Oil Change at 3,000 miles?

[celdt celdt]

All my car-owning life I've stuck by that rule. Turns out, according to
the news reports a couple weeks ago, this is totally unnecessary and a
waste of money. They were saying the oil companies began the campaign
back then, and it just stuck. Reporter said with the improved engines
and improvements in lubricants, perhaps every 7,000 is more realistic.

Did anyone else hear this? Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[Frank]

All my car-owning life I've stuck by that rule. Turns out, according to
the news reports a couple weeks ago, this is totally unnecessary and a
waste of money. They were saying the oil companies began the campaign
back then, and it just stuck. Reporter said with the improved engines
and improvements in lubricants, perhaps every 7,000 is more realistic.

Did anyone else hear this? Any thoughts?

Thanks

I tend to do it too but my mileage is low and there is also the time
factor. Manual says 7,500 miles or 7.5 months.

 

[clare]

All my car-owning life I've stuck by that rule. Turns out, according to
the news reports a couple weeks ago, this is totally unnecessary and a
waste of money. They were saying the oil companies began the campaign
back then, and it just stuck. Reporter said with the improved engines
and improvements in lubricants, perhaps every 7,000 is more realistic.

Did anyone else hear this? Any thoughts?

Thanks

Been a mechanic since 1969. I still subscribe to the "good oil,
changed oftener than necessary, is cheap insurance" line.

In ideal conditions oil may well be good for 7000 miles, but my
driving, and the driving of the vast majority of drivers I know, does
NOT constitute ideal conditions.

For me there are extremes of temperature, lots of short runs, dusty
conditions, high speed operation, and high humidit, all in varying
amounts throughout the year.

 

[John McGaw]

All my car-owning life I've stuck by that rule. Turns out, according to
the news reports a couple weeks ago, this is totally unnecessary and a
waste of money. They were saying the oil companies began the campaign
back then, and it just stuck. Reporter said with the improved engines
and improvements in lubricants, perhaps every 7,000 is more realistic.

Did anyone else hear this? Any thoughts?

Thanks

Back in the day I followed the 3K rule. It certainly never hurt any of my
cars but it did use up money and generated a lot of pollution in the form
of waste oil. Now I stick with 5K on all of my vehicles as a compromise. I
don't pay a lot of attention to time between changes -- a super low mileage
vehicle which only sees 5K per year isn't going to suffer any over that
interval.

Another advantage of 5K changes, as I see it, is that it is idiotically
simple to see when a car is due with a glance at the odometer -- no
reminder stickers needed. 10K would make it even easier but that is
probably stretching it too far.

 

[John Varela]

All my car-owning life I've stuck by that rule. Turns out, according to
the news reports a couple weeks ago, this is totally unnecessary and a
waste of money. They were saying the oil companies began the campaign
back then, and it just stuck. Reporter said with the improved engines
and improvements in lubricants, perhaps every 7,000 is more realistic.

Did anyone else hear this? Any thoughts?

When I started driving, routine maintenance was a chassis lube job
every 1,000 miles and an oil change every 2,000. You didn't have to
change the filter because cars didn't come with oil filters.

Lubricants have improved in the last 50 or 60 years. When was the
last time you had a chassis lube?

Change the oil according to the manufacturer's recommendation and
ignore advice from anyone, including the dealer, who makes money by
selling you oil changes. And don't let them sell you any additives.

 

[clare]

Back in the day I followed the 3K rule. It certainly never hurt any of my
cars but it did use up money and generated a lot of pollution in the form
of waste oil. Now I stick with 5K on all of my vehicles as a compromise. I
don't pay a lot of attention to time between changes -- a super low mileage
vehicle which only sees 5K per year isn't going to suffer any over that
interval.

Another advantage of 5K changes, as I see it, is that it is idiotically
simple to see when a car is due with a glance at the odometer -- no
reminder stickers needed. 10K would make it even easier but that is
probably stretching it too far.

Up here in Canada 3000 miles makes it easy for the same reason - our
odometers read Kilometers, and 5000Km is as close to 3000 miles as you
are going to get.

 

[clare]

When I started driving, routine maintenance was a chassis lube job
every 1,000 miles and an oil change every 2,000. You didn't have to
change the filter because cars didn't come with oil filters.

Lubricants have improved in the last 50 or 60 years. When was the
last time you had a chassis lube?

