Another view of the 3000 mile recommendation.
4-5K, here.
There has been some discussion of this subject here on the boards in the past. (Do a search for “oil change” in GQ.)
The most common reference is the Consumer Reports study that (IIRC) showed there was no loss of engine protection at 5,000 miles with normal motor oils, and only very a minor degredation at 6,000 miles. Synthetics fared even better. If there have been contradictory studies, I know I’d be interested in seeing them…
Even the owner’s manual for my truck ('99 Silverado K1500) says 6-8,000 miles except under extreme conditions. Manufacturers may have a vested interest in planned obsolesence, but if the consumers advocates, mechanics, and automakers tend to agree, it’s hard to argue logically otherwise.
Of course, with older vehicles (or, as mentioned, extreme conditions) the general rules may not apply.
'97 Mazda B2300 pickup. 97,400 miles. Yep, I drive a lot - mostly freeway miles in clear conditions.
Owner’s manual says to change oil/filter every 5000 miles (3000 for the “extreme conditions”, which I don’t believe I meet). I do it every 3750 miles.
That’s a rather odd number, I realize, but the major service jobs on this thing are built around 15,000-mile intervals, and 3750 is one quarter of that. Guess what I’m doing this weekend…? 
I also do 3750 miles on my wife’s car (2000 Honda Civic, 29000 miles), which is precisely half of the 7500 recommended in the owner’s manual (actually, it calls for the oil every 7500 and the filter every 15,000(!)). I’m debating upping the interval to 5000, but I doubt I’ll actually do it. Ounce of prevention and all that.
Same here. My car gets one check-up a year (combined with the annual inspection), and that’s when they change the oil. I drive about 15,000 kilometers a year. I have no clue what the regular oil interval for the car is, but I’m guessing it’s not a whole lot less than 15,000 km since my car is serviced by an authorised dealer. I never fill it up either. The mechanics tell me it loses about a liter of oil per year, which is absolutely acceptable for a 5 year old car.
3,000 miles? Sounds archaic to me.
Oh, and the oil on my motorbike is supposed to be changed every season (read: spring), since motorbikes tend to sit still for an entire winter. Don’t know how many kilometers that is, but I’m guessing about 4,000 or so.
If people changed the oil at 5k instead of 3k there would be a lot less oil returned to the environment.
USA Today has an article on this in today’s paper, 3B.
Their rec? Every 5 to 7000 unless your conditions are extreme, when you should increase to every 3000. Extreme includes very hot or cold weather, towing, stop 'n go, etc.
Also, check the color periodically.
Lt brown - okay.
Dk brown - change soon.
Black - go, you’re late.
I’m a religious 3000 mile oil changer. I also started to use synthetics a while ago. Basically until someone proves to me the effects on the engine I’m not going to take any chances. The consumer reports focuses on the oil not breaking down, interesting but not what I’m concerned about. For example if you look at Don’t ask’s link the guy is going on about the ‘myth of the 3000 mile oil change’ But he also says that most of the engine damaging particles are not caught by the filter and are flowing around. That seems to me to be a pretty good reason to change the oil as often as reasonable. To try to get as much as posible of the crappy damaging-particle-filled oil out, and clean oil in. Until I see a scientific study where two cars are driven identically( except for oil changing frequency) for 150,000 miles, then have the engines torn down and see that the bearings and other parts have no more wear, I will keep changing every 3000 miles.
The oil-change place says 3000, the Car Talk guys say 5000, I split the difference and aim for 4000. I don’t always make it; in fact most recently I procrastinated and racked up over 8000 between the last change and the one before.
I’m usually better about it. It’s $30 where I go, and the place is just a mile from my house. It’s a small investment that prevents a huge expense and hassle.
:eek: $30… I’m glad I do mine myself. I get about 3 or 4 oil changes for that. Takes a lot less time too.
Not necessarily. It is true that oil “never wears out”. It does, however get very dirty. The oil filter can only filter out just so much dirt. The remaining goop continues through the engine.
