How long do you go between oil changes?

[coobie]

No, I'm not trying to open up a can of rotten worms. I'm not looking for a "right" or "wrong" answer. I'm just curious how many different intervals people on here use between oil changes. I'll even go first. Again, remember, I'm not looking for any "right" or "wrong" answers and I'm definitely not implying what I do is the "right" method.

It took me years and years and years to break away from my 3 month or 3000 mile oil change. In my case, it was almost always 3000 miles. I'd sometimes go as far as 6 months to 9 months on oil if it only had a 1000 miles on it. I stayed with this strategy with all of my on road vehicles no matter what type of oil I used. Due to some personal experiences and my own "look see" inside Fram oil filters, I quit using them on anything about 10 years ago. I use Baldwin, Fleet Guard, Wix, Donaldson etc. filters and everything from Amsoil, Red Line, Royal Purple, Mobil 1, Delvac and even Rotella oil. Anyway, I've now moved to change intervals of about 5000 miles or so on most vehicles and on my vehicles that have the oil life percentage shown in the instruments, I go to when I'm down to 20% of the oil life left. That seems to equate to about 5000 to 7500 miles in general.

Again, I'm not endorsing my intervals or my product choices. I'm just interested in what intervals you guys use. From what I've heard by talking to people, I seem to fall about in the middle now. About half of the people I talk to change more frequently (like 3/3) and about half go longer. Heck, one of my employees religiously changes her oil and filter with only synthetics every 2500 to 3000 miles even though about 95% of her driving is all highway. So, what's your change interval?

Dargo,I use schaeffers supreme 9000 full syn.in my 2004 dodge cummins diesel,I change the oil every 6,000 miles with fleet guard filters.The wifes car(2008 ford taurus)scheaffers supreme 7000 syn.blend oil about every 5,000 miles(ford filters)Both have had oil ayn.done at blackstone labs and checked out well.My (DIESELS)kubota RTV 900 and kubota ZTR,Kioti DK 40 se,every 50 hours of service.coobie

 

[Dargo]

Every 2,500 miles and rotate tires every other oil change. Nice even numbers and it seems to work for me. Good clean oil is cheap insurance.

My sales rep who follows the same schedule just rolled over 200k miles on her Hyundai this week and her engine still sounds like new. Sort of hard for me to find any fault with her schedule. I don't have a clue if it would be running any different if she did 10k changes, but like you said, she's saying clean oil is cheap insurance for her.

 

[Dargo]

... I switchd to Amsoil 15w-40 HD Diesel and Marine fully synthetic oil because it's still rated at CI-4+. When I switched it over to Amsoil 15w-40 and an Amsoil EaO filter, I decided to run it for the whole year or til' it hit 15k miles. Usually it never hits 15k miles in a year, so I just change it once a year. I do a UOA on the oil that comes out. Last year July was the first year that I was able to do a test on the oil and it came back fine. A few days ago I just changed the oil for this year and I sent the old oil off to be analyzed so I should know how that turns out in a week or so. So far I like the Amsoil a lot, I could really notice a difference in cold weather performance from the Powerstroke, and how much better the synthetic oil flows. Next year I plan to add a bypass oil filter to the engine, for even longer distances between oil changes.

I've heard that quite a bit on other sites that talk a lot about oil. It's tempting, but I'm still too chicken to go that long. I guess old habits are hard to break. I still have 2 of the 2 1/2 gallon jugs of the Amsoil 15w-40 HD Diesel and Marine on the shelf. I'm going to need to decide pretty soon whether I'm going to put it in my tractor or my Powerstroke. I'll need to change both of them out in the next couple of months. I'm about out of the Rotella I bought when it was on sale. I have about 10 gallons of Delvac I bought when they had it on sale along with rebates on it. It sounds like I have a bunch of diesel oil on the shelf, but when I change the oil in everything diesel I have I go through about 9 or 10 gallons.

 

[Builder]

I change my oil when it's dirty. I don't know anyone who operates or depends on trucks or equipment for a living that does it any other way at least in my part of the country.