Change the oil according to the manufacturer's recommendation and
ignore advice from anyone, including the dealer, who makes money by
selling you oil changes. And don't let them sell you any additives.

Well, you are free to do as you want on your car - and when I
replace ball joints or tie rod ends I generally replace with greasable
parts - so I DO perform Chassis lubes on my vehicles. Usually right up
untill 240,000km or so.

 

[Dave__67]

All my car-owning life I've stuck by that rule.  Turns out, according to
the news reports a couple weeks ago, this is totally unnecessary and a
waste of money.  They were saying the oil companies began the campaign
back then, and it just stuck.  Reporter said with the improved engines
and improvements in lubricants, perhaps every 7,000 is more realistic.  

Did anyone else hear this?  Any thoughts?

Thanks

The be-all and end-all to ending speculation-

Change at 3000 miles and send a sample to be analyzed- they will make
a recommendation on if you can go further, and by how much.

Dave

 

[clare]

The be-all and end-all to ending speculation-

Change at 3000 miles and send a sample to be analyzed- they will make
a recommendation on if you can go further, and by how much.

Dave

Not that simple. One oil sample doesn't tell you squat. You need to
establish a base-line, and then also establish a trend - which
requires numerous changes and samples. Unless you are running a large
crankcase capacity oil sampling will NEVER save you money.

 

[1 Lucky Texan]

 Not that simple. One oil sample doesn't tell you squat. You need to
establish a base-line, and then also establish a trend - which
requires numerous changes and samples. Unless you are running a large
crankcase capacity oil sampling will NEVER save you money.

It may make sense for aircraft and fleet vehicle, but at $25 for a
UOA, that money could be spent on the change.

The oil in my WRX gets changed at about 4K, my wife's Outback, 5-6K
that's because I change it twice a year - April and October.

If I did put a lot of miles on, I wouldn't hesitate to go 7500 miles
with the synthetic oil i use. Perhaps even skip a filter change every
alternate oil change.

 

[clare]

It may make sense for aircraft and fleet vehicle, but at $25 for a
UOA, that money could be spent on the change.

The oil in my WRX gets changed at about 4K, my wife's Outback, 5-6K
that's because I change it twice a year - April and October.

If I did put a lot of miles on, I wouldn't hesitate to go 7500 miles
with the synthetic oil i use. Perhaps even skip a filter change every
alternate oil change.

Would make every bit as much sense to skip the oil change every other
filter change ---.

 

[1 Lucky Texan]

 Would make every bit as much sense to skip the oil change every other
filter change ---.

Well, I guess the idea is, if you put on a LOT of miles quickly, you
are likely operating in a 'cleaner' environment (the highway) so,
'perhaps' there is less dust (silicon) getting into the engine. BUT,
you still have all the heat and combustion products.

I have heard of people taking synth oil out to 10K-15K but I probably
would never do that personally.

 

[clare]

Well, I guess the idea is, if you put on a LOT of miles quickly, you
are likely operating in a 'cleaner' environment (the highway) so,
'perhaps' there is less dust (silicon) getting into the engine. BUT,
you still have all the heat and combustion products.

I have heard of people taking synth oil out to 10K-15K but I probably
would never do that personally.

I've heard of (and seen) people taking dyno oil to 50,000 miles.
One Heck of a job draining the oil-pan to get in and see what went
wrong!!!!!!!

 

[Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B]

The be-all and end-all to ending speculation-

Change at 3000 miles and send a sample to be analyzed- they will make
a recommendation on if you can go further, and by how much.

Dave

Toyota use to recommend 7,000 miles until it bit them in the ass. Now it's
5,000 miles...

 

[Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B]

The be-all and end-all to ending speculation-

Change at 3000 miles and send a sample to be analyzed- they will make
a recommendation on if you can go further, and by how much.

Dave

Toyota use to recommend 7,000 miles until it bit them in the ass. Now it's
5,000 miles...

 

[Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B]

The be-all and end-all to ending speculation-

Change at 3000 miles and send a sample to be analyzed- they will make
a recommendation on if you can go further, and by how much.

Dave

Toyota use to recommend 7,000 miles until it bit them in the ass. Now it's
5,000 miles...

 

[clare]

Toyota use to recommend 7,000 miles until it bit them in the ass. Now it's
5,000 miles...

Under "normal" conditions.

Extreme is still 3000, IIRC.