Should you change your oil every 15,000 miles? Here's how to decide

Maintenance/Repairs
61

These ideas come and go with the political landscape and the never ending groups that come out of the woodwork to spew their particular agenda.

In the 60s they were saying that we were headed for another Ice Age, we’d all be flying our cars to work by the year 2000, and war would be extinct because of the progress of man and the UN.

These were big stories and everybody was writing about them in the 1960s.

You all can stop laughing now!!!

Like my grandma would say “don’t believe anything you hear and believe only half of what you read, and never believe anything a politician says.”

Yosemite

62

The oil analysis shows how the oil has degraded over time. If it is near the end of its lifetime, you have the correct change interval for the oil you use. If you don’t care to use a extended life oil, just keep doing what you currently do. If you want to evaluate extended change intervals, use something like mobil1 Extended Life with an extended life oil filter. Then do the test again to see how much oil life remains. The last part is to test a third time when you reach your extended change limit. If all is well and you don’t change your driving regimen, no for ther testing is needed. No one said you should void your warranty or do anything that is not verified by analysis. Engineering evaluations backed up by a conservative interpretation can allow you to extend your oil change interval. It seems to me that saving money is not what it is about. It is more about environmental impact. This one step won’t save the world, but numerous steps that reduce our impact on the environment will make life a lot more tolerable for future generations. At current ice melt rates, almost all major coastal cities will be under water by the end of the century.

63

My BIL switched to synthetic on the first oil change when the car had 3,000 miles, and changed it at 15,000 mile intervals thereafter. His engine was a mess after some years of this. You could look through the oil fill hole and see thick, black crud everywhere under the rocker covers, and the dipstick was thickly coated with a black, gritty varnish. He used Amsoil. Would it have turned out better with Mobil 1? I don’t know, but my cars hold up real well with dino oil changed at 5,000. Certainly a lot better than his Amsoil at 15,000 regimen worked out.

64

@doubleclutch, did your BIL test the oil to evaluate oil life before and after the change? It looks like he just got up one day and made the change. That is a very risky move. If you look at @Whitey‌’s first post, that wasn’t at all what the list suggested. For a lot of people, and especially a lot of people on this board, making the change is not a good idea. Their level of risk aversion makes any change like this, even going from 5000 to 7500 miles between oil changes seems like a risk that would worry them too much. And that’s OK. But I’ve been told for years that following my OLMs is a sure prescription for disaster. And it never has been.

65

So what address is Al Gore using to have you send your oil sample to, to get tested.

How good’s your motion lotion
666 slippery palms drive
The Camin Islands

And what if I get back the results and my oil sample tested to be way below standards for lubricating my engine…now it’s too late. Damn, I should have kept at 5000 mile changes.

We should all switch to CFL light bulbs and take a drive some night and look at how many corporations and stores have all the lights on at 2am. What a waste!!!
I’ll bet ol Als house is lit up like it’s Christmass all night. Oh, thats right, he buys carbon credits …and the robber isn’t at fault…he borrowed the gun!!!

None of us want dirty air or water, or leave our children a mess to clean up. But the government…or better the EPA, is way over powered already. Soon they will be sending us a notice that we CAN go get an oil change, but not before.

Yosemite

66

Dag, your are not correct in your reinterpretation of my statement. Saying that I do not advocate people recommending that owners go beyond the recommendations of the manufacturer is not the same as saying that I believe that 10,000 between changes is as good as 5,000 miles before changes.

One big difference is that what one does with one’s own vehicle is very different from their giving bad advice to others. Another is that I do not believe 10,000 miles between oil changes is as good as 5,000 miles between changes. Going beyond the manufacturers recommendations is even worse.

Nice try, though. Twisting the words of others is always a challenge.

