Rostra Cruise Control Kit - Part # 250-9633
175/65-14 82T Falken Sincera SN250 AS All-Season (80k mile warranty - Replaced at 78k miles)
175/65-14 Hankook Optimo H724 (70k mile warranty - Currently in use)
I will do my next oil change at 3k miles and make my decision from there.
Keep in mind that I waited 8,683 miles to do my last oil change due to inconveniences at the Buick dealership. The car has always had 5k mile oil changes on conventional. My low quart of oil could have been due to switching to a thinner synthetic oil, or could have simply been existing oil usage I did not notice until going extended miles without an oil change.
I will measure the oil when I do my next oil change at 3k miles. If the level is fine, I will then consider a 5k mile interval. If the level is lower than I am comfortable with, I will probably stick with 3k mile oil changes going forward.
I remembered the Buick dealership switched you over to synthetic oil and 7,500 mile oil change intervals. Neither of those would have thrilled me in your situation. As far as free oil changes go, some dealerships are set up differently than others. Some are set up to do drive up oil changes, & others want an appointment for everything.
Free oil changes get vehicles in their shops where they can look for other services to sell you. For someone not mechanically inclined that can be both bad or good. If may help someone not neglect their vehicle, or they may fall victim to things they don't need yet. Anyone can open up their owner's manual & read it, however.
I doubt a Buick dealership is all that interested in taking care of a Mirage. Thus, I highly doubt you would sense their level of service that they would give to their Buick customers. On a positive note, you received 50+ oil changes even though your purchasing Mitsubishi dealership is long gone.
I've always been in a habit of checking the oil level of everything that I have ever owned regardless of whether it burns oil or not. Obviously, I wouldn't check a newer vehicle that doesn't burn any oil as frequently, but I still check my Mirage every 1,000 miles or so (even though I am only at 32,000 miles).
I think many members appreciate this thread (your public maintenance log), because you have forged ahead (mileage-wise) of us all. Your Mirage has done quite well on 5,000 mile 5W-30 conventional oil changes. In all honesty, I was wondering if your Mirage would start burning oil when that got changed? That may be a little bit of a mystery yet, but I look forward to what happens now that you have gone back to conventional oil.
I think you know way more about cars than myself. Thus, I write some of this for other forum readers. If I had a car of your age/mileage, I would be checking my dipstick every 1,000 miles or so. I would probably stick with what was working (conventional oil changed every 5,000 miles), & I wouldn't feel bad about having to add about 0.5 quart of oil between oil changes. Your cheap plastic car has already served you well, & it is still doing so.
Even if you went back for more free oil changes, you could still add a little oil between them. I wouldn't, however, go back & forth between synthetic and conventional oil. I think there is some value in sticking with one product. By doing your own oil changes, you have total control over that. Thus, I would be doing what you are doing, too. Plus, changing oil on a Mirage is so very simple. Super Tech oil is always affordable, too.
Once I have used up my last jug of Mobil 1, I am switching over to Super Tech myself. In my case, I will probably stick with synthetic oil because it's all my Mirage has ever had. As of today, the price difference between a 5-quart jug of Super Tech synthetic oil ($14.88) and Super Tech conventional oil ($13.68) is a $1.20.
I honestly believe good maintenance practices (more frequent oil changes) is way more important than what brand of oil you choose. Since a Mirage only uses 3-quarts of oil, the price difference between Super Tech synthetic/conventional is less than one dollar per oil change.
If you have been using conventional oil & it has worked well for you, I see no reason to switch to synthetic. Likewise, I don't see a reason for anyone switching over to conventional oil. If you use a product like Super Tech, the price difference becomes irrelevant. If someone else is stuck on liking a certain brand of oil, they usually don't mind paying a little extra for that piece of mind. There's nothing wrong with that, too!
Steve - I always look forward to your updates on your Mirage!
Sidenote: I once predicted your Mirage would make 300,000+ miles on your original clutch. I am feeling better & better about that prediction all the time!
Last edited by Mark; 12-28-2019 at 07:40 PM.
285,098 miles Changed the oil with conventional Supertech 5w30 and a Supertech filter. I planned to use an AC Delco filter for this oil change until I realized I picked up two Supertech filters at the store last time.
Oil was about half a quart low. I will be doing oil changes every 3,000 miles going forward.
Odd question, but have you changed the pcv valve? Maybe it's starting to gum up a bit which would increase oil consumption.
-Karl B. 2015 Mirage DE CVT Utility Machine (and lots of other cars)
287,437 miles Car started having trouble shifting into first gear yesterday. I have never adjusted the clutch linkage on this car before. This morning I made an adjustment by turning the adjustment nut toward the firewall half a turn. Things seem to be doing fine now.
For what its worth, I've occasionally had trouble shifting into first ever since I got the car. On the rare instance I couldn't shift into first, I simply pressed the clutch pedal twice and all was fine. I kept doing this because I was too lazy to adjust the linkage. Yesterday it got to the point where I had to double clutch every single time shifting into first. I'm too lazy to press that pedal twice every time I need first gear, hence me finally adjusting the linkage.
inuvik (02-08-2020)
I have bets placed that your original clutch will go beyond 300,000 miles. Thus, you had me worried for a moment.
FYI - A nice gentleman has been getting a lot of recognition the past couple days for reaching 1,000,000 miles on his 2007 Nissan Frontier (2.5L, 4-cylinder, RWD, manual). He uses his truck as a delivery vehicle. If I heard him correctly, his clutch made it to 801,000 miles.
Just giving you something to shoot for Steve!
I just noticed that Nissan just gave him a new truck now. If anyone is interested in this story, there are a number of clips that came out this past week. Clutch is mentioned about 2 minutes into the first clip attached below. Second clip is about him receiving his new pickup from Nissan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAi9o8SXjNg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXeWiiM1HW4
The best thing the Frontier has going for it is that it's sort of old school transportation. Not sure it has changed much since the Renault alliance years?
287,930 miles Car started having the same trouble shifting into first gear. I adjusted the clutch linkage nut some more with no success.
After I got home, I drained the transmission fluid and measured it. It seemed to be about 1.5 L and didn't look too dirty.
I refilled the car with the same Redline stuff I have been using and drove it up and down my driveway. It seemed better, but I did have trouble shifting into first gear one out of maybe 10 times.
I'm about to go for a drive and will keep you boys and girls posted.
Last edited by stevedmc; 02-12-2020 at 09:48 PM.