jyeung528

If you can spare the time, I have some questions about motor oil.

I am using Amsoil 10w30. I've driven 10,000 miles since my last oil change. In those 10,000 miles, I've topped off a total of 7 quarts of oil. That's a lot of oil.

I'm thinking, if the original oil consisted of 5.5 quarts, and I've topped off 7 quarts, wouldn't MOST of the oil in my engine be NEWER oil than the original 5.5 quarts, thereby, inherently EXTENDING the life of the oil?

In other words, I did not TECHNICALLY drive 10,000 miles on my oil because the oil has been continuously topped off with NEWER oil.

So, in your opinion,, how long can I really drive before I do a full oil change?

Thanks.

Jeff

VR4

what concernes me is you used 7 qts. ofoil in 10k miles. unless you changed the filter 3 times. that is still alot of oil though.

F20_C

I think you should consider the life of your oil filter. I run the OEM PCX Honda filter and there seems to be a census that they are good for about 5ka miles. If you are going to run long drain intervals, I would at least swap out the oil filter and top off any lost oil that might of occurred during the change. I also think you are burning a lot of oil, thats practically a quart every thousand miles of driving, seems very high. Even though S2k's seem to have some oil consumption your rate seems too high.

mikegarrison

I can burn a quart in 200 miles on the track. So that all depends.

But yeah, I'd say you should have changed your oil filter 5000 miles ago. Personally, I change the oil and filter every 5K.

xviper

You have to determine another possibility. That oil you lost - how much of it actually contained the crud and sludge and crap that the oil is there to pick up? Or was it hot oil vapour that was "distilled" off, leaving the crud behind. If this is the case, you still have all the crud in the oil that stayed behind and in the filter.

ps. Amsoil may be a stupendous oil but I wouldn't leave it and the filter in this engine for 10K miles. Might be time to get an analysis done to see just how good the remaining oil really is.

jyeung528

^
good point.

I should have mentioned that, yes, I changed the oil filter TWICE during this 10,000 mile period.

So back to the question at hand, does topping off with this much oil inherently INCREASE the drain interval?

XVIPER does not seem to think so.

xviper

With the additional information you just provided about the filter changes, you cannot hold me to my previous comment. It was based on what information was available at the time.
With the frequent addition of new oil AND a new filter at shorter intervals, it is more likely that the oil change interval can be increased. HOWEVER, you must always be checking for sludge buildup in the event the filters were unable to hold back these components.

Woodson

Why not just change the oil?

Logik

Metal shavings, deposits, all will stay unless you physically change your oil.

I wouldn't extend it.

Logik

Metal shavings, deposits, all will stay unless you physically change your oil.

I wouldn't extend it.

edit: I suck at the internet