First Service - 2014 CX-5

[njcarguy]

Go by the maintenance guide. They have 5k and 7500 for a reason.

I don't know why people don't know this but I'll educate the best I can....
You have conventional oil, synthetic blend and synthetic oil. The difference is basically straight from the ground to man made in a laboratory. Conventional motor oil, doesn't exactly have the anti-friction properties that the synthetic does nor does it posses the abilities to dissipate the heat as good. The reason why synthetic is so good is that it takes MORE abuse and it breaks down LESS quickly then conventional. With it's reduced friction, it also aids in MPGs and performance of the engine.

People think that synthetic can last longer simply because of it's awesome properties and it can, to a degree. The problem you have with oil and while oil change intervals are recommended, isn't the oil itself. It's the contaminates that get into the oil. The oil filter can only do so good of a job! So yes, the synthetic oil can last longer (not break down as quickly) as conventional oil but it still needs to be cleansed while in the engine. Some other automobile manufactures have concentrated on better cleansing of oil in their engines which is why they recommend going 10k miles before an oil change.

That being said, do you NEED to go in at every 3k miles? No. This is recommended for older vehicles with conventional oil. This common misnomer is like that of the 100k mile voodoo hex on vehicles. People believed that once you got to that mileage interval, the car would blow up or disappear. Obviously, that's not the case!

 

[Kedis82ZE8]

If you want to know how much life your old oil had left when you changed it, areas of engine that might be wearing or any internal gasket leaks you can always have an oil analysis done.

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

 

[Pipemajor]

Go by the maintenance guide. They have 5k and 7500 for a reason.

I don't know why people don't know this but I'll educate the best I can....
You have conventional oil, synthetic blend and synthetic oil. The difference is basically straight from the ground to man made in a laboratory. Conventional motor oil, doesn't exactly have the anti-friction properties that the synthetic does nor does it posses the abilities to dissipate the heat as good. The reason why synthetic is so good is that it takes MORE abuse and it breaks down LESS quickly then conventional. With it's reduced friction, it also aids in MPGs and performance of the engine.

People think that synthetic can last longer simply because of it's awesome properties and it can, to a degree. The problem you have with oil and while oil change intervals are recommended, isn't the oil itself. It's the contaminates that get into the oil. The oil filter can only do so good of a job! So yes, the synthetic oil can last longer (not break down as quickly) as conventional oil but it still needs to be cleansed while in the engine. Some other automobile manufactures have concentrated on better cleansing of oil in their engines which is why they recommend going 10k miles before an oil change.

That being said, do you NEED to go in at every 3k miles? No. This is recommended for older vehicles with conventional oil. This common misnomer is like that of the 100k mile voodoo hex on vehicles. People believed that once you got to that mileage interval, the car would blow up or disappear. Obviously, that's not the case!

Don't know that much about motor oil but those of us who fly model airplanes with those 2-stroke and some 4-stroke engines turning up to 30,000 rpm routinely have lengthy discussions on the merits of traditional castor oil-based lubricants vs. synthetic lubricants. In all of our small displacement engines, the oil is mixed with the methanol base - usually around 80% methanol and 20% castor. Modern metallurgies permit oil content to be reduced to 16% or 17%. EVERY engine builder I've spoken to says castor is the superior protectant. It has higher film strength and a higher flash point. It will gum up (varnish) our engines but offers superior corrosion protection. Methanol is hydroscopic which means it absorbs water out of the atmosphere so small amounts on unburned fuel left in our engines can corrode the ball bearings used to support the crankshaft of the more expensive engines. With a castor oil which doesn't burn, a lot of it goes out the exhaust port which carries excess heat with it. These engine builders see scoring of crank pins and wrist pins when a synthetic-only fuel is used.

That said, I went to a straight synthetic oil in our 2010 Camry Hybrid when Toyota certified that engine for use with synthetic lubes. Our automotive engines will get sludge buildup with poor quality oils and too-infrequent oil changes. I'm hoping a synthetic will keep things a bit cleaner plus they do recommend a 10k oil change interval vs. the 7500k standard interval.

With modern engines/metallurgy designed for synthetic lubricants, it's fine to use them. For older engines and metallurgy, then mineral oil us likely best.

One thing for sure, viscosities have decreased in the interest of reducing friction losses.

 

[erhayes]

I love the smell of castor bean oil from racing outboard engines. Ed

 

[Pipemajor]

Not to mention the nitromethane... Methanol/nitromethane is used in AA fuel dragsters and funny cars.