67

well, I agree with the fact that the EPA has many of its priorities wrong, and is a bully quite often…

they have also done many things to really clean up the mess that were our waterways and air quality. though it was the states around the Chesapeake bay that came together and saved it.

if the EPA worked and used their budget to save undeveloped land and land in the flood plains (by buying it, not regulating it so much that the owner loses), to work on research and development of efficient use of the energies of, the sun , wind, tides and river flows, and the prosecution of polluters, they could make a real difference.

the first part of your post I could have done without though…

68

The EPA is like most regulatory agencies. They start out small as an agency to establish regulation and enforcement legislation to enforce compliance with a specific law, in this case the Clean Air and Water Act. A politician is appointed to head the agency, and like all politicians, hungers for power. The agency creates more and more regulations until it way oversteps its original purpose, eventually making regulations unrelated to the original law but having the power of law. The grow and feed on more and more regulations, growing and growing, gaining power and higher salaries for the politician in charge. Until eventually they become a body unto themselves, exempt from the laws and protections of the constitution and/or Bill of Rights. The agency head becomes powerful and autonomous.

But the EPA, as ominous and out of control as it is, is a mere amateur compared to the NSA and it’s bastard child, the TSA. They have broken new ground in the area of disregard for the Bill of Rights, specifically Article IV, the prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. We might as well erase that Article and pretend it never existed. I’ll bet King George III is laughing in his grave… and our founders are crying in theirs.

69

I couldn’t have said it anywhere as good @The Same Mountainbike.
Hats off to you!!!

Yosemite

70

Thanks. I have my moments.

71

I am not quite sure where you all are coming from and maybe I agree with most of you. But, I can’t pick and choose when I want to believe in science and the scientific community. I either do, and win world wars, save people from diseases and cut pollution, or I choose not to and just selectively “say” I don’t trust them when it’s inconvenient or negatively affects my pocketbook.

72

Quote;I either do, and win world wars, save people from diseases and cut pollution, or I choose not to and just selectively “say” I don’t trust them when it’s inconvenient or negatively affects my pocketbook.

Or you blindly follow!!!

Someone blindly followed the looser of every world war too
Remember snake oil, or the numerous recall of drugs that were supposed to cure.
Pollution like the millions of tons of water bottles burried in landfills, how did we survive before bottled water came around in the 1980s

Quote;“But, I can’t pick and choose when I want to believe in science and the scientific community.”

So you blindly follow!!!

There was no more science in that article than my wifes cooking.
May all of our old dead dogs rest in peace.

I must have missed the part about the huge study, involving 500 motors that they analized the oil on and then had a team of professional…independent machinist’s tear them down after 150’000 miles and inspect the wear surfaces, bearing wear and engine sludge accumulation and what their findings were.

You can find claims all day like this by walking down the additive’s aisle at any auto parts store.
The miracle cure for your leaking head gasket, tranny rebuild in a bottle, ring rejuvinator, and add 30 Horsepower in a can. You’d just need a pretty big bottle to put all that on the label.

Or you can watch late night TV ads and order some Colon Cleanser, Memory pills, Hair grow paste, 13$ hearing aides (plus 19.95 S&H), or socks that will make you want to do the boogy all day long.
All sold by people dressed in white coats and have a name tag on and somebody addressed him/her as “Doctor”. Doctor of what…Doctor of philosophy…yeah that’s who I want to buy my next pacemaker from.

You don’t really believe all these claims or you’d be busy on the phone ordering your next shipment instead of being here, bantering with us.
Just 7 minuters left to get the reduced prices.
And we’ll give you 2 for the price of one for the next 500 callers, (Just pay shipping and handling).

So why is this article …written by some person we have no history of…taken by you as the lord of engine knowledge and the idea of this testing is so foolproof…not to follow it by us all.

Yosemite

73

And also if that used oil is no longer available for repurposing, what other than unused oil would replace it?
There are other methods for paving(the paving formulae is so dumbed down now its pitiful and currently downwind from us MeadWestVaCo has the biomass boiler fromHades going-Kevin

74

There are systems on huge OTR diesel engines that allow 100K oil changes but they arent practical on cars,some trucks will clock over 2M so somebody knows something(of course apples and oranges)
I’m alright with 7.5K oil changes(with synthetic)-Kevin

75

they have also done many things to really clean up the mess that were our waterways and air quality. though it was the states around the Chesapeake bay that came together and saved it.
sorry wesw,while I believe the Bay(largest estuary in the world?) maybe improved,its a long way from saved(too many people) with 10% of the old time oyster population,makes me very concerned’If I ever get my account working @Le Chat; I would like to engage in discourse about enviromental concerns-Kevin

