Oilchanges.... something to think about or discuss.

I am in the middle of restucturing my thinking as well. Mainly for my cars.

  I am/was a 3000 mile guy for years, but now....? Am using Kendall semi-synthetic now.

See here>>>> http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-autos-oil-change-20111215,0,4554184.story

Carson

I just got a new car and they insist that 10,000 miles if the proper interval.  I asked them to do the first change early, since it was new and I remember "break-in" oil.  I was told that there is no differience between the first change and the last one.  There are no particles in a new engine that could cause extra wear.  I got free oil changes with the new car and they flat refused to do one.  I had it done another place and paid for it.  Old habits die hard and I grew up with that friendly reminder, "pay me now or pay me later."

My MINI uses full synthetic and I am told oil change is only needed every 7,500 - 10,000 miles.

My Dodge 2500 Longhorn Diesel has a 7500 mile per oil change. I do it every 5000 miles. I want to keep the truck as long as I can.

In recent years, manufacturers went to a 7500 mile oil change interval and now, manufacturers have a program built into the computer which tells you when to change oil based upon driving habits. Several manufacturers say that it makes no difference whether you are using synthetic or regular oil when it comes to the interval for changing the oil. I highly reccommend that you follow the directions that your manufacturer suggests based upon light duty and extreme duty. The manufacturer is the one who has to honor the warranty!

I walked away from 3K oil changes 15 to 20 years ago.  Started using synthetics in my vehicles wayback when and haven't looked back since.  I've never had an engine failure due to oil problems.  This includes both my autos, trucks and my motorcycles.  I did do SOAP analysis on all of my vehicles for several years and found that the wear was well within specs.  Since then, 10K oil changes are routine. 

I am trading in our 2001 truck, hubby did changes religiously every 3000 miles, with Mobil 1.  It has 140000 miles on it and still doesn't use a drop of oil between changes, its 10 years old though and lots of stuff on it starting to look a bit rough around the edges, so this new one is for his retirement years.  I am getting Monday or so a new 2011, Chevy Silverado 2500HD, long bed he has wanted and unless its got one of those gauges that tell you when to change oil he will do it at 3000 miles.  We shall see.

He says no matter what an engine is going to wear and shed minute particles of metal and changing it more often will keep things inside from getting scored as much.  Makes sense to me.

PatrioticStabilist said:

He says no matter what an engine is going to wear and shed minute particles of metal and changing it more often will keep things inside from getting scored as much.  Makes sense to me.

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Sounds like a plan.  The faster we get rid of all this oil, the sooner we can walk or take the "electric" bus.  Or put peanut oil in the engine, LOL.

COMer said:

I just got a new car and they insist that 10,000 miles if the proper interval.  I asked them to do the first change early, since it was new and I remember "break-in" oil.  I was told that there is no differience between the first change and the last one.  There are no particles in a new engine that could cause extra wear.  I got free oil changes with the new car and they flat refused to do one.  I had it done another place and paid for it.  Old habits die hard and I grew up with that friendly reminder, "pay me now or pay me later."

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If you are that concerned about the interval, then use the recommended interval and send an oil sample to a place like Blackstone Labs ( http://www.blackstone-labs.com/) to have an analysis done. The analysis is a lot less expensive than extra unnecessary oil changes.

I have a 2006 Prius and use Mobil 1 15,000 mile oil.  I do change every 10,000 miles and after 120,000 miles on the car it will use about 1/2 cup of oil in that time period.  The old oil looks as clean as when I put it in the engine. 

With the Prius, do you know how many miles on the gas engine VS how many miles on the car?  Just curious, as your gas engine would have less miles than the car.

For years now, I've used Mobile 1 and change oil according to mfg. specs. and never had an engine problem.  I feel its a waste of my hard earned $ to change it more often than that.

I think I was surprised that the manufacturer felt that there was no difference between the first oil change, and any others.  I remember when they used to suggest that there might be metal shavings or some sort of initial debris in the engine which could cause extra wear.  I was reluctant to let the first change go 10,000 miles.  I've switched all my vehicles to synthetic oil and assume I am better off.

In ~1970 I bought a service station (Exxon) and went through their Dealers school. In the process, we had presentations from experts on nearly every automotive related subject.

I came away with recommendations that 7,500 miles was just fine and synthetics could go further. I've driven my cars/trucks/Jeeps well over 1,000,000 miles since (plus my wives' ~25,000 per year) never having changed oil in less than 7,500 miles and never having to open an engine for any reason.
The maximum I recall was 235,000 miles on a 1999 Chrysler; sold it and its still going strong seven years later.

Three thousand mile changes are one of the bigger wastes of money that occur to me offhand!

