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If it's clean and full then you should be fine, I have a Yaris and I generally go between 5000-7500 miles before I do an oil change. It's more of a comfort level for me to change at that time. No science behind it. But on newer cars, changing oil every 3k miles is a waste of oil and money. Even I knew that while an Asst Mgr at Jiffy Lube years back.
Secondly, people still driving around cars from the 70s and 80s, if they followed the popular guidelines from when their car was new, change their oil every 7,000 miles or more. Growing up in the 70s that was always the recommended interval. So, suddenly modern cars need more frequent changes? Uh, no. 6-7k is plenty frequently unless you are maybe talking very hot summertime driving. Even then, with synthetic, you are fine.
Why is it that the "recommended oil change interval" on my 1959 Studebaker Lark is the same as it is on my 2010 Focus? The Lark used leaded gas, had a road draft tube to ventilate the engine and a bypass oil filter. The Focus burns FAR cleaner, has MUCH better filtration and oil than anything imagined in 1959 (the stuff that passes for gas these days is another story).
I'm using Mobil 1 in the Focus and changing it every 7500 miles, which is probably on the conservative side but engines ARE expensive... and I do my own oil changes.
Oil gets contaminated over time. Water gets in; hydrocarbon byproducts build up and promote their own chemical reactions, at different rates and for different time spans.
The mileage is only one criterion for when a change is due; time is another big one. Climate, storage, startup routine, typical mission length -- all these figure into the life of the oil. Even if the base stock is like-new, it won't lubricate the engine if there's water in it.
I'm going with the guy with the pickup.
My 2007 Honda Accord has 135,000 miles on it, burns NO oil worth speaking of, the camshaft still has the machining marks visible on the lobes, and I changed the oil ONCE.....at 1500 miles, to install synthetic and a bypass oil filter system. Every 12,000 miles it gets new filters, with about a quart of new oil in them. I've NEVER drained the pan since the car was a month old. (Again....synthetic oil.)
3/3000 is a scam.
The only reason to change your oil is if it's contaminated with chemical or solid contaminants. Dirt, in other words, or the acidic combination of combustion byproducts and water condensation. And if your car is running right, and regularly gets warmed up to full temperature, and you're not driving on dusty dirt roads all the time, neither of those will be an issue in 3000 miles.....or even 10,000 miles.
It's not liberal propaganda, it's common sense. You really think the oil companies are run by liberals? If you won't believe your car manufacturer (read your manual) and won't believe the oil companies (read the bottle) and you won't believe this article then who do you trust. The guy at Jiffy Lube!!! Good lord. If that's your source for mechanical advice you deserve to be lied to.
Yeah, Yeah, we've all worked on cars or trucks that blew up early. I guarantee you there was another cause other then that they didn't change the oil right at 3k miles. Usually the problem is a vehicle that was low on oil, as in they ran it 20k miles or more without checking let alone changing the oil. Unless you have a porsche and use synthetic, that's too far. But for your average american made car. 6-8k easy. With synthetic 10-12K.
Yes, the auto sensors aren't totally accurate. But they are set to err on the conservative side. That's why the article pointed out that the cars could have always gone even farther then it recommended (which was already much farther then 3000k)
Again, read your manual, or if your driving something from the 80's or 90's, yeah you probably have so many other problems with your car that you'll want to change oil more often just because you are probably burning off so much oil that you need to check it every 3k miles just because you are probably low, but if your car's newer. Check your manual. You might be surprised.
As someone who has fixed cars for 30 years and has talked with many others in the field. We all know that this 3000 mile oil change is something from the 70's. No, it's not a myth. That was not the right word to use in the article. It used to be true. It's just not anymore. Times change. Belts last much longer (people used to break fan belts all the time, now almost never), spark plugs last longer, brake pads last longer (if you get the right ones,) car paint last longer (used to fade after a few years,) hoses last longer, etc.
Welcome to the 21st century!
(and zero engine repairs in the 7 year and 150k miles ive put on it. TRUTH!)
If you drive less than 10 miles to work, you should own e.g. a Chevy Volt... the cost t
"So this is good for a laugh. At least I laughed.
We are always battling the myth pushed by the manufacturers that cars need less and less maintenance. They seriously want to make consumers believe they rarely need to change the motor oil, and no service is needed until 100K+ miles.
