I don't think that's true because the car engine itself plays a role in determining your service interval. BMW's can go 15K service cycle easily and Japanese makes are normally 5-10K. If we have the money then yes, can even change monthly but to optimize the investment, 10K change for fully synthetic seems to be reasonable. I do agree that "5,000km or 3 months whichever comes 1st" should apply for mineral oils

It is expensive I just wanted to try out and if I don't get a lot of difference, I'll switch back to something cheap.

Highly strung engines would require a more frequent engine oil change, esp Japanese small capacity turbo charged engines. Mileage does not show the true usage of the engine as somebody driving at 3000rpm for 10km will not be the same as somebody driving at 6000rpm for 10km. For me, I have stick to 4500-5000km for fully synthetic engine oils as they get trashed even with those service intervals. Comes out like mineral oil.

Yes, even locally, I know BMW & Peugeot recommend around 20k km/1-yr oil-change intervals, whichever comes first. European manufacturers emphasise a lot on minimising waste oil and pollution.

ok, so we know the european n japs engine oil change recommendation..

how bout campro? anyone?

me myself not hi rev always n rarely reach above 3.5krpm..

the most is 3k rpm max...

so i dunno if 10k change interval is good for my engine with semi syn engine oil

i think 10k km @ 6months service interval still ok lah...
but 10k km @ 12months service interval still risky...

nah, mine is around 10k km for 4-5 months..

You're right but unfortunately our Japanese make doesn't have a sensor like the Europeans so mileage is just a form of measurement used. You're on a Turbo engine so obviously it would be slightly different than most of us here (with a normal NA)

My opinions on the 5,000km or 3 months policy comes from the different type of comsumers & cars that they own;

- nice performance NA or turbo car & owners who has budget irrespective of driving habits; re-commend synthetic oil as they will have an excuse to visit the workshop more frequently which they do not mind. I have seen these type of ppl changing their synthetic oil every month with mileage less than 3,000km as they 'feel' their car has better responce right after the oil change which I believe in true.

- nice performance NA or turbo car & owners who usually 'whacks' the car only use synthetic oil.

- normal passenger comfort cars less tha 3 yrs old whose owner alternate between synthetic & semi-synthetic oil as they believe to understand the extra reliability that comes with frequent 'servicing'.

- speed freaks with modified cars NA or turbo with average budget using semi-syn, 10/30 oil or 15/50 oil.

- not to mention our average Joe's car who comes in routinely for their 5,000km service using 15/50 or 20/50 oil. Their opinions are that all the engine oil is the same & engine reliability issues is all because of the 'bad' villian mechanic.

- no comment on the BMW little green light theory on dashboard as even the syn oil you thrash for more than 10,000km also still indicate oil still in good condition(on a friends M3) , my recommendation is otherwise of course.

This post has been edited by MobyDick: Oct 8 2008, 02:31 PM

U guys mention syn change 10k km. But if more than 4 month also not yet reached 6k km then how?

10k km/6 mths, whichever comes first lor.

Hey, how come no supporter of the "nonid change oil one, mechanic cheat money oni, just top up oil when level is low enuf adi" here ha?

I know that some turbo car owners just use some cheap semi-syn that they can get their hands on, as the oil will be evaporated easily, so, no point wasting their $ on $$$ fully-syn oil. Frequent top-up is probably also needed.

tht one i think the engine is not so ok oledi...

as long as they hav enuff engine oil to cover, its ok oledi

Wat's NA?

Is there any huge difference between 10-40 and 20-50? I wanna try 10-30 but mechanic say only for kancil cars..hahaha

anyone use?

u can slap ur mechanic liao... stock myvi even using 10-30 also...
my myvi even using 5-30 and most of new car (new engine) can use x-30 as well...

between 10-40 and 20-50, u have to test out by urself only know... as what i think, for low cc car sure have difference that oil weight dragging the engine power... for high cc car should no difference much since it producing more power to overcome it...

Well, the myth of turbos needing top ups comes from transplanted engines that was already way past prime and meant for the scrap yard. Those engines are already leaking oil without even going anywhere.

My engine has done 120k km, it's a turbo, uses full syn and does not require any top ups in between my service intervals of 5000km. It does not even drop below the half point between MAX and MIN on the dip stick.

I'll keep with the 5000km/3 months which ever comes first policy for my car

actually should count by month ...

just like milk, before and after open is totally different ...

service my 1.8NA @ 4k without fail normally in 2 months time , all this while using castrol magnatec 10-40 , but last service , backside itchy go try Q8

aduhai , havent reach 4k change alrdy , output was more like air longkang and black ... fast 2 use back castrol ...

IMO - if u always rev ... for semi 4k , fully 7/8k ...

my car mileage more den 100k d wor.....about 8 years?

NA means naturally aspirated, no forced induction like turbocharging or supercharging.

That's what the spare part shop staff and mechanics have been telling me too! But I still use it w/o any problem.

It depends on the condition of yr engine, if it's good then it's possible that you can use ?W-30. What viscosity oil are u using now? Let's say you're using ?W-40 now and there's no noticeable oil consumption, then u can try ?W-30 and monitor the oil level. If there's still no oil consumption, then yr engine is in good condition and suitable for ?W-30 grade oil.

I think the problem is because some workshops workers/mechanics doesn't really know what engine oil viscosity is all about and their knowledge are mainly own assumptions instead of how things really work scientifically/technically