Try this test one of these days. First, dip your fingers into a freshly opened quart of oil and rub your fingers together. Feel how nice and smooth it is? Next, at 7500 miles, drain your oil into a pan and do the same thing with it. Notice what color it is? Black. That is dirt. Run it between your fingers. Feel the grit? It should feel “scratchy”. It is also “scratching” your engine bearings and other internally lubricated surfaces.
I might be overly cautious, but I change my oil and filter every 2500 to 3000 miles. An ounch of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
As meeker said:
I put my money on what the manufacturer says. Engines change all the time, and the better the engine is the less often you need to change the oil. My manual says 7,500, but I do it every 5,000 cuz it’s easy to remember. For my car, the newer models say 10,000, if my manual said that, that’s exactly what I’d do.
Older cars need more frequent changes, but I do think the 3,000 thing is either for old 60’s, 70’s cars or is an oil company scam
My new car, which comes loaded with synthetic motor oil, has a 12,000 oil change recommendation in the manual. So that’s what I’m going with.
shelbo, isn’t it more frequent then that for the first few thousand miles?
Mobil 1.
10-15,000 miles.
Vehicles:
1990 Ford Probe- 275,000 miles and still going strong
1991 Dodge Grand Caravan- purchased at 75,000 miles, went strong until sold at 190,000 miles, probably still running somewhere.
1998 Ford Exploder- 98,000 miles, still runs and looks new. (well, under the thin coat of dirt, right now)
The real issues are: Driving conditions, etc. There are some(few) circumstances under which synthetics are less than optimal, IMO, they are STILL a better choice.
I have my used oil tested every other oil change; there are labs in my area and many auto parts stores have kits you can buy to have oil tested. A good filter and good quality oil will do an excellent job of protecting your engine.
Using a borescope, I can still see the factory crosshatch marks in the cylinders of my 98,000 mile Explorer, all the way up to the cylinder head. I know this works and have over half a million miles of proof.
b.
I get the oil changed every 3,000 miles, absolutely. That’s what my father has always done, and we have never in my life had any car trouble with any car we ever owned.
The whole idea of “its only $25 bucks, I do it just to be safe” doesn’t make any sense to me. If you use that logic why not change your oil every 2K to be really REALLY safe, cause its only $25. Or change your oil every 1K to be really REALLY SUPER-DUPER safe!!
If your car doesnt need it, don’t do it.
Im a 6K+ kinda guy.
Agreed. How do you tell, though?
I can’t, so I use the manufacturer’s recommended interval, add a safety margin that I feel comfortable with (meaning that the additional costs are acceptable to me, and are in line with my admittedly fuzzy requirements), and go with it.
I recommend following whatever the recommendation is in the owner’s manual of that specific car. They built the engine…
New BMW’s for example tell you when to change the oil. The interval varies by the actual driving conditions from about 8k to 12k miles.
Things that affect safe interval:
The capacity of the oil system
The type of oil used
How good the filtration is.
New BMW’s for example have large oil capacities, and require at least semi-synthetic to stay under warranty. (I think the brand new ones require pure synthetic.)
The people who built the engine should know the best. They designed the engine. If they want to design to go 10k miles, they will add the oil capacity and filtration to make it safe.
I change my car’s oil every 4-5K, depends on when I feel like doing it, have time etc. My motorcycles go a lot longer though. Usually around 7-10K, or when I do the valve adjustments. I usually do more miles, around 20K, on the bikes than I do in the car, and most of that is touring. Got 90K on the Escort, still good, 45K on the Connie, still good, and 26K on the Shadow, still good. I do use synthetics in the bikes.
Howyadoin,
My car tells me when to change the oil
My ‘93 Cadillac Seville STS has the Northstar system. Part of the gadgetry is a oil life monitor that goes from 100 (fresh) to 0 (change the frickin’ oil, loser). It factors in how the vehicle is being operated (highway vs. stop n’ go), short trips vs allowing the oil to come to temp, and that sort of stuff. There’s more factors to it, but the rest escapes me. I’ve found the monitor trips at ~5Kmi, depending on how I’ve been flogging the car.
I think BMW has something similar, although I don’t know if it’s algorithmic or just mileage related…
-Rav