I recently purchased a 2008 Winnebago View built on a 2007 Dodge Sprinter Chassis with a Mercedez-Benz 3.5L V6 gas engine.
I will be using this vehicles as full time living quarters - I put 34K miles on my last RV in a 10 month period.
The maintenance schedule for the Sprinter suggests regular oil changes every 10,000 miles or 12 months whichever comes first. (it also has an ASSYST service indicator system that lets the driver know when services are due).
I’ve always used Tom and Ray’s suggestion of oil changes every 5K (for my Honda Accord for instance). Should I use the new vehicle’s suggested 10k for oil change or stick to the 5k guidance from Tom and Ray?? I don’t want to waste money nor do I want to ruin my engine!
Does anyone out there only change their oil every 10k miles???
With improved oils and larger crankcases on modern engines (how many quarts does yours take?), combined with your high yearly mileage (3,400 miles a month - wow, that has to be largely freeway miles, right?), I’d follow the 10k recommendation. Modern BMWs are often over 12k, many GMs on their oil monitor systems go 8k.
Does it recommend full synthetic? Given that this is your home, I’d be inclined to use an appropriate full synthetic oil
Modern BMWs are often over 12k
And modern BMW’s are having sludging problems.
No way would I go 10k…ESPECIALLY with the engine of the place I live in. 5k MAX.
I am willing to bet the 10,000 mile/12 month interval comes with a recommendation to use synthetic oil. With synthetic oil, 10,000 miles/12 months should be fine.
If you use conventional oil, shorten it to 5,000 miles. However, if you go this route, make sure your owner’s manual doesn’t require synthetic oil.
Thats a pretty hefty investment to be going 10k on an oil change. I’m with Mike on 5k. You’re not going to be wasting money by changing every 5k. I cant understand on why some people are so cheap when it comes to oil changes and want to extend it out as far as they can get it like its going to have an impact on the national debt if they dont do it on a regular basis. Were not talking mega bucks here to do it every 5k. Most oil changes run on the average of abbout $20 bucks. Like I said before, if $20 bucks every 3-5k miles is going to break the bank, you need to ride a bicycle. I just changed the oil in my new/used Dodge charger HEMI and spent $57.00 But that was also using 7 quarts of Mobil 1 synthetic and a WIX filter. Thats an expensive oil change.
transman
The sludge problem is not caused by the oil or 10K changes, unless the wrong oil is used.
In a car with a known sludge problem, I would agree that 10K is too long. I would also use only synthetic, even if the manufacturer did not specify it.I did a search on a 3 series board, and found numerous mentions of sludging…in Toyotas! Not in BMWs. A 2004 article in Car & Driver had this recommended solution for Toyota’s sludging problem:
“The best solution to the sludge problem seems to be the oil sensors that have been used for years on all BMWs, along with more than 90 percent of GM vehicles. These devices are not really “sensors” that somehow analyze oil quality; they are software programs that record cold starts, oil temperature, and a count of cylinder firings. The systems then infer the oil’s condition based on its measured “experience.” They can call for oil changes in fewer than 5000 miles and more than 10,000 miles, depending on driving conditions.”
The sludge problem is not caused by the oil or 10K changes, unless the wrong oil is used.
Sorry Joesph but I have to disagree with you. I really don’t know any oil that will continuously stand up to 10k change intervals. I sure wouldn’t want to buy that engine that had 15 10k oil change intervals. I’d be far more inclined to buy a car which had 30 5k oil change intervals.
Ditto what transman said - oil changes are really cheap. Its the new engines that are expensive.
I would guess that for the Mercedes engine they do recommend synthetic oil, which is why they also recommend 10,000 oil changes. Oil change intervals in Europe typically run double what we do on this side of the pond. As an experiment, I changed the oil on my new 2001 Silverado with a 5.3 engine at 2,500 miles with Mobil 1 and a Mobil 1 oil filter, and at every 10,000 mile interval after that. I am now ready to break the 170,000 miles mark, and the engine is still going strong. It uses about a quart of oil every 10,000 miles, which it did from when it was new. I agree that changing it every 5,000 is cheap insurance - I just wanted to see what would happen if I went 10,000 between changes.
Ditto ditto. No way I would go 10K period. Just dumb. 5K max in my book.
The Sprinter uses Mobil 1 and has 9 quarts in the crankcase. With ASSYST I have been able to go to 12,000 before the oil change in my Airstream RV. The engine is covered for 7 years and 100,000 miles. Would MB/Dodge offer this coverage if the ASSYST suggestion is wrong?