Oil Change Question

[cone-cerned]

I just changed the engine oil in my Miata. Since the last change, it has been about 800 miles, 90 days, 14 twenty minute track sessions and 44 autocross runs. Am I being too cautious? Should I wait longer before the next oil change?


FYI, I use T6 oil and a NAPA Gold 1356 filter.

[POS Racing]

Oil changes are cheap insurance IMHO.

I even change the coolant in Vivid once a year fluids are cheap parts are 'pensive.....

What is that service where you can send in an oil sample to get a report back to see if everything is good??

[Yamahaman444]

Modern oils can go to over 6000 miles easily. I personally use Supertech Conventional for 14$ an oil change and have the oil analysis to prove it. Last change I did at 4400 and it came back with below average wear specs and a TBN of 5.3 (1.0 meaning it has worn out the additive package). So take from that what you will. And that's in my Celica GTS with the 8K redline.

As long as your engine was warm before you raced and your cooling system is operating properly, the oil doesn't care how much you Rev or how hard you run.
I think you have a few thousand left in the oil.

Love T6 btw, I use it in my Yamaha Sport bike. And I use that oil till 4 or 5 thousands. Be aware that T6 uses alot of sodium in their anti wear package and so if you send it off to get analyzed, it will show. Sodium is also an indicator of coolant. But when I switched from T6 the sodium disappeared from my analysis. So just be aware.

[Yamahaman444]

It is Blackstone Laboratories. 20 bucks for a traditional analysis and 30 if you want to see how much additive package is left to indicate if you can extend your oil change. Love them and great customer service. I'm willing to procure my reports if needed.

Americans always change their oil too early. I also think it's cheap insurance, but really, it's overkill. It's 2016 and oil has come a huge ways.