76

Sorry about the concurrent postss,but we use oil anylsis for detecting problems in the engines and hydraulic systems,before they become catastrophic,amazing what an oil anylsis will diagnose-Kevin

77

yes kmccune, its not what it once was, but the difference now from what it was in the late 7os is profound. the Wicomico river is 1000percent cleaner in my home town. there are so many rockfish in the bay that you can almost walk on their backs in the spring.the oysters are coming back and the diseases they suffered are not widespread anymore. they recently found a huge population of oysters in an area that was once fished out and abandoned.

the bay might not be saved yet, but it was close to dying once, now its full of life.
the commercial fish oil producers catching all the menhaden is my biggest concern right now.

do you live around the bay? maybe we could go fishing sometime…

78

So enlighten us Kevin!!! It sounds like you are not fixing Geo Metros, but something a little costlier to warrant oil analysis

I’m not aware of oil analysis until this post.
Though you probably send your sample to some big lab that specializes in this, and pay a pretty good price too, but what would we do.

Stop at Autozone for a specimin cup…fill it… and drop it back off.
Was this the cup for Dr Johnson…or the auto parts store!!!

How much is this going to cost roughly…$3.99…$14.99???

How do we know that the parts store sends their samples to a reputable testing facility, and it’s not sent to “Bugger and Bobs” the lowest bidder.
Bugger and Bob might be real experts, but when uncle Rufus keeps spilling his coffee into the samples…they might be off a bit.

I guess whoever said that they would be afraid that people don’t check their oil enough now and by 15’000mile they may be running dry.
They hit the nail on the head.

Yosemite

79
Quote;I either do, and win world wars, save people from diseases and cut pollution, or I choose not to and just selectively "say" I don't trust them when it's inconvenient or negatively affects my pocketbook.

Or you blindly follow!!!

Someone blindly followed the looser of every world war too
Remember snake oil, or the numerous recall of drugs that were supposed to cure.
Pollution like the millions of tons of water bottles burried in landfills, how did we survive before bottled water came around in the 1980s

Quote;“But, I can’t pick and choose when I want to believe in science and the scientific community.”

So you blindly follow!!!

Most people (including you and me) do NOT have the scientific background to question established science. I know of a society that still believes the earth is flat. I personally have never seen the earth from afar. I’ve never traveled around the world. I’ve never ever seen one bit of evidence that the earth is NOT flat. So I’m guilty of blindly following the scientific community to tell me the earth is shaped like a ball.

Science is NOT about truths…science is about discovery…PERIOD. Scientists are constantly trying to DISPROVE theories…even well established theories.

80

Wow. I cannot find an appropriate reply to such a ridiculously bloated opinion of one’s belief to stretch oil changes as long as possible. I do, however, find it humorous of you to suggest that I don’t believe in science. I hate to break it to ya, but Al Gore is not a scientist.

Carl Sagan was a real scientist, with a PhD in astrophysics from Columbia, taught physics at Harvard and Columbia, authored over 300 scientific papers, coauthored 20 books on physics/astrophysics, developed many of the experiments that were conducted by the space program, served as a consultant to NASA teaching the first astronauts what to expect, was the first to define the atmosphere on Venus, and a long, long list of other accomplishments. He came to an entirely different conclusion about the future of our atmosphere. Of course real scientists, like Dr. Sagan, readily acknowledge that their conclusions are only theories. Posers like Al Gore think they know all the answers already.

The scientific evidence suggests that the Earth is between 4.5 and 4.6 billion years old. Even our best ice cores only go back no more than 800,000 years. That’s about one one-thousandth of one percent of the earth’s history. It’s known that the earth’s climate consists of very wide climate swings with countless very small swings riding on the waves, and even smaller swings on those swings. We don’t have nearly enough data to be making anything other than guesses, and most of those are politically based rather than science based. The science is only “settled” in the minds of politicians, not in the minds of scientists.

If you don’t believe that the EPA is out of control, you’re welcome to your opinion. However you shouldn’t accuse me of not believing in science because I disagree with you about the EPA. You cannot extrapolate the former from the latter.