3000 Oil Change Myth

[warbirdlover]

Awhile ago I posted about someone going 100,000 miles before changing their oil in their new BMW.

The problem is to keep your new cars under warranty you have to change at rediculously low mileage (so the dealers make money on the oil changes). Here is a good article on how we could drastically lower oil consumption. Now if the automakers will adjust their oil change intervals we could do this....

The-3-000-Mile-Oil-Change-Myth- Yahoo! Autos Article Page--

[dave.]

I used to change oil every 1000 in an Alfa, and 3000 in an Impreza, or it would blow up, and never in a Saab Turbo (what a car that was). Depends on lots of things I think

[irishtiger]

I used to change oil every 1000 in an Alfa, and 3000 in an Impreza, or it would blow up,

I had an Alfa that had it's own special way of consuming oil too...never again!

[dave.]

The T Sparks just love oil. Mine was tuned and the annual oil consumption cost more than the insurance!

[LyleG]

I had a pontiac 6000 that I drove for 4 years and 153,000 kilometres without changing or adding oil to. She got crushed when I drove her into a bus or I might have set some sort of record.

[Eracer]

I had a pontiac 6000 that I drove for 4 years and 153,000 kilometres without changing or adding oil to. She got crushed when I drove her into a bus or I might have set some sort of record.

I believe you are telling the truth (why would you lie?) but that seems totally and unequivocally unbelievable.

[LyleG]

I believe you are telling the truth (why would you lie?) but that seems totally and unequivocally unbelievable.

Dead serious. If it doesnt leak there is no need at all to add oil. The oil was quite thick and black as tar but the car ran fine. My work van now has over 30,000k on the same oil. Changing you oil might extend the life of the engine by 50-60k, but not changing doesnt mean it still wont last an extremely long time.

[SilverUberXeno]

I learned how to do oil changes so I could use more expensive synthetic oil and still end up saving money for the oil change. Also use K&N Oil Filter. I change oil every 7k miles or so after the first 5k with synthetic to clean 'er out.

[wirehair]

I guess you guys have never bought an engine because of poor lubrication. I have & it's expensive. If those pickups get clogged, it's gonna die a horrible death at the worst possible time.:faintthud

If you keep the oil fresh, your car will run smoother, use less gas & won't pollute as much.

[Pa Jayhawk]

I always changed mine sometime after about every 7500 when I drove more. Although now I do it more frequently (Mile wise), but this is in large part because of time and not miles on the car so I usually change it every year when I get an inspection. I just don't put many miles on the car and do it when I take it in for inspection just out of convenience.

Many of the Cars now adays including 2 of the last 3 cars we have owned use a synthetic oil that only requires changing about every 15k.

[sandwedge]

I think changing the oil every 3k miles is not necessary on most cars. I have an 07 Trailblazer that came with free lifetime tires as long as I continue to get my oil changes at that dealer every 5k miles. The first couple of times I brought in at 3k increments they told me it really wasn't necessary to change the oil then and I could wait until I got close to 5k miles.

[DaGris]

changing your oil every 3k miles was a made up story by these Jiffy Lube places,....I change the oil in My Yukon XL every 5k miles, it has 92k on it and I plan on getting another 92k out of it. My Toyota Corrolla doesnt get her oil changed, I just add a quart every other week

[Rockford35]

My Toyota Corrolla doesnt get her oil changed, I just add a quart every other week

Top up the gas and get a tank of oil! Classic!

R35

[warbirdlover]

I talk to the biggies of Mobil, BPT (Castrol), etc etc

As I've said in another thread the big over the road haulers are now going 300,0000 miles or more between oil and filter changes by monitoring their oil condition by oil analysis. It's cheap and lot's of labs to send it to. They are also using synthetic oils because the viscosity modifiers don't shear down like in petroleum based oils (making a 10W40 a 10 weight sooner).

The problem is the oil change interval REQUIRED by the auto makers to meet their warranty. They could up this interval big time but probably won't because they make big bucks on the oil changes.

This means that on a world wide basis we could save millions of gallons in oil usage by not wasting oil in these short mileage changes if they'd contribute. But they won't... :(

[twelvegage]

When me and my wife went in to buy her Toyota Yaris they told us every 5k, I think she accidentally went 7k and it was fine, and she gets it changed with whatever they use at the 'Yota dealership. I also had a Honda CRX a few years back that leaked oil, not badly, I just added oil whenever the light came on and it ran fine. My parents gave my sister their 98 Camry as her first car, and I couldn't tell you how long it went without an oil change, but the motor definitely seized up on it.

I plan on changing my oil every 3-5k when I get back to my civic, just to be safe. There's so many things that can go wrong (especially with my luck) that I'd like to not add to them, especially if my daughter's in the back.