you should change your oil at the manufacturer's recommendation. for the EVO it's 5000 miles, severe use 3000 miles. that said, you really don't need to change the oil until the oil no longer has the lubricity/viscosity to perform it's duties. you can find out when that point is by doing an oil analysis. i change mine every 5k. it's not rocket science.

 

i sorta agree...if youre doing it under 1k miles...but 3,000miles sounds fine =P

 

ouch. looks like this thread is a no go.
And to this guy and his severe oil knowledge.....

 

Yeah I would do oil changes every 3k. I don't see the point doing it more often then that. I used to know a guy that came into my work every other week for rotate balance and other bull**** on his car. Brand new Sentra and his lug nut studs were snapping off his car couple months later. My thing is, over maintenance seems to wear a car out just as fast if not worse then neglecting maintenance. I'd like to read about this oil change issue though if anyone has info on it.

 

only negative i see in changing oil too often is wasting $$$

 

Googled up a few online articles regarding this issue.. here's some links if you want to read.

http://www.searchforparts.com/import..._taxi_cabs.php

http://www.carbibles.com/engineoil_bible.html

In the first link, they basically talk about how AMSoil decided to test their oil vs conventional oil but tested it in a 4 groups of 4 taxis. 1 group was the control (conventional + 3k oil changes) other 3 groups were using AMSoil Synthetic 10-40w with different oil change intervals (6k, 12k, 60k). 60 k may seem like a lot but they used the same oil but changed oil filters every 12k since it seems like oil filter longevity plays a bigger role in "clean" vs "dirty" oil. 60k valves were cleaner than the other 3 groups (don't believe me? read it).

The 2nd link is just a plethora of information regarding oil.

If i posted this and it's a re-post of links.. my bad. But i thought the AMSoil in Taxi's experiment was kinda cool. Off to weld my drain plug to my pan! Cheers.

Lam

 

The test was performed on cars that rarely exceed 2000 rpm and you're comparing it to an evo. Also you're comparing a car with a gillion mile service interval vs. the evo which has a very low interval.

What I can tell you affects the car is changing out brands of motor oil every oil change would yield a result of the car "drinking oil" because of a possible chemichal reaction of additives used by different oil manufacturers. Apart from that, the regular oil change can only help.

A simple fact about oil: If your engine is in perfect working order but after 3000 miles starts "burning up oil", that means the oil has been contaminated past the point of the oil serving it's purpose and needs to be replaced. If that happens after 1500 miles you're
a) driving the car super hard and those 1500 miles wer 99% at 7000 RPM yet again indicating that you need to swap your oil because it's lost the properties you put it in for or
b) you didn't drive the car hard but you are using an oil that just isn't right for your car


Oh and to the guy that said metal shavings help smooth out the cylinder walls... There's a reason that engine drain plugs don't use a magnetic plug. Because once there's metal shavings in the oil, it's engine building time and no - it doesn't auto-hone the block.

 

these. bolded for truth. none of that makes any sense. the only downside to changing oil too much is that it's unecessary and you're wasting money. as for the engine, changing it too often won't hurt, but it's not necessary. like these people that change their oil every 2500 miles...that's excessive. it's not a bad thing by any means, just doesn't need to be done. 5000 miles is when the EVO's oil should be changed under normal circumstances. going longer than that may not hurt depending on the condition of the oil at that time, but this whole thing about impurities in the oil being GOOD, and "smoothing the bearings" that's just retarded.

for one, in the factory when they make these bearings, they do it with very specific equipment, and with very tight specs/tolerances. so spitting chuncks of metal at them in varying thicknesses/shapes/sizes, and random angles/speeds will NOT do anything but harm the internals of the motor.

I saw some one say if you think about it, it makes sense... you got that backwards. if you ACTUALLY think about any of this, it makes ZERO sense.

 

very good question and important one for the ones that are like me **** and changes their oil way before needed.

BUT, you must take many details into factors:
- this is a big problem most people neglect and its filtration, a high quality filter is important for any vehicle,,,, if you opt for using the cheap filter and high quality oil you are wasting money because the oil will get nasty on you sooner.
- Very important detail to factor is what fuel are you using ? when i got my evo it was race gas, meth, or mostly pump 93,,,, now days most folks are runnin some type of alchohol based fuel Ethanol, any alchohol will dilute oils quicker so faster drains are necesary and fresh oil needed.
hot fules you need to drain sooner even when using high quality oils, race oils will go a little farther because they are designed to work with hot fules and break down less.


botom line is do your self a favor and do atleast 2 oil analysis from analyzers.com or blackstone.com and get feedback from them as they will help you find out how your oil looks like after X,XXX miles, otherwise you are guessing because all setups are not equal,,,,, in my case all boltons, big cams ect, 2 maps one for pump and one for 110 leaded on 30psi,,, when i ran my race gas map i would change the oil a little sooner maybe a few hundred but not desperate soon.

 

I love the Internet because of "information" like this. Thank you Buchneri and Meckert for bringing a counterpoint to this nonsensical debate. I was worried that every asshat who'd ever read a toilet paper publication from uncle pappys race shop and moonshine running school would jump on the 'never change my oil because it makes it a better lubricant' bandwagon. The aftermath being 500 threads with the title, "Help!! My engine blew and I have the IQ of pudding!!!!!".
I'm going to draw up a scenerio here to help illustrate why debris in lubricant is undesireable. The next time the urge to pleasure yourself comes along go ahead and get everything lubed up, start the process, then grab a handful of sand, shake off the excess and go back to work. No need to post your results on this, just know that your now bleeding Johnson has suffered the same effect as your engine would, had your oil been full of contaminates.

*edit* just read page three, and it seems the world is back on track.

 

time to write in to these guys...

 

Like Apagan stated, If you really would like to know how your oil is doing and how soon to change it, get it analyzed.

 

Haha im sure they could do it too. It really would be sweet to see an episode on this after this thread...

 

I just change every 2 1/2 month
ends up being every 1k miles..
Am I doing it too often?

 

1st the "best way to care for you Tcase" thread about "bleeding" your Tcase.. now this... geez...
if you can toast an engine a week after doing an oil change.. you DID something wrong..