The Obscenity of Motor Oil Change Intervals

Oil is cheaper than metal, that adage from a teen buddies Dad stuck with me. I change 3-5K with Castrol GTX..haven't broken a motor in over 56 years behind the wheel.

A hunting partner faithfully has his '06 Silverado Turbo Diesel oil analyzed and he is able to manage his synthetic oil changes based on oil and engine wear out factors... a statistically minded, finance professor emeritus he has too much time on his hands but does know his stuff. A person would be fortunate to buy his used stuff, IMHO.
 
hung-solo said:
WTH do you drive?
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SRT-8 with a 6.1L Hemi engine. It takes 7 qts of OW-40 Mobil 1 synthetic that costs over $10 a quart, add in filter and service = around $100 per oil change.

I'm not really complaining though. Price one pays for horsepower, and I love my car. :D
 
BryFry said:
SRT-8 with a 6.1L Hemi engine. It takes 7 qts of OW-40 Mobil 1 synthetic that costs over $10 a quart, add in filter and service = around $100 per oil change.

I'm not really complaining though. Price one pays for horsepower, and I love my car. :D
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understood.. why dont you do it yourself?
 
hung-solo said:
understood.. why dont you do it yourself?
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I do not have any realistic way to safely get my car high enough off the ground. Pluss when you factor in time, effort, mess, and disposal of the oil, I'd rather pay the dealership once a year to do it for me. :)

...I do change my own brakes, and rotate my own tires though. :o
 
I change dino oil every 4K along with a new filter in my car. My wife's car and the family car gets synthetic oil every 5K plus new filter. With synthetic, my main concern isn't the oil but the oil filter. I'm not sure how effective oil filters are after 5K.
 
dsmegst said:
I change dino oil every 4K along with a new filter in my car. My wife's car and the family car gets synthetic oil every 5K plus new filter. With synthetic, my main concern isn't the oil but the oil filter. I'm not sure how effective oil filters are after 5K.
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get a good quality filter and they will last up to around 8-10k miles.. no problem. plus they have filters now that market the 7-10k filter range too..
 
I read a paper once discussing a theory on why diesel motors lasted so long, and one of the factors was that most diesel owners change their oil religiously, and use the same brand.

I'm not going to get into a brand/synthetic/conventional discussion - but I think 3-5k and sticking to one reputable brand of oil is important.

Oil products I like :
Kendall GT1 (dino)
Mobil 1 (synthetic)
OEM filters and gaskets/crush washers

(My backround - I was a German specialist mechanic a few years back)
 
I have a '03 F150 I bought new because I didn't like the new body style. I had the same exact truck before but it was a '98 and I have not had any problems from either except for a brake cylinder cracking and locking up on the first one.

I change my oil every 5K but start thinking about it once I hit 4K so sometimes a little early if I have time. I usually use Valvoline in my cars and a Purolator filter. But this last truck I have used Motorcraft oil which is a semi-synthetic and the same price as dino oil.

I do regular maintenance and have never had engine problems*.






*knock on wood.
 
Les Snyder said:
M1Marty, x in 415.... can't really answer your question, but probably because it was running pretty rich... the motor was an 04 Sportster 1200R with a set of D&D "fat cat" pipes, SE air cleaner (no K& N available then) dyno tuned by Wes Brown at CycleRama in Largo, Fla. with a 200 main jet (later dropped to a 190)... we got 79 hp and 81 ft lbs of torque out of it (IIRC). Bought a Suzuki DL1000 VStrom, crashed it, collapsed a lung, took insurance money and sportster and bought a Yamaha FJR.... a rocket ship... regards Les
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I would guess pretty fat on the bottom. The 190 main sounds about right(maybe a TOUCH rich- I'd likely run a 185) for a good healthy top end, esp. with the D&D and SE filter. That jet shouldn't factor in until 4k or so on the tach. I would almost bet you had a 50(or so) low speed jet in there and maybe turned out a little far on the idle mix screw. Those two will effect your low speed/ cruise mixture.
I had a V-Strom last summer- loved the bike for a commuter. Never ridden an FJR but I've heard they are great bikes as well.
Sorry for the hijack.:o
 
I have a 96 Ford F-150, a 05 Saturn Vue, and an 08 Nissan Rogue and I have Mobil 1 in all of them and I have the change interval set to around 8,000 miles. I used to read a lot of forums about random vehicle things and oil and oil changes was always a big topic. Depending on who you talk to you will get a completely different opinion. Synthetic oils have been tested and run anywhere from the normal 3,000 mile change to 25,000 mile change. I just figured that 8,000 was a good mix of engine safety and cost effectiveness.
 
