I just got my second oil change at 5500 miles - the first was free from the dealer, but I understand they use dino oil or a blend.
This time I used Mobil One.
Does anyone feel they get more power or better MPG from full synthetic? Personally, I go syn in all my vehicles, but of course it is not really necessary in the V6.
NYC area. Bumper to bumper traffic in a summer that has hit 100 degrees. Tough service.
Did the first at 2500 when the car was in the dealer for warranty. It was free, made sense to just have it done instead of making a new appointment in another 1000 miles.
Second is 3000 miles later. I mostly do all my oil changes at 3000-3500. Although with the syn probably 5K is safe.
synthetic has advantages in hot conditions, like if you tow for example. it will keep its lubricating properties to higher temps than dino oil before breaking down under severe operating conditions, ie real hot and real cold. Much better cold start protection with synthetic than dino.
synth will last longer, which means fewer changes. i consider it almost mandatory in turbo engines in order to get longest life out of the turbo.
but if your service is not particularly severe dino oil will work fine, but you can't slack off on the changes. if you got a turbo don't play around, use synthetic.
there are likely no power or mpg advantages that are worth mentioning and might be hard to measure. In both cases synth should be better, but how much is debatable and whatever it is it won't be much better.
Also unless you're buying Mobil 1 extended range you are only getting a synthetic/petroleum blend. The regular Mobil 1 has been a blended oil for quite some time.
Yeah they're lying in a sense. API has never provided a definition of what fully synthetic oil is so companies like Mobil 1 and Castrol have been redefining it for them with clever but misleading advertising.
Actually, they re-defined what's considered and can be labeled and sold as Full Synth after the lawsuit, google it if you are interested in all details.
I use Pennzoil Platinum in our cars. The reason - oil keeps it's properties (that matter) during its use as opposed to dyno that gets thicker and doesn't flow as well.
I too, never go by mileage but rather how many gas tanks were burned between the changes. Even then I change oil in 'HWY' car every 5K miles and 'City" car - 3.5K miles.
Walmart sells Penn Plat quite cheap. I mean Walmart in USA, I live only 5 miles from border. My oil changes are CAD$35 including filter and taxes. I also keep records in Excel as per date, mileage, cost, services performed, total compounded cost for all services since first one, when tires were rotated etc. I also attach strong magnet to oil filter to keep metal shavings inside it as they will go with the filter during its change.
One can download free Excel table for keeping maint records off Internet and customize it further.
Did my first oil change at 2,000 kms or 1200 miles. I used VWB 5W-30 dino. Dino helps breakin imo - helps seats rings. I used auto on manual setting to help get some engine braking on the rings to help them seal.
2nd was done at 6,000 kms as per warranty - and am now on full synthetic 5W-30 using QSUD.
Is Synthetic overkill at 6,000 km OCI? Probably, but at $40 an oil change, it's relatively cheap.
I use a Mitivac to pull the oil out of the fill tube and I get about 5.8 liters out, while the manual specs 5.7 liters.
OEM KIA filter, and the oil change is done in 20 minutes.
I have a marine oil pump that I use to change the oil on my bikes and generator. But the one time I tried it on a car the tube could not go down far enough to work.
Are you saying it will work on the V6? If so, I can do the changes myself. The filter is easy enough to get to on top, but the plug is a real PITA, not only need a lift but that splash pan has a lot of bolts to take out.
I am of the Motoman school of thought with early oil changes within 600-1000 miles on my cars and motorcycles. But I decided to go with the recommended way with the Sorento.