I have a 2010 ford fusion. The book said I don’t have to change oil for 7500 miles. I don’t feel comfortable with that. Can I realy go that far before I chang oil?
It is really your choice. Today’s oils are very good and hold up better than oils used in the good old days. I go 5K miles for conventional and 7.5K miles when I use synthetic. I have had no issues. My current commuter cars have 142K and 150K miles on them, using this oil change interval method.
I used a 4k interval for years. My 2010 Cobalt has an Oil Life Management (OLM) system. According to the OLM and my driving style the Cobalt can go 9k between changes. I decided on a 5k interval (~2x/year), a few extra oil changes are less expensive than replacing an engine. Whatever you decide, make a point to check the oil level on a regular basis.
This rather long thread is about relying solely on the OLM for change intervals.
http://community.cartalk.com/posts/list/2213992.page
Ed B.
The 7500 is the MAXIMUM. If you don’t feel comfortable then change it earlier.
You could do a used oil analysis at 7,500 miles to see how it held up. Blackstone Labs seems to be the popular choice for that.
Do whatever you like, it probably won’t make any difference in how long your car runs.
I do 7500 mile intervals on my Nissan Altima, and the oil is still good for many more miles according to my oil analysis results. Ran it to just shy of 10k once, and it was pretty close to done at that point.
BC.
Modern oils are far different than the oils grandpa had. Also modern cars are far better than grandpa’s car. There is no car reason to change it more often, but if it feels better and you don’t mind the additional cost, go ahead. There is something to be said for felling comfortable and not worrying.
Just don’t get the idea that you can go 7,500 miles on the cheaper recommended oils or to use old style oils in a modern car.
If you were a traveling salesman and did nothing but highway driving at the legal speed limit, the 7500 is a good figure. Most owner’s manuals have a “severe” service interval which is ususally 50% of the maximum. I would recommend 4000 mIles for oil and filter.
I subscribe to the same philosophy as Docnick.
When you read the details on what constitutes “severe service”, it is obvious that a huge percentage of the cars on the road are subjected to this type of service, and yours may be one of them.
Or to put it another way, in an ideal world, you should be able to go 7,500 miles between oil changes, but you may not live (and operate your car) in an ideal world.
As one of the veterans of this board likes to say, “Oil is relatively cheap, and engines are very expensive”.
Because of that reality, I usually change my oil at approximately a 4k mile interval.
Does it say that for severe or normal driving? If you do a bunch of highway driving, then yeah, you should be able to go that long. If you do a bunch of city driving, then you’ll want to change it more often.
How often? there will be a box with X months along with the miles recommendations.
I agree with the mantra… “oil cheap and engine expensive”
You could go 20k miles between oil changes. Hell!! 30k!!
But the car won’t make it past 2 or 3 oil changes at the most.
Why be cheap when it comes to the maintenance of your vehicle? If you can’t afford an oil change every 3k or 4k miles - then you can’t afford a car!!!
Change the transmission and differential oils once a year. Transmissions are the most neglected mechanical part on your car, but they are also the most complex… even more complex than your engine. Yet people ignore the transmission servicing. Outta sight, outta mind… until your a smoking mess on the side of the road somewhere.
Buck up and change that oil!! Or start taking the bus…