There might be a fourth type of person, although kind of rare I think. The same kind that waxes his appliances every year and oils the door hinges in the house every two years, just because. I really am not interested in the studies and charts and engineering discussions on oil. I just do what feels good. When I traded my old Riviera in with 530,000 miles the salesman asked me what I did for oil changes. When I said 3000 miles, he said I knew it. So dis me if you want, I change my syn at 5000 miles which is roughly 50% OLM and my Pontiac at 3000 with dino which is also roughly at 50%. I don’t care about the money or the facts or analysis, I just do what feels good. So I spend maybe an extra $100 a year on rolling stock of $50,000. I don’t mind you engineer types that go to 20,000 mile oil changes, I just don’t want to buy your used car.
You won’t want to buy my used cars. They’re 15+ years old and usually rusty enough to junk. They get oil changes when the OLM indicates they need one or around 10k if no OLM. But the engines are just fine, don’t use any oil and run like a top. Nothing I have gotten rid of looked good in the casket… 
Our new rav4 lease includes wheel rotation every 5000 miles for 2 years, and oil changes with synthetic every 10k miles for 2 years, guess we are on the hook for the 3rd year.
I’ve been doing the same thing with my car, using store brand synthetic 5W-30 every 5,000 miles, only for me, that currently means about once a year, and I don’t have a reminder light telling me to do it.
our oil change light (maintenance light) just came on. our honda dealer has full syn changes for $20. good price
Now that I’m getting (a lot) older, I just don’t drive long distances as much as I once did. As a result, I think that elapsed time intervals are more important for my engine than the actual number of miles accumulated between oil changes.
For several years, it has taken me ~6 months to rack-up 4k miles, so my oil changes have gotten to the point where they are done at the 4k mark, but that is mainly because I don’t want to go more than 6 months without changing my oil. Additionally, the manufacturer specifies tire rotation every 7,500 miles, and because I want to keep my tire rotation schedule reasonably consistent, rotating my tires at every second oil change (8k miles), keeps me on schedule for tire rotation.
Are 100% sure it’s full synthetic, and not Honda’s 0w20 semi-synthetic?
In any case, the $20 oil change might just be a loss leader . . . are they trying to upsell a bunch of (probably) unnecessary additional services every time you show up?
already asked service writer. they used to stock 0-20 syn blend but no more. its too hard to find room for both syn and the blend stuff. so they only have the syn stuff now. the best part is the dealer keeps track of service for warranty issues. car is 2 yrs old. no worries.
they say that women who hang out together tend to “sync” their monthly cycles. While I have no statistical data to verify this, have any of you folks found this to be true with cars?
When my wife and I got married, her car and my truck’s oil changes were a couple months apart from each other. as time has gone on, the times for needing oil change seems to be growing closer together. Now my son’s Taurus is getting in on the fun, and it seems like I have to do all 3 oil changes about the same time.
-Wife 2012 Malibu 96,000 miles: 5w30 Dexos and goes by the OLM (usually when it reaches about 20%) (no oil usage)
-My truck 2000 GMC Sierra 170,000 miles: 10w30 full syn goes about 4,000 miles- 1 quart usage inbetween oil changes
-sons Taurus 150,000 miles: 5w30 full syn every 3,000 1-2 quarts usage/leakage in between oil changes (he’s got a leaky oil pan gasket that I just haven’t dealt with yet.)
it’s a conspiracy i tell you!! 
Mr. Eddo. not going to say you are wrong because oil threads never reach a conclusion. But is there a chance that just regular oil in a 150000 Taurus might leak and use less?
that’s a definite possibility, and would save some $$$. It’s a new to us car, that I’ve only done a couple oil changes on.
the full syn has been used in it for as long as records show, so I didn’t want to jump into changing it.
Oil threads are always fun because. like a frontier saloon fight, everyone chips in. It’s also a great source of fact, fiction, hype and conspiracy theories.
Although oil “does not wear out”, oil does get contaminated with all sorts of destructive materials. Oil is typically 25% additives that help the oil last longer and fight contaminants. When those additives are used up or neutralized, , the oil is considered unsafe.
I once worked with an engineer who was employed by a major railroad. Their very expensive diesel locomotive basically used straight 40 grade oil without a lot of additives. Why? Because the engines ran constantly without the destructive cold starts. The oil was checked on a regular basis to determine if any excessive metals or other contaminants were present. This was to track the engine condition, and was not used to determine the dump point. That was predetermined by testing previously.
Actually I don’t see that as a problem. I liked to do two or three oil changes at the same time. When you change clothes, get the drain pan, tools, oil and filters all together, it really saves time on a per car basis just to do them all at the same time. While one is draining, you can be finishing up on the other.
Well we got 2 years free maintenance (ok I am probably paying for it but got it for the same price as other dealers without maintenance) with our new car, every 5k tire rotation, every 10k synthetic oil change. Now to go find the dipstick, just to make sure it is not loosing oil.
If your oil is “loose”, then clearly something needs to be tightened.
Otherwise, you might potentially lose oil.
Thanks for the coercion, my English seems to be getting lazy as far as spelling.
Just to clarify, Volvo, right now with people all over the place, and a few who insist nothing will ever change their minds, the casual reader will know this is not a source of valid information on oil life. But, merely personal opinions not supported by data.
If that is what forum members are satisfied with, then that is that, I guess.
Personally, I want to know what is correct.
So, than, why don’t you give us the benefit of your extensive scientific knowledge? If you lack that, than how do you know everyone else’s answers are just opinion?