Honda has gotten real clever- they developed their 'Maintenance Minder' system; a logic-driven maintenance schedu
le where the computer looks at driving patterns and tells the driver when to do what services. We find it very impractical for a number of reasons, but our real peeve is the net effect is Honda wants to make independent shops appear incompetent to properly service their vehicles. I could go on and on about specifics, but I won't.
So, on to the funny- we had a 2006 Civic come in today for an oil change (based on mileage per our recommendation), and prior to draining the oil we checked the level, as we always do. Well, the oil did not register on the dipstick, and when drained only about one quart came out. The engine was almost out of out of oil, yet the Maintenance Minder indicated the oil had 15% life to go. If the driver had waited until the oil change was flagged on the dash, the engine would have run out of oil!
In Honda's defense, somewhere in the fine print in the Owner's Manual it says something about oil consumption being normal and checking it between changes, but I assure you no-one at Honda is reinforcing the message verbally."
And the other:
"OIL LIGHT ON UPON ARRIVAL, ENGINE OIL NEARLY EMPTY. NO OBVIOUS IMMEDIATE DAMAGE OBSERVED. IT IS CRITICAL YOU MONITOR AND TOP THE OIL AS NEEDED, CHANGE EVERY 3K MILES. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL LEAD TO PREMATURE ENGINE FAILURE"
I wrote this on a customer's repair order today. Actually, this was the second time I wrote this on a repair order today, for two different customers. The sad thing about
this one is it's a 2007 Rav4 with only 86k miles on it.
To this day we still get people asking us why we recommend 3k miles intervals, when the manufacturers are recommending 7-10k intervals. All I can do is shake my head sadly and tell stories like this one...
Even if you don't change it, do yourself a favor and at least check it!"
Check out Art's Automotive in Berkeley on the web- our website has a library of useful information. And check us out on Facebook, too. If you want the honest insight of industry professionals who expect to have a cradle-to-grave relationship with their customers' cars, you won't find better information.
I doubt that Ford is just trying to make me change the oil every 5000~ miles just to make money because my oil and filter changes are complimentary.
One thing it didn't mention is that while the engines are getting smaller, the oil pans have relatively stayed the same size. More oil on less area of mass is also a contributor to extended oil changes. But 20,000 miles or even 12,000 makes me cringe!
Synthetic oil is of course the best for extended oil changes to 6-8000 miles but oil will eventually break down from combustion.
Why dont the so called experts at Edmunds pop in to the Jiffy lube and ask to see a few of the real customer's old oil or better yet go to any mechanic shop and take a look under the valve covers.
My Audi got changed every 3k on the dot, with twin-turbos heating that oil way beyond 400F EVERY TIME the car was running. Had I waited till 7500 recommended by this article I would be watching it getting towed to a scrap yard for parts.
The reality of the advice you are getting here is this: you will be causing a greater damage to the environment by destroying your cars internals early in their life and having to have more vehicles produced to replace those prematurely failed. You may be able to afford a new car every 3-5 years and will never feel the sting of being the next owner faced with the aftermath of an engine ran mostly on water, soot and sludge.
This advice will keep the car manufacturers firmly in business more so than more frequent oil changes will the service industry.
Waiting until your oil pressure light to come on is way too late.
I have installed remote dual filter systems on my cars (started doing it decades ago) and I buy my oil and filters in bulk. Each filter I use holds a quart of oil. To do an oil change I change both filters and just fill each new filter with a fresh quart of oil. At each regular change then I'm only using two quarts of synthetic. I do a change like that every 7500 miles. The cars I have now, with the dual filters, have an oil capacity of a little over 7 quarts. I get more life out of the oil due to the added capacity, the increased filtering and the remote filters provide some oil cooling. My oldest car I have now just turned over 180,000 miles and the engine inside is spotless. Every 60,000 miles I do a total oil change.
Some friends say I'm anal about it, but I'm the only who can pull a valve cover off the engine, no matter if it is well over 100,000 and not have a film of anything but nice clean oil. I do recycle the oil, it goes to a friend who reconditions it.
I'm on my third vehicle that has run well over 175,000 miles each with regular 10,000 mile oil changes with synthetic oils.
3,000 mile oil changes are a waste of time, money and resources.
