Okay, I know that that dumb lady for Pennzoil says “Ya gotsa buy speshul oils fer more dan tree towsun miles…” but I don’t believe her. Call me a skeptic, but I don’t trust a company to tell me how often to change their own product.
A mechanic I know says 5k, but another says 10k… I always go 7k, and never had a problem. I also use full synthetic, 5w-20…
So… how often should you change your oil?
–Tim
A lot depends on how much you drive and the conditions you drive in. Severe conditions, say you commute 100 miles each day across a desert, require more frequent oil changes.
I assume you have an owner’s manual for your car. It does give you the company’s specs.
I change mine every 3-4K, but I don’t drive much and it is more a factor of the time between changes than mileage.
This might be a good time to promote the hours in use rather than the miles. Airplanes use it. Boats use it.
You may not rack up many miles in bumper to bumper traffic,
but you can rack up hours in use.
Mostly, it’s a “Read the Manual” thing. My current car needs new oil after 20,000 kilometers, which is every year. My old one needed an oil change after only 10,000 km’s. My fathers diesel can go for 30,000 km’s without an oil change.
Well, unless you have a lot of stop & go driving in hot, dusty conditions; with good (but regular) oil, you don’t have to do the 3K thing any more. But 7k is a bit too much, unless you have ideal cond. I do 4>5K miles, closer to 4000.
Part of my job is making sure our people look after the 30 or 40 trucks on the crew. Our general rule of thumb is every 5000 km, or every three months. Our guys never actually make it three months before putting on the 3000 klicks, though.
If we get new trucks (i.e. straight from the factory) we generally make the first change at 3000 km or so. Supposedly there’s a chance of metal filings hanging around from the manufacturing process that are purged with an early oil change.
5000 km should equal just about 3000 miles, IIRC.
Sorry, that should read, “Our guys never actually make it three months before putting on the 5000 klicks, though.”
There’s a parallel thread on this Homer, in case you missed it, that has more info.
In the interest of avoiding duplicative efforts, I’ll close this thread and refer readers to its twin, here.