How long do you go between oil changes?

[buckle97]

I figured we'd have seen a really long interval guy by now. You know, something like 25k to 30k between changes.

I'm sure these guys never got past the thread title which included "oil change." It seems like anybody who likes to discuss oil and interval changes are not much on long intervals.

 

[Baucom]

There are a lot of people who like to discuss oil and change intervals specifically to extend their oci to 15K-20K+. They tend to like to discuss things like the best bypass filtration systems and the merits of certain synthetic oils. Done right, extended drain intervals work well, especially for those who put a lot of miles on a vehicle each year. OTOH, most who like to discuss oil start getting the itch to change it before their interval gets too long.

 

[riptides]

I'm sure these guys never got past the thread title which included "oil change." It seems like anybody who likes to discuss oil and interval changes are not much on long intervals.

I beg to differ. I have just plain negeleted my S-10. Like I said earlier I cannot figure out when it had an oil change. All my other vehicles get proper servicing. One of the tractors is in the shop now for 300.5 hour servicing. Say a BIG OUCH on that. Ruptured a hydo line seal. Go figure.

Don't know what it is about the Chevy. Maybe this year I'll get around to it. Oil level looks fine, just c a n 't get i t to the s h op, or crawl under it.....

 

[JIGBUILDER]

Cummins gives us a 7500/15000 mile oil change schedule for our '03 to '07 5.9 HO engines in our Dodge trucks. I currently running the 15k oil and filter schedule on my '03 2500 305/555 HO truck. My wifes '06 1500 GM gets a oil/filter change when the DIC says which is usually around 6500-8000 depending on how its driven.

My tractor is every 80-100 hours depending on how much haying and the season

 

[MESSMAKER]

It seems to me that changing your oil at 3000 miles is overkill. Why 3000. Why not 2000 or for that matter 1000. You need to change oil when it can no longer do the job. Changing your oil at 3000 instead of 7500 will cost you almost $1200-$1500 during the life (200,000 miles) of an engine. I don't call that cheap. I managed a fleet for several years. We based our maintenance schedule off information from New York City cabs(severe driving). They did a long term test on oil changes and found no difference in engine life in the vehicles following the 3000 interval and those following their service manual. I suspect that with a premium filter and synthetic oil, 10,000 is not much of a gamble for most drivers.

 

[Builder]

Doesn't 5,000 miles of trailer towing, snowplowing, etc. break down oil faster than 5,000 miles of driving to the mall? If you own a diesel, you know you're dumping more soot into the oil with harder useage.

I have seen my oil start looking pretty sooty & beat after just 1-2 weeks or 500 miles of heavy tow and look pretty clean for 2000 miles if I'm just driving with normal loads of tools.

You guys oughta consider oil testing and just taking a look at your oil or at least considering how hard your useage is between changes instead of relying on numbers.

Way back I used to work with a heavy truck mechanic on a decent sized fleet of medium & heavