Fully synthetic oil.

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mrcat1, Jan 5, 11:40am
That's why its more important to use the correct SAE grade AND viscosity as recommended by the manufacturer and either use genuine filters or good quality aftermarket ones.
Using synthetic oil where its not called for by the manufacturer has no advantage at all, if the vehicle is getting used for what it was designed for apart from wasting money and tug factor.
Simplest way to know if mineral oil is doing its job is oil sampling, if it comes up as acceptable, there is certainly no advantage to going to synthetic oil.

marte, Jan 5, 11:46pm
Was that the ASN engine? That's the one I'm looking at at the moment.
I think I will have to do a oil flush to fix the codes for the cams, or it's a bad connection to the cam sensor, and replace all of the coils.
There's no obvious oil leaks at the cambelt ends of the camshaft, so that's not the problem. And the MAF sensor will get cleaned first of all.
2003 4wd wagon, I have the 2003 2.0 CVT ALT engine version too.

martin11, Jan 6, 7:11am
Yes it was , just make sure the cam belt /waterpump and tennsioner have been done at the correct time .

tygertung, Jan 6, 5:09pm
If the original honing marks are still there, I dare say it isn't going to be excessively egg shaped.

marte, Jan 6, 5:41pm
Will a Pressure hone take out most of the hexielipiticallovoid shape?
I know that just a simple spring hone won't,.

marte, Jan 6, 5:47pm
Yep, it's scarry about having to stick to that deadline. I think it's got a camshaft sensor problem, it's got 4 of them I think.
Most probably crankcase ventilation stuff needs replacing & theres a big ? mark over the variable cam timing system.

I read that it's a 6.4 litres of oil in it, standard sized filter though. Ridiculousy easy to get to without the undertray on though. Just reach under & undo it.

mechnificent, Jan 6, 5:57pm
You have to worry about the lip at the top before the out of round gets too bad for new rings. The lip, then the taper, then the out of round. That's the order of dangerous priorities. Rings take up out of round easy, and they will handle the flexing of taper for a while if it doesn't get overheated and the rings softened, but the lip will break rings straight off.

sirdoug, Nov 14, 1:56pm
Will fully synthetic oil stand changes at 15000 kilometres or am I pushing things a bit,

monaro17, Nov 14, 2:04pm
Well- fully synthetic oil stands up the best to deterioration so out of any of the oils you could buy a fully synthetic will in theory last the longest.

HOWEVER. you should always use the correct oil and spec as recommended by the manufacturer and replace it at or below the time/mileage they specify. Manufacturers spend huge amounts of money developing their engines so use what they say and follow their recommendations, don’t try and second guess

sirdoug, Nov 14, 2:16pm
Thanks Monaro. Good advice.

intrade, Nov 14, 3:06pm
there is a danger to that statment in post 2
long live services are only really for 24/7 courier operators . But no one will say or show you the samllprint that states this.
15k or 12 month. never go over 12 month in any case .

toenail, Nov 14, 4:07pm
depends. if you race your car on the track i wouldn't go past 1000km.

clark20, Nov 14, 4:09pm
Mine is at 15,000km but it takes 8.4L to make sure it can take the abuse. If the manufacturer says its OK then do it.

msigg, Nov 14, 4:25pm
Yes 15k or 12months is the norm. This is for any car,suv,ute.

terry012, Nov 14, 4:26pm
Oil is cheap, engine rebuilds are not

nice_lady, Nov 15, 8:43am
Compared to a rebuild yeh oil is 'relatively' cheap but it's not what I'd call cheap otherwise. The high/low pricing model has certainly been well integrated - well y'know $95 for the Castrol Edge 5w-30 5L bottle which Hubby uses on our Hyundai Elantras, but wait for the 'specials' and get two for that cost. Jeez.

clark20, Nov 17, 7:32am
Yes, I always have 2x5L when the price drop is on for around $50-55 each

monsieurl, Nov 28, 11:09am
I use 5w30 Castrol edge on all my cars and though my manual says my new AMG can be changed at 20k intervals there's no way i'll be doing that and will be annually whatever kms I do, my wifes daily STI Forester and my more sunday driver BMW 540i are also done annually and both do probably less than 5k, i'm a little anal about the maintenance but like said above, oil is cheap compared to not maintaining them.

marte, Nov 28, 2:45pm
If it's a turbo engine, no.
If it's a Audi, definitely no, 7000kms max. With a Original VAG filter too.

If somebody says you can go longer with the oil, offer them the used oil for free. I mean there's like 3000 kms left in it, innit?

serf407, Nov 29, 3:46pm
In cities with traffic issues and gridlock velocities, it might be preferable to determine oil change intervals by an engine operation hour meter.

martin11, Nov 29, 4:01pm
Did my A6 which I had for years at 12months or 15,000 km for ages with no problems using Synthetic oils

marte, Dec 26, 5:46pm
I double checked the intervals & that's correct,
If it's a V6, there's a lot of oil in them.

Though for the 1.8 turbos they dropped it down to 5-7kkms, no longer than 7 & doubled the size of the oil filter to a gigantic thermos sized unit.
They were having problems with the carbon buildup in the engine, caused mostly by the oil cooling of the turbo frying the oil, that a turbo oil return pipe was a bit close to the exhaust manifold, that it held a paltry 3.5 litres of oil & the oil pump pick up screen would get blocked easily, same with the oil gallery to the camshaft(s) chain tensioner.

The Crankcase ventilation system probably didn't help at all either, crappy plastic cracking & letting oil mist out & condensation in. In cold weather areas this condensation could build up, freeze & block the system causing more problems.
The silly one way valves, that look like a bicycle tyre patch, were a bit too lightweight I think. One hose gets soft like chewing gum & collapses under vacuum as well. Due to the oil mist.( 058103221H )
This is on the late 90's 1.8 & 1.8t, though some problems went till nearly 2010.
They made a improved oil pickup unit & the oil filter was bigger so it held more oil, preformed more filtering & offered some extra cooling, I think they even put fins on the crankcase cover to get better cooling there too.

With the '04-'09 versions, some used up so much oil, all that had to be done was to top it up & change the filter early

In the finish, a shorter oil/filter interval is a good investment. ( So is a good proper ' for the purpose ' engine run in from new.)