Well, for sure you are doing 99.9999% highway driving, and I am not.. But, we're both getting good life out of our engines, so we both must be at least doing okay with our maintenance.. Oil base being responsible for color?? I don't know anything about that, so I will certainly back out of that debate.. I will stick to my method, you stick to yours, in 50 years we will both be in the ground (probably), so this won't matter... I think we both agree that the original poster is going a little overboard, but that'* just both of our 2 cents worth!! (I'm guessing Willwren might stop us soon, I think we took over this thread!) Mike :)

You must have a REALLY dirty crankcase. I've got 5000 miles on my current oil and it still looks just a SHADE darker than when I put it in.

I highly suggest you clean out your crankcase with seafoam in the oil for a while and a PureONE filter (oversized)

As far as the oil goes, if you want synthetic, you're paying WAY too much going for Royal Purple, theres no substantial evidence that it will perform any better in a normal engine than a very high quality synthetic like Mobil1 or Pennzoil Platinum. And thats only if you want synthetic. Personally I prefer the above synthetics because I want the extra protection in the heavy heat and also because I want the insurance that the oil will perform as well as possible if I decide I need to hop on it.

If you don't need that, then just go with a high quality conventional oil and change it every 3k, but continue to use a PureONE.

Hell, in 50 years i'll only be a young 102 !

ROD

Well, it was a great discussion and thats cool. I do in fact see a very opaque and noticable darkening after a month. the cost of having your oil analyzed has got to be more than just changing it. As far as the high cost of My changes, I think I am happy with it To save a few thousand miles before needing a rebuild. The stabilizer I ll always use. the thing is that it gets very viscous when the motor cools. SO, its still coating the pistons etc. on a cold start. I live in the middle of Portland and I spend a lot of time in heavy traffic. Oh, and I use a good motor flush every 4 mos. And if syn oil is not petrol based that alone is enough for me. Kris

I change mine every 3000 miles exactly, and I use either Mobil 1, Royal Purple, or Castrol Syntec.
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I run Mobil one 10w30 synthetic oil in all my cars. I change the oil once a year, and run a good quality wix or purolator filter.

Most of my drives are highway, so i put quite a few miles on her, so i am usually able to give the old 3800 a good run. (the PA)
As far as gas mileage is concerned, I average a 32 mpg, can't say whether it improved it or not, all my cars get an oil change right when I buy them, so i don't know whether it improves it or not.