# what exactly does Long Life or Extended Drain Interval mean?



## gruppe-b (Dec 6, 2008)

Hi all,
this has been on my mind for a few years,so i thought i'd come ask the experts.
i have seen these terms touted on oil forums and printed on the oil jug labels ; i have not been able to track down a good definition on what it really means.i poked around on BITOG and on various manufacturer's sites without any clear answer.a couple of years ago i had found a _tiny_ bit of info on both Total and Liqui-Moly's sites~they stated that you can run these oils for up to 25K miles or something in that range iirc.that seems a bit much to me :sly:

i am asking this because i had previously been using Total Energy 9000 5-40 and had been running it for 2 seasons .i would change out the filter after 1 year and top it up with approx. 3/4 qt of fresh oil. i don't drive a whole lot and had only put on about 9,500 miles in that time. i just switched back to Castrol Edge 5-40 this week.

i frequently see UOA of Mobil1 (and other synthetics) that state that they can safely run for 15K or more without worry, i am OK with this type of oil change schedule,correct? i asked at the local auto store when i was purchasing my Castrol and the manager of the store looked at me like i was out of my mind :laugh:

thanks for any insight on these issues,


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## BsickPassat (May 10, 2010)

Need an oil temp sensor with the algorithm to use the flexible service interval


Or

Do uoa's


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