Ok so the debate still rages on, do you change oil every 5000k? 10000k? or go by mitsubishi's somewhat optimistic 15000k?

Well i personally am a strong believer in the 5000k oil change, and this was only re-affirmed yesterday. Due to uni and work pressures recently i havent had a chance to do my oil.. as a result i didnt get around to an oil change till the 10000k mark... when it came out the oil was as black as night and was extreemly runny and generally digusting. It would have been doing stuff all lubrication and protecting of my engine. And my engine is only 25k old and in the prime of its life.. so its not like its cos my engine is some 200 000k old thing with stuffed oil rings.

Then i changed the oil in my old mans mitsu express van.. it had waited 15k for its oil change and not only was it also as black as night.. but when i drained the oil pan back into the oil bottle to dispose of it down the dump like the good responsible person that i am.. it left a big thick growse black sludge on the bottom of the oil pan... yay that engine was getting alot of protection... :nuts:

In summary, CHANGE YOUR DAMN OIL well before 10k!! 5000k would be good, or atleast at 7500k (halfway between its 15k service intervals if you have a third gen V6 like me)

oh and for the record i used magnatec in my magna because its what mitsubishi use, i havent had any dramas with it, its only 30 buks for 5 litres, and the worlds best cricketer (adam gilchrist) told me too :P and for my dads van i used penzoil heavy duty 50W oil cos its a courier van and gets worked VERY hard and frankly needs some seriously heavy duty sh!t

Mitsubishi wouldn't specify 15 000k service intervals if they weren't okay. Having said that, I change my oil every 7 500k just to be on the safe side.

Colour isn't an indicator of oil quality - texture and smell are.

Mitsubishi wouldn't specify 15 000k service intervals if they weren't okay. Having said that, I change my oil every 7 500k just to be on the safe side.

Colour isn't an indicator of oil quality - texture and smell are.

the service interval may be fine, but the oil change interval is not. Thats where people get confused, they see that the next log book service isnt due for another 15k, but that doesnt mean that the oil isnt due to be changed for another 15k! An oil change and a log book service are two completely different things

Sorry, but in the manual it also states that oil changes should be performed every 15 000k unless "the vehicle is operated under hash conditions" (which includes lots of city driving).

I agree though; 15 000k is a bit of a stretch and the reason why I prefer to do mine every 7 500k instead.

I do my oil and filter every 5000km. I figure that a $25 every 2-3 months is cheap insurance to maintain a sweet running engine.

My used car warenty requires I take my car in for a service every 10 000km. All they do is change the oil and filter and tell me whats wrong with the car and charge me $179. It's a bit of a rip, however if the car suffers mechanical failure, at least many things are covered by that warrenty.

I change at 5000km.. or somtimes before 5000km.. :D
only good oils for my baby...

i usually change my oil at 5000km and my oil filter every 10,000km. but because of uni and work atm, i havent changed it in 8000km. im dreading the day i do it and see how bad the oil looks. poor astron lol

Every 5000km for me, because I do about that much a year. I wouldn't want engine oil to be in there for more than a year. It also depends what kind of driving you do, lots of short trips or mainly freeway driving.

Tim se red
Is there some reason why you don't change the filter every time you change the oil?
Don't forget the filter probably holds at least 250 ml of oil which immediately contaminates the new oil. Also if the filter has been doing what its designed to do it will already be partially clogged with crud so it won't filter the new oil as well.
If you are not changing it because of the cost I would consider using a cheaper oil and a new filter every change.
Now before everyone starts on about not using cheap oil. If the oil complies with the specs required for your engine and you are changing it every 5000k you should not have any problem with it. In fact, in a road car I would consider it more important to have a good quality filter and use a cheaper oil rather than use an expensive oil and not change the filter every oil change.
When I was younger and poorer I had a Datsun 720 ute from new. It had an 1800 4 cylinder in it. I used what ever oil I could buy cheap (from woolies or coles or where ever) and always used a good filter ie Ryco. Changed both every 5000k. Sold the car with 275,000klm on it. still ran well, didn't burn oil. Some years later I ran into the bloke with my old ute and he told me he had kept up the same oil change sequence as I had and had done over 400,000 klm before he finally had to rebuild the engine.

