I tried a search and came up with nothing so apologies for an old topic. Simple question. How long can 100% synthetic oil sit in the engine before it is considered too old? The old wisdom being change oil every 3000 miles or three months. My case being, I have had my S4 for 10 months and have only put a hair over 5000 miles on it and this is my second oil change. So I am well under the every 3000 miles part but way over the three months part by double. Is synthetic different in the ability to not break down as fast by just sitting in the engine for long periods?
I run Motul 8100 X-cess 100% synthetic.
I think 3k OCI is a bit short. I’d send a sample to Blackstone to see what they would suggest, but extending it to 5k should be no issue. Also depends on what kind of driving you’re engaging in, just regular dd with occasional spirited runs or some heavy tracking. I personally stick with 5k OCI or once a year whichever comes first. Btw that’s a great oil choice!
The oil your using is from a great base stock. Depending on your driving 3 to 5 k is OK. If you drive hard closer to 3 is better due to the fact the motor uses your motor oil as a hydronic fluid on the tensioner units.
The oil 3 month time line was for several issues condensation and fuel contamination being some of the biggest. The synthetic oil is harder to breakdown. So fuel contamination is still an issue but not as big when it comes to oil breakdown. Without going into a long post from what manufacturer you get your information from differs on idle time. From what I can gather depending on environmental and chemical contamination you get you can go for about 12 months as long as you are under light duty and use a high quality oil.
I hope that was more helpful then confusing
Thanks for the info guys. It all made sense and helps. I drive conservatively with the occasional sprint so it looks like i can go to 5 which puts me at once a year at my current rate. I have the container from Blackstone sitting in my garage…next oil change I will get an analysis done.