Oil change; about 1500 miles overdue, and judging by the consistancy of the oil that came out, I definitely waited too long this time. I noticed something very disturbing somewhere along the line: one of the shops that touched my car since the last oil change put a Mobil 1 filter on the car. It's entirely possible that the oil change place I had do it last time (it was cold out, and I was lazy) didn't even use the Mitsubishi oil filter I supplied, which would explain the crazy amounts of lifter tick I've been getting since the last change (I was attributing it to the oil, never thinking that I'd have to check to make sure I got the oil filter I gave them). I noticed the switcheroo when the downpipe went on. With a new load of Mobil 1 10w30 and an OEM oil filter, a quickie test drive didn't display any signs of that annoying tick, so we'll see how it goes on my upcoming 3000-mile road trip.