I like this post from that article:
7. I believe Consumer Reports (I think?) did a study / test a few years back on this topic. Now generally speaking, when it comes to cars, Consumer Reports isn't even on my "read" list (with the exception of reliability ratings), but in this particular case, their methodology was sound. They tested something like 100 new New York City taxi cabs, which have about the fiercest operational profile you could generate this side of tracking a car, and changed the oil every 3,000 miles on a 1/3 of them, every 6,000 miles on a 1/3 of them, and every 7,500 miles on another 1/3 of them. Then, at 100,000 miles the pulled the engines for overhaul on all 100 vehicles and took measurment calipers to all of the vital dimenstions to examine wear and tear. Bottom line was that there was no difference in wear and tear between the 3,000 mile interval engines and the 7,5000 mile engines. To me, that was a pretty solid approach. I'm sure there are others who would disagree or have other things that should have been checked. My two cents.
-sounds decent to me although I bet there was still a bit more sludge and a bit less milage in those changed less often. Either way, Since I've only had my car 2 yrs/40k miles I started every 3k with regular and then switching regular/synthetic and still going only MAYBe 5k since it's SO hot here in the summer. Don't burn any oil so may start going a bit longer if it's not in the 90-106degree (<-- todays' high here!) range.
7. I believe Consumer Reports (I think?) did a study / test a few years back on this topic. Now generally speaking, when it comes to cars, Consumer Reports isn't even on my "read" list (with the exception of reliability ratings), but in this particular case, their methodology was sound. They tested something like 100 new New York City taxi cabs, which have about the fiercest operational profile you could generate this side of tracking a car, and changed the oil every 3,000 miles on a 1/3 of them, every 6,000 miles on a 1/3 of them, and every 7,500 miles on another 1/3 of them. Then, at 100,000 miles the pulled the engines for overhaul on all 100 vehicles and took measurment calipers to all of the vital dimenstions to examine wear and tear. Bottom line was that there was no difference in wear and tear between the 3,000 mile interval engines and the 7,5000 mile engines. To me, that was a pretty solid approach. I'm sure there are others who would disagree or have other things that should have been checked. My two cents.
-sounds decent to me although I bet there was still a bit more sludge and a bit less milage in those changed less often. Either way, Since I've only had my car 2 yrs/40k miles I started every 3k with regular and then switching regular/synthetic and still going only MAYBe 5k since it's SO hot here in the summer. Don't burn any oil so may start going a bit longer if it's not in the 90-106degree (<-- todays' high here!) range.
You have to check the oil against a rag to though. Cause on the stick dark and still ok may look the same as dark and thick and burnt like old coffee lol. Somewhat dark on a stick wiped on a paper towel and it can still look rather clear. But everyone knows that rag trick I hope...
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