Tom R.

so how often in the 944 (street, street & track, track), and how often in the LS1 since I am probably going to buy the GTO at the end of the lease (assuming I can haggle with GMAC a bit).

Matt H

Tom, one part of me says (almost without thinking) follow the manufacturers stated intervals.

It matter more to me in terms of time than mileage. Mileage can be fairly arbitrary, I put more miles on one of my cars in a month than I have on another in 4 years. I guess the answer is it depends.
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Luis de Prat

For turbocharged cars, I prefer to go with a 5W-50 than a 0W-40 for that extra protection in the upper range. These cars run hot.

As for the change interval, I agree that full synthetic is meant to last longer, but again, in the turbocharged cars the turbine is more susceptible to contaminants in the oil, so this reason alone warrants more frequent changes than in NA cars (5K miles for me). Unless replacing the turbine is in your planned maintenance schedule.

Jakerx

if it's synthetic oil i usually wait 8k miles to change

KuHL 951

My 83 leaks so much it's like a perpetual oil change, I need to add a qt every 500 miles...there's always a fresh supply. I use dino on the N/A so I don't feel too bad. M1 in the 951 I do yearly at about 5K-7K miles.

Tom R.

The Aurora, GTO, and even my 82 yo dad's Silhouette have an oil life indicator.

According to my cousin at GM he tested the system in different weather conditions, and different driving conditions. He swears by M1, and once told me the oil wore out a lot quicker in the cold weather, and in stop & go traffic. thats according to the indicator, not testing.

He told his daughter that when it reaches zero casually tell him, and he will change it shortly.

It is calibrated for dino and I use M1 in the Aurora. My wife tells me the computer says oil life is low, and I get around to it when it hits zero. The Aurora Northstar takes 8 quarts!

With my legend coupe I changed the M1 every 4k miles, the guy I sold it to does the same thing. it now has about 125k and he says it still runs perfectly.

I think it lasts about 8k in the Aurora according to the indicator. The GTO has an crummy system. after i change the oil I have to turn the key, pump the gas, swing a chicken in a bag, and then it is reset. the computer doesnt tell how much is left like the other cars.

KuHL 951

My son drives my old 88 Legend Coupe...he's been delivering pizza with it for 3 years, it's up to 260K miles and still pulls strong as ever. Those were great cars except for weak clutches.

seb928s

What I ment is they improved there older oils. I'm still interesting in finding actually numbers to see what the oil is like at new,5k,10k, and 15k. It would be interesting to see. I know there is one guy that is on the 928 board a lot that knows his oils pretty well. I notice the new oil at work today. The cost is the same as the older red cap ones so it's worth for me. I'm going to just change my oil each year as I only do 5-8k a year at most. Also replacing the filter isn't hard about 5 mins of work.

RMills944

Even in my TDI, the oil change is 10,000. Read up on the tests done using synthetic in 18 wheelers and running 50,000 between changes. It's rather interesting really how long big rigs are going between changes now.

For my 944, I'll probably change every 8000 or so. IF a VW diesel and BMW engines can make it that long on a CONSERVATIVE side, I think the 944 will be fine. Read up on Amsoil and Synthetic tests - most car manufacturers are recommending 10,000 changes and synthetic oil now.

seb928s

I read up on amsoil site the test data. It doesn't include the new mobil 1 but has the old one. Yea those 18 wheelers also have a lot of oil in them so it does take longer for it all to go bad. Our 944 types also have a good amount of oil not many cars out there use that much oil in such little engines. Like the Mustangs have anywhere from 4.5 to 6.75qts what I have seen personnal on the 4.6 and 5.0 engines. I like that we have have more oil. Also the number 2 bearing problems we have are mostly from not having the oil to the full marks if cause on the street and on track the long turns with lack of oil (not at full mark) for a period of time will cause the bearing to fail. I'm getting sided tracked here so for now I'm done.

Mark944na86

I changed to Mobil 1 5W 50 (Gold cap formulation) about 6 months/8K kms ago (about 5K miles for the metrically challenged). When I filled, it was about 2mm over the max line on the dipstick. It's now about 1mm over the max line on the dipstick. I haven't topped it up at all in 6 months of driving. It's also still a golden brown colour. I'm serious -- this stuff appears to be indestructible.

My '89 S2 engine has ~145K kms/87K miles on it. Needless to say I'm impressed with how little oil it is consuming. My '98 Honda Accord, with similar mileage, drinks like a fish by comparision. (Which reminds me, I haven't checked it lately...)

The 1989 S2/Turbo owners book says change oil and filter every 20000 kms or 1 year for the S2, but every 10000 kms for the Turbo. I'll be sticking to the factory guidelines. I'll also be sticking to Mobil 1, at least for the S2.

-Mark

KuHL 951

With the higher percentage of detergents did you notice any increase in minor leaks. I noticed a couple small ones after switching to the old formula and was wondering if the new stuff would cause even more. It's still worth it in my book. I think the 15K claim is for a higher percentage of freeway driving; I don't think 15K miles of fun runs and hard driving between changes on my weekend car would be that smart. Funny though, where are the 15K oil filters that should come with the new oil.

Mark944na86

I haven't noticed any new leaks appearing; I had one very small one at the back of the engine, which doesn't appear to have worsened at all. -Mark

Serge944

If you want to change is at 15k you should never drive over 3k rpm and only start your car on warm afternoons.... Honda, VW, and other companies have been voiding warranties because their "10k mile oil change" is for grandma drivers. Can you say sludge?

Its bull****. If you wanna drive our cars like theyre meant to be change it every 5k. Oil filters should be changed as soon as 3k. But this debate is stupid because we will never come to a conclusion.

Mark944na86

Actually, it's the other way around; we will never come to a conclusion because the debate is stupid. More precisely, because the standard of argument is often pretty low.

Example: Serge944, in his recent post, has made a number of assertions:
To back up his assertions, he has provided the following as evidence:
Now, on the balance of the evidence I have available to me, who should I believe? Serge944, and the Jiffy-Lube promo material, or the factory maintenance schedule, written by the people who designed and built my car?

Note, I'm not saying that Serge944 is wrong -- he may right on the money, and those fools in Stuttgart are blowin' it out their collective exhausts. However, I think it is fair to say that the case he presents is less than compelling.

It strikes me that some of the attitudes about oil changing etc. are essentially religious in nature, i.e., generally, you can't reason someone out of a position unless they arrived at that position by reason in the first place. I believe in freedom of religion. However, I also believe in freedom _from_ religion.

Serge944, follow your faith, and may your god(s) be with you. Pax vobis.

OTOH, if you have some more compelling arguments you'd like to share, I'd be pleased to entertain them.

-Mark