regards
bollie7

30 buks for magnatec really isnt that much to ask tho.. and there have been tests to proove that cheap oil like home brand oil is considerably worse then good oil like castrol or mobil. These are scientific tests.. jsut coss the viscosity rating is the same doesnt mean the oil does the same job

personally i dont trust home brand oil as far as i can throw it

Hi RJL 25
TJ ii 3.5L t/t since 34k
I would agree about changing the filter and oil every 5K / 7.5k but allways use quality oil (magnatec )and I use an air/oil separator - surprising how much black sludge is collected before re-entering the air intake and, funny how the oil level never drops. I note that many higher K/m 3rd Gen's chasing rough idle had to have throttle bodies cleaned - cheers :cool:

My cousin used to work at Saab and they had 15K service intervals LONG before many other manufacturers considered it. He personally believes it's ludicrous. The oil is thick, very dark and the filters just aren't big enuf to screen thick oil at the rate it's needed. Saab also had a lot of turbo and engine rebuilds/replacements to do at that particular dealer. I know it's related.

Hi RJL 25
TJ ii 3.5L t/t since 34k
I would agree about changing the filter and oil every 5K / 7.5k but allways use quality oil (magnatec )and I use an air/oil separator - surprising how much black sludge is collected before re-entering the air intake and, funny how the oil level never drops. I note that many higher K/m 3rd Gen's chasing rough idle had to have throttle bodies cleaned - cheers :cool:

mate dont understand this, whats an air/oil separator??

mate dont understand this, whats an air/oil separator??

Otherwise known as a Catch can :P Catches oil vapor that is otherwise re-routed back into the intake for emissions perposes. In our case you can see the breather pipes from the cam covers routed into the intake, one directtly intot he plenum, and the other inthe intale pipe before the throtle body :D

I wondered for a VERY long time how the TB's got so grimmey. I mean, surely there's not that much blowback from the ports. Now I know.

Had a KE Verada from new. Sold it after 7 years with 180000Klms on the clock. Changed oil and filter every 15000klms as per the book. Engine never used any oil or water. Guy I sold it too has kept up the 15000 klm oil changes and says the engine is still sweet. Now has over 200000Klms on it!

Towed a 1.3 tonne boat a lot of klms with that car which the dealer reckoned was harsh driving conditions but I was never convinced to change oil more frequently.

Have a KL GTVi now which has 35000klms on it and also 15000 Klm servicing and will keep it until 180000 - 190000 klms.

My experience for what its worth!!

Every 5000 or so. Or max 5 months. And new filter. Used Magnatec but converted to proper synthetic oil (Shell 5-40). Big difference in the running of the engine, smooth and less throttle action required for cruising speed due to lesser restriction compared with mineral/thicker oil.
Sometimes I think 15k service levels are just sales gimmicks - "look, our car is so good you rarely need to service it". Yeah. :doubt:

Every 5000 or so. Or max 5 months. And new filter. Used Magnatec but converted to proper synthetic oil (Shell 5-40). Big difference in the running of the engine, smooth and less throttle action required for cruising speed due to lesser restriction compared with mineral/thicker oil.
Sometimes I think 15k service levels are just sales gimmicks - "look, our car is so good you rarely need to service it". Yeah. :doubt:

Hhehe this is trippy, I did exacttly the same as you did with switching to Shell from Magnatec. Although I didin't notice any difference in engine performance, I did notice it stayed smooth between changes (magnatec made the engine rough near the 5,000 mark) and the look of the shell oil is still good at 5,000, magnatec looked likw it had been in there for 50,000K... lol

i was using shell helix 20w-50 in my first gen as thats what is recommended in the service manual, it was alright but it took a while to get pressure into the lifters and didnt run well for the first 5 mins of a journey.
ive recently switched to castrol magnatec and noticed a big improvment in smoothness on startup and the car requires less throttle to cruise. also the oil pressure reaches max pressure much faster. im definatly going to be sticking to this or similar oil.

Um my service book says every 75000 for the oil change, not 15000. Thats ****ing crazy!

Um my service book says every 75000 for the oil change, not 15000. Thats ****ing crazy!

Yeah crazy, who would change every 15,000 when you can change at 75,000?


Jokes mate, I know it's a typo lol

Mitsubishi wouldn't specify 15 000k service intervals if they weren't okay. Having said that, I change my oil every 7 500k just to be on the safe side.

Colour isn't an indicator of oil quality - texture and smell are.

