[jfoj]

Your longer oil change intervals are not a problem as long at you pay careful attention to engine coolant temperatures and your drives are typically 25 minutes plus.

Here is the deal, the ECU in these cars has a VERY sloppy and have wide range before it triggers an engine coolant temperature DTC/Code. Engine oil and crankcases that do not get up to temperature tend to become contaminated rather quickly. So the key is to make sure the thermostat is not soft and the engine oil regularly gets up to temperature in order to cook/boil off excess water vapor and residual fuel that can end up in the crankcase. See the Thermostat Info below in my signature for more details.

One thing I attempt to do is change my engine oil just before the colder Fall/Winter temps set in. This is because I know I do not want to change the oil in the Winter and most of the driving will probably be shorter trips and if the crankcase tends to build up moisture, at least I start the cold season out with fresh engine oil.

Just remember what mayonnaise is made out of, oil and water can whipped until the 2 combine in to a mixture!

As for your long oil filter, not sure you will be able to get an oversize filter mounted if the adapter plate is thick. I know on my car where I typically run a Mobil 1 M1-301 filter there is very little room left between the fan and the base edge of the filter.

 

[jfoj]

Interesting about the thermostat, I had not thought of that. A water temperature gage will be my third gauge for my dash pod. I'm waiting until I change my radiator houses to install the sender. At that time I will also replace the thermostat and housing that have been sitting around since I replaced my timing belt.

As for the oil, fear not, most of my trips for work are at least 200 miles of highway and often over 400. So the oil gets up to temp and stays around 3000 rpms most of its life.

Any concern with running stock sized filters for 9000 mile intervals? I'm mostly worried about filter surface area.

With 200 miles of highway driving, you should be able to get the oil up to temp.

I would not worry too much about the smaller filter, if you had a concern about the small filter, you could change the filter half way through.

I usually pay careful attention to the oil color on the dipstick/towel as this is really the best indicator oil contamination.

As for the engine temp, you can monitor it with an OBDII scan tool, should be about 205F at idle, may drop off about 5F at cruise.

See info on OBDII software and scan tools in my signature.