Mobil 1

[scomo]

So, I recently made the switch. In all my previous cars I'd always used conventional motor oil with a... ahem... Fram oil filter. One day I decided that I would do some research and see whether my choice of lubricant/filtration was the best value. I found that Fram oil filters are awful and that I should seriously consider using synthetic oil.

I used Mobil 1 synthetic 10w-30 with a Mobil 1 oil filter this past weekend. I have no experience with synthetic oil. How often should I change it?

My oil changes went from about $20 to $50 real quick!:ack:

 

[jey_]

Synthetic oil will run longer without breaking down. If you change it based on the Oil Life indicator provided on your vehicle you will be more than safe.

 

[nephite1978]

I found that Fram oil filters are awful...

I've heard that before. What's so bad about them? What makes "good" oil filters better?

 

[tnezukon]

All of the filters have to comply with industry standards so I dont see the big deal. Prolly just paying for the name. Also, I wouldnt recommend changing the oil based on the life indicator as you'll be driving far more than 3k miles to change it. I just changed mine this past weekend and the oil life indicator was at 78% with 3k miles on it. It would prolly be ok I just dont trust it.

 

[ugachs24]

I switched my trucks over a few months ago. I used to change it at 3k, but since I switched over to synthetic I'm going with 5-6k or 25% on the oil life.

 

[scomo]

I've heard that before. What's so bad about them? What makes "good" oil filters better?

Check out this link: http://people.msoe.edu/~yoderw/oilfilterstudy/oilfilterstudy.html#sae

This is a pretty cool site. They show the insides of a variety of name brand filters and the surface area of the filtration element. The main difference in these filters, from what I can see, is the surface area of the filter within the shell and the element type (paper vs. synthetic media.) If you'll do a quick comparison between the fram filters and the mobile 1 filters, you'll see there is a rather large difference in filtration surface areas.

To me, the $7 difference per oil change is worth it. If the better filter grabs more crap, it's worth my dollar. :thumbsup:

 

[jey_]

Also, I wouldnt recommend changing the oil based on the life indicator as you'll be driving far more than 3k miles to change it. I just changed mine this past weekend and the oil life indicator was at 78% with 3k miles on it. It would prolly be ok I just dont trust it.

Most modern engines don't need 3k mile oil changes anymore. And certainly, with synthetic, it's overkill - you can get away with 6k, 7.5k. So if you use the oil life indicator and synthetic, you'll be fine - probably end up somewhere between 3k and 6k.

You can't hurt a motor by changing the oil more often, so if you wind up doing it more often it's your choice to make and there's nothing wrong with it.

For more of my life I've always taken the attitude "better safe and sorry" and just change my Mobil 1 synthetic oil every 3k - it's cheap especially when I do it myself! But now that we have 3 cars that I maintain on my spare time I'm trying to be reasonable.

 

[tybardy]

lets not forget that a fram oil filter does not have any bypass mechanism. in my opinion this is important... IF for some god awful reason your fram gets clogged, it will stop moving oil which will do far more damage to your motor than broken down/crappy oil. Mobil 1 filter has a bypass valve; if you let the oil go and the filter cloggs, the mobil 1 filter will simply allow the oil to just pass threw, at least keeping the oil moving.

I used to use a bosch but gave the K&N filter a shot... im not sure the K&N filter is actually worth the $12 i paid for it but I switched from conventional to synth. so i figured this one time i would use the best i could get (synth will clean out a lot of the crap conv. left behind)

Also, if you are using synth oil... you can roll 6K-7k miles before changing it... i wouldnt want to put fram to that test.. once again... if it clogs, trouble!

like stated above... if the difference is $5 every oil change... and we will say you are doing 5 a year (you should not need to change your oil 5 times a year) I think i can spare $25 a year to ensure i have a quality filter doing its job... sh*t i think i spent that on Dominos the other night.

 

[Gordo]

I usually do it about every 5k sometimes a little more but if it went past 6k im pushing it i dont like to have dirty oil in my engine but by the time it reaches about 5 1/2 k its already looking dark brown and I do use the mobil one oil and filter