Synthetic oil

[DALTON]

I had someone tell me yesterday I can go 6K mi. with synthetic oil vs. 3K with conventional. Not sure how comfortable I am with that. My SRT8 is the first vehicle I have owned that uses synthetic and am I wondering what the oil changing habbits of the users of this forum are.

[BigIke]

we go 6k on our concorde but do 3000 to 4000 on the maggie becuase of her performance level

[Displaced Hokie]

Many around here go 5K on Mobil 1, at least the R/T guys do. Some have had oil scans sent out and the oil is holding up fine at that interval. That's what I do.

[70GT6]

Currently change at 3,000 with a premium filter like Mobil 1 or K&N (no Fram here)

[FloridaRT]

I do mine every 4 months, which is about 3,500 miles for me..........

Bob

[formerice]

I go 5,000 miles, cause its easy to remember. Buy my oil and Fram oil filters at good old Wallyworld. Since 1967 I have driven a cumlative 2,250,000 miles with 5,000 mile oil changes and Fram filters, Mobil One oil or Castrol and only one engine failure, a Mazda 13B Rotary Pick Up ate an apex seal at 240,000 miles. Some of my vehicles hit 300,000 miles and still had 160 psi compression when I traded them. I'm sure that 6,000 miles with Mobil one is very conservative. Oh yes, when I hit 200,000 miles, then I change oil at 3,500 miles cause I figure your starting to get more crap contamination because of blow by etc.

[CVP33]

Didn't Consumer Reports release tests that showed the Synthetics still doing their job at 10,000 miles plus? Unless you're constantly at the redline, drive in extremely dirty air (desert) or under excessive loads, i.e. towing, I'm betting 10,000 miles is fine.

For the record I change my oil every 3,000 miles. Not because I have to, but because I'm sick. LOL.

If you live near a Discount Auto Parts, this is the week to stock up. Buy One Get One Free sales on wheel cleaner, tire shine, glass cleaner, Penzoil Synthetic, etc. Unfortunately Penzoil doesn't make our viscosity, but my other 3 cars take 5w-30, so I bought 6 cases. It worked out to $2.84 per quart vs. $5.68. I spent over $300 bucks on oil and detailing supplies. I got it bad. Real bad.

[stevesrt8]

there is a critical distinction here due to engine design. SRT8 uses oil jets aimed directly at the undersides of the pistons, thus yielding much higher oil temps at even light loads. Thus, we may need more frequent changes. My next batch of fleet oil samples going out for analysis will include an SRT8 sample as well.

I can say with some certainty that for most drivers 3000 miles is overkill. That interval was promoted by the oil change companies (owned by oil makers!). If your new car has an oil life monitor, use that. Some are quite sophisticated.

Use synthetics and analyze regularly. We run the pants off fleet vehicles and get outrageous engine life and great performance.

[GEORGE]

Just Change The Filter Every 3,000mi.

[Spali32]

I've been changing my oil at 7,500 mile intervals. Got 21,000 miles now and only had to change it twice so far. Sythetic oils last much longer than conventional oil. They have a higher flash point and are engineered to not burn off like conventional oil. Yes Consumer Reports did do a test on 24 different cars running 24 hours a day. These taxi cab cars had their oil changed between 3,000 and 6,000 miles. There was no difference in wear between these miles. These were cars subjected to 24 hour operation, stop and go traffic, and constant running temperatures.

[Husker]

Just Change The Filter Every 3,000mi.

George, welcome!
Do you have an SRT as well? You understand that 240 degrees is the norm for oil temp with the 6.1. Sorry but after 3k miles I change my oil, I can never understand folks who don't want to follow the manual for oil changes...oil is very cheap compared to the cost of a 6.1

[denny5936]

yeah i heard it should be changed every 9000 miles ,,,,i have 2100 on my srt8 charger and have a long way to go

[Maggie]

Ummm, the manual calls for a 3000 miles OCI on the SRT using synthetic oil. Period. Why have to fight with Chrysler is you have a warranty claim?

Jeez, you spent 40K on a car - which transports you from A to B like a $100 Yugo - and are worried about a short OCI.

[BlazeHemi]

Here is a little food for thought on the old oil change interval question. I have a friend at work that never changed their or oil or oil filter in their Chevy tracker. Only topped it up when it was low. Their tracker went over 200,000kms before the engine died. Now I know the tracker is not quite the performance vehicle as a SRT8 but something to think about.

Greg

[DALTON]

All of the different views make this a very interesting thread!
I get my first change at no charge from my dealer. That will happen at 3K.
From there I am not sure how I am going to handle it.
Keep the feedback coming!