High miles oil? Frequency of changes?

[Cait Sith Cat]

Hello.

First, I looked for the answer to this before posting.

I have a 1996 Crown Victoria P71. It has about 128,000 miles, and I was wondering if Valvoline Maxlife is as good as they want you to believe. Should I use something like Maxlife, or a fully synthetic oil? (Or normal all climate?)

Also, I drive about 2,000 miles a year. Should I still change my oil every 5 months (< 1000 mi.) or wait about a year? I drive it on a normal basis, just not very far.

Thanks.

[Greenblurr93]

ive learned the general rule of thumb is 3k miles or 6 months, which ever comes first, becuse oil can break down over time.

[Cait Sith Cat]

Thanks. I got my other question answered too, thanks.

[SaabJohan]

Once a year is enough unless you drive under bad conditions.

For modern cars it's typically once a year or 20000 km (12500 miles) which ever comes first. For some new cars intervals of 30000 km is ok, older cars can need oil changes more often, at around 10000 km or 6250 miles. In any case oil should always be changed once a year.

The oil you use should meet the spcifications recommended by the engine manufacturer. Synthetic oils are in general better, but note that all "synthetic" oils might not be synthetic.

[danny350]

you're way off man! 5000km or 3000miles max.

[drdisque]

I personally wouldn't switch to synthetic on a car that has used conventional for 127k miles, it can make things leaky.