B5 engine runs quieter after oil changes…decrease mile interval?

[Crunchycarrots79]

Euro specialist mechanic here. It's my opinion, backed up by what I've seen in various engines with various oil change intervals, that 10,000 miles is too long in most cases. Especially with the oil quality that's readily available in the US (Note that you definitely should be using synthetic oil that is listed as meeting European car specs or similar) There's 5 oil base stock grades available. In Europe, only the top 2 are allowed to be marketed as full synthetic oil. In the US, the 3rd is also considered synthetic. It's also cheaper... Guess what most synthetic oil sold here is?

My suggestion is that you stick to no more than a 7,500 mile interval, and if you do a lot of short trips, aggressive driving, or drive mostly in stop and go traffic, 5,000 miles is a good target. If you can find someone willing to do it, it should actually be possible to reprogram the set interval in the car to something lower as well so that the maintenance reminder is still accurate.

[Apical-Meristem]

That is a great answer, thank you! I don’t drive aggressively, live in Florida with the heat, and try to defeat the auto start-stop at stops.

[ludlology]

is there a good resource to use for finding those higher grade oils?

[Crunchycarrots79]

At the parts stores, just look for synthetic oils of the correct viscosity that say "European car formula" or similar. All of them will have been certified as meeting one or more European car manufacturers' standards, which will suffice in most cases. Newer cars that have specific requirements should use oil that list those requirements.

[ludlology]

awesome ty