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So ridiculous. I'm content (HAPPY) knowing it's Sapient for my car to Service it every 3000 miles.
But others here, who seem to luv to meddle....just can't (won't) STOP continuing to type post after post about the issue of my choice...i.e., to care for my expensive engine, etc. UNREAL !!!
I changed my oil today & it still has a little black oil in it (I checked the dipstick). My last oil change was exactly 2 yrs ago (3k miles). I will never do that again. Ill change my oil at least once a year no matter what milage I have driven (I don't drive much). My 85 olds delta 88 has 126, 600 miles. My car does not burn oil & it leaks very little cause I have not added any oil in the past 3k miles. I do have a coolant & transmission leak & I cant locate where the car is losing coolant. It has been doing it for a few years now. I doubt it if its the free plugs or head gasket but ill be having it checked out next week. The conventional engine oil I added today was Pennzoil 10-30 wt extended life & a parts master oil filter.
I do 3/3000 and my van is at 175,000 (2005 van). I can tell when I'm at 3000 by the way the engine feels. A simple oil change always makes it feel normal again. I guess it's right for my van/ No idea about other cars though.
I changed my oil today & it still has a little black oil in it (I checked the dipstick). My last oil change was exactly 2 yrs ago (3k miles). I will never do that again. Ill change my oil at least once a year no matter what milage I have driven (I don't drive much). My 85 olds delta 88 has 126, 600 miles. My car does not burn oil & it leaks very little cause I have not added any oil in the past 3k miles. I do have a coolant & transmission leak & I cant locate where the car is losing coolant. It has been doing it for a few years now. I doubt it if its the free plugs or head gasket but ill be having it checked out next week. The conventional engine oil I added today was Pennzoil 10-30 wt extended life & a parts master oil filter.
I would recommend changing oil more frequently than 1 year if it's conventional oil, or if the car mostly sits. Mileage is less important than time (although both are important). Typically as a byproduct of combustion, fuel and other contaminants wash down into the oil. The soot that is a byproduct of combustion, as well as fuel can turn oil that is at first alkaline, into an acidic state that can attack the metals in the engine. SO letting a car sit with old oil can be quite harmful.
I've spent my youth taking apart Ford engines (5.0 and 4.6l) and rebuilding, modding, and upgrading them. A lot of times when an engine sits with old oil, i'd find it "stained" quite badly inside with an orange-colored corrosion on the metal surfaces. Not a big deal for surface parts, but the bearings and cylinder walls would also have this corrosion. If the engine were to be started, additional wear would occur on bearings and such due to it, and over time this would be detrimental to the life of the engine.
Engines that I disassembled with frequent oil changes, looked MUCH better internally, and much cleaner.
I understand that marketing plays a huge roll in the old "3K miles/3 months", but there is some truth to it...at least the 3 months part. If I car is going to sit for an extended period of time, I would recommend changing the oil, running it for a short period of time and then allowing it to sit. The idea is to remove the acidic old oil and replace it with alkaline new oil, and coat the internals. With long term storage of an expensive antique vehicle, I usually recommend a double oil change.
I've used blackstone labs many times before and found that pretty much each vehicle I tested had plenty of oil life left at 3K miles for those with conventional oils and normal capacity oil pans. With vehicles with syn oil fills, and higher capacity oil pans, you can go MUCH longer. With 8-9QT and more pans, the amount of oil dilutes whatever contaminates flush down and whatever metals wear away. Modern engines are designed quite well and typically don't wear much after the initial break in, so it's not unusual to have a 10-15K mile oil change interval here. I've done a blackstone labs analysis on my Mercedes with syn oil and a 9 qt pan and found at 12K miles, the oil was still quite viable.
So it's really tough to quote a specific number in which to bring the car in for an oil change because there are many factors at play here. Typically a car with a 4-5 qt pan filled with conventional fluid should get an oil change sooner than a car with syn oil and a 8-10 qt pan. That's assuming a good running engine. As engines age, they MAY start to wear a little heavier. In that case, your oil change interval should increase to help remove contaminants and get a new filter in the car.
BTW, another point to make is that in a good running engine (no abnormal wear) and one that is clean (not dumping dirt down the oil fill during your change) the filter can typically last a lot longer than 1 oil change. You can fill the pleated media up quite a bit without a dramatic increase in differential pressure. HOWEVER, considering a filter is $5. Just change it out.
With all that said, it's hard to explain this to my parents, or my elderly grandma and help them understand when to bring their car in for an oil change. So I just tell them "Take it every 3K miles". My reasoning being by the time they actually get to doing it, 4K miles has passed. Usually pretty safe at that point. If you have a car that sits a lot, i'd still recommend changing the oil. If you are going to another state for 3 months and the car is going to sit....change the oil before you leave.
Last edited by BostonMike7; 05-21-2015 at 08:06 AM..
Oil changes are probably almost irrelevant. By the time you hit 250K, you will consider so many things as not worth fixing, yet the engine will still be running pretty decently, with minimal oil changes. Your car will die from power locks and windows not workings, seats and belts broken, brake lines corroded, AC leaks freon or blown compressor, coolant leak, front end can no longer be aligned to spec, gas tank rusted out, undiagnosable electrical problems, power steering goes out, the floor mats stink, the list goes on, when the final blow is the radio will not recognize any currently available audio formats.
Change the oil every 10K miles and keep it above the add-line, and all the above will conspire to kill your car (or make you hate it) while the engine is still purring.
Last edited by jtur88; 05-21-2015 at 08:05 AM..
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