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- Path: sparky!uunet!tcsi.com!iat.holonet.net!psinntp!psinntp!eye!paul
- From: paul@eye.com (Paul B. Booth)
- Newsgroups: rec.autos.tech
- Subject: Re: Synthetic oil cost and convenience
- Message-ID: <1992Oct15.105253.14451@eye.com>
- Date: Thu, 15 Oct 92 14:52:52 GMT
- References: <1992Oct13.001009.17529@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu> <1992Oct13.001234.17801@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>
- Organization: 3D/EYE, Inc. Ithaca, NY
- Lines: 37
-
- In article <1992Oct13.001234.17801@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu> roskar@kavazi.uucp.jhu.edu (Tsuma Kavazi) writes:
- >
- >The car is a Honda Accord EX, driven 150 miles a day, 90% on
- >highway at about 2800 RPMs. So far I've been using multigrade
- >5W-30 (recc. by Honda), Castrol GTX brand. Changing this oil once
- >a month means I do ca. 3500 miles between oil changes.
- >
- >I've been considering switching to Mobil 1, and changing the oil
- >every 7000 miles, to help offset higher cost, and spend less time
- >under the car :-)
- >
- > Oil Cost/Change Filter Monthly Cost
- >1) Castrol ( 4.40 + 4.00) * 1 = $ 8.40
- >2) Mobil 1 (14.00 + 4.00) *.5 = $ 9.00
- >
- >Input is greatly appreciated.
- >
- Look at it this way: your motor is going to generate about the same amount of
- junk (dirt, metal bits, etc.) in a given # of miles, regardless of what kind
- of oil's in it. The oil is going to pick up that junk and circulate it around
- your motor for as long as it's in the car. Your oil filter will help trap
- some, but certainly not all of these abrasive little goodies -- only an oil
- change will remove them from your motor.
-
- The question, then, becomes: Do you want junk building up in your motor for
- 3500 miles or 7000 miles before you flush it out? I think synthetics are
- great because they _lubricate_ better, but to try to balance out the additional
- cost of a synthetic by increasing intervals between oil changes is false
- economy.
-
- This opinion worth exactly what you paid for it.
-
- --
- Paul B. Booth (paul@eye.com)
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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