News, CA launches campaign against 3,000-mile oil change interval (insurance, vehicle, 2011)

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

State hopes to break car owners' habit of changing oil too often - latimes.com

Interesting stuff. How often do you change your oil?

I go 5,000 on one car (synthetic) and about 4,000 on the other.

CalRecycle | Check Your Number | Change Motor Oil Only As Needed is CA's site to check your manufacturer's recommended interval. It arrogantly doesn't go older than 2000 nor does it differentiate between avilable engine sizes.

[sailordave]

My 2003 Malibu came up as 3,000 miles. I never reach the 3,000 miles within three months so I always change my oil every three months. I hope my next vehicle will have oil life monitoring to let me know when to change my oil based upon how I drive. I think the way I drive and the traffic conditions where I live would allow me to go longer in between oil changes.

[Chango]

I do it every 5000 miles. I would not listen to the State's advice; they won't have to pay for my car repairs down the road, and for 15 bucks an oil change (I do my own) it's cheap insurance.

[NJGOAT]

I think it's a good thing that CA is making an effort to break what is essentially a service industry promoted interval that has nothing to do with actual vehicle maintenance. The key has been and always will be following the manufacturers recommendation in the manual or following the oil life monitor. People whose cars are calling for 7,500 or 10,000 mile oil changes that still slavishly do it at 3,000 are just flushing money and oil down the drain. In all my time in fleet maintenance management I have NEVER seen a car that was maintained to the factories recommendation have a failure that could be traced back to an issue with the oil change interval.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by sailordave

2003 Malibu... I never reach the 3,000 miles within three months so I always change my oil every three months.

I also have a (low mileage) '03 Malibu that also gets driven VERY little.

I think the way I drive and the traffic conditions where I live would allow me to go longer in between oil changes.

Not just you... most can go far longer.
But I agree that these factors are far more important than the arbitrary mileage number.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by Chango

I do it every 5000 miles. I would not listen to the State's advice; they won't have to pay for my car repairs down the road, and for 15 bucks an oil change (I do my own) it's cheap insurance.

The cheap insurance idea is the big myth so many fall into.

I am all for sound maintenance of my vehicles. But just about every reasonable modern vehicle just doesn't need oil changes that often in regular use. Otherwise the manufacturers wouldn't recommend much longer intervals.

[trlhiker]

I change my wife's CRV oil every 6 months which is about 3k to 4K miles. My Corolla is every 5k miles. My 4Runner is once a year, I only put about 3k on it a year.

[topher5150]

My wife's car and mine too burns off/ leaks most of the oil by 3000 miles so kind of have to
but my Lincoln Mark VIII (which it tells me when to change oil) goes about 4000+ miles with Mobil 1

[MrRational]

If you do the work yourself...
and feel that you simply must do something proactive more often...
then consider changing just the filter more frequently.

[Checkered24]

Every 7500 for me. I follow the manufacturers recommendation.