Don't change your oil every 3000 miles! Because CR & CNN SAYS SO!

[jessi_chan]

Well you heard it folks, it is a waste of money to change your oil every 3000 miles! Ya know, if DF and I did not change the oil in the Intrepid every 3000 miles, we would not have that car anymore cause the engine would be dead from oil sludge.

http://finance.yahoo.com/insurance/article...hs-and-Mistakes

[Satty]

Have you ever looked at your oil after an oil change? The stuff that came out of my old Saturn looked pretty good after 4k, the synthetic I put in the Sebring and Solara appeared almost fresh out of the bottle at 5000.

[PurdueGuy]

extended length changes are nothing new, and are especially a good idea if you invest in quality oil that can stand up to it. Of course it depends on what you do with the vehicle as well. 3000 miles is not a miracle number for oil changes.

[Newbiewar]

Well you heard it folks, it is a waste of money to change your oil every 3000 miles! Ya know, if DF and I did not change the oil in the Intrepid every 3000 miles, we would not have that car anymore cause the engine would be dead from oil sludge.

http://finance.yahoo.com/insurance/article...hs-and-Mistakes

yea thats why you get GM's cars with the information center... it will tell you your oil's life...

it saves consumers lots of money

[Satty]

3,000 miles is a fairly arbitrary number anyways. They could tell you 8,000 miles or 600 miles or every other week. The oil life monitors are great (did 8,000 miles delivering pizzas between changes with the Saturn) but a little common sense works just as well. Oil doesn't last forever, synthetics last longer than conventional, its just a matter of what your engine can handle. I would have no qualms about driving a modern engine 4-5k on conventional oil, even a sludge prone one like a Dodge or Toyota, and I see no reason to perform a change every 5k on the Fusion, which is what Ford recommends.

[Flybrian]

You should certainly check your oil frequently and change it if necessary, even if its 3000 miles. But the 3000 mile oil change is a myth, especially with modern synthetics, a clean engine, and an oil life monitor. Even the manual for my '76 recommends a 6mo/7500mi interval, which I've found to be on par with my Aurora's oil life monitor.

[Intrepidation]

I personally change my car's oil every 3,000 miles...it's not expensive and from what I've read up on other Intrepid owners it's the best way to keep the 2.7L happy.

The Prizm is somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 miles

The Shadow is erm...whenever I think it needs it.

The former 2 always come out looking pretty clean but the Shadow is always on the blackish side.

My Corolla friend changes it every 2,000 miles

I do like how the Cobalt has an oil life readout...very handy. Right now it's at 29%

Edited September 30, 2007 by Dodgefan

[Cory Wolfe]

I'd rather be safe, than sorry. 3000-4000 miles for my oil changes.

[regfootball]

ever since my my first 'new' car, i try to adhere to 3000 miles. there is an audible difference in the way the engine runs when you first get in the car after an oil change. quieter, smoother. winters here especially, you can't exceed 3000. idling in traffic at below zero, you get some thick black tar you gotta get rid of.

i could see stretching it out to 4000 or so but the point is why? My engine will last longer on cleaner oil. sometimes by 3000 the oil on the dipstick is thick and black.

i've been rewarded by having cars not burn oil. i've maybe purchased a total of 8 quarts of oil for my cars between changes (that's 8 cars in 13 years). whenever i take them in for a change they are almost never down on the dipstick.

15,000 miles a year at 3,000 miles is 5 oil changes. 15,000 a year at 5,000 is 3 oil changes. that saves me maybe 50 bucks, but actually less because they always top off all my other fluids. excluding winter slush, i never need to buy wiper fluid. i save a little there.

my oil change at the ford dealer is where they caught my torn cv boot on my 500 and promptly had the appointment set up for the fix the next day. if you are still under warranty and they spot something, its pretty good preventive maintenance as well.

Edited September 30, 2007 by regfootball

[pow]

Bimmer gets an oil change every 10K (synthetic), Ody gets an oil change every 7.5K (dino), and the Passat gets an oil change every 5K (synthetic). It's usually the filters that need changing (a cinch in the Bimmer) before the oil; people have sent oil samples to labs and 10K old mi synthetic is usually fine.

None of them burn any oil though I'm weariest about the Passat, which only has a ~4.2 qt oil capacity, a turbo but no turbo timer, and reported sludge issues. I might halve it to 2.5K. PepBoys always has synthetic for sale.

Edited September 30, 2007 by empowah

[Camino LS6]

Every 3k = cheap insurance

What CR and CNN have to say means less than nothing to me.

[Drew Dowdell]

Every 3k = cheap insurance

What CR and CNN have to say means less than nothing to me.

What about GM? I bet your truck has an oil life monitor. I get 12,000 mile 6-8 month intervals with synthetic on the CTS.