Ernie

For the DP engines, it's not only mileage but time.  There are numerous DP's that might travel less than the 10-15K miles suggested for an oil change interval in a year.  Then what?  Does time do something to oil that makes an oil change a requirement?  One post on another forum told the same story but with a Blackstone analysis at the end of the year.  The DP had about 5K miles at 12 months, the analysis showed no reason to change the oil so this person went another year and changed the oil after 24 months and 11K miles.

How many DP motorhomes are in the US?  A million?  Each holds about 5 gallons of oil so that's 5 million gallons at $10/gallon, that's $50Million that may or may not need to be spent, every year.  Now add 200 million cars.  Each holds about a gallon (+-), or 200 million gallons of oil at $10/gallon, or $2 Billion to change all the oil in all of the cars. 

Certainly enough to pay for groceries...and maybe beer for a lot of people.  For a lot of people who live on $2/day, it's a day's wages for a billion humans. 

The oil change requirements for diesel engines are in the 15-20,000 mile range or 1 year, whichever comes first. The major reason for the 1 year limit is that the oil additives do most of the work nowadays and they kind of age out (like tires) after a year. The oil analysis may not show any wear but the analysis doesn't show the status of the additive package. You won't see the effects of that until a couple of years later.

For 20+ years I have changed oil every 3K on all my cars, including my diesel.  Just felt is was right--Knowing the diesel had a 5K recomendation, but it rarely runs without towing a load.
My new 2011 civic and 2011 F350 both tell me when it needs to be done. -- Did alot or researching and quit changing at 3K.  Gonna do it when the vehicle tells me too.  Jeep I changed from 3K to 4K, Its old enough it doesn't tell me when to change with a percentage. (Not sure how the truck tells me yet, barely at 4K now)
One thing I will continue is to always use the same brand of oil.  Penzoil is what I have been using so will stick with it.  I really don't think it matters what brand you use, but think its best to stick with one brand. ;D
Diesel I used Delo400--Undecided on the new rig?

Many posts here are right on the money for getting the biggest bang for your buck. When it comes to DP?s and low mileage vehicles change once per year at the end of the season (before storage). For most vehicles pre-2000 change between 3000-5000 miles depending on how hard you work it. Post-2000 vehicles I would run between 5000-7500 again depending on how hard they are used. Hard use is not limited to towing, this includes lots of stop & go city driving, frequent stops and not much freeway speed/use. Find an oil you like and stick with it, do not buy the different brand on sale every month. Each mfr uses different additives & blends, stay with one and you will reduce your odds of leaks & other minor issues. Synthetic, semi-synthetic and other additives are not necessarily needed except in air cooled or high heat operations like cycles, high revving turbocharged engines, trans, hydraulic applications, etc.. Nothing wrong with using it but it is more important to take care of the vehicle as listed above than to spend money on additives and trick oil, etc. Mfr assy lines are much different today and cleaner so no more ?break-in? oil or shavings, etc, to worry about. Change recommendations are different depending on the agenda like everything else. Jiffy lube says change every 2500 miles, CA DOE says change every 250,000 miles. Just kidding but you get the point, it?s your $ and your vehicle. Nothing is chiseled in stone except your warranty and service requirements, that is a minimum along with good record keeping.
Synthetic will allow you to kick out the time frame in most applications but the intended benefit is better quality oil, not saving money compared to regular oil changes. In order to really get the max benefit you need to do a spectra chemical analysis. This is going to run between $12 and $18 per test, depending on whether you need ISO code testing, and this is just for the analysis, you doing the sample. Most folks do not know how to interpret the results properly so in most cases it is much less trouble and cost to just change the oil. A lot can be said about still pulling the stick and feeling/smelling the oil. JM2C.

My oil change interval for my '08 5.4L F-150 Screw is 7500/6mo. I also use full synthetic. Yet all the oil change places try to tell me Ford recommends 3000/3mo until I dig out my manual then watch them stammer.

I've had people try to tell me that since I live in the AZ desert, my driving is condsidered extreme service because of the heat. The manual defines extreme service as long periods of idling and/or dusty conditions, such as off road driving. Even then, the interval is 5000/6mo, not 3000/3mo. The high heat business is a crock since the engine's cooling system keeps the engine at pretty much the same temperature whether it's 80 or 115.

A slight deviation of this post. Regarding Oil Analysis/Sampling.

  Let's assume the test results show a trace of metal contamination. That means something is shedding metal during engine operation. Could come from many sources...Bearings, Cylinders etc.

Now what ? Stop the bus and get the engine torn apart ? When the trend shows that it is getting worse over time..then what ? How bad does it have to get before action needs to be taken ?

  Guess one solution would be to start saving money for the inevitable breakdown some day.
Or trade it in and pass the problem on to some unsuspecting victim.

Just curious.

Carson FL