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Hi Klaus - I saw "KMart?" in my mailbox, and knew I had said too much. I use FRAM filters - I don't mind saying so. When I replace them they weigh 3x what they did when I put them in, so they work. Here is the important point. At 2700 miles, the oil still looks ok. One time I let it go to 3700 miles, and was shocked to see the oil looked much dirtier than than it *normally* does at change, and was much thinner than it usually is at change. I mentioned this to my mechanic, and he immediately concurred that there is a good reason to change the oil at 3K. He said in his experience, there is a rapid breakdown sometime after 3K miles with a "quality non-synthetic oil". People can have different opinions, and I respect there are the synthetic oil fans out there. However, I have been driving at least 2-3 times the annual "average" number of miles people drive for 25 years, and have never had trouble using Castrol oil and filters purchased at discount houses. As a point of interest, the fellow who bought my GTI told me he has a friend in the taxi business. His cars go typically 300,000-400,000 mi, and he said his secret was to change fluids and filters every *1,000* miles. On the other hand, I met a salesman who puts 50,000+ mi on his large Lincoln sedans a year. He has gotten around 300,000 mi out of a few of them, and said he has never done any work on the engines. I asked what his secret was and he said he swears by synthetic oil. I have never had to do any work on my engines either, so I am happy with my particular approach. I do respect other's opinions though. Best regards, Don
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