Oil Change?

[LBPatt]

Re: Oil Change?

I also had an Independent Oil Change Service Center owner tell me to make 6 months the MAXIMUM length of time between changes, regardless of mileage.

What would you expect him to say, that's how he makes money? Changing your oil every 2500 to 3000 miles is a waste of good oil and money, but the oil companies sure do appreciate your business. I know people that only change it once a year, regardless of milage, and I knew someone that would only change the filter every 10,000 miles, not the oil. All of these people would drive their cars in excess of 100,000 miles during ownership.

[HKS]

Re: Oil Change?

My 2009 Jetta has 6,000 miles on synthetic oil. It is not due to be changed until 10,000 miles. I get free oil changes during the 36,000 mile warrany period.
That makes 3 oil changes. I guess when it is free, they don't want to chage it every 3,000 miles.
I may change the oil more often than 10,000 miles after that.
HKS

[fish]

Re: Oil Change?

whats the difference in oil sitting in your car and oil sitting in a can? oil does not go bad it gets dirty an contaminated with gasoline

[LeoFenderBender]

Re: Oil Change?

whats the difference in oil sitting in your car and oil sitting in a can? oil does not go bad it gets dirty an contaminated with gasoline

A can has a closed top - moisture cannot accumulate in the can.

[blue731]

Re: Oil Change?

Ahhh, the old "oil debate". There are a couple of schools of thought on this. First, in the "bad old days" (from 1985 back to the model T), engine tolerances were in the "sloppy" range. With digital, robotic machining and laser checks, nearly the same care in manufacturing goes into modern engines as what goes into the space shuttle. Things are tight, sealed, and finished to the micron. Modern metallurgy, ceramic coatings, Teflon gel coats, also improve wear and tear. That's the manufacturing part of the equation.

Second part, is the oil itself. Modern oil is micron filtered, purified, processed, and infused with sophisticated additives. This ain't your daddy's, daddy's oil. Hell, I wouldn't even consider it oil anymore, but that might be going too far. Synthetics, true synthetics, really isn't oil, but a in some circles considered a "fluid". In other words, there is NO comparison to oil of old. Even the worst oil of today is markedly better than the best oil of yesteryear.

Only problem is, this mentality that cars need changes every 3,000 miles or 6 months is, well, in real need of an updated. Much like going out and "warming the engine" for 15 minutes every couple of weeks. That's a sure fire way to speed up corrosion and contamination, but that's another thread.

Germans change their oil every 20,000 miles in their cars. They routinely get well over 200,000 miles on these cars.

Okay the other thing to consider is that oil serves two functions: one is lubrication, and that has been covered. The second is cooling, and carrying away carbon and heavy metal contamination caused by combustion. It doesn't matter if it is regular oil, or the best synthetic made, contamination is going to happen at the same rate. But, just how much contamination will have to be determined by the individual car and how it is driven. My recommendation for synthetic is to change the oil once a year if it is a garage queen, driven on special weekends and holidays like mine. If it is a daily driver, every 5,000 miles is playing it safe, 10,000 miles will do no harm.

If you use cheap oil, why not every 4,000/6 months? Cheap insurance, and a car has never been hurt by changing the oil too much. Lots of good analysis bares this out.

[BirdsAndBugs]

Re: Oil Change?

Gary,
You live if Florida and if your car is garaged you should not be worried about this. We have a 95 Lexus SC300 purchased new in 95 and always garaged. It was driven an average of 2000 miles per year until 2004 when it became a daily driver. It had Mobil 1 synthetic in it from the time it was new and went 18-24 months between oil changes during this period of time of low use. For the last 5 years it is our primary car and has gone on several long trips - never a problem (never leaked one drop of oil and never burned any either). I stand by my statement. We waste a lot of oil strictly because of marketing.

Gary, I agree with Claude. A lot of oil is wasted especially by owners here on this site evidently. I follow the manufacturers maintenance schedules for all my vehicles. Ford recommends changing the oil every 5000 miles on the Thunderbird. The engines of today are much more durable than in the past. And if you're driving your car every week or two, I wouldn't be too concerned about seals drying out. I don't drive my Thunderbirds daily as they don't have room to haul equipment. I've owned a number of classic vehicles over the past 15 years as well which often times weren't even driven once a month. New hard seals were used in all the engine rebuilds I did and never had a problem with a garaged vehicle (here in the dry desert) developing a leakage problem as I generally tried to run them at least once a month.