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I would also go no more than 6 months on an oil change.
We do less than 4k per year on the Sonata and I've been doing the 6 month thing mostly because the manual mentions it as a minimum and I don't want to void the vehicle warranty with something so trivial.
But for another vehicle using synthetic and also low mileage, which typically is once a year change with regular mileage, would you say 1.5-2 years is ok? Even the owner of a reputable shop says 2 years is likely ok for today's synthetics. With low mileage (don't even move it often) though, I may do 1.5 years... ?
The owners manual for my Ford states every 500 miles...
I admit to pushing it sometimes and will go 700 to 750 miles between changes.
Part of the reason is cars from 1930 have no oil filter.
2002 BMW is once a year or 15,000 miles.
I still do every 2500 miles on my 1985 Chevrolet Van... it works very hard up and down San Francisco Hills and timewise this works out to about once a year... also grease the chassis while I'm under there.
There are as many opinions on changing oil as there are people who drive. One thing that can't be disputed is that oil is the cheapest part you will ever put into your motor, and changing it frequently is never going to be a bad thing.
In my daily driver I usually change at 3000 or even less because I only drive it around town. In my hot rods I change it every 1,000 miles or less because they don't get driven much at all, are over carbed, and I run them hard. Oil can have acids from the cast iron contaminate it, even if you never started the car.
I used to run Mobil 1, but have recently changed to Quicksilver 25-40 synthetic blend and can see a difference in the performance, oil pressure, and temperature.
One thing I will never do is run a Fram filter........too many horror stories of them failing, so I run Bosch or Purolator most times.
"3 months or 3,000 miles" was a beautiful bit of ad copy, and it continues to sell oil to this day, but its probably overkill for most of us. With synthetic or semisynthetic oil, don't worry about the oil breaking down within a year. If your really interested, test the pH of the oil to see when you need to change it.
When I started driving in the 80's, I was always changing oil every 3K miles. As cars have gotten better engineered, I follow the manufacturers recommendations for oil changes, whatever they may be. and have never had problems.
I have a car that I rarely drive (4-5K miles a year) and change the oil once per year (Mobile 1 or Pennzoil Synthetic) and never had any problems. My daily commuter car gets a change every 10K miles (Mobile 1).
They can give you feedback on how your engine is wearing, and if you can stretch your oil change interval longer, or need to bring it in to compensate for wear. This sort of direct measurement is really the only way to tailour your individual oil change routine to your engine.
As for anything else, we can only generalize. 3000/3month is a generalization, but the lenght between oil changes depends on the miles driven and the type of fluid.
It's somewhat normal to go 10-12K miles or 1 year on synthetic oil, especially if equipped with a high volume oil pan (my mercedes specs 1 year and has a 9 qt pan), while conventional fluids might require shorter intervals. I have a car that sits and as a personal rule, i don't let oil sit for more than 6 months even though it sees 100 miles/year. Old oils tend to contain acids and other byproducts formed by combustion, so i don't want that to sit in my engine for a long period of time.
My other concern would be oil consumption. Some engines do consume some oil during normal life. The nissan 3.5L was a notorious oil burner, and many high-mileage motors do have issues with valvetrain rattle/knock due to oil levels falling slightly. Most people never pull their dipsticks, so suggesting they get an oil change ever 3K might save them expensive repairs down the road if they are running on only 1-2 quarts by the time they hit 5K miles or so.
I hate to suggest cutting corners like that, but most people view their cars as an appliance and probably have never popped the hood and done simple repairs....especially if they complain about simple stuff like putting air in the tires.
BUT, oil changes are cheap (with converntional fluid for most cars), and it doesn't hurt to change sooner than later, so why risk it?
It really depends on your use. With light use a synthetic oil can go 10k or 15k without changing it. I only put about 5k a year on my truck, but at a bare minimum I change it once a year (around September).
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