Synthetic oil not doing its job?

Americar, “Your mechanic is a idiot, because he failed to put a actual oil pressure gauge on to determine what in fact the oil pressure was to determine if the oil pressure sending unit failed.” ?

I wouldn’t condemn the gentleman / gentlewoman so quickily.

A diagnostic showed it needed a new pressure sensor unit.
A reputable diagnostic tech indicated a bad sensor; it was replaced.

How did you figure out that an actual pressure gauge wasn’t used in diagnosis ?

Where are you seeing that the mechanic is " . . . the parts changer that he is . . . " and that "Your mechanic is a idiot, because he failed to put a actual oil pressure gauge on to determine what in fact the oil pressure was to determine if the oil pressure sending unit failed.[/i] ?

What did I miss ?

CSA

irlandes , I Can’t Wait For Your Test Results. I Too, Use Mobil-1 EP Exclusively, But Change It At 5,000 Mile Intervals (Old Habits Are Hard To Break, Especially For Old Guys.).

My wife’s “new” Chevrolet does have Oil Minder and It’ll be interesting to see what percentage of life is left when I change the oil at 5,000 miles.

CSA

[b] I Can’t Speak For The Mini Manual, But Many Modern Cars Recommend Changing The Oil When Remaining Oil Life Gets Close To 0% On The Oil Minder, Which Can Be Quite A Long Interval.[/b]

Above, take a look at comments by irlandes and my reply to him.

"The Times They Are A-changin? " (and the oils, too.) Some of us (me included) are having trouble making the change to modern oils, new intervals, new engines, high-tech scientific research and testing, oil minders, etcetera.

As noted, I still feel the need to change even the Mobil 1 EP at 5,000 miles. I’ll probably take that interval to the grave. My wife and I don’t get 2 months out of 5,000 miles on each of our cars and I change all that oil.

It would be nice to go longer between changes. Changes outdoors at sub-freezing temps aren’t as much fun as the summer ones, pictured in a t-shirt and can of beer.

CSA

Toyota still specifies oil and filter changes every 5000 miles or 3 months. They got a real scare with their sludging in the past when they had 8000 miles intervals or so.

Two summers ago I rented a Vauhall (British Opel) in the UK. This car had 20,000 mile or once a year oil and filter changes in the manual!!! The oil specified was probably somewhat better than Walmart generic, but even British cars sludge and carbon up with a lot of stop and go driving.

At the auto show I attended last year I visited the Mini booth and the information they were handing out mentioned 15,000 mile oil change intervals for their vehicles. As someone who has done 15,000 mile oil changes using Amsoil without problem i’d say this is fine so long as a quality synthetic is used (not all synthetics are created equal, only certain synthetics meet certain manufacturers specs).

I will also point at that my vehicle which I do 15,000 mile oil changes on is my 1989 Accord which currently has 236,000 miles and burns about 1/2 a quart during that 15,000 mile interval.

I keep hearing 3k miles! It’s crazy.

No you didn’t…What people said was DON’T GO OVER what’s recommended in the manual…Now if 3k is what’s in the manual…then yes…but I haven’t seen 3k recommended by any manufacturer in years…5k is the norm.

Do not use a heavier oil.

This thread has become one of those discussions about oil change intervals when that isn’t the question.

Ginney, the oil pressure light is just that - for telling you about low oil pressure. Sometimes the oil pressure can get low because the actual oil level is low. But the oil pressure can be low while it is filled to the proper level.

So - was your oil level actually low? Did your mechanic measure that actual oil pressure? Did the replacement of the pressure sending unit make any difference? Or do you still get the pressure light even with the new sensor?

“A diagnostic showed it needed a new pressure sensor unit. My guy did that, now he wants to try heavier regular oil”

How the OP worded it Leaves a lot for interpretation. To me it sounds like the mechanic simply replaced the switch, the new switch did not fix the problem and now wants the OP to change to a thicker oil with no further diagnostics. If I am reading this wrong I am sorry and apologize for the statements.

Has anyone looked at the oil filter? You might simply have a defective oil filter, it happens. I would recommend that you have the mechanic change the filter, top off the oil and see what happens. That is assuming that changing the pressure sensor did not work, you weren’t very clear about that.

