Finally, someone with a similar problem. I think it has to do with the whole "Oil Sludge" theory that is talked about so often on this site. I tried the synthetic oil approach. Flushed out my oil with some sort of additive (can't remember the name, sorry) but the product said it would clean out sludge. Did that, flushed all that oil out and changed the oil switching to synthetic oil (Mobil 1). So far so good, keeping my fingers crossed. I figure if the synthetic oil will save my engine then I will fork over the extra $20 per oil change.