let's just say you live in...
 

Let's just say you live in sunny SoCal...now with the dust and all that that occurs, do you change your oil every 5,000 miles? I know spec is 15,000 but should I really change my oil more often? In other words, how good is Mobil 1? :)

i guess you have to take a couple of things under consideration. do you drive mostly on the freeway or in traffic? do you drive your box hard? i do "modest" driving...all on the freeway. i change my oil every 5k miles.

I would say 15k miles is too long an interval. Most people do it either ever 5k or 7500K miles. I do it every 7500k.

15k mi. is for ideal conditions (which almost no one encounters). Expressway driving (dusty environment), Stop & Go, Hilly terrain, etc. all count as severe conditions and so oil change interval s/b shortened. I'd say 7500-10k would be fine.

But, since that excess dirt and dust enters the oil through the air filter, don't forget to shorten it's service interval as well.

For a quality synthetic, I would suggest that 7500 miles is tops, esp given the Boxes engine woes.

That is my opinion based on used oil analysis I have seen over the years.

Could you go longer? Sure. Question might be why?

IMHO.

PS-I change the oil in my Lexus every 5K and I live in SOCAL. I use Penzoil platinum synthetic.

7,500 miles is what I do.

Spirited driver, 5-6 autoX/track days, oil change every 7.5K or sooner if I notice any change in its color(dark oil bad).

well I put less than 5,000 a year on my car in traffic and the oil was changed 5,300 miles ago. I don't have to commute, thankfully my job is 2.5 miles away :)