Do the math. Math doesn't lie. Vehicle holds 10 quarts of oil hypothetically $8.00 a quart id $80.00 Oil filter hypothetically $8.00. Changing every 3K miles one would spend $4,400.00. Changing every 25K one would spend $528.00 SAVING 3,872.00, every 150K mils you drive. Now you drive for 40 years, and do 150K every 3 years and get a new vehicle that 13 vehicles in 40 years. Now you save 3,872.00 13 times that's 50,336.00 .
I must disagree with you 100% While you hypothetically dumped 50K down the sewer, I used my 50 and hypothetically invested in in Apple Stock and became a multi millionaire.
So like I said a waste of money as ever vehicle I have owned for the last 40 years gets over 100K miles with zero engine failure and 25K oil changes and my ambient air temps are 125 plus in the summer time.
That's one great thing about this Country people are free to throw their money down the sewer as they wish.
Well, why didn't you take your example out to 100 years to really make your point? My point was that many folks will spend gobs of money on stuff for their vehicles that has no appreciable use or value that makes the money spent of frequent oil changes seem pretty minor. And never once did I advocate changing oil in a vehicle every 3000 miles, and neither did many other folks in this thread.
And you did take some liberty in your numbers. Most personal vehicles do not hold 10 qt of oil, but half that, and if you are spending $8 a quart for oil, I would contend that you are wasting your money if you want to make accusations about how others "waste" their money. I never spend over $20 a gallon for even full synthetic motor oils. For blends or conventionals, even less. Most good quality motor oils can be had for $5 a quart or less, especially when there are sales and rebates going on. Same on filters. Sales all the time on various brands. It is not unrealistic for the typical individual to spend less than $30 on an oil change if they are prudent in their buying choices. Most people spend a lot more than that just going out to eat on a Saturday night.
Of course, larger engines that hold a lot of oil, most folks with those take those oil changes out much further. No way I would change oil in my 12.7L Detroit engine at 3000 miles. It doesn't hold 10 qts, but 10 gallons of oil with 3 oil filters. And it is worth it to me to do used oil sampling on it at every oil change to monitor the quality of the oil, wear numbers, etc. to get the best oil change interval out of it since it racks up about 130,000 miles a year. For the average person and their personal vehicles, doing UOA's to determine the best oil change interval is not really practical, cost wise, and doing more frequent oil changes doesn't change the overall cost when compared to that. If they spend $30 on an oil change, and $25 on a UOA that says they can go 10,000 miles, by changing the oil at 5000 miles they are out just about the same amount of money. Sure, they might be able to make ego claims about taking their oil changes out further, but their wallet is just as light.
And even claims like Amsoil's 25K or one year claim (only for their most expensive oil), they also have a caveat included. If the engine is operated in any way that falls into the severe category according to the OEM (which most do fall into the severe category per the OEM suggestions in one way or another), Amsoil drops their marketing claim of 25K miles to 15K miles. Now if one only goes to 7500 miles not using UOA's compared to someone going 15K miles with UOA's to confirm it is working, they are each spending just about the same money. And a side note: if one has engine problems, and they do not have UOA's to back up things, and they are doing oil change intervals well beyond the OEM recommendation, more than likely they will be footing the entire bill for an engine repair or replacement.
And no two engines are identical. While one engine with a particular oil could go to 25K oil changes, the one right next to it could possibly grenade doing the same thing. Different engines are operated differently, have differing effects on a motor oil of even the same brand and quality. Only a used oil sample analysis can show how that is all playing out. There is marketing hype, and then there is the real world. And the two hardly every coincide.
You are free to disagree. But at least be realistic in your presentation and not skew the numbers to make your point. I did the math.
