When Should You Change Your Oil?
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When Should You Change Your Oil?
Knowing when to change your oil can save you money and unnecessary dealer visits while you help the environment.
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Angela
Your explanation of the variables of oil selection is helpful, but incomplete because you do not address the issue of API ratings. These ratings are specifically provided to help consumers select the correct oil for their engine which nearly all manufacturers reference.
Further, since, as you say, oil quality has been rising over the years, I think you'll find the the cheapest oil available nearly always is sufficient to comply with the API rating required for nearly all vehicles. This means that the majority of high priced oils are not cost effective unless they make a contribution to extended oil change intervals.
Do you agree?
at 109500 oil light came on when on a banked turn, took to my mech. and found there was not oil in the engine. I use synthetic oil. I believe that on my last oil change, they did not put new oil in at all. Still runs well, Synthetic oil is the only oil to use.
You can't tell if oil needs changed by looking at its color, and that means oil that isn't dark can still be at the end of its useful life.
Here was my Escape's dipstick with 7% oil life left when I did it's last oil change at 134K miles. That oil had 8,000 miles on it and was ready to be changed.
"Check the oil on the dipstick. If it's black, change the oil. Experts say this is a myth, as is the related notion that you can identify spent oil by smell. "That is old school," says Kristen Huff, vice president of Blackstone Laboratories in Fort Wayne, Indiana. "Oil is meant to get dark — it means it's doing its job," she says." (link)
Better go spring for an oil analysis, you may have another 2,000 miles in that oil.
Either that or just change the oil at the suggested interval and just drive it for 200,000 miles until you finally get bored with the car and dump it on the next poor slob.
It cost the same as an oil change . Just change the oil
LOL
Here is a response to the thread that you linked and it still applies today.
Please coordinate your advice to the readers with this article from the New York Times about engine sludge formation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/automobiles/04SLUDGE.html?adxnnl=1&pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1319396711-O3ZvK+KdCk0RUFL9zAOnvQ
Back when this article made news none of us really knew what was happening and we saw the manufacturers take it on the chin. Today through continuing education we now know what was really to blame, and it was the oils we were using. It wasn't extended drains, although in some cases that easily may have played a role. It wasn't the engine design changes which were made to reduce emissions, although they did contribute to the issue. Again the fault was with the API and ILSAC oil specifications at that time. In order to educate the readers as you have tried to do here, you must report all of the facts, and not just cherry pick them to your convenience.
The data is out there about the engine oils and specific approvals that exceed the API and ILSAC standards and they solve the problems that are so often reported right in these very forums. The engine oil consumption complaints are caused by consumers who are having their cars serviced with products that don't meet the vehicle specifications and comments that attempt to cloud those facts fail to meet the intended goals of properly educating the consumer.
Like too frequent oil changes.
C'mon EVs.
Toyota Australia says to change the oil on a Camry every 15,000 km, or 9,320 miles. (link). Some "other" models there are on a 10,000 km interval.
I sure wish we had as good a selection of oil as Oz does to use in our Camrys. Of course they have a much milder climate than we do and it never gets over 45.8 degrees.
Toyota online seems to say (and several Toyota dealers online agree) that it's a 5,000 mile interval for the US Camry.
If so, is that because we have more lawyers. Or greedy dealers?
Your vehicle is certified with Genuine Toyota 0W20 motor oil. For VEHICLES CERTIFIED FOR OW20 motor oil, the oil change interval is 10,000 miles or twelve months IF 0W20 MOTOR OIL IS BEING USED. If 0W20 is not available, then 5W20 mineral oil may be used. HOWEVER, it must be replaced at A 5000 mile or 6 month INTERVAL with 0W20 motor oil. For customers who primarily drive their vehicle under any Special Operating Conditions, the motor oil and filter must be replaced at 5000 miles or 6 months, REGARDLESS OF THE OIL USED (OR CERTIFICATION OF THE VEHICLE).
So if you have a Toyota Camry, and drive it reasonably when it's time to change the oil, if the shop or customer chooses a 0W20 that is dexos approved the car can go as much as 10,000 miles between changes. Without that dexos approval, something that is only API and ILSAC approved should be replaced at 5000 miles, even if it is a 0W20.
If you need to blame somebody, blame the oil companies. SAE 16 A/B was supposed to help the API catch up to the dexos standard and it still isn't on the shelves.
I always attribute blame for that mindset on some unknown Army motor pool sergeant who was asked to come up with a maintenance schedule and he pulled it out of thin air to shut some colonel up.
So here we are all these years later, and service information has never been easier to find and yet some still refuse to make the effort to find it, use it, and then advise vehicle owners correctly from it. The comments from some people still resort to bashing of shops and techs and the consumer would be left in the dark if it wasn't for the efforts of a handful of people.
Most people lease cars/minivans /SUV and don't care a damn about maintenance as it will be someone else's baby after 3 years when the real troubles start. That is why I avoid buying used cars when I can get new ones on loan/lease installments.
>another attempt to smear shops and techs
>service information has never been easier to find and yet some still refuse to make the effort to find it, use it, and then advise vehicle owners correctly from it.