[Camino LS6]

What about GM? I bet your truck has an oil life monitor. I get 12,000 mile 6-8 month intervals with synthetic on the CTS.

The Silverado has a monitor, but I work the truck hard so I don't wait for it. It has come on before the 3k mark before, and slightly after 3k when the tech forgot to reset it. So, I think 3k is just right.

[staceface]

I honestly don't understand your post about your oil changes resulting in cheaper insurance, Camino. please.... "Splain yourself, Luceeeeeeeeeeee

I use the engine oil life monitor on every car I drive. I tell my customers to do that too. Some change it earlier, others get 12,000 k between oil changes.

I'm usually not in cars long enough to worry.

Edited September 30, 2007 by staceface

[mustang84]

I change every 3,000 miles. Like reg and others have said, the car just seems to run better and my car is fairly old so I'd rather be safe than sorry. I use synthetic but I still change every 3,000...sometimes 3,500 if I don't have a chance to make it home because I'm busy at school. Our last Lumina probably lasted as long as it did because of my dad's persistence on changing the oil every 3,000 miles.

[Sixty8panther]

It' all relative, there's been times I changed my oil every 2500 miles

in my '68 Camaro even though it was synthetic... but that's because

it was driven like a dragster on and off the dragway. I beat the piss

out of it & I figured that 377 horsepower, 11:1 compression ZZZ-350

motor could use a little extra insurance.

That having been said my '84 Datsun was lucky to get an oil change

every 4500 miles. Sometimes I went 7000. (synthetic)

[Camino LS6]

I honestly don't understand your post about your oil changes resulting in cheaper insurance, Camino. please.... "Splain yourself, Luceeeeeeeeeeee

I use the engine oil life monitor on every car I drive. I tell my customers to do that too. Some change it earlier, others get 12,000 k between oil changes.

I'm usually not in cars long enough to worry.

Not insurance in the policy sense, just a margin of safety for your engine. I believe in erring of the side of caution when it comes to vehicle maintenance.

[Satty]

One great thing about the EcoTec is that the oil filter is on top, and its just the paper part, so you can easily change the filter without having to dump all of the oil. Thats a recipe for 12,000 mile oil changes.

[JBsZ06]

I follow the cars computer oil life monitor and change the oil accordingly.

I believe its easily twice the 3000 mile some follow.

Mobil one rocks

JB

[Drew Dowdell]

One great thing about the EcoTec is that the oil filter is on top, and its just the paper part, so you can easily change the filter without having to dump all of the oil. Thats a recipe for 12,000 mile oil changes.

+ HF 3.6 and 2.8

[Satty]

+ HF 3.6 and 2.8

Cool, I didn't know if GM was going to expand that or not.

The only real reason to change the oil and recommended intervals is to keep the warranty in tact.

[staceface]

LOL Camino, sorry just took that to literally!

[Intrepidation]

There is a very noticeable difference before and after the Prizm gets its oil changed. Going too far over 3k miles seems to make the engine revs not match up with the gears...and after an oil change it is immediately better. The car drives mainly city anyway, so it gets closer to 3k oil changes like my car. Like Camino said, it's good, inexpensive insurance.

[loki]

One great thing about the EcoTec is that the oil filter is on top, and its just the paper part, so you can easily change the filter without having to dump all of the oil. Thats a recipe for 12,000 mile oil changes.

just curious, have a pic to show what you mean about the filter being on top?

[pow]

just curious, have a pic to show what you mean about the filter being on top?

There's a canister that holds the filter. You unscrew the top, remove the paper filter, and put a new one in.

[pow]

And since the filter is on top and I use an oil extractor, there's no need to climb under the car. It makes changing the oil a cinch.

[Robert Hall]

There's a canister that holds the filter. You unscrew the top, remove the paper filter, and put a new one in.

That's a clever design... it would be nice to see more car makers do something like that...

[bobo]

As a general rule, I change oil every 5000 miles, but because I put so few miles on my vehicles, I change the Silverado's and Honda's oil once a year, and the Lexus every 6 months.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

My oil changes vary based on the car....

For the classics ('68, '73 and the ,82) it's about once a year because they usually don't log but 500-1000 miles a year.

For the Silverado, I use the engine oil life monitor which seems to be longer than 3,000 miles. But aside from some occasional towing, it isn't roughed up that much. The only exception to the oil life monitor is season changes because I run a thiner viscosity in the winter to help with dry start.

The Focus normally gets changed every 3,000 - 4,000 miles (Depending on how broke I am at the time)

The Buick will probably see changes every 3,000 - 4,000 miles as well.

I'm with Camino on this one, better safe than sorry!

[K.C.]

I change it every 3000 with each service whether it needs it or not. I would rather be safe than sorry, especially with the Vette. Would like to have it for a long, long time.