways. So either they are making up random numbers to bamboozle me or they are actually paying attention to the real world conditions.
I change at 5k intervals because I'm running 1x diesel and 2xpetrols so it's easier to just change the oil when the mileometer clicks over to a nice round number.
I've been using Mannol for years as it's always been the cheapest. All my engines are fine - my petrol V70 is on 210k sweet as a nut and spotlessly clean and sludge free internally. I always use Mann filters.
The manufacturers want their cars on the road running fine after 20 years.
If that's true. They ain't very good at it. Average age to scrap is 13.9 years.
whos recommendations do you go by ? By the manufacturer selling to fleet who really dont want to service in the 3 years they own it or the oil manufacturer ?
If we're being tinfoilhatted about it, then surely the oil manufacturers just want to sell you more of their product, although moot because do any oil manufacturers actually recommend changing the oil every 6 months?
Mineral oils broke down so it made sense to change them regularly.
Synthetics don't to the same extent so it pretty much comes down to contamination.
Your MX5 might be the exception that proves the rule, it's the only car I've heard of in the last 30 years that people complain of the big end bearings wearing out as a common problem?
If that's true. They ain't very good at it. Average age to scrap is 13.9 years.
Presumably including accident write offs.
And rust.
And non-engine oil related mechanical failures.
The oil you get may meet spec but there is a vast difference between some cheap stuff and name brand castrol for example. The name brand stuff will generally keep its grade a lot longer.
The other issue is less of the ash and crap that will clog your engine / turbo with a better grade of oil.
In the UK we can sell stuff as synthetic but it only has to perform like synthetic. So you can still have dino oil that will degrade.
If you do short journeys then you definitely want to be changing the oil sooner. Its not because it degrades but because youll get fuel dilution.
Your MX5 might be the exception that proves the rule, it's the only car I've heard of in the last 30 years that people complain of the big end bearings wearing out as a common problem?
I dont have an MX5.
the oil may not break down but contamination is a huge issue these does.
Turbo failure , oil pick up clocking , wet belt break down - bore wash and unburnt componants of fuel - regen failure .
maybe we move in different circles but i still here of plenty of things that have oil flowing through - failing.
Your MX5 might be the exception that proves the rule, it's the only car I've heard of in the last 30 years that people complain of the big end bearings wearing out as a common problem?
I dont have an MX5.
the oil may not break down but contamination is a huge issue these does.
Turbo failure , oil pick up clocking , wet belt break down - bore wash and unburnt componants of fuel - regen failure .
maybe we move in different circles but i still here of plenty of things that have oil flowing through - failing.
I think these days the chances of an engine wearing out are much lower than the chance of dodgy electrics or rust making a car not economical to keep. Anything more frequent than the manufacturer recommends (unless it’s a vehicle with a wet belt) is just to make you feel good.
I used to have a diesel Honda Accord. Honda UK said an oil change every 12k. Honda Japan specified a shorter interval. The view was that Honda UK were after fleet sales so increased the service interval to lower the TCO for fleet buyers.
I changed my oil and filter every 6k as they allegedly had a habit of destroying timing chains if oil was left too long.
Regarding rust etc checking the MOT online it's now up to 210,000 miles but seems to be succumbing to rust. This is a 2006 car so nearly 20 years old now!
The view was that Honda UK were after fleet sales so increased the service interval to lower the TCO for fleet buyers
Was that verified? Or was there something else at play like for example lower fuel quality, or colder weather resulting in more time spent running cold?
In the US, fully synthetic oil is considered a niche high end product and people get regular 'oil changes' done at drop-in places that use semi-synth every few thousand miles. This appears to be a scam, but either way there is a huge amount of debate on the subject in a way that there isn't in the UK.
Big bucket of Mannol and Mann filters purchased. Reason why I change more often, both our cars are set to the long distance ‘fleet’ servicing plans and we’ve not been able to change. So I figured that short of opening the rocker and looking for sludge, I’ll just change the oil more regularly. Given it’s costing me £67 to do two cars, it’s still half the price of asking a garage to do it, so why not.
when I took over servicing of the wife’s car (we’ve had since new), I took a peek at the air filter and it was rammed with crap. Mine, which I changed 12mth previously, was much cleaner. Because of which, I just don’t tend to trust garages or manufacturers guidelines on filter changes. All filters are changed in September, oil change and general once over in March.
Next big thing is the wife’s belt and water pump change. Although I’m not too certain I have the spannering confidence to do it.
Next big thing is the wife’s belt and water pump change '
Your wife sound… interesting…
My bsa with its recently expensively rebuilt engine is recommended 1000 miles per change using expensive high zinc low detergent oil.
It only has gauze strainers. No filter
when I took over servicing of the wife’s car (we’ve had since new), I took a peek at the air filter and it was rammed with crap
Thats probably down to the garage not doing it than the manufacturer specifications being wrong (???) I've never even seen an air filter with anything other than light dirt.
Thats probably down to the garage not doing it than the manufacturer specifications being wrong (???) I've never even seen an air filter with anything other than light dirt.
Oh well can't happen then. It's been decree'd
My bsa with its recently expensively rebuilt engine is recommended 1000 miles per change using expensive high zinc low detergent oil.
Sell it.
I can't imagine you on a motorbike. You'd have to wear a helmet for a start. 😁
I buy 5w30 Manol 20l (about £50) as we've three cars that use it. New van is 0w30 and a higher spec oil so £75 for 20l of Manol. 6l of Shell Helix (same spec) is about £65. Van is on commercial servicing (2 years). Was serviced Sept 23 (I've just bought it), and I'm tempted to just do an oil change as it's done 5,000 miles since then. Next service is due in September as I paid for 2 year servicing (2 services in two years).
Regarding air filters my much lamented Focus TDDI always felt perkier after a yearly air filter change which would be well shittified after 20K of rural midlands miles.
A K&N panel filter cured that, dislodge the bigger lumps and flies and refit. Before the naysayers start up; I ran that filter for about 120K before the diesel pump gave up at 275K.