The 3,000-Mile Oil Change Is Pretty Much History

New York Times ^ | 10 September 2010 | By ALINA TUGEND

[RacerXSpeedRacer]

“I change my oil religiously...........every 50,000 miles.......or so.............”

Whether it needs it or not, right??? 8-)

[Mogger]

I’ve been doing 25,000 mile oil changes since 1972. 12,500 mile filter changes until a couple of years ago, now 25,000 mile filter changes too.

I’ve driven over 2 million miles using this proven techology.

The most miles on a vehicle was a 1997 Saturn SL1. I put 479,000 miles on it with 35,000 mile oil changes. (Amsoil 0W-30 and Amsoil filters.)

Most of my vehicles have gotten better MPG than with petroleum oil.

Presently I have an ‘08 Grand Cherokee, ‘06 Ford Focus, ‘05 Rokon Trailbreaker, ‘97 Discovery, ‘83 Mercedes 300D, ‘73 Land Rover Lightweight, ‘66 Mercedes Benz Unimog and a ‘73 Grumman motorhome.

All have Amsoil throughout with oil changed at 25,000 miles or once per year.

This 100% synthetic oil is made in America, and has been PROVEN since 1972.

[jetson]

Places like chevy dealerships make it worth it to go every 3,000 by offering oil change, fluid checks, and full inspections and tire rotation for $59.00.

[Red Badger]

Exactly!..........Most cars I have had lost oil faster than that................

[GourmetDan]

Just change it when you the oil is getting too dark to see the stick when the engine and the oil are warm. Otherwise, the oil still has plenty of capacity to absorb dirt, esp with the close tolerances that modern engines are built with. Doing that test when the engine and oil are cold will look a lot dirtier because the oil will be thicker on the stick, so I always looked at it when it was warm. That’s what I did with a little Mitsubishi truck with a 2.0L 4-banger using Mobil 1 and got 300,000 miles out of it.

That did turn out to be ~ 5,000 miles, btw. Sometimes a little more if I did a lot of highway driving in the summer or a little less if it was a lot of short trips around town in the winter; but that was my gauge.

[CORedneck]

I stick with 3000 miles. I also run full synthetic oil as well. Oil is much cheaper than the hassles and cost of a new engine !

[Mogger]

chevy dealerships make it worth it to go every 3,000 by offering oil change, fluid checks, and full inspections and tire rotation for $59.00.

I commute over 1000 miles a week. At that rate, actually about 70,000 miles a year, 70,000/3000=23. 23 X 59 = $1357.

I presently spend about $140 with 2 Amsoil changes in that period and get about 2 MPG better with my Focus than it "should" get. Plus all the time saved.

[WOBBLY BOB]

225k on our 97 Escort and almost up to 200k on my 94 Golf.

same deal- change oil every 3-5k.

[Mr Rogers]

““I change my oil religiously...........every 50,000 miles.......or so.............” / Whether it needs it or not, right??? 8-)”

I drive a clunker. I don’t change oil, just add it.

Actually, knew a guy who loved surfing. In the 60s, in southern California, he had a clunker that burned oil so bad that he put a funnel on the dash...got jugs of old oil from the service stations, and just added some on the way to the beach each day.

I also once owned a motorcycle that leaked so bad I put an oil pan under it each night and put the oil back in each morning. Gotta love a $150 motorcycle.

[jetson]

I commute over 1000 miles a week. At that rate, actually about 70,000 miles a year, 70,000/3000=23. 23 X 59 = $1357.

Now thats allot of miles. In your case it ain't worth it. I drive a 3/4 ton 4x4 with about 10 to 20,000 a year.

[GourmetDan]

"I drive a clunker. I don’t change oil, just add it."

Had a guy stop by the service station one day cause his oil light came on. The oil looked like grease. We asked him "When was the last time you changed the oil?" "Change it?", he says, "I don't change it, I just add oil when it needs some."

He had 96,000 miles on that car, as I remember, before it died (and it was dead).

I remember how amazed I was that it made it that far.

[WOBBLY BOB]

wanna bet Alina thinks ethanol is the bee’s knees?

[jimt]

Oil gets changed at 3,000 or less. Oil & Air filters also. Cheapest thing I can do to get a very long life out of my vehicles. Auto parts store takes used oil.

Bingo !

[VoiceOfBruck]

Just follow your owner’s manual. The OEMs know what they’re talking about. The NYT doesn’t.

[VoiceOfBruck]

Just follow your owner’s manual. The OEMs know what they’re talking about. The NYT doesn’t.

[Wuli]

Thanks for the clarification on the method employed by the oil sensor.

Either way, I was mildly surprised it was a feature that Saturn included. It was something I expected of many cars with much better reputations than Saturn, but not Saturn.

[lentulusgracchus]

Why so many miles commuting, and so many vehicles? You have a big family?

[EVO X]

whereas a DOHC, turbocharged high-horsepower 4 cylinder would want short intervals.

Owners manual says 5mo/5K for my EVO X..

[tubebender]

If your Granny drives 2,500 miles a year you had better change her oil. On the other hand if you're a salesman driving 3,000 miles a month you could go 3 months but you had better check the oil level a couple of times in that period in case some duufus left the old gasket in the filter base...

[Smokin' Joe]

Oil change: Full synthetic and quality filter, can be done for $30-35.00. How much can you replace that engine for?

Every three thousand miles for the type of driving I do. Six months out of the year my life can depend on that engine staying running.

If you don't drive much, every six months is a good rule of thumb, too.