JasonH
Full Access Members
I agree with the synthetic but not taking to a dealer for anything and not using an analysis. Why pay to see a bunch of unknown chemicals on a list when you could just spend that money on 7 quarts of oil instead of on the printout and not wonder what the analysis is not showing. I hate to make the analysis fans feel dumb but I don't get it. After working on cars for decades I really don't get it. Also the makers of synthetic have been slowly backpedaling on the time between changes over the years, maybe they finally figured out all oil gets contaminated and breaks down.
The UOA can reveal many potential issues, such as excessive wear, dirt, fuel contamination, coolant contamination, oil dilution, etc. Changing oil regularly doesn't guarantee you'll never have issues with any of these other areas. Look at the timing chain/tensioners issues on the Ecoboost...some users go by the OLM and have no issues, others have issues no matter how regular the service. If you can spend $40 to avoid a $4,000 repair bill, seems like cheap insurance to me. It's a classic case of skipping over dollars to pick up pennies. I don't do it on my Altima, because it's naturally aspirated and I'm confident the engine will have no issues with routine oil changes. I don't have the same confidence in the Ecoboost, and I tow with it, so it's cheap insight into the condition of my engine.