Posted on 09/17/2010 12:02:53 PM PDT by Vigilanteman
I STILL remember learning from my father how to carefully remove a dipstick to check the oil level in our cars. It was drilled into me — along with turning off the lights when you left a room and clearing the plates off the table after dinner — that oil needs to be changed every 3,000 miles or so.
Kieron Kohlmann changing the oil in a 2007 Dodge Charger in Union Grove, Wis. Changing the oil every 3,000 miles is no longer a good guideline for cars bought in the last seven or eight years, says Philip Reed of the car site Edmunds.com.
I’m not sure what I thought would happen if I didn’t, but I vaguely imagined an unlubricated engine grinding to a halt.
Childhood habits are hard to undo, and that’s often good. To this day, I hate seeing an empty room with the lights on.
But sometimes, we need to throw aside our parents’ good advice. In March, for example, I wrote about how we should relearn the dishwasher and laundry soap habits we inherited from our mothers.
Add frequent oil-changing to that list.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
If you have synthetic oil and don’t drive in traffic much, then yeah, you can pull 10K oil changes.
Drive in traffic? Make short trips? 3K-5K oil changes are still a good idea.
NYT idiot writer just trying to be “green”
3-5k is the rule (unless Obama Motors tells you otherwise.)
I drive a 1996 ford explorer with more than 200,000 mi. I only use mobil 1 synthetic and it’s 7500 between changes.
I doubt anyone in NYC named “Alina” even knows where to find the dipstick, but probably votes for plenty of them.
1) Yes, with synthetics you can get by with not chaning your oil as often.
2) Changing your oil is the cheapest insurance you can buy for your engine. It makes no economic sense to put your expensive engine at any additonal risk just to say a few bucks on oil changes.
The owner’s manuals for my cars (1999 & 2003) advocate 5000 and 7000 mile intervals. Personally, I’ve been using synthetic oil (and high quality filters) and changing more like every 10,000 or once per year.
I believe the oil industry and Jiffy Lubes of the world are the main proponents of the 3000 mile interval.
Older oil sometimes might be better chemically in some conditions, in that it is "broken in" to some degree. But new oil will never cause damage to the car.
I keep hearing this about oil changes from various sources, and all I can think of what is driving it is some "green" movement cause for not wanting the old oil out there. But, that oil is recycled. When you pour that oil into those big containers at the garage or local dump, it is not disposed into some hole in the ground at 3 am somewhere. They re-refine it and it is sold.
Parafin based oils and synthetics, yes, 3000miles is prudent.
One might get more milage,...if the RPM were consistently down low and trips short enough for the oil not to heat up.
Forgot to mention - most people fit the ‘severe’ service driving conditions listed in owners’ manuals, so it’s 3-5K in that case as well.
follow the advice at your own risk, especially in the hotter climes.
Remember, when the engine locks up at that most inopportune time, to figure in the repair, towing and rental charges plus lost time, and whatever inconvenience you face at the moment as a result. And the headaches of dealing with all the sharks in the process.
Yeah, it's cheaper to keep that oil changed.
I drive a 2007 Ford F-150 S/C, and the manual actually states that the oil should be changed every 5,000 miles...
I never change my oil more often than 5,000 miles. But my CAR gets new oil every 3K.
Then again, I lease and it’s included in the price.
You might want to get your oil analyzed. Doesn’t cost much, and it’ll tell you if you should be changing more often or not.
lots of blowing dust and sand in my area...
I use full synthetic and change oil and filter mostly every 3000.....the oil may not break down, but it can get dirty.
“A better average, he said, would be 7,500 between oil changes, and sometimes up to 10,000 miles or more”.
...BS! Just trying to throw a few rods to help further an agenda? I use synthetic and wouldn’t dream of going over 8,000. “Lifeblood of the car”...(my Dad. 1976 when I got my 1st car. A 1965 Pontiac Lemans. Aqua/convertible)
Then you get worse wear, because you get more wear upon starting your engine than at any other time.
Diesels can go that far between oil changes, but I wouldn’t do it in any of my cars. Mine all get 3-5k changes.
I used to go with the 3,000 mile interval, but not the “or three months” part Unless you leave your car parked at the Airport for 3 months at a stretch, it doesn’t ‘go bad’ three months after you open the bottle.
Now I go synthethic at 6,000 mile intervals. The oil changes cost twice as much, but are done half as often, and the engine gets better winter cold start performance.
Win-win.
It depends. Regular oil and a cheap filter? Probably 3,000 is best particularly if diring conditions are harsh.
For good synthetic oil and a good filter? Probably 5,000 to 7,500 miles.
Under no circumstance would I push my oil to a one year change interval and probably not beyong 7,500 miles.
Personally, using good synthetic and good filters, I change our oil every six months with about 5k to 7k miles.
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