I think you will find alot of threads on here about this age old debate. It has been said several times that a likely reason the interval is so big is to keep fleet service cost/times down to make the vehicles more attractive for fleet buyers, sounds feasible to me.

I think you will find alot of threads on here about this age old debate. It has been said several times that a likely reason the interval is so big is to keep fleet service cost/times down to make the vehicles more attractive for fleet buyers, sounds feasible to me.

that is the exact reason. They know that the car wont die before the warranty is up by changing every 15000km's so thats how they get away with it.. but it will leave your car in worse condition then if you changed it every 5000

[QUOTE=GTVi guy]I think you will find alot of threads on here about this age old debate.[QUOTE]

Yeah - fine line between a FAQ about something like rim sizes etc which are regulated facts (and don't change as such) and issues like this, when matters evolve and new opinions/research by members appear weekly.

I think that this debate should have far more concern on what you do in the 5000/7500/10000/15000 kms.

For example, my car, a 2003 TL wagon auto, does knocking on the door of 200kms a day 95% on the freeway. It hardly ever gets cold! I stick with 15000 servicing with a good quality oil etc.

However, if I was to spend 2 hours a day stop start in heavy traffic or do a lot of short journeys where the car never gets warm etc it would be a very different story and I would be changing much more often.

Hi mike481050

Great to hear of a positive experience Like to know what factors you feel contributed
eg Type of oil (mineral, synth 10w40 ? brand of fuel, filter oem ?) Type of fuel 91, 95 etc.quality of fuel source - brand. Any info greatly appreciated :cool:

I change my oil, Filter and plugs every 5000ks due to the fact that its turbo and the oil has alot more stress put on it, I use motul Turbolight, Great oil indeed, recommend it to all. In the end but i think its all up to personal preference. I dunno if its been done but it would be good to see a test between too exact same engines one with oil changed every 5000 and one every 15000 and see which one last the longest.

I tried to get to 5000km between oil/filter changes. But, somebody decided the car didn't need an oil change for 40,000km in the past...

The rebuild is on a full change of 15w40 every 5,000km (That is, oil and filter) The older motor is on 20w60 every 5,000.

Yeah i change my oil every 5k as i get the oil a little bit cheaper, and i'm runnin mobil 1 5w - 50 and the girl is runnin oh so fine.

I tried to get to 5000km between oil/filter changes. But, somebody decided the car didn't need an oil change for 40,000km in the past...

The rebuild is on a full change of 15w40 every 5,000km (That is, oil and filter) The older motor is on 20w60 every 5,000.

i know someone who has had his oil in his car for 45000k's and still doenst have any intentions of getting it changed.. your try and tell these people how stupid they are being but they are just too damn ignorant.. :rant:

Let me clarify that. I never got to 5,000km without changing the oil. Usually because something else had failed, or it was so contaminated by swarf from the chain, guides, gears, balance shafts...

What do you mean oil rings? Oil rings spread oil on the bore. They do not create a seal between combustion area and rest of motor. That is done by compression rings.

Ok so the debate still rages on, do you change oil every 5000k? 10000k? or go by mitsubishi's somewhat optimistic 15000k?

Well i personally am a strong believer in the 5000k oil change, and this was only re-affirmed yesterday. Due to uni and work pressures recently i havent had a chance to do my oil.. as a result i didnt get around to an oil change till the 10000k mark... when it came out the oil was as black as night and was extreemly runny and generally digusting. It would have been doing stuff all lubrication and protecting of my engine. And my engine is only 25k old and in the prime of its life.. so its not like its cos my engine is some 200 000k old thing with stuffed oil rings.

Then i changed the oil in my old mans mitsu express van.. it had waited 15k for its oil change and not only was it also as black as night.. but when i drained the oil pan back into the oil bottle to dispose of it down the dump like the good responsible person that i am.. it left a big thick growse black sludge on the bottom of the oil pan... yay that engine was getting alot of protection... :nuts:

In summary, CHANGE YOUR DAMN OIL well before 10k!! 5000k would be good, or atleast at 7500k (halfway between its 15k service intervals if you have a third gen V6 like me)

oh and for the record i used magnatec in my magna because its what mitsubishi use, i havent had any dramas with it, its only 30 buks for 5 litres, and the worlds best cricketer (adam gilchrist) told me too :P and for my dads van i used penzoil heavy duty 50W oil cos its a courier van and gets worked VERY hard and frankly needs some seriously heavy duty sh!t[/QUOTE]