If the sensor did solve the problem, then I would strongly recommend that you stay with the recommended oil, it did not damage the sensor. using something else could damage the engine. 10-11k mile intervals aren’t bad with some of these new synthetics, even the regular oils are improving a lot and can go longer than they used to.

I used to go about 11k on my Saturn with cheap synthetic oil (Super Tech). I now have 228k on it, I did switch back to regular oil somewhere around the 100k mark and change it whenever the oil change light comes on, about every 5.5 to 6k. Still running good.

A little info on the Tritec engine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritec_engine

Yikes. Do you guys always talk so much on one post?
Mini advises changes at 15K, the minder goes further than that but I ignore it; my drive is on paved 2-lane highway; the filter is always changed with the oil, Mobile-1 as specified; sometimes the oil is sludgy, and that is when I’ve been negligent with checking the level.
Thanks for the advice to check the screen and the oil pan.
I had a new garage do the diagnostic but he flaked on ordering the part, so I went back to my old-school German guy. I don’t know if a pressure gauge was used, so that’s good advice to check. The new sending unit did not solve the problem.
I promise to check level more often.
Jeez, you guys.

But we are not the ones with engine problems…I’ve NEVER had an engine problem with 3000 mile changes…

I’ve never had problems with 15,000 mile changes and i’ve actually met a number of people who had problems with 3,000 mile changes. The difference: I regularly check my oil level and they didn’t. That matters more than anything else in my opinion.

“Mini advises changes at 15K, the minder goes further than that but I ignore it; my drive is on paved 2-lane highway; the filter is always changed with the oil, Mobile-1 as specified; sometimes the oil is sludgy, and that is when I’ve been negligent with checking the level.”

END OF STORY…Car is designed to self-destruct…You can’t lubricate an engine, any engine, with two quarts of sludge in the crankcase…

Replace the oil pump pick-up screen, switch to 10w-40 mineral oil, change it every 3000 miles and hope for the best…

In my opinion some of the worst advice you can give. There are oils more than capable of this level of service. Obviously if a leak develops and there isn’t enough oil to lubricate the engine there’s going to be trouble. If the oil level is maintained and proper oil is used the car will not self-destruct.

Your advice to use a non-certified oil for this application is also just not a good idea in general, even if you don’t care about the car.

Do what you like. I use full-synthetic and change it around 4,000-6,000 miles, depending on the weather, how the oil looks, and my laziness. (unscientific, I know) I have 260K on my original engine, and it shows no sign of giving up. Only repairs done to this 18yo engine have been minor, such as leaking valve cover gaskets, timing belt, and sensors. I don’t make a ton of money, but an extra $50 or so a year in oil changes is well worth the peace of mind IMHO.

It isn’t the oil’s fault. I switched to synthetic (Mobil 1 5w30) in my 1997 Maxima at about 85k miles. I was using a quart every 1000 miles or so on the highway. I never let it get more than 1.5 quarts from full since then and changed the oil and filter twice a year. I also never let it go more than 8k miles (5k-8k) without a change. Pour a little oil in the filter before installing and wipe the filter bowl clean. Despite the extra cost, I use Nissan oil filters.

I now have 188k miles on it. On my trip to Florida last month, I was surprised to see no change in oil use. I got 1300 miles per quart. An extra 200 miles added are due to a fixed rear seal leak during a tranny rebuild.

My advice: NEVER use regular motor oil or anything else, including additives. Synthetic protects better, especially in cold climates. Fuel economy is a little better with synthetic. It’s worth the extra cost for these reasons. When it’s time for a new vehicle, the fact that you used synthetic should be a plus when you put it in the want ads.

  1. It’s DINO (dinosaur) oil, not DYNO oil.

  2. Most of the particles the oil filter catches are not dirt from the outside world. The air filter catches most of that.

  3. One could change an oil filter without removing the oil and pouring it back in.

My Toyota (2006 Matrix) calls for 5k miles or 6 months.

“NEVER use regular motor oil”

My '88 Accord went 219k miles with regular oil (before I sold it) and never burned any significant amount of oil, except when cruising at 85mph (maybe 1/2 quart in 2000 miles).

I wouldn’t pay one dime more for a car someone claimed they put synthetic oil in, unless the Owners Manual called for it.