i noticed that there's a High performance extended life oil that mobil 1 makes. It's a bit more expensive but is warranteed for 15,000 miles. Does anyone know if it really lasts for that long?
Currently, my maintenance minder pops on at about 4-6k.. if paying an extra 10 bucks will last me for 10k I'd be happy. Let me know your experiences with this line of motor oil.

 

That doesn't matter, change the oil when the MM tells you to, synthetic, long life, or otherwise. If the MM is telling you to change your oil at 4-6k, then that means your driving habits warrant doing so.

Lots of short trips and frequent starts effect the life tremendously, since starts are what cause the most wear.

 

my MM tells me between 4-6k when using regular synthetic oil. I want to know if the higher milage type really do last longer. The container says gauraanteed for 15k. I just want to know if they really do last anywhere near 15k before the MM goes off.

 

i wonder if i can use 0w-20 instead of 5w-20. Sounds like 0w is better for this car.

 

The MM has no idea what oil you are running. It uses an algorithm based on driving habits to estimate oil life. Technically speaking, synthetic oil can run and work just fine for a very very long time. It is the dilution of water from condensation and other stuff that makes the oil "go bad".

Members here have sent oil to Blackstone for analysis using regular synthetic oil (not extended life or whatever), and IIRC the oil had about 11k miles on it and was changed when the MM recommended. Blackstone reported the oil was fine and could actually go a few thousand more miles. Because of this, it seemed the MM was a tad conservative. I don't think it's really worth pushing it though. Just change it when the MM tells you to.

0W-20 is always better. 5W20 is no thicker at operating temperature than 0W20. 0W20 just circulates faster at startup, which is always good since most wear is caused at startup.

 

Thanks for the info.I just basicalyl wanted to know if the extended line actually lasts the quoted milage 15k. You ref 11k so it does apepar that it lasts more than 10k. So i will purchase extended next time.

 

What he said was, the MM doesn't know what oil you are using. In other words, the MM won't change if you put extended life oil... You will have to ignore the MM yourself to make it use of extended life oil.

If you intend on following the MM, don't bother with extended life oil.

 

My guess is that the extended performance mobil-1 is the same base oil but has more additive so that the additive package does not get used up as fast. I don't know that, it is just my guess. My fit needs 3.8 qt for an oil change with filter. Prices vary but from what I have seen at walmart the difference in price (0W-20 "Extended Performance" vs "Advanced Fuel Economy") is about $5 on line and even less in the store for a 5 quart bottle. As I understand it, the reasons to change oil are that the base breaks down (temperature [cooked, burnt, polymerized into varnish], mechanical shear forces [torn into smaller pieces and becoming too thin], chemical degradation/e.g. oxidation or reactions with acids and water) or that the additive package gets used up (or destroyed), or the oil gets contaminated and dirty with abrasive grit that is not removed by the filter. More than oil breakdown I worry about the filter paper getting saturated with particles, increasing its resistance to flow and causing the bypass spring to open so that unfiltered oil circulates (which is still better than no oil at all circulating). If you think the oil will last longer but worry that the filter might have reached its limit you can change the filter at 5000 miles, top up the oil to 'full' and then change both at 10,000 miles. Don't know about now, but purolator pure one filters used to have a really good filter element material but people worried that it was so good and packed in there tight enough that it might resist flow early when the element started to collect debris. The extra filter change might cover that. Take a slab of steel and some wet or dry sand paper and pick whatever brand of oil you want and see how well the oil protects the steel. If there is hard abrasive grit bridging the gap between the moving metal parts then the metal is going to wear. I think the old recommendation to change oil every 3000 miles came from a time when motor oil was just straight mineral oil with no additives and from a time before full flow oil filters. Back then the only way to get clean oil was to change it, and frequently changing it or not made a big difference in how long the engine lasted.
I wonder if truely sub-microscopic bits of engine metals suspended in the oil might at some point actually retard the wearing of additional bits of the metal into the oil. I am pretty sure that I saw someplace that too frequent oil changes can actually increase wear (not 100% sure about that). Baring a huge change in operating temperature or conditions, it does make sense to me that it might be optimal to stick to one type, brand and weight of oil (and hope the manufacturer doesn't change it too much) rather than continually switching around. But it might not make that much difference.
"Hard tellin', not knowing," could be wrong, but so far, that's how I think about it.
Good luck and keep sharing.

 

i use the green cap mobil1 0w20 on my '12.

imho those 'extended' ones are meaningless for street use. just use decent oil and change it per reminder.

 

I use 15k Mobil1 extended in my 2012 fit and I change my oil when MM is at 20-30% I currently have 75,000 miles on this car. I used Mobil1 in my previous vehicle (1996 Ford Taurus) which I had to retire at 205,000 mi due to rear strut tower rust-out. That engine was as strong as new when I put the Taurus "out to pasture".
I see little price difference at Walmart between Mobil1 5 quart versions and buying the best oil you can is the cheapest investment in your vehicle that you can make!

 

I always change my oil with Mobil1 synthetic. I change either right before the MM comes on at 15% oil life or just after when it gets -100. Depending on how busy I am and how much driving I do at work. I try to always do it before 0% oil life even with high grade oil. Fit has only seen Mobil1 for the longest time.

 

check out www.bobistheoilguy .....more info than you can probably read....great site for all things oil!!!

 

FWIW, I run PP 0-20