There are more automobiles on the roads today than ever before, and this trend is obviously going to continue. Unfortunately, oil consumption is going to continue to increase by means of gasoline consumption, and motor oil consumption. Most Europeans have been taught from previous generations to always change your oil every 3,000 miles to make your engine last longer. Granted this is partially true, the environment suffers tremendously from the disposal of all this waste oil.
Some car owners change their oil every 3,000 miles as recommended by their service manuals, but many of them wait until 5,000 miles or more, and use the cheapest oil they can buy. And yet, their engines still last over 150K miles without having failure due to old engine oil. This just goes to show that most factory engines can tolerate fairly extreme service conditions. For the most part, engine problems are usually caused by overheating, over-revving, lack of maintenance, and the usual lead-foot abuse.
With today's high-quality synthetic motor oils, there is no reason or excuse to not be switching to longer drain-intervals. If everybody extended their drain-intervals by only 1,000 miles, the reduction of waste oil would be phenomenal. The overall oil consumption in the UK would decrease enough that it would draw national attention. Thankfully, Mobil 1 has recently introduced their own line of extended-drain synthetic oils, and it's expected that many more will follow suit in the very near future.
This really adds credibility to AMSOIL's long-standing claims of extended drain-intervals, and is a huge step towards convincing people that longer drain-intervals are perfectly safe. Although the initial cost is relatively expensive, the savings obtained from increased gas mileage, less frequent oil changes, and reduction of waste oil are all extremely important reasons to switch to a premium quality extended-drain synthetic motor oil. In addition, synthetics provide far better engine protection, especially in temperature extremes, where most conventional oils break down and provide very little protection to bearings and other moving parts. Regardless of which brand you choose, be responsible, and extend your drain-intervals. |