Sure, neglect will kill a car, but as long as you keep proper levels of oil in it, 10k between oil changes is a breeze.
Any mechanic student should be able to tell you that. The author failed to do his homework.
I have had the truck for seven years and change the oil at least every 5000; most of the time 3500. I have 150000 on it and it runs as smooth and quiet as the day I first put in the 20/50.
I will not try to guess the agenda for the writer, but I would question how many engines he/she actually has seen that were not taken care of. I worked Drive-ability for 30 years. I have had my share of cuts and bruises. Change the oil in you engine.
S10 engines are junk from the get go and there's been a long standing argument about Dexcool and the 100K intervals for that product. Oh, and if you're saying that the engine went bad because of oil change intervals than you're just speculating because there's no way to prove that.
I've personally sent my 10K oil into Blackstone 3 times now after 8, 9 and 10K intervals and all three times was told to keep extending the intervals. The car has 125K and is running just fine.
I'm probably twice your age but will not go any further with this.
I never chang cars in less than 350,000 miles. Complete waste of money.
I don't give a $#!+ what it looks like as long as it runs good.
A little history.
I will only discuss two cars, "I still own both."
First. I own a 1992 Ford Ranger.
It is a the large cab with a 3.0 Ltr V-6 engine bolted to a five speed manual transmission.
I usually put a new clutch in the car about every other year.
About 35% of the time it is pulling a sixteen ft tilt trailer with a 4,200 lb tractor.
Over the last two years it has made anywhere from two to six trips from Cleveland, TX to Pearland, TX "communist country" and back. This is the reason for the clutch changes.
I have only changed the oil twice in the entire life of the engine.
About four times a year I run the car until it is at least one quart or a little more low, change the oil and filter. This takes about 2.5 months of hard driving. I always open the filter and very carefully check the element and the remaininig oil for metals.
About every other change I have it analysied by a prefessional aircraft engine shop for contaminats. Never have had a problem.
There are no leaks and no smoke, as you might guess at the low consumption and high loads.
Here's the kicker. About one month ago I decided to replace the clutch, again. No!, No!, No! I will not consider an automatic.
I have done all the maintance my self. It has never been in a shop except for a transmission overhaul. This was caused by two things, ME and Design.
The Design problem has been repaired. Without that the issue that my letting this happen will never happen again.
The car at the time of deciding due to slipping the clutch needs replacing the engine is/was making some light low end knocking that was traced to the No. 3 rod bearing.
So decided to remove the engine and transmission as a unit for clutch replacement.
I did this so as to open up the bottom of the engine and assess the rod journal damage.
It turns out that only the bearing was slightly worn. Just enough to make the bumping when starting and just before the pressure is up. By the way the operating oil pressure is normal and has always been.
After carefully measuring all the journal I determined standard bearings were the way to go.
The compression is excellent on all cylinders. This includes the standard old cheap pressure testing by cranking the engine.
It also was done with blow by testing.
Passed with excellent results on all tests.
The engine and transmission with new clutch will be going back in the car within the next few days.
Log book will show bearing replacement at 347,287.6 miles.
I also drive a 1993 Ford Explorer with exactly the same power train except it is a 4.0 Ltr displacement.
It has a slow leak that appearss to be the rear main seal.
There fore the add oil and change filter comes about five weeks.
It is running very well, getting better mileage than factory.
I put a home built computer in it which is carefully tuned to this engine and configuration. Beats all hell out of the crude mfg. computer.
The point of this car is that it's now indicating over 244,000 miles
I will not promote any oil or company but will state that I will never ever use any multi viscosity oil in my engines as long as I can get straight 40 weight. Sometimes in the heat of summer I add 50 weight air craft oil.
Sometimes I add a heavy viscosity enhancer. Again no name.
That is just two cars.
I have done this with all cars I have owned.
I also fly an aircraft that is run much higher power settings at much slower air speeds than reccommended using straight 50 weight oil. Changing the oil and filter every 100 hours.
They would run well beyond the factory reccomended overhaul but by legal mandates we can't do that.
Another case of Government being smarter than you and I.
By the way most FAA inspectors are idiots that can't make itin the real world.
Save yourself some money and quit throwing away good oil.
Or send it to me. I have a good use for it that is completely legal and enviornmentaly clean and it's just gone when I use. it.
