[QUOTE=Colin;1970210]You’ll be absolutely fine, there’s nothing to worry about if you go over a little bit, even 5k km is no big deal. People are generally undereducated about oil and as thus are wasting a ton of it.
People make this huge stink about how you need to change your oil ever 3k miles, that’s BS. That time interval had to have been created by places like Jiffylube to get more business, or possibly even the oil companies. Did you even realize that the oil change interval Honda gave your car at time of manufacture was closer to 6-7k miles?
And that’s with conventional motor oil, if you’re using synthetic you can go even longer. I wait 10-12k mi before changing the oil on my new car (been using synthetic since I got it at 20k mi). There are all sorts of tests out there where people have sent their oil in at regular intervals to see when it starts to break down. The one’s I’ve seen have been fine up until about 15-18k miles and at that point it’s still not something anyone would deam dangerous. Just that it starts showing up on the tests.[/QUOTE]
True. The manual does specify 10,000 or 12,000 km between oil changes. And it’s likely that the 3000 mile change interval is a holdover from the era of non-detergent oil and partial-flow oil filtration.
I actually had an engineering prof who went several years on the same oil. He used Amsoil synthetic with a secondary fine-media filter that was capable of trapping much smaller particles than a typical filter. He would just change filters regularly and top up the level.
So I have no doubt one can have success with extended drain intervals. I’ve actually looked into it myself but I think the key is to have your oil tested regularly to see how your particular brand or type of oil behaves in your engine under the environmental conditions that your car sees. Too many variables for my liking, and even though you can’t tell the condition of the oil by looking at it, mine does come out black after 5k and I usually notice increased oil consumption as I approach 5k (conventional oil).
The thing that bothers me about extended oil changes in particular is the possible effect of condensation from short periods of cold running, which is quite common for me. In extreme cold my temperature gauge may not reach the mid range until I’m half way to work. Also, the OP is at a rather high altitude, which may mean his engine has more soot buildup than average. Combine that with some blowby and condensation from extreme cold and you’ve got acid in the crankcase.
For that reason, I think if I were to do extended drain intervals I would still change the filter every 5000 km. But I could be wrong. Maybe I’ll cut open my old filter to see how clogged it is.