q about synthetic oil

[smokin'Red35th]

i understand that you can run synthetic oil much longer than standard oil, but you still need to change the filter every 3000 miles, correct?
this seems like it would be common sense to me, but i have never heard anyone talk about it, so i thought i would clarify just to make sure.

 

[FallenPhoenix]

if you use a plain old filter like motorcraft or (god forbid) fram, you should change the filter every 3000 miles, but even then I wouldn't run the oil much past that simply because the filter cannot catch all the contaminants.

If you use a quality synthetic and synthetic fliter you can go much much further. You still need to change your oil at least once a year unless you send it in to be analyzed to make sure it isn't breaking down and the filter should be changed every 6 months regardless.
Amsoil's website has some interesting information, and all the testing I've seen show that it will indeed last for a long long time.

 

[smokin'Red35th]

i've never heard of a synthetic filter. what is that?

 

[bdcardinal]

the filtering media is a synthetic compound. synthetic filters include K&N, Amsoil, Mobil 1, and a few others.

 

[Rio96]

the filtering media is a synthetic compound. synthetic filters include K&N, Amsoil, Mobil 1, and a few others.

Is the K & N (oil filter), synthetic medium?
Their website is unclear.
Please cite a internet reference, if possible.
Others seem to think it is paper.

 

[Gearbanger 101]

Personally, I think Synthetic oil is a waste of money myself. I'd buy plain old mineral oil and just keep up with the regular oil changes. The only difference you’ll see switching to synthetic, is a lighter wallet!

I don't like the idea of running synthetic oil longer than conventional oil. Who cares if it does have a slightly higher thermal breakdown tolerance compared to regular mineral oil. It's still exposed to the same condensation, hydrocarbons and other pollutants that any other oil is. It's just a snowstorm manufactured by these oil companies to attempt to make you feel better for spending $50.00 on an oil change!

 

[Kraw]

ever read your owners manual? It says you can got what, 5k miles on an oil change.

I run the motorcraft blend in the GT and full on Mobil 1 in the Jeep. I've gone 10k miles on oil changes before (past vehicles) and they continued to run strong when we got rid of them with over 100k miles. We were putting about 40k a year on each one