I wouldnt be surprised to learn that “Big Oil” has its fingers in what goes into owners manuals as far as oil change intervals. After all they did put the stop to electric cars once.
But…the OP ASKED for our opinions!
If the oil looks good…Run it
I’ve worked in large corporations…designing, writing, and performing qualification testing including accelerated life testing, environmental testing, Failure Mode Effects Analysis, Mean Time Between Failure Analysis, field failure analysis, and all the other reliability testiing and analysis. These provide the primary data that becomes maintenance recommendations to the owner’s manual.
There’s no conspiracy involved, but it is possible that there’re some less than publically known federal regulations involved that cause the manufacturers to try to stretch oil changes to as long as possible. I don’t pose this as fact, only something that if it is true would not surprise me.
By all means, do what you feel is best for you and your car. If that’s 3000 miles, more power to you. At that mileage you are GUARANTEED to change the oil before it begins to degrade under normal operating conditions. It’s a guarantee because you are changing the oil at about 25%, or LESS of its expected life. I know this for a fact. I have seen the oil test results. But if that’s what’s best for you and you don’t mind spending the extra money, then do it.
I don’t expect everyone to believe me or take me as an authority on the subject just because I say so, and that’s fine. I’m just trying to inform. (If you REALLY care, someone can PM me and I’ll give my name and you can look up my certifications on the STLE and ICML web sites.)
I’m so confident in this that I would gladly take 3000 mile oil from another car, and put it in mine and run it for 5000 miles. Assuming of course this was all under normal operating conditions for a typical engine, it was the correct oil and I could do it in a way to insure no contaminants were introduced in the transfer process. If I could figure out a practical way to do that, I wouldn’t have to pay for oil ever again!
I understand a persons desire to change the oil long before it begins to degrade because I do the same thing. I just happen to know that that point is well past 10000 miles for my driving conditions and the oil I’m using. I could even push it out to 15000 miles or more without any ill effects, but I prefer a wide safety margin, and 10000 is a good compromise for me.
From my perspective, it’s like watching people change their tires at 10,000 miles because they don’t want to risk letting the tread get too low. No one would do that because they can see the tread and know that the tire will last much longer. Well, you can’t “see” the condition of the oil, but I can. Or rather, I’ve seen enough of them to know that you’re changing it too soon.
I don’t consider the frequent oil changes as harmful, I just hate to see the waste in money and time. Particularly if it’s my money and time.
By the way, if anyone is interested in actually testing your oil, it’s pretty simple, and doesn’t cost much. Around $20 or so. The labs usually like a “virgin” sample of the oil you use to compare the results to, so you’d have to pay for two tests the first time.
Interpreting the results takes specific knowledge, but if someone wants to try it, you can post the results here and I’ll tell you everything you want to know about it. I guarantee you’ll be surprised by the results.
Jotmo, I for one have no doubt whatsoever that everything you’re saying is true and accurate. And I respect the fact that you appreciate that how averse one is to risk is a factor in how often they change their oil. Myself, I’ve been involved in tons of analysis but never of lubricants, so I’ll opt for feeling safe.
“So how many people who do a 10k mile oil change interval are keeping their vehicles past the 250k mile mark. And if so any problems?? Burning any oil???”
That’s more a question for fleet operators that drive their vehicles that many miles. The whole state of California uses OLMs in it’s motor pool. They tested OLMs against changing oil by an older mileage based regimen. At the end, they tore the engines down and found that using the OLMs was as good as using the shorter mileage based changes.
That fleet operators of Gas engines or Diesels???
I don’t put enough miles on my car to worry about what mileage to change the oil. I go by the months, which is 4 months for my usage.
I have about 6 mile round trip for work with long highway drives few and far between. Bought my car new in May 2010 and I have just under 4,300 miles on it when I parked it this afternoon.
“That fleet operators of Gas engines or Diesels???”
yes!!!
although my cars recommend 10,000 between changes, the dealer who sold them to me says 3,000 miles because I live in what he calls a severe climate. very hot and dusty and he says where you live is more important and that most people live in less than normal conditions
“although my cars recommend 10,000 between changes, the dealer who sold them to me says 3,000 miles because I live in what he calls a severe climate.”
Where is this climate? The car manufacturer I am sure has tested it in your climate and that is what they based their recommendation of 10,000 miles. You dealer’s recommendation is based on his profit selling you extra oil changes.
OK I don’t really know about that. However if you tell us what part of what country that you live in we can help you determine if he has a boat payment due or if you really should replace it more often. You don’t need to check with me, just open the owner’s manual that should be in your glove box (Who keeps gloves there?) and read the part about maintenance. Then follow what the owner’s manual recommends. Be sure the oil you do use meets or exceeds the specifics listed in the owner’s manual.
I started out my motoring life with 1K oil change intervals (OCI). Very quickly, it became 3K OCI. Clearly oils and engines have improved in the decades since - and a move to 10k was inevitable.
Jotmo - we hear you, but as with many things, it sometimes takes a while for everyone to get on board. Most of the folks on this board have a HUGE amount of experience and moving away from that takes some courage. I think you can see by the responses that if there is a sticking point, it has to do with lack of experience with 10K. No one is arguing that 10K is totally bogus.
Clearly an engine failure is expensive compared to changing oil too often. My advice would be to repeatedly point out what car manufacturers recommend and gradually, folks will get on board. Don’t lose hope.
It’s probably calling for a high quality full synthetic oil. Some of these oils are qualified to run as long as 12k miles. They probably are calling for a specific type of oil and filter.
With a name brand oil, and a good oil filter, 10,000 miles is no problem at all. Switch to synthetic, 15,000 is good. Remember, 18-wheelers go minimum 25,000 miles tween changes.
And consider this, in the “past”, the dealers wanted you to change your oil every 3,000 miles, this was across the board. BUT, if you had a four (4) cylinder, your oil was “used” only ONE-HALF the time that a V-8 would use that same oil fill! (8 cylinders vs. 4 cylinders)! You know the dealers are full of crap when they across the board say to change your iol every 3,000 IRREGARDLESS OF THE NUMBER OF CYLINDERS!
Simple math says that if you have a four (4) cylinder engine, the oil change frequency is much less than if you drive a V-8!
Stick with 10,000 miles, check level often, SAVE MONEY! No harm to engine!
“if you had a four (4) cylinder, your oil was “used” only ONE-HALF the time that a V-8 would use that same oil fill!”
I’m surprised nobody has challenged this.
of cylinders has nothing to do with oil change interval.
Then there’s that claim that synthetic oil can run longer…
“if you had a four (4) cylinder, your oil was “used” only ONE-HALF the time that a V-8 would use that same oil fill!”
How often should the old be changed on a 3 cylinder Geo Metro (3 3/4 quart cap.)?
A ten cylinder Ford or Dodge?
If a V-8 car gets 25 mpg’s on the highway and a 4 cylinder car gets 25 mpg in the city both consume the same amount of fuel, would the V-8’s oil be twice as polluted?
I would recommend following the manufactures maintenance schedule. While 3,000 miles/3 months (for older cars) seems excessive, they don’t know if you drive 1 mile a day or 100 miles a day and lean towards the side of safety.
At this point of the thread I want to let everybody know that it is their car and their money. Change the oil whenever you like and be willing to live with the consequences. Be it premature engine failure or too much $$ down the drain for excess oil changes…
Actually a 4 cylinder engine is harder on oil than a V8, it’s a higher revving engine and in most cases lower oil capacity, meaning the oil is being worked harder fighting friction and wear.