How Dirty Is Your Oil, Right Now?

[a2jack]

The synthetic oil industry has always tried to sell their product as "longer lasting, better for your engine" etc. They do this to justify the much higher cost of their product... But are they telling us the truth?

And how about our little oil filters? Are these things really good for 10k as Smart says? My oil went to dead black at 8k. This was not a gradual color change, it was as if a switch was thrown.

I check the oil almost daily, and color is all I have to go by. As we run high mileage on our cars (18k so far), it's not economical to send oil out to be analyzed.

It looks like we are now on an 8k maintenance cycle based on oil color and factory specs.

So far, So good. A2Jack

[jwight]

FWIW, oil change intervals on the current Corvette have gone from 10K miles to 15K miles (or one year), using Mobil 1 5W30. So, if it's good enough for the Vette@15K miles it's good enough for the smart@10K miles IMHO.

[fortow]

Originally Posted by a2jack

The synthetic oil industry has always tried to sell their product as "longer lasting, better for your engine" etc. They do this to justify the much higher cost of their product... But are they telling us the truth?

And how about our little oil filters? Are these things really good for 10k as Smart says? My oil went to dead black at 8k. This was not a gradual color change, it was as if a switch was thrown.

I check the oil almost daily, and color is all I have to go by. As we run high mileage on our cars (18k so far), it's not economical to send oil out to be analyzed.

It looks like we are now on an 8k maintenance cycle based on oil color and factory specs.

So far, So good. A2Jack

You really need to learn more about the subject of motor oil, but you won't learn much here. You'll need to do your own research and investigation if you don't believe what you're being told.
Synthetic oil is different.
The small filters are sufficient.
The colour of oil has no bearing on it's continued usability.

[a2jack]

J. That's good news on vette uping the mileage on synthetic oil.

Fortow. Yes, you are right I know very little about synthetic oil, and I am digging around for feedback here. Do you know of any good unbiased info sites? If so please post a link here.

Many of the members of this list distrust this product, and are using the old rules for oil changes, (3-5k miles). I am open at this point.

An inquiring mind here...Not one to worry. A2Jack

[jefferios]

Its just a color change right...no foreign objects were in it? I don't know anything about motor oil besides that it is slippery.

[Macaw]

Seen any Formula One cars using anything other than synthetic? They have to last 2 full races (practice, qualifying and race day) and they run @ 19,000rpm. Dino oil is for the stone age...

Did first change at 5,000 mi looked just like the new oil I replaced it with. Next time I'll probably save it and re-use in the garden tractor...LOL

[jetfuel]

...if you need to know...best article ever about oil..

Introduction to Motor Oil

jetfuel

[a2jack]

Originally Posted by jetfuel

...if you need to know...best article ever about oil..

Introduction to Motor Oil

jetfuel

Jetfuel. Thanks for posting this. It is a great, easy to read tutorial on motor oil. A2Jack.

[mvaldes]

Yes, it's well written and well worth reading. Thanks.

[UAV-1]

Although a new-comer to the relatively small Smart power plant, I have always followed these two simple rules for oil changes in my Mercedes, gas or diesel, V12 or 4-banger...

Use synthetic oil for the durability of the fluid, but change the oil at ~4,000 miles because the filter can only hold so much stuff. This seems especially true in the small Smart engine - the filter is dinky for an engine that seems to have to work fairly hard.

It’s not the size of the oil sump, but the size of the filter that is the major influence on oil change frequency. My 2-1/2 cents worth.

Cheers,
Jeff