Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles?

   / Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles? #1  
JDgreen227

JDgreen227

Super Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2003
Messages
8,275
Location
Central Michigan
Tractor
4210 MFWD Ehydro--'89 JD 318
My GF's car, a 2011 Malibu, gets a lot of mileage piled up quickly, while my Y2K GMC takes over a year to roll up 2,000 miles. As my truck does not have an oil life monitor I don't really know if I am wasting money by changing the oil and filter at that point, but the used oil always looks really good. Would be interesting to learn how the members here determine when to change their oil...months, miles, or by the monitor? BTW, her car gets a change at every 4000 miles, despite what the monitor says.
 
   / Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles? #2  
Re: Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles?

I'm old school on oil changes and do both ours around 3,500 mi. Now that being said, I also use Mobil 1 in both. I'll change the filters at the above interval's and complete oil change at 9k.

Now if the mileage never got to whatever triggers your change, I'd do a complete change once a year and probably would not be using Mobil 1
 
   / Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles? #3  
Oil is cheap. Change it by the book or once a year, which ever comes first.

Chris
 
   / Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles? #4  
Re: Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles?

I have several vehicles that mileage varies on.
My 2013 Chevy truck sees about 9000 miles a year. Oil gets changed every 4000 even though the oil life monitor says it can go farther.
2012 Chevy Camaro is put away in winter and only sees about 2-3000 miles during the summer months. I change oil once a year on that even though oil life monitor says I don't have to.
Same goes for two classic cars, a 72 Chevelle conv. and 79 Corvette. Both driven less than 2500 miles each in summer and put away in winter. Oil changed annually on these.
Tractor, ATV, motorcycle, push mower, riding mower, air compressor, generator, etc all get oil changed once a year. I'd buy oil in bulk but they use different kinds of oil such as diesel, synthetic, racing oil w/ zinc, compressor oil and conventional oil. I do buy oil by the case (or multiple cases) usually.
Is it a waste of money for me, probably. But I have peace of mind. Although slight, I'm sure some condensation can get in the oil when vehicles sit parked for a long time.
 
   / Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles? #5  
Re: Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles?

My Jeep gets the oil changed & filter (dino oil) twice a year. Spring and fall. 156,000 miles on it and it doesn't use a drop. Gets greased 4x a year. The tractor gets done every 100 hours Rotella T6 10W30. The honda water pump gets done once a year as does the gen set and small snow blower and lawn mower.
 
   / Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles?
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Re: Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles?

Diamondpilot said:
Oil is cheap. Change it by the book or once a year, which ever comes first.

Chris
Click to expand...

Chris is right, oil is cheap...but we are told NOT to change oil UNLESS it is actually required. Only car I have ever owned that had an oil monitor that I actually trusted was on my Olds 98 (1992) with the digital dash, it actually came very close to indicating change intervals for my type of driving based on months/miles that I kept track of.
 
   / Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles? #7  
Re: Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles?

I change the oil when the oil monitor indicates a change is needed. Usually works out to about 7200 miles. I have only used Mobil 1 and Mobil 1 filters from the first oil change. 2004 GMC Savanna 1500 4x4 Van. Over a hundred thousand miles and still going strong. Never needs oil between changes.
 
   / Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles? #8  
Re: Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles?

I follow the oil monitoring system...About 7k or so for me which is about accurate given my mixed interstate and back road driving..I run Mobile1. My wife's H3 gets changed once a year since she only puts 4k a year or so, never trips the monitor.
 
   / Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles? #9  
Re: Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles?

I still use conventional oil. My 2004 Tundra gets driven about 6,000 miles a year-that gets changed spring and fall. My 2 Camrys get changed every 3,000 miles. The tractor and the RTV get once a year-around 100 hours on the tractor and 50 on the RTV. My ZTR gets it every 50 hours. Other small things (generator, pressure washer, push mower)gets changed 1x a year.

I agree with Chris-oil is cheap and I am 50 years old and have never had a motor repair (knock on wood.)

Will
 
   / Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles? #10  
Re: Changing oil and filter...do you go by the vehicle oil monitor or months & miles?

I change mine when it hits around 4500 miles which don't take long when you put 50 miles a day.
 
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