I’m old enough to remember and to have practiced some of once revered wisdom related to oil changes. For example, I never mixed brands of oil. And, I changed oil about every 3,000 miles. But that was in the day and time when a quart of oil was .89 and the filter was about $1.97.
The jugs of full synthetic oil say 10,000 miles change interval. I’ve been using that stuff for a while on 2 different vehicles. Both have the feature that computer calculates when it is time to change oil. Last week, the oil change due light turned on in the 2013 Town and Country, equipped with a 3.7L engine. It has about 96K miles on it and the crankcase is still full of oil.
It has been 7K or so miles since the last oil change. The oil in the engine is a bit darker than when I first put it in there but by no means does it appear dirty. It is still transparent enough to see the marks on the dip stick.
It has got me wondering if the refiner’s 10K mile recommendation is safe to follow or if I should trust the computer generated oil change due message. No sense dumping serviceable oil and no sense skipping maintenance that ought to be performed to increase the longevity of the engine.
I’m not dealing with a warranty that would be voided. What do you all think?
I recommend what the manufacturer of the vehicle recommends They’re the ones that designed, built, and tested the vehicle. Not the makers of the motor oil.
I have a vehicle where the manufacturer specifies synthetic oil (0-20 or 0-30) and 10K oil changes. I don’t know it’s full history, but it’s at 250K+ and still going strong. I don’t let it go 10K, but I have no service records to say what prior owners did.
Just follow what the manual says (as noted above), and you can also trust the computer’s “judgment” about when to change it.
I’m with @Tester on this. I changed the oil in two GM cars based on the OLM reminder and the engines lasted as long as we keep the cars, about 200,000 miles on both. Neither burned oil. I also changed oil based on the OLM recommendation on my 2005 Accord V6. I traded it in at about 190,000 miles and the used car manager said the engine was in about the best condition he’d seen. The OLM recommended 7500 miles on the Honda.
Yeah I had my car towed to th3 olds dealer for a trans overhaul. When I picked it up they appologized that it only had 80,000 miles. I said no problem, that’s 180,000 miles. Been around the block once already.
Your vehicle is taking into account what conditions the oil was subjected to when it determines it needs to be changed. So follow the maintenance reminder on the vehicle, not the ideal specs for the oil…
… and the oil has no memory of how many short-trip drives it has been subjected to. The algorithm in the vehicle’s data system does take that into account, so…
Overall, as our late friend, Mountainbike used to say, “The idea is to extend the life of the engine, not the life of the oil”.
I won’t go 10k between oil changes. 5k is the max for me. As an older member of this forum use to say (@Mountainbike) - Are you trying to get the most out of your oil or the most out of your engine?
The mfr’s maintenance specs for my vehicle call for an annual/10k oil change. Even though it’s a PHEV, whose engine is used only occasionally since most of my driving is done in EV mode, I have the oil changed every 6 months, which works out to ~4,500 miles.
A while back someone on this forum gave some good advice. They recommended not going beyond the recommended oil change requirements. A typical modern engine will go 300k miles doing the minimum required maintenance. The rest of the car likely will not. The money is better spent on maintaining other things.
There are some things to watch out for, such as an oil change place using regular oil when they’re supposed to use synthetic. If the Oil L.M. is configured for synthetic oil, you better be sure it is.
I haven’t seen regular oil in any store for a couple of years now. With the exception of straight weight oil. All multi-viscosity oil is synthetic. Don’t even see blend anymore.
I hope you don’t work at an oil change place. I can imagine a customer asking if synthetic oil was used, and the response being oh it’s all synthetic now.
Spec is 0-20 or 0-30? I used to work at pump co but have forgotten most viscosity stuff. Friends 2024 Mercedes uses 0-20 oil same motor used 5-30 in 2023. Mercedes says if it meets spec 229.51 or 229.71 then viscosity can slide?
Come on now, you know better than to make blanket statements like that by now… lol
Castrol GTX 10w30, 10w40 & 20w50 still in conventional oil and 5w20, 5w30, 10w30, 10w40, 20w50 in both standard and high mileage blends are all at Advance Auto Parts…
+1
Out of curiosity, I decided to see what types of oil are on sale at my local supermarket. They didn’t have any full-synthetic or semi-synthetic, and the only ones on their shelf were conventional Castrol and Quaker State.
Learn how to do an oil change yourself and you won’t have that problem will you. If you don’t trust the person doing the oil change…oh well. There is no way to tell what oil they used. Good luck.
Many vehicles these days specify a weight that is ONLY AVAILABLE as synthetic. My Highlanders oil recommendation is 0W-20. Many newer vehicles specify 0w-16 or 0w-8.
I run a lot of highway miles and always use full synthetic, either Castrol Edge or Royal Purple. Every Blackstone Labs analysis I have had done on my Mazda 2.5 naturally aspirated engines shows the oil is still going strong at 7,500 miles and the additive package and condition of the oil would easily allow 10,000 miles. I change the oil at 7,500 to be safe, as that is what Mazda recommends.
My 2.5 turbo motors always show the oil can easily go to 7,000 miles and maybe even 10,000, but I change every 5,000, per Mazda’s recommendation. Since I do my own oil changes using Mazda OEM filters, it is cheap insurance to keep my warranty claims valid and maximize the life of my engines.
