Lubrication is most important

Every mechanism requires lubrication !

Without lubricant, any engine or transmission would seize or wear out in only a few minutes !

In 2003 the only car that is certified for 15 year or 150,000 miles is FORD Focus PZEV, currently available ONLY in California.

The only other car that was previously certified for 15 year or 150,000 miles was the NISSAN Sentra CA, which was made in limited numbers.

Most frequent design life for cars is 7 years (84 months) or 70,000 miles, and for Light Duty trucks it is 10 years or 100,000 miles, which ever occurs first.

However, with the exception of the Exhaust Emission System and Fuel Evaporative System whose longevity, performance and warranty is required by EPA & CARB, most vehicles are Warranted against all other defects in manufacture and drivetrain performance for only:
3 years or 36,000 miles, which ever occurs first.

Statistically most vehicles are reliable and relatively problem free if properly maintained for the first 5 years or 50,000 miles. Most problems occur thereafter and repairs are usually required. That is why NO manufacturer or a bank will lease any new vehicle for more than 5 years or 50,000 miles, nor will be willing to finance new vehicle purchase for period longer than 60 months.

Majority of leases are however only written for the period that is equivalent to the basic OEM warranty, usually 3 years or 36,000 miles.

It is important to realize that the service specifications and recommendations in the vehicle owner's manual are based on this design life of not more than 10 years or 100,000 miles.

The recommended type of lubricant, the oil and oil filter change frequency, are considered optimal for vehicles that are operated under ideal conditions, and which are not expected to be used much beyond their design life.

After all "every" vehicle manufacturer wants you to buy another NEW vehicle from them as soon as possible.

No vehicle producer wants you to drive your vehicle "forever". Their business model is simply not designed to maintain already made vehicles on the road indefinitely. They are "all" organized to build NEW vehicles and sell them as quickly as possible.

In the USA the success or failure in the automotive market is measured by number of NEW vehicles sold in "last" 10 days. Any vehicle model is considered unsuccessful if its inventory of NEW unsold vehicles exceeds the estimated retail sales demand for next 90 days.

In actual use most modern automobiles and light duty trucks last on the average about 7-years and about 60,000 to 80,000 miles, before serious mechanical repairs are required. That is why "useful service life" for purposes of Federal and California emission laws is defined by the OEM's as 7-years or 70,000-miles.

The average service life of most vehicles in the USA is 120,000 to 128,000 miles and about 12 years, before they are scrapped, junked, or restored.

Most cars are relatively trouble free if proper lubricants are used and frequently replaced.

Want long service life from your car?

This means that if you desire long and trouble free vehicle service life you should change the engine oil and filter every 3,000 to 4,000 miles and transmission oil every 12,000 to 15,000 miles.

However, if you also operate the vehicle under severe conditions, as most vehicle owners do, the service interval should be only 2,000 to 2,500 miles between engine oil changes and 7,500 to 10,000 miles between transmission oil changes, if petroleum products are used.

What is an "ideal" operating condition?

When the engine and transmission is operated at moderate loads, and is not subjected to hard accelerations and decelerations or is not operated under full load, when the engine is operated at normal operating temperature, and is not too cold nor too hot, and when the climatic conditions are comfortable for most human beings, that is no severe winter colds, no hot summer days and no excessive humidity or airborne dust.

What is "severe" operating condition?

When the engine and transmission is operated under high and frequently cycling loads such as fast high performance or racing driving or the more common "stop-and-go" driving, driving in dust or sand, short trips, especially in cold weather where the engine is not allowed to fully warm up, or carrying heavy loads, pulling trailers, especially during hot summer, or sustained high speed driving.

What is "super severe" operating condition?

It is any type of driving that would qualify as severe operating condition, but is additionally done in adverse climatic conditions, such as severe cold or high heat.

Is  your "normal" driving "severe"?

Most car owners do not realize that their typical "normal" daily driving classifies as a severe" operating condition!

The most common driving consists of short trips (less than 10 miles), periods of idling, "stop-and-go" driving, and frequent accelerations and decelerations. All of these conditions qualify as "severe" operating conditions.

The most frequent type of driving is short trips with many stops and starts. Under such conditions the engine never reaches its normal operating temperature, particularly in winter.

Why does oil need to be changed?

1. The most important reason is chemical change of the lubricant itself. The lubricant looses its lubricating capacity due to chemical decomposition of the oil itself and due to depletion of the chemical additives that are present in modern oils. The more severe are the operating conditions, the faster does this change occur.

2. The second reason is removal of wear particles that are present in the lubricant and which can not be removed by normal filtration. The greater the loads to which the mechanism is subjected the faster is the wear and more wear particles are present in the oil. Frequent starting and stopping of the engine, especially in winter, also increases wear and formation of "cold sludge".

