The 3,000 mile oil change Myth

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Good summary, and absolutely true.  Both my 1994 motorhome and my 2007 work vehicle (both Fords) recommend oil changes every 5,000 miles.  Of course my motorhome oil is changed more often than that (once per year) since I only drive about 1500 miles each year.  On my daily driver (99 Olds Aurora) I use Mobil 1 Extended Performance synthetic, rated for 15,000 miles or 1 year.  Users of Amsoil will tell you they go even longer than that, and oil analysis shows that it's perfectly safe for those longer intervals.
 
Voyage1 said:
I thought this was interesting.   :)

The 3,000 mile oil change Myth
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Old habits die hard.  I'm from the "that's the way my Dad taught me" group, so I do change every 3K miles, even though I use synthetic oil in my MH.  As little as I drive, I'm not concerned about wasting oil.
 
IMHO it is just plain wasteful and foolish to change oil every 3000 miles in modern day vehicles.  We had a 88 Labaron that we bought used in which I changed oil once and added bypass filters and installed Amsoil.  After that we just replaced the bypass filters once a year and sent in oil samples for anlysis.  Figure I would replace the oil when it failed.  After we had put on more than 150K miles on this car beyound the 40K miles it had when we bought it we sold it to my nephew who's family added another 60K or more on it before they sold it still never changing oil just filters.  Today many manufacturers recommend 7000 mile change intervals.
 
sheltie said:
Old habits die hard.  I'm from the "that's the way my Dad taught me" group, so I do change every 3K miles, even though I use synthetic oil in my MH.  As little as I drive, I'm not concerned about wasting oil.
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Denny, the main problem with that group is that they are not driving their fathers' Oldsmobiles anymore. Engine tolerances are much tighter, metal technology has advanced and today's oils are completely different from what was used in the Oldsmobiles. I'm sure that you don't only go to the highest priced gas station to refuel or leave your engine idling needlessly.

For most people who need to change oil based on months rather than miles, synthetics are another place to save money and resources. Just about all the engine manufacturers recommend staying with dino oil for normal use.
 
The GM Oil Life System on our Acadia starts reminding me to change oil at about 11,000 miles, which works out to be about a year for us. I haven't bothered to have it analyzed because I can change it for the same cost as an analysis, but appearances are that it could easily go  another 10k miles. It's so clean it even retains much of its original honey gold coloring.
 
RV Roamer said:
The GM Oil Life System on our Acadia
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Our Aurora has this too (why didn't more manufactures build these systems in?), and even when I used dino oil it didn't start recommending oil changes until around 7000 miles generally.  No oil change shop will admit that you can go that long between changes!  ::)
 
BernieD said:
Denny, the main problem with that group is that they are not driving their fathers' Oldsmobiles anymore. Engine tolerances are much tighter, metal technology has advanced and today's oils are completely different from what was used in the Oldsmobiles. I'm sure that you don't only go to the highest priced gas station to refuel or leave your engine idling needlessly.

For most people who need to change oil based on months rather than miles, synthetics are another place to save money and resources. Just about all the engine manufacturers recommend staying with dino oil for normal use.
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As I mentioned, old habits die hard.  I don't dispute that standards have changed.  Nor do I say that what I do is the right way.  However, I'll continue to do it.  It's kinda like changing putters whenever a new one comes out.  I have the same one I've used for about 12 years.  I'm not sure what that has to do with anything, but it sounded pretty good to me!
 
Amsoil has recommended 24000 or 1 year since they came out in 73.  I have used Amsoil since around 74 and changed once a year since except on the LaBaron where I just changed the filters.  Doesn't seem to have hurt the 73 J4000 Jeep pickup at all after more than 150K.
 
This is certainly true for gasoline engines. We have a Honda Civic with an oil-life monitoring system. It monitors the usage of the engine, using parameters such as the amount of idling, number of cold starts, how much stop-and-go driving, and outside air temperatures. The system gives a "percent oil life remaining" readout in the odometer display. We get about 9000 miles in the summer, and 7000 in the winter, with mostly highway driving.

Diesel engines are a completely different story, especially the engines which use oil-operated fuel injectors, like the Powerstrokes. The diesel combustion process inherently produces soot (fine carbon particles) which ends up in the oil. If you look at the color of the oil on the dipstick 500 miles after an oil change, you'll see that it is quite black. I change the oil every 3000 miles in our 6.0 liter Ford, and I think the fuel injectors will thank me (at $3000 a set)!
 
I have an aquaintance that last I knew has bypass filters installed on his fleet of trucks and just changes the filters and takes oils samples.  He swears this is the best procedure for long engine life.  Akso the diesel engine manufacturers such as Cummins have begun recommending 15K or more between oil changes.
 
sorry but I try not to listen to the manufactures when they say "you can go 10,000 miles on our motor without an oil change" kinda like when they started pushing the engines further back and under the fire wall, did you notice that is when they said the plugs and wires could go 100,000 miles before a tune up? you can do what you want but my stuff will still see the 3,000- 5,000 mile change. when it's black it has to have contaminits in it and with out new oil, filters alone won't fix that. just my 2cents worth. kevin
 
kevin said:
sorry but I try not to listen to the manufactures when they say "you can go 10,000 miles on our motor without an oil change" kinda like when they started pushing the engines further back and under the fire wall, did you notice that is when they said the plugs and wires could go 100,000 miles before a tune up? you can do what you want but my stuff will still see the 3,000- 5,000 mile change. when it's black it has to have contaminits in it and with out new oil, filters alone won't fix that. just my 2cents worth. kevin
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So, the guy selling oil..... knows more than the guy who built the car?  Interesting.

You don't suppose they allowed the engineers to "start pushing the engines further back and under the fire wall" because they could go 100K without a tune up?  Nah! That doesn't make any sense.  It's an Auto Industry conspiracy just to get us to buy less oil.... that's what it is... If a 3000 mile oil change was good in 1949 then it's still good today...... ;) :D :D ;D
 
Follow the manufacturers recommendations if you want but to change oil at intervals less than what the manufacturers recommend is just wasting money and oil, as well as contributing to the oil industries already inflated profits.  I have exceeded the manufacturers interval using Amsoil and have never had a problem.
 
My two Hondas (one with 133K and one with 85K) get oil and filter changes at 7000 miles.  My Ford Explorer with 104k gets changed every 5000.  They all run like fine clocks.  The Ford manual recommends 7K, but I use it on the beach a great deal so don't want to push the envelop.  When I get too old to fish I'll change every 7k miles.
 
Slightly off topic, I have a 1962 International Scout.  It has the old canister type oil filter and an oil bath air cleaner.  Do you remember them before the days of spin on oil filters and paper air filters?
 
It's been a loooooooong time before I felt like I was the YOUNGEST one around!    ;D
 
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