To assign "hours" or "miles" to an oil change is setting yourself up for early excessive engine oil consumption or bearing failure. 3000 miles of commuter driving to a desk job is vastly easier on 15 quarts of oil than 3000 miles of city driving while pulling a trailer.

100 hours of mowing on my tractor is different than 100 hours of forward/reverse loader work, especially the hydrostatic transmission.

There's too many variables like idling, what work loads were done, etc to change engine oil strictly by hours or miles.

Of course excessive oil changes aren't cost effective, either. My International's DT466 holds 25 quarts and I just changed the fluid in my NH backhoe which holds 36 gallons in the hydraulic system and 5 gallons in the engine. Those oil changes with filters are over $500.

You can see what changing both of them in the same month costs!ouch!

 

[QRTRHRS]

I have always done my Cummins at 5-6k with Rotella T. Just adjusted the valves and at 225, no sludge as usual. Works for me.

My preference for four bangers is around 3k with dino. The wife's Caddy calls for Mobile One which we change out at 5k.

A lot of the big fleets run way way over what you would want in your personal ride without the added benefit of a centrifuge. I guess it is a calculated risk between a rebuild and a selloff at around 400-500k.

 

[WH401]

I've heard that quite a bit on other sites that talk a lot about oil. It's tempting, but I'm still too chicken to go that long. I guess old habits are hard to break. I still have 2 of the 2 1/2 gallon jugs of the Amsoil 15w-40 HD Diesel and Marine on the shelf. I'm going to need to decide pretty soon whether I'm going to put it in my tractor or my Powerstroke. I'll need to change both of them out in the next couple of months. I'm about out of the Rotella I bought when it was on sale. I have about 10 gallons of Delvac I bought when they had it on sale along with rebates on it. It sounds like I have a bunch of diesel oil on the shelf, but when I change the oil in everything diesel I have I go through about 9 or 10 gallons.

I can understand, I was apprehensive at first as well. But I got to thinking, the suggested normal service interval for my 06 Dodge is oil changes every 15k miles, sounds pretty long right? and then Amsoil guarantees there oil to be safe to run for 25k miles with there EaO filter. So I figured if I went about 10 - 12k in the Powerstroke to start off, than that would be fine. I was just going to make sure I had the oil tested after it was drained, and it came back fine so now I don't worry about it. I know the feeling of going through oil, 9.75 gals between all three vehicles, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[Dargo]

I can understand, I was apprehensive at first as well.

I'm sure you're right. I guess the 'ideal' would be to run UOA on every unit before every oil change to make your decisions to change fluids only when needed, but that's clearly a bit less than a logical or reasonable option. I just figure it would be my luck that something in my engine would change that first time I did an extended change interval. Still, as you mentioned, Amsoil seems to have a pretty strong guarantee that their oil isn't going to cause any damage by going with extended drain intervals.

 

[JohnDeere4300]

I change gas & diesel 3,000 miles.

 

[Hematite]

I used to go 3500 miles between changes but I've moved that up to 5000 miles. I use 5W-20 semi-syn in the 3 gas engines and 10W-30 diesel motor oil in the tractor.

 

[smfcpacfp]

Conventional wisdom is that oil should be changed every 3,000 miles. This conventional wisdom refers to a time when castor oils were used in cars, before petroleum based oils, before synthetic oils - in other words a long time ago. We are talking about the first decade of the last century.

Castor oils are vegtable based. They are a great lubricant, but don't last very long (they have a very low flash point). This is where the 3,000 mile rule came from - the 1908 period. Somehow it has stuck to this day. Of course it makes no sense today. It is just an old adage. Of course it doesn't hurt to change it that often, just like it wouldn't hurt to wipe your dipstick with a $100 bill after you check the oil and throw it away. Both practices are a waste of money.

A Mobil engineer told me 15,000 miles was an appropriate oil change interval. I change mine (in my Corvette) when the computer says to change it (anywhere from 6,000 to 10,000).

As a shareholder of Exxon Mobil, I thank you guys who change your oil every 3,000 miles. If that makes you feel good, why not change it every 500 miles. Think how much better you would feel. :lol:

I do miss the smell of that castor based oil in my old BSA flat tracker.