I go 5000 max on my Pilot.
My tractor goes 25000 city miles before GOF.
 
I change the oil and filter in my '07 Ranger after no more than 5000 miles. When I was in Italy constantly hammering the truck through the mountains I changed it at 3000. I don't put alot of hard miles on the truck anymore and since we had our kid we put the majority of the miles on my wife's Focus (which I change at 5000).
 
regular oil changes will keep your engine running a loooooong time...dad always drilled into me to always monitor your oil and water...

4-5k on real oil, 7-9 on syn oil...however on my 2 cars on syn oil i do a filter change at midpoint...
 
2004 Toyota Tundra with about 53,000 miles on it.

I use valvoline synthetic blend 5W30 and change my oil and filter every 5,000 miles.
 
MVF said:
I don't know what BMW does different, but my 330i usually tells me it needs to be changed around 15K miles. supposedly the system monitors the oil and how the car was driven. Mine was a lot of freeway miles.

I still change the oil in the Tacoma every 5K though.
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I drive the 335xi myself, and basically BMW's use a dry sump system for oil management.

Look at your "idrive" and go to the oil monitor, notice how the oil level doesn't go down that much? It's due to the dry sump using the minimum needed oil for the engine at any given time.

Of course if you drive your engine hard, you'll use up more oil. Once the level goes down enough, "idrive" will notify you to put more oil in the car...that's it just put more oil in, no filter change or anything.

Only until the date it says on the "idrive" or 15000 miles will you need to change the filter etc, but bmw does it for you for free anyway for like 4 years so it's all good. :thumbup:
 
pilote said:
regular oil changes will keep your engine running a loooooong time...dad always drilled into me to always monitor your oil and water...

4-5k on real oil, 7-9 on syn oil...however on my 2 cars on syn oil i do a filter change at midpoint...
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no need to.. just use a filter that is designed for 7500+ miles. anything below 7500 miles can be done with a good ole purolator or wix
 
I drive a Chevy 1500 for work. Usually put around 100,000 miles a year on it. I use synthetic and try and get it in for new oil and filters around every 15,000 miles - it sometimes gets up to around 20,000. I am on (I think) my 7-8 truck. They get used pretty hard. I usually leave the office with a load in the back for delivery to my customers and oftentimes have a trailer on the back as well. I will run these trucks up to 300,000 miles or so and then turn them in for the next one. Never have had an oil related engine problem or had to replace any oil in all the Chevys I have driven.
 
I used to work for Valvoline years ago. I ran one of the Instant Oil Change shops. When I visited the chemistry lab at the corporate office, I learned some insteresting things from the head chemist there.

1. There is almost no difference in the quality of the oil from a car with 3000 miles on a change and one with 5000 miles on a change. You'd have to do a molecular analysis to actually see a difference. Most of the chemists went 7500 miles between changes. They said that after that the quality of the oil degraded drastically.

I change at 5000 miles myself.

2. Semi-synthetic oils are a BIG marketing gimmick. They offer NO appreciable value or performance over conventional oil. They were developed to increase the profit margin of the companies because most people will ride the fence if given the option between regular, semi, or full synthetic oils.

3. Most full synthetic oils from the big name oil companies DO NOT ALLOW YOU TO HAVE LONGER SERVICE INTERVALS. They are engineered for 5000 mile intervals. They DO give higher lubrication performance than conventional oils, so they are better for high performance or hard working motors.

The only oils that were developed for longer service intervals are proud of that and advertise it. You also PAY for that. The intervals are based on use of their oil and their oil filters. You change any of that, and there are no guarantees. Amsoil and Redline come to mind.

5. Staying with one brand of oil is a good thing, if you can do it. All oils have different additive that may not be compatible, leading to gumming, sludge, etc. If you can't stay with one brand, doing an engine flush will help prevent any problems.

6. Changing the filter only can (not guaranteed) help prolong oil change intervals, but if going to the trouble, why not just change the oil too?
 
CRAMSEY, I guess the 7500 that the chemists do is the reason why in my 2002 Toyota Solara, it said change the oil at 7500 miles or every 3 months. Dad was a mechanic who said 3000 to 4000 miles and since I put on about 20,000 miles a year, I went 5000 or 3 months, usually about the same time either way. And rotated tires every other oil change. My wife has a C class Mercedes and I have a 335i BMW and they use monitors. 13k on the Mercedes and about the same on the BMW. I say once a year even if mileage is not reached. Once they are out of warranty, I will change wife's at 10,000 which is about once a year for her and will continue to let BMW monitor the oil for me but it is gonna be at least every year due to my mileage. I won't take it to the dealer but will take it to a guy who owns BMW's and gets the same oil and filters, just charges lower for labor.
 
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