Excellent article; true and realistic.
Don't agree with the don't smell/taste...My smeller and taste have always been 100% accurate; nothing like a little grit on the tounge to register on the taste meter( or that burnt toast smell).
SECOND: To By shepperd, on 07/11/12, 11:27 AM PST
...who said "…only 74000k on it and the engine was SIEZED!….."
I say NUTS...it wasn't the oil or coolant that causes a "siezed" engine. It's a failure of a coolant or oil system component. If you don't stop the engine when you "smell or feel or hear" something wrong, then it may "sieze". Lets call it operator malfunction.
READ your owners manual.
Failed engines are mostly due to neglect such as NO OIL in engine or NO COOLANT n radiator. I know of at least 5 people who told me how they drove miles wth the gage on H until the engine stopped or ignored oil light until engine stopped.
The hired help at Quick Lube places can't even put the right air pressure in tires. I don't how many times they failed to check THE FLUIDS.
Plain and simple!
Also, is your engine in good condition or do you neglect servicing the engine?
Engine oil performs three critical tasks in your engine;
1- Engine oil cleans the engine of sludge, varnish and other unwanted stuff.
2- Engine oil helps to carry away excess engine heat from critical areas of the engine like exhaust valves and piston rings.
3- Engine oil keeps friction surfaces from contacting each other, or, in other words, the oil lubricates the engine friction surfaces to reduce wear.
There are some additional tasks the oil provides like reducing corrosion and acid formation.
So, what oil is best for your engine?
Here's my opinion;
1- Determine how you use your engine and choose engine oil accordingly following the manufacturer's recommendation as to API grade and viscosity.
2- What oil should I choose? If you plan to keep your car for only two years and don't care about its condition when you trade it in, select cheap oil and change it at 5000-7000 mile intervals. Your engine will likely tolerate this practice without engine repairs for say 50,000 miles.
3- If you plan to keep your engine for a long time, choose a quality synthetic and change oil annually or say, at 10,000-12,000 mile intervals.
Oils don't really wear out. Many diesel truck fleet operators retain the diesel engine oil for 75,000 miles between changes. What happens is the oil's additive package gets used up. Corrosion inhibitors, viscosity index improvers, acid neutralizers, detergents and friction modifiers are consumed and diminish to levels that renders the oil unfit for further use. Also, oil is sheared inside the engine resulting in the viscosity changing our of the range specified by the manufacturer. When this happens, drain it and use in as bar oil for your chain saw.
But, how does one know when the oil should be changed?
Once the TBN (total base number) goes below 2, its time to change. What the heck is TBN? Think of TBS as the strength of the additive package...the higher the number the better. How do I know the TBN of my engine oil? You don't and there is really no way to determine it unless you have it analyzed.
That's where the synthetics oils come in....typically, synthetics have premium additive packages that will last much longer than conventional oils, sometimes twice as long. Also, synthetics resist shear much better than non-synthetics and so stay in grade longer. Synthetics resist heat much better than non-synthetics plus, in cold temperatures, the synthetics have a much lower pour point allowing the cold oil to flow immediately thereby eliminating oil starvation at cold start.
As for synthetic blends, I don't use them because, the good synthetic part is no better than the weak non-synthetic part and so I deem them a waste of money.
So, cheap, non-synthetic oil for your 2-year trade car, quality synthetic for your keeper and then extended oil change intervals when using synthetics to reap all the benefits of synthetic engine oils.
BTW the temperature of this planet has not risen in 14 years, but the original research, stirring all of this warming hysteria, was based on the prior 14 years data. The ice caps are also shrinking on Mars. Is that because they over-maintain the Mars rovers? (It's solar activity) Wake up people. The environmental lobby is using this non-issue to take away freedoms. 40 years ago, these same "experts" told us that the earth would be frozen by now, with New York being in a year-round arctic state. Their answer then was the same as today; Criminalize industrial progress and other job-creating, standard-of-living improving activity. Just because Chris Matthews and Hillary agree that "all scientist agree" does not mean that scientists agree. In fact, they do not. Don't ask if dissenting researchers are being paid by the oil companies. Ask instead how many get their federal research funds cut if they disagree with the party line. Sorry, we were just talking about vehicle maintenance, but I couldn't help myself.