I would sat that forced induction cars need it changed more often than the N/A's.

 

Dan I partially agree with you. Oil technology has come a long way from what it was back in the 50's and 60's. So more frequent oil changes were the norm back then to keep engine enternals from sludging up.
But even though engine tolerances weren't as close as they are today, and older engine designs naturally wore out quicker because of that fact, a well maintained engine (even from the 50's and the 60's) actually lasted much longer than most people thought they did. Why you may ask, and what caused this misconception?
Because back then "clocking" or turning back the odometers was rampant at ALL car dealers. Any used car that came in, and was well taken car of by the previous owner, but may have had a few more miles than it looked like it had, was an automatic candidate for the mileage removal surgery.
The dealers didn't even give it a 2nd. thought. And for the most part, the buyer was none the wiser. But the end result was the next owner usually wound up rebuilding the engine at a 100k when it really had 50% more miles on it.
Thankfully in the 70's, most states started including odometer statements with the titles, that helped curtail this practice. Facing the possibility of stiff fines, and even jail made dealers think twice about clocking mileage.

 

Hello, everybody. Hope somebody can help me out. I bought last June 2009, a brand new 2008 Coupe with 400 miles on it from a closing dealership. It was indicated that the oil was changed as suggested for new engine and is not due no until 3k-5k.

My concern is that i rarely use the car, usually once a week and stays in the garage during winter.

Do I have to wait for the maintenance sensor to tell me to do oil change or should I do it at least once a year? It will be a year old this June. Please help.

Thanks very much!

 

Well the standard is every 7k miles or once a year. whichever comes first.

 

Quite possibly some of the most informative oil-change (or lack thereof) pics ever.

 

If you guys really want to see how long you should be changing your oil or if the FSS is accurate, you should spend the money to have a sample of your oil analyzed at your next oil change. These guys, Blackstone Labs seem to be pretty well known for their oil analyses. This is really the only way to see if the generalities mentioned in the original article hold true for your car and how you drive it.

 

Wow, this is really cool. Only $22.50 to diagnose your oil. I took a look at some of the sample reports, pretty detailed as well.

Considering doing this on my Xfire and stratus, this can tell you a LOT.

 

Supposedly, they send you an entire test kit and everything so that you send them everything they need for the analysis. A few people on one of the other forums I go to have had this done. I should probably get it done on my corrado since I don't drive it a lot, but track time can certainly put a dent in the properties of your oil, especially with aftermarket forced induction/tuning.

There are also other oil analysis companies out there, but blackstone is the one that I hear about most frequently. I personally have never used them, so you might want to search around the internet to make sure their customers are as happy as they seem. I can say I have never heard a complaint though.

 

Thanks for the tip, AllEuro. I had NO idea it was this reasonable to have it tested, this is must for everyone trying to wring out as much power as you can from this 3.2

 

I don't know about wringing out power from this analysis... but I can see a few advantages. Notably:

A. Know exactly when to change your oil based on your own personal driving style.
B. Know if your engine is running optimally/properly. No abnormalities should hint at a healthy running engine.

 

The test has absolutely no impact on getting more from the engine, I was eluding to the fact that the more substantially you mod the motor, you want to know what is going on inside it to make sure you are not doing damage and this test is one of the only ways to know without tearing the engine down.

 

Well stated, couldn't agree more. I use Blackstone for all my oil changes on my diesel truck along w/ thousands of others w/ the same engine (Other great Forum buddies from Super Duty Diesel). The point I want to make is that the more users(Database for Blackstone)that drive an N/A or S/C 3.2L and use Blackstone; the more and more accurate their averages,analysis, and recommendations will be. I will be using them for my first oil change soon, as the original owner had the 1st change done @ the dealer @ 3,000 miles(a good thing for the very first change), and I'm @ 8,500 now. I'll be sticking w/ the Mobile1. So...... I hope many of you decide to analyze your oil @ Blackstone Labs; it will be beneficial to all of us that use it for actually saving money, and the great peace of mind it provides. Not to mention how easy they make it for us w/sample bottle,label,letter for the USPS,etc. No, I'm not affiliated w/ Blackstone. But work is very slow right now, wonder if they need a salesman? Bob

 

This.
We have samples sent out every oil change on the Z06 and our race bikes. When you have lots of money in a vehicle, especially one that is highly modified and making lots of power (600/580 at the wheels) you want to know what is going on inside your motor and see how things are wearing.

If you drive your car hard, track days, drag racing, what have you. This is a good thing to do. It lets you catch a problem early on before it becomes huge. Things like pre-mature bearing wear, ring wear, etc can all be detected early on by having an oil analysis done

 

I change my oil every 3000 miles on both my NA and FI cars, the FI cars take priority more so since they tend to have a bit more blowby due to higher cylinder pressures