Oil Change Interval Question

My question is about oil change interval.  Same question to synthetic and conventional oil users (and I don't want to do another debate on that subject, so I would appreciate it if you could avoid getting on your soapbox about your choice).
 
Suppose you check your oil level, the level is fine, but you notice the oil is looking less than new ... a little discolored.  But its still another 1200 miles until you are scheduled for another change.
 
In response to seeing the oil is a little discolored, do you shorten your interval?

Dino's every 3000
Synth's every 5000

I wouldn't worry about a little discoloring after 1800 miles.

My 2 cents

i would agree wit the guy above me. a lil discoloration isnt bad. wen its dirt black the u took to long.lol. o and i got a ques. does royal purple really add 9hp. that would b awsome.

one of the major oil companies came out and said last year that the oil actually doesn't ever need to be changed, only the filter. you do need to top it off. this will not put me off of oil changes though. you should be fine on the 3000 dino and 5000 synth rythym

I'm running 10K w/5w-30 Mobil 1, w/a filter change @ 5. 
I would find it hard to believe that any oil will add 9hp... certainly not in a street engine.  'Sounds like ad hype to me.
Oh, and after seeing and rebuilding a 3 yr old engine that developed and leak early on, and the owner just adding fresh oil to top it off, I wouldn't recommend trying that either.  There wasn't much left to rebuild, and the gunk in the bottom of the pan all but choked off the oil pickup.  The cylinders where badly worn and scored, and there was enough varnish on everything to clog the smaller oil passageways off too.
Don't Do It!!

quote:

ORIGINAL: wsoape281

one of the major oil companies came out and said last year that the oil actually doesn't ever need to be changed, only the filter. you do need to top it off. this will not put me off of oil changes though. you should be fine on the 3000 dino and 5000 synth rythym

 
Do you have a link that shows where a major oil company said the above?  Even the best oil filter (doesn't matter how new) allows between 1-3% of fine particulate to get through - this is the dirt that builds up, causing your oil to discolor.  Nothing except doing a change removes that dirt.

quote:

ORIGINAL: virgin1

I'm running 10K w/5w-30 Mobil 1, w/a filter change @ 5. 
I would find it hard to believe that any oil will add 9hp... certainly not in a street engine.  'Sounds like ad hype to me.
Oh, and after seeing and rebuilding a 3 yr old engine that developed and leak early on, and the owner just adding fresh oil to top it off, I wouldn't recommend trying that either.  There wasn't much left to rebuild, and the gunk in the bottom of the pan all but choked off the oil pickup.  The cylinders where badly worn and scored, and there was enough varnish on everything to clog the smaller oil passageways off too.
Don't Do It!!

BAD experience with that myself and some of my buds. Even on newer cars (this was a Ford Focus), we dropped in a 2.5 boxster engine in the car and we ran it at high rpm on the dyno (mosting in the 7500-8000 range). After a while, the engine oil got low and we topped it off. The engine never performed again.

quote:

ORIGINAL: UrbanmanUSA

quote:

ORIGINAL: wsoape281

one of the major oil companies came out and said last year that the oil actually doesn't ever need to be changed, only the filter. you do need to top it off. this will not put me off of oil changes though. you should be fine on the 3000 dino and 5000 synth rythym

Do you have a link that shows where a major oil company said the above?  Even the best oil filter (doesn't matter how new) allows between 1-3% of fine particulate to get through - this is the dirt that builds up, causing your oil to discolor.  Nothing except doing a change removes that dirt.

 
don't have a link, i read it in popular science.

quote:

ORIGINAL: TMR Net Shark

quote:

ORIGINAL: virgin1

Oh, and after seeing and rebuilding a 3 yr old engine that developed and leak early on, and the owner just adding fresh oil to top it off, I wouldn't recommend trying that either.  There wasn't much left to rebuild, and the gunk in the bottom of the pan all but choked off the oil pickup.  The cylinders where badly worn and scored, and there was enough varnish on everything to clog the smaller oil passageways off too.
Don't Do It!!

BAD experience with that myself and some of my buds. Even on newer cars (this was a Ford Focus), we dropped in a 2.5 boxster engine in the car and we ran it at high rpm on the dyno (mosting in the 7500-8000 range). After a while, the engine oil got low and we topped it off. The engine never performed again.

 
Re: V1's sludge build up story, you didn't say if all he did was top up (did he stop doing changes?).  If he did changes, and still got the sludge, sounds like the leak was substantial enough to change the circulation dynamics within the engine.
 
Re: The 2.5 story.  The 2.5 gives max hp at 6500 rpm, max torque at 4500, with redline being 6700.  Of course the engine is going to burn oil and eventually blow something if you rev it to 7500-8000. 

Yeah. They stopped doing oil changes because of the size of the leak. 
What I never understood was that the car was new enough @ the time (it was a Volvo sedan... 1977 or78.  We got it around 1981-2) that they should've simply taken it back to the dealer for repair.  Instead they decided that since the car was going through so much oil that it was one in the same... as changing the oil that is. 
Some ppl just shouldn't own or operate an automobile, y'know?
  

We kinda knew that, but we wanted to push the limits of it. It was fun and all until we spat our engine parts through the exhaust.

NEVER again though am I gonna do that, too much trouble

the sludge build-up also has to do with the quality of oil. my dad brought me up on using castrol (dino) and we would rebuild and re-rebuild motors (whether to race or just because we put huge amounts of miles on them) and the castrol would never build up at all but when we would get another car that had regular maintenance on cheap oil, there would always be build-up on everything after 150k or so. cheap oils will buildup whether or not you change on a regular basis.

I'm certianly not an expert on oil, but I have spent some time on www.bobistheoilguy.com BITOG forum so I have picked up a few things.
 
The color of oil isn't really an indicator of it's still working properly.  A quality oil should darken from use or the "junk" in the engine isn't being properly suspended and will remain in the engine eventually causing sludge.
 
If you follow the warranty OCI you should be fine, especially with synthetics.  The main reason that synthetics can last longer than conventional is they have natural multi-grade properties so they do not require as many viscosity modifiers that are often the first thing to break down from use.  Basically, the viscosity becomes unstable, the oil thins, in conventionals sooner than in synthetics.
 
I think the 9 hp gain with Royal Purple (www.royalpurple.com)  is actually shown on the website.  It was an LS1 Camaro engine and they changed all the drivetrain fluids from conventional to synthetic.  The % gain really isn't very significant, but it can make a small difference.
 
I am running Mobil 1 in my MS3 currently and am considering a switch to Redline in the future as it is a Group V Poly-ol Ester base oil that has natural detergent properties, is more resistent to high temperatures, and due to the fact it contains oxygen it has polarity that causes it to be attracted to metal surfaces.

Here is the link:
 
http://royalpurple.com/video/video.html