Change only the oil filter?

How about just changing the filter at 3k? The oil cost more than the
filter. If the oil is not worn out but just dirty, would changing just
the filter make sense? Adding new oil lost from the filter would also
refresh the additives.

u can just change out filter only, but get ready to pay to get a new engine
in awhile, find out how much that is!
changing just the filter won't help the oil, it will still be contaminated
and wearout you engine.
Change the oil also what's another $6 when a new engine is in the
thousands. Buy the stuff on sale at you local auto parts store, many
offer $6-8 rebate when you buy a case.

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 23:36:11 -0500, "jjjsan"
> wrote:

>u can just change out filter only, but get ready to pay to get a new engine
>in awhile, find out how much that is!


I would like to see proof of this.

For example, one of the Amsoil synthetic recommendations is 15,000
miles on the oil change and a filter change at 7,500 miles.

"get ready to get a new engine"...how many miles are we talking about
here?? I know a gent that has an Audi and he changes the oil every
10,000 miles (using synthetic oil) and a filter change at 5,000 miles.
He just went over 150,000 miles on his car. So, should he expect to
be getting a new engine soon??

Mobil announced today several new extended drain interval oils with
performance guarantees.......Mobil Clean 5000 (5,000 mile ODI or 6
months), Mobil Clean 7500 (7,500 miles ODI or 6 months)and Mobil 1
Extended performance (15,000 mile ODI or 1 year, guaranteed).

Sorry Jiffy Lube, but the 3,000 mile oil and filter change should soon
be a thing of the past.

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005, Curtis Newton wrote:

> For example, one of the Amsoil synthetic recommendations is

aWHOOOOga! aWHOOOga!

Scamsoil bull**** alert! Do not proceed in this thread without full
protective gear!

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 14:01:26 -0500, "Daniel J. Stern"
> wrote:

>On Wed, 12 Jan 2005, Curtis Newton wrote:
>
>> For example, one of the Amsoil synthetic recommendations is
>
>aWHOOOOga! aWHOOOga!
>
>Scamsoil bull**** alert! Do not proceed in this thread without full
>protective gear!


Hah, good one.

For the record, I don't use Amsoil (I use Mobil 1 in my wife's V6
RX330 and German Castrol 0W30 in my V6 A4), but I don't think it is a
bad oil.

The test at http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/s.../oil-life.html
certainly suggests Amsoil (and Mobil 1) aren't bad oils and can
certainly go well beyond the "3,000 mile" myth.

The marketing scheme of Amsoil, however, certainly lacks a lot to be
desired.

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005, Curtis Newton wrote:

> For the record, I don't use Amsoil

Neither do I. Why would I, when I can get better, API-approved Mobil-1 for
half the cost and without the pyramidal-marketing horse****?

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 11:41:53 -0700, Curtis Newton
> wrote:

>On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 23:36:11 -0500, "jjjsan"
> wrote:
>
>>u can just change out filter only, but get ready to pay to get a new engine
>>in awhile, find out how much that is!
>
>
>I would like to see proof of this.

The problem isn't so much with the long-chain oil molecules breaking
down over time, although they will do this, but I can't say about
synthetic, never used the stuff.

The problem is with the oil becoming contaminated with chemicals and
abrasives, byproducts of raw fuel at startup and combustion.

If there was a way to filter out the chemicals and contaminants, maybe
that oil could be used for as long as advertised, but some engines are
harder on the oil than others, because of increased mechanical
tolerances. IOW, piston blow-by.

As long as you have a *nice* carbon deposit on your rings, this is
minimized, but as soon as you switch to synthetic, expect that
carbonization to begin to dissolve, and you might see your fuel
consumption and oil contamination go up steeply, as your compression
goes down.

Same goes for the valves, if they are only being sealed on a
high-mileage engine because of carbon deposits that have built up over
time in an engine running non-synthetic motor oil.

>For example, one of the Amsoil synthetic recommendations is 15,000
>miles on the oil change and a filter change at 7,500 miles.

Any synthetic should be able to do that with no trouble. Problem is,
see above.

>"get ready to get a new engine"...how many miles are we talking about
>here?? I know a gent that has an Audi and he changes the oil every
>10,000 miles (using synthetic oil) and a filter change at 5,000 miles.
>He just went over 150,000 miles on his car. So, should he expect to
>be getting a new engine soon??

No, but see above about piston and valve blow-by.

>Mobil announced today several new extended drain interval oils with
>performance guarantees.......Mobil Clean 5000 (5,000 mile ODI or 6
>months), Mobil Clean 7500 (7,500 miles ODI or 6 months)and Mobil 1
>Extended performance (15,000 mile ODI or 1 year, guaranteed).

Fine if you have a new low-mileage car with relatively tight
tolerances on the engine. I am right at the point, 11,000 to 15,000
miles on my engine where I have the *window* of opportunity to switch
to synthetic. I'm thinking about it.

>Sorry Jiffy Lube, but the 3,000 mile oil and filter change should soon
>be a thing of the past.

I think the major good reason to change your oil often isn't so much
that the lubrication characteristics of the oil have broken down, it
is to clean out the contaminants in the oil that the mechanical oil
filter has no effect on, both chemical and mechanical.

Lg

Lawrence Glickman wrote:

> On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 11:41:53 -0700, Curtis Newton
> > wrote:
>
>
>>On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 23:36:11 -0500, "jjjsan"
> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>u can just change out filter only, but get ready to pay to get a new engine
>>>in awhile, find out how much that is!
>>
>>
>>I would like to see proof of this.
>
>
> The problem isn't so much with the long-chain oil molecules breaking
> down over time, although they will do this, but I can't say about
> synthetic, never used the stuff.
>
> The problem is with the oil becoming contaminated with chemicals and
> abrasives, byproducts of raw fuel at startup and combustion.

I think that's overblown. The biggest potential problem is the
additive package being depleted.

> If there was a way to filter out the chemicals and contaminants, maybe
> that oil could be used for as long as advertised, but some engines are
> harder on the oil than others, because of increased mechanical
> tolerances. IOW, piston blow-by.
>
> As long as you have a *nice* carbon deposit on your rings, this is
> minimized, but as soon as you switch to synthetic, expect that
> carbonization to begin to dissolve, and you might see your fuel
> consumption and oil contamination go up steeply, as your compression
> goes down.

I've heard from some credible sources that "synthetic cleans better"
is a myth, at least when it applies to a PAO-based oil. The base oil
itself isn't as good as conventional oils in "scavaenging" deposits
and in fact needs a boosted detergent package to make up for it.
Mobil had some serious problems when the introduced their Mobil AV-1
aviation oil and it's compatibility with leaded fuel. It wasn't
cleaning out the lead accumulating in low-flow areas, and there were
large lead sludge deposits.

> Same goes for the valves, if they are only being sealed on a
> high-mileage engine because of carbon deposits that have built up over
> time in an engine running non-synthetic motor oil.
>
>
>>For example, one of the Amsoil synthetic recommendations is 15,000
>>miles on the oil change and a filter change at 7,500 miles.
>
>
> Any synthetic should be able to do that with no trouble. Problem is,
> see above.
>
>
>>"get ready to get a new engine"...how many miles are we talking about
>>here?? I know a gent that has an Audi and he changes the oil every
>>10,000 miles (using synthetic oil) and a filter change at 5,000 miles.
>>He just went over 150,000 miles on his car. So, should he expect to
>>be getting a new engine soon??
>
>
> No, but see above about piston and valve blow-by.
>
>
>>Mobil announced today several new extended drain interval oils with
>>performance guarantees.......Mobil Clean 5000 (5,000 mile ODI or 6
>>months), Mobil Clean 7500 (7,500 miles ODI or 6 months)and Mobil 1
>>Extended performance (15,000 mile ODI or 1 year, guaranteed).
>
>
> Fine if you have a new low-mileage car with relatively tight
> tolerances on the engine. I am right at the point, 11,000 to 15,000
> miles on my engine where I have the *window* of opportunity to switch
> to synthetic. I'm thinking about it.
>
>
>>Sorry Jiffy Lube, but the 3,000 mile oil and filter change should soon
>>be a thing of the past.
>
>
> I think the major good reason to change your oil often isn't so much
> that the lubrication characteristics of the oil have broken down, it
> is to clean out the contaminants in the oil that the mechanical oil
> filter has no effect on, both chemical and mechanical.

Again - additive package breaking down.

You should see some of the recommendations from European car makers.
Some of the automated oil change interval programs in the on-board
computers are recommending changes of up to 25,000 miles. Of course
these same manufacturers are recommending oils such as Mobil 1
0W-40 or other extended-drain oils.

Ok

What about making your own blend? For example buying cases of cheap
Mobol non synthetic on sale at 69 cents a quart and use 3 non and 1
synthetic? There seems to be lots of specials on regular oil but not
on synthetics.

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 13:14:29 -0600, Lawrence Glickman
> wrote:

>On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 11:41:53 -0700, Curtis Newton
> wrote:
>
>>On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 23:36:11 -0500, "jjjsan"
> wrote:
>>
>>>u can just change out filter only, but get ready to pay to get a new engine
>>>in awhile, find out how much that is!
>>
>>
>>I would like to see proof of this.
>
>The problem isn't so much with the long-chain oil molecules breaking
>down over time, although they will do this, but I can't say about
>synthetic, never used the stuff.
>
>The problem is with the oil becoming contaminated with chemicals and
>abrasives, byproducts of raw fuel at startup and combustion.
>
>If there was a way to filter out the chemicals and contaminants, maybe
>that oil could be used for as long as advertised, but some engines are
>harder on the oil than others, because of increased mechanical
>tolerances. IOW, piston blow-by.
>
>As long as you have a *nice* carbon deposit on your rings, this is
>minimized, but as soon as you switch to synthetic, expect that
>carbonization to begin to dissolve, and you might see your fuel
>consumption and oil contamination go up steeply, as your compression
>goes down.
>
>Same goes for the valves, if they are only being sealed on a
>high-mileage engine because of carbon deposits that have built up over
>time in an engine running non-synthetic motor oil.
>
>>For example, one of the Amsoil synthetic recommendations is 15,000
>>miles on the oil change and a filter change at 7,500 miles.
>
>Any synthetic should be able to do that with no trouble. Problem is,
>see above.
>

I've switched several well-maintained vehicles that had over 100K on
them over to synthetic with no problems except one of them developed
valve cover gasket leaks. Most recent one was over 140K when I
switched it to synthetic. Not a single problem from the switch.
Drips 3 dime sized spots in a month. Uses no oil at all between
changes.
--
Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts:

"What, sir, is the use of militia? It is to prevent the
establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty. . .
Whenever Government means to invade the rights and liberties of
the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order
to raise a standing army upon its ruins." -- Debate, U.S. House
of Representatives, August 17, 1789