I assume your "some" refers to the shops and techs who are incorrectly advising owners.
@carboy21, it is interesting how "severe" conditions have changed from towing and taxi service to cover just about any driving condition. It's a very convenient defense for the dealer when you wind up with a lemon - blame the consumer who is trying to follow the advice in the owner's manual.
One of the best lines in that article is this one. "Though Dexos isn't being mandated retroactively, chances are dealers will fill their bulk tanks with it to consolidate their oil inventory."
The reality is that dexos was a retroactive standard as GM's 6094M, 4718M, LL-A-025 and LL-B-025 all became obsolete the moment dexos1, and dexos2 became the specification. That means every GM car since 2004 should be getting served with a dexos approved product. That dexos approval also means products that meet the requirements for Ford, some Chrysler, Honda, Toyota and others. But instead of educating the consumer you have articles like the original one here, and several of the links.
Another section of that article is quoted here .
"Potential warranty problems: The language in some owner's manuals suggests that using an oil other than the one specified by the manufacturer will void the car's warranty. This is not the case, says Thom Smith, Valvoline's vice president of branded lubricant technology.
According to the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act, the onus would be on GM or another automaker to prove that a non-manufacturer oil damaged the engine. If dealers deny the warranty claim without first investigating it, they are in violation of the act, Smith says."
It was typical to see the topic get distorted by Mag/Moss references. Then a few lines later is this.
Flack from the oil wars: Tom Read, a spokesperson for GM's powertrain technology group, warns that using an alternative oil might diminish performance.
"If a customer uses a non-licensed engine oil that is simply ILSAC GF-5 quality, they will not enjoy the benefits of using a Dexos-licensed product," Read says. Those benefits could include better low-temperature performance, cleaner pistons and better aeration performance, he says. "This could be especially important as the engine oil ages."
Read's case for Dexos sounds compelling, but Valvoline's Smith isn't buying it.
"Our SynPower 5W-20, 5W-30 and DuraBlend 5W-30 went through all the Dexos testing and passed all the requirements," Smith says. "But we felt that carrying the Dexos name was not providing the consumer with any value."
Today, Valvoline has dexos approved products, lots of them.
http://www.centerforqa.com/dexos-brand1/
and
http://www.centerforqa.com/dexos-brand2/
Why has there never been a follow-up story to correct the deficiencies of those earlier ones? Is it because doing that wouldn't be supported by someone's agenda?
I will defer to @thecardoc3 on oil questions, though..
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Don't need a theory, it was at the manufacturers recommended interval for "severe duty" for as long ago as I dare to bother to look up. Go look up a 1986 Buick Regal 3.8l (not the Grand National) and see what it says for yourself. Look up a 1983 Ford LTD and see what it says. Now what most people are not aware of is that there was a schedule for "Normal" duty even back then that allowed for 7500 mile oil changes. The problem was almost no-one drove their vehicle in such a manner that significant failure of the oil wasn't observed well before that 7500 mile interval so shops would try and coach the owners to service the car in a manner that would protect it better.
Back then you had warranties that weren't anywhere near as long as they are today, and you almost never had original owners putting over 60K on their cars. By 100K, a large percentage of those cars were finding their way to the scrap yard.
Today 100K shouldn't even raise an eyebrow, which takes us right back to reason that threads like this one exist at all. http://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/20144/chevrolet/equinox/oil-consumption-on-chevy-equinoxes#latest It's the lack of education for the vehicle owners and is reflected in the comments found in new threads like this one.
http://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/38910/jeep/renegade/first-service-comes-early-2015-jeep-renegade-trailhawk-long-term-road-test#latest
So I answered your question. What is your theory as to why articles that history now proves are incorrect and misleading are not only not being retracted but are being allowed to continue to stand? Who is being served by allowing them to still be presented as valid information?
The 80s aren't ancient history to me.
If you consider your car to be used, abused and disposed off like a lover == 10,000 miles oil change.
I started driving them forever in '82; one for 17 years, one for 10 years, one used one for 12 years, the last van for 15 and am just in year two on the current used van. All five were slathered with unending deferred maintenance, LOL.
Have had 5 houses since '82 too. They were all well maintained. The previous four were sold for at least as much as I paid for them. The current one is sort of for sale and if I flip it, I won't do so unless I break even.
Try that with most any car....
But even here, it's an unusual sight so you notice it. In most places you don't even see broken down vehicles on the shoulders any more. Some of that is because of limp modes that let you get home, but cars are just so much more reliable these days, even with a healthy dose of deferred maintenance.
The consumer may never know until the engine implodes.
Or - they get an oil analysis after every oil change.
Oh, and get one before an oil change too, so you aren't wasting good oil.
http://www.autoblog.com/2016/01/05/first-supercharger-fire-tesla-model-s-norway/
One reason I do not change my own oil anymore, is that I want the car in the shop and on the lift, and carefully examined every 5K.
As for bad repair shops and shyster oil change operations, hopefully as cars become more and more complex, and consumers become better informed, these bad apples will be self-cancelling.