Is there an alternative to frequent oil changes?

Synthetic Oils are usually better than petroleum oils, permitting extended oil drain periods.

However it is important to not that just because Oil is Synthetic, it does not automatically imply that it can be used for service periods that are any longer than those specified by OEM for Conventional Petroleum Oil.

Both ExxonMobil (Mobil 1)  and CASTROL (Syntec) specifically instruct consumers using their Synthetic Oils to follow OEM recommendations for Oil Change Interval that is same as specified for conventional petroleum oil !

CASTROL and Pennzoil both go as far as specifying only
3 month or 3,000 mile service interval (same as petroleum)
"for best performance".

AMSOIL is one of few companies that has several different longer life Motor Oils, some with one year or 24,000 mile service interval, and others with 6 month or 7,500 mile service interval.

Synthetic Super Lubricants with colloidally suspended solid lubricants in chemically inert liquid synthetic oil are the best (Syn-Sol). They eliminate the need for oil changes in most applications.

Why are Synthetic Oil better?

However, because many synthetic lubricants are chemically more uniform, and are stable under extreme pressures and temperatures (both hot and cold), and usually do not decompose as rapidly as petroleum base lubricants, longer oil change intervals are therefore permissible.

(The same service life that was promoted by Mobil for the original version of Mobil 1 back in 1976 -- no such claim is now being made for the current version of Mobil 1 -- Tri-synthetic formula or the latest Mobil 1 with SuperSyn )

This means that engine oil should still be changed every 12,000 to 7,500 miles in most automotive and light truck applications.

There are number of "synthetic" oils available to consumers in the USA.

Others are Delvac 1, Amoco Ultimate, Exxon Synthetic,
Quaker State SynQuest, Valvoline SynPower, etc.

CASTROL Syntec is also promoted as "synthetic" despite of it being produced from Group III Petroleum Basestock (see Synthetic)

Because Synthetic Oils are about four times more expensive than equivalent petroleum oils, less than 4% of vehicle owners in the USA currently use them.

Premium Synthetic Oils are available from small companies such as AMSOIL, Eon, Red Line, Royal Purple.

Premium Synthetic Oils are six to nine times more expensive that petroleum oils, and since they are produced by small companies, reliable data on their market share is not available, but it is estimated to be less than 1/2 %.

Synthetic Blend - a Hype?

They are about half the price of "Fully Synthetic" motor oils which currently sell in the $4.25 to $5.00 price range for one U.S. Quart.

They promise the same performance as "Synthetics" but for half the price.

At first glance that seems promising, but when the ultimate truth of "Synthetic Blends" is examined, it is apparent that the only benefit that they offer, is a higher profit margin for the marketer of the oil.

Petroleum Motor Oils contain 80% to 95% Petroleum Base Oil by volume, the balance are additives dispersed in Petroleum Carrier Oil. They sell for about $1.00 per US Quart and cost about 35 cents to produce (even at price of crude oil @ $30.00 per barrel).
The mark up is about 150%. The market share is over 90%.

"Synthetic Blend" Motor Oils contain 5% to 20% Synthetic Base Oil, 60% to 70% Petroleum Base Oil, the balance are additives dispersed in Petroleum Carrier Oil. They sell for $2.00 to $2.50 per US Quart and cost ONLY about 50 to 60 cents to produce.
The mark up is 300%. The market share is about 2%.

The temptation of high returns on investment which is presented by "Synthetic Blend" Motor Oils is the only driving force behind their promotion, after all if you could double your profit, what would you rather sell "Petroleum" or "Synthetic Blend"?

But now under the pressure of Exxon management since Mobil was merged into ExxonMobil,
guess what the latest news is: "Mobil 1 Synthetic Blend" !!!

"Synthetic Blend" is a hype, if you think that you can not "afford" synthetic oil, get petroleum oil and change it frequently.

However, if extended service life is also required, the synthetic super lubricants should be replaced or micro filtered every 50,000 to 100,000 miles.

The best synthetic super lubricants are not just improved synthetic oils, but are blend of chemically inert solid lubricants, that are in colloidal suspension in a multi-viscosity liquid chemically inert synthetic lubricant. (Syn-Sol).

Unfortunately these synthetic super lubricants (Syn-Sol), were until very recently very expensive, costing from $250 to $1,425 per U.S. Quart. Therefore their use was limited to critical applications in space flight, military and industrial applications.

However, recent technological improvements in manufacturing techniques and increased demand for these lubricants, allowed for the price to be reduced to a point where their use in modern vehicles is now cost effective even in privately owned vehicles.