Should I actually go 10,000 miles on synthetic oil?

[Alfer]

I usually let Hyundai shop do my oil changes but both shops are a mess due to both locations remodeling so I went to a local Midas who offered a deal on Valvoline MaxLife full synthetic oil change.

He said technically I could go 1 year and up to 10,000 before coming back to change oil again.

Sounds nice and I'd prefer not having to worry about oil for the rest of the year, but is it a good idea?

Note that I just drive in town and MAYBE hit the highway a handful of times a year. Daily drive is in city, and it's 20 miles round trip, 5 days a week.

Thoughts?

 

[joegr]

If it was nearly all highway miles, then maybe (probably I still wouldn't.). However, your driving is really in the severe range and I wouldn't go longer than six months. At least do oil analysis every six months...

 

[carguy75]

I usually let Hyundai shop do my oil changes but both shops are a mess due to both locations remodeling so I went to a local Midas who offered a deal on Valvoline MaxLife full synthetic oil change.

He said technically I could go 1 year and up to 10,000 before coming back to change oil again.

Sounds nice and I'd prefer not having to worry about oil for the rest of the year, but is it a good idea?

Note that I just drive in town and MAYBE hit the highway a handful of times a year. Daily drive is in city, and it's 20 miles round trip, 5 days a week.

Thoughts?

My take on very long oil changes(10k miles or longer) even with Valvoline Max Life is that it is not a good idea for engines in the long term(over 100k miles). I say this for a couple reasons(1) wear and tear on internal parts(timing chain, bearings,piston rings) and (2) possibly running the engine low on oil in between oil changes due to oil consumption from minor leaks.

As the engine ages; the higher the chance of it burning oil due to stuck piston rings, minor leaks, and sticking PCV valves that allow oil to be sucked out the valve covers. These issues could happen all at once and if the engine oil loss goes unnoticed; it could lead to an engine running low on oil which causes sludge and wear on parts that will worsen over time until the engine smokes and/or starts to make noise due to failed timing chain components that wear down due to the extra friction cause by improper lubrication. An engine could lose a few quarts of oil or more in 10k miles.

If you change the oil by 5k miles, then you will always keep the oil topped of before it loses enough to cause harm to the engine internals if leaks or sticking piston rings/PCV valves are present.

My take is that if your planning on keeping the car pass 100k miles; then just change the oil every 4k miles. If your goal is to get rid of the car by or just after 100k miles; then just run the oil for as long as you want since it will not be your problem if the longer oil changes have negative impact of engine life. Sucks for the next owner who buys the car with 100k miles though.

Just look at some engine tear down videos on YouTube. Most engine that have extended oil changes or lack of one do not look good on the inside when they fail. Engine with shorter oil change intervals look almost new on the inside.

Fresh engine oil is cheap; replacement engines are not. I use Valvoline Max Life high mileage 5w-30 in my 2015 5.0 with 4k oil changes and the engine looks new on the inside. I would not go 100k miles on any oil without changing it out.

My engine at 90k miles with Valvoline Max Life high mileage with oil changes every 4k miles every since 40k miles when I first bought it used in 2018. The engine looks almost new inside.

 

[Crito]

Premium oil is like premium gas.. I don't notice any difference. Bwahahaha

I'd say it also depends on how you drive. If you're constantly redlining the motor, then that's more revolutions per mile. I'd change it after every 100 race track miles if I were so inclined. But since I piddle around town rarely going above 2000 RPM, 10,000 miles would probably be fine.

 

[EdP]

Premium oil is like premium gas.. I don't notice any difference. Bwahahaha

I'd say it also depends on how you drive. If you're constantly redlining the motor, then that's more revolutions per mile. I'd change it after every 100 race track miles if I were so inclined. But since I piddle around town rarely going above 2000 RPM, 10,000 miles would probably be fine.

Somewhat agree but I'd only go a year. If I lived in a cold climated and made a lot of short trips, even less.

Only way to be sure is to have the oil tested, everything else is speculation, not science.

 

[skipgen]

Synthetic might last that long.... The filter won't.

 

[5.0KDM]

and sticking PCV valves that allow oil to be sucked out the valve covers. These issues could happen all at once and if the engine oil loss goes unnoticed; it could lead to an engine running low on oil which causes sludge and wear on parts that will worsen over time until the engine smokes and/or starts to make noise due to failed timing chain components

Oil gets dirty quick and causes a lot of sticky residue all on the internals it's like plaque from eating crap foods. Oil in reality is pretty cheap if you consider 4k to 5k intervals. If you do it yourself too you can catch problems b4 they get bad and gives you a overall health of the engine.

I always did mine at 3k on my old crv and I sold it at 240k on the odometer.

The crap you see in a catch can is amazing. 10k is nuts I wouldnt trust it.

@skipgen that filter will not hold up too well ha.

 

[carguy75]

In theory companies like Fram does sell extended service oil filters designed for up to 20k mile oil changes. However, most likely those oil filters will just clog up before 10k miles and just go into bypass mode and allow dirty oil to recirculate back into the engine unfiltered.

I would not trust those filters for 10k miles over many oil changes on my car that I am planning to keep for a long time.

 

[surprisinguy]

I just use the better oil to give me a buffer on my 6k oil changes

 

[Gunkk]

I usually let Hyundai shop do my oil changes but both shops are a mess due to both locations remodeling so I went to a local Midas who offered a deal on Valvoline MaxLife full synthetic oil change.

He said technically I could go 1 year and up to 10,000 before coming back to change oil again.

Sounds nice and I'd prefer not having to worry about oil for the rest of the year, but is it a good idea?

Note that I just drive in town and MAYBE hit the highway a handful of times a year. Daily drive is in city, and it's 20 miles round trip, 5 days a week.

Thoughts?

Depending on your climate, 20 miles of city driving will probably get the engine hot enough to boil off any condensate or gas in the oil. But city driving is hard on everything. So to get a good indicator of oil longevity for your particular situation, take a sample of your oil at the next change and send to Blackstone-labs.com Pay the extra $10 for TBN (total base number). Include a note for them on the form if they think you can push it to 10k.

You can get a free sample kit from them via their website, and the lube tech at Midas (or wherever ) can get the sample for you. 3-4 weeks after you mail it in you'll get a pdf with their comments and lots of details, like this:

______________________________

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[carguy75]

Depending on your climate, 20 miles of city driving will probably get the engine hot enough to boil off any condensate or gas in the oil. But city driving is hard on everything. So to get a good indicator of oil longevity for your particular situation, take a sample of your oil at the next change and send to Blackstone-labs.com Pay the extra $10 for TBN (total base number). Include a note for them on the form if they think you can push it to 10k.

You can get a free sample kit from them via their website, and the lube tech at Midas (or wherever ) can get the sample for you. 3-4 weeks after you mail it in you'll get a pdf with their comments and lots of details, like this:

View attachment 52877

Nice oil report. However you seem to never have driven more than 4k miles on the oil.

The question is would you actually run that nice ZL1 engine for 10k miles(not parked) on the same oil without changing it even if the oil report said you could in theory?

Oil analysis does help give an idea of the quality of oil used and if you have any issues like an head gaskets leak, but for the cost of sending out periodic oil samples to be tested; you can just change the oil in the engine in shorter intervals to know for sure that your engine is being properly lubricated and topped off.