Oil change Color Options

[Oreo20]

Ok so its been 5k miles from my last oil change but the oil doesn't look dark black still has its nice clear dark color do I have to change it cause its been 5k miles or not ?

[SwissFerdi]

nice clear dark color

I don't know what to make of that, but change your oil if it's conventional.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Dec 19, 2014 - 2:25 PM

[VavAlephVav]

If you were running a synthetic you might get some more miles out of it, but I would replace the filter at least. I agree if it is conventional you should change it.
When running regular oil I change it as soon as the color is no longer clean looking regardless of how many miles it's been.

[richee3]

Oil breaks down. Even if it looks clean, it doesn't lubricate as well. It's time to change it.

[Bitter]

Maybe, maybe not. Send a sample off and they'll tell you with science instead of guessing.
http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

I go 5K on my Celica (once a year) and 6-8K on my Mazda (once a year).

[jordisonjr]

Why risk it to save a couple bucks.
Just change it.

[VavAlephVav]

a friend told me that Royal Purple won't break down for 10k miles, you just need to change the filter every 3k and top it off. Any other oil and I'd be replacing it after 3-5k

[Bitter]

Haha, and I know a guy who's turbo setup ruined Royal Purple in 1,000 miles. Turned it to lumpy black coked sludge. RP is way over hyped. Redline makes a good botique oil. The best stuff is the diesel stuff like Rotella

[Box]

Just depends on a variety of factors that only you know the answers to. Running synthetic with a filter meant for the longer intervals you can easily see 10,000-15,000 miles before needing to change. Conventional generally is good for half of that. I agree with Bitter, send a sample to Blackstone and then you can establish a baseline of when you really should change your oil based on your engine, driving conditions, and etc...

[jordisonjr]

Haha, and I know a guy who's turbo setup ruined Royal Purple in 1,000 miles. Turned it to lumpy black coked sludge. RP is way over hyped. Redline makes a good botique oil. The best stuff is the diesel stuff like Rotella

I've also heard that RP is crap.

[Box]

Ditto on RP. That and I haven't really been impressed with Redline, at least not for what it costs. I think the next time I have a manual gearbox to fill I'll try Motorcraft, or stick with Amsoil.

[richee3]

Amsoil is good stuff. I've heard that Royal Purple is overrated, but I have no personal experience with it. I stick with Castrol GTX dino oil for the Celica and my SUV, and Castrol Edge for the Poopra.

[Box]

Generally I use Super Tech from Wal-Mart, as it's just Shell re-branded for Wal-Mart. Being I can get Castrol Edge for free now I'm using it.

[Bitter]

Ditto on RP. That and I haven't really been impressed with Redline, at least not for what it costs. I think the next time I have a manual gearbox to fill I'll try Motorcraft, or stick with Amsoil.

My aunti has a Capri Turbo that calls for straight Mercon, she was getting some stiff shifting due to some worn synchro's so I filled it with 50/50 LWSP and Mercon/Dexron and it's like butter now. Every gear change goes right in first time for her and it's really soft to get into gear, no notchy hard shifts anymore.

[Box]

Yeah, a lot of domestic manuals used ATF too for some reason. Grandfather's 1500 was that way, but it worked a lot better with Synchromesh.

[VavAlephVav]

do people really run atf in their manuals? I thought peoples was just messing with me. This new transmission I got should be in real good shape I want to make sure I get at least 100k out of it.
And I've been thinking I want to run Rotella synthetic since it's only like $15 at Wally world.

This post has been edited by VavAlephVav: Dec 24, 2014 - 1:53 AM

[Box]

For the longest time the manual transmissions used by Ford, GM, and Chrysler called for ATF. For your transmission you'll need GL-4 gear oil as it's safe for the brass synchronizers. Pretty much the choices are Redline, Amsoil, or Motorcraft.

[Bitter]

So that they would shift well when cold, otherwise thick gear oil + heavy loads + trying to shift with molasses at -20 = unhappy customer and many broken transmissions under warranty.

However being very thin oils, especially when warm, when the synchro's begin to wear a little the oil lacks the 'stick' to get them spinning the next gear to change gear smoothly, so a thin but sticky oil like LWSP blended with the ATF gives it the stick it needs but the mix stays thin enough to still shift well when cold. Running straight LWSP would be too thick in the trans when it's cold I believe. LWSP also has a fairly good EP additive package to protect the hard parts too which is a benefit to an older trans also I believe. Other people hate LWSP with a passion, but for her trans it's worked great blended with Mercon.

[Syaoran]

http://540ratblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/20...r-test-ranking/

Concurring that RP is crap. The diesel stuff isn't the best either.

[Box]

Or just use Synchromesh, which is what GM started using/developed and the others followed suit eventually. I almost forgot, I did find one manufacturer of conventional GL-4: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/bpo-023-7729/overview/ I used it mixed with a little Synchromesh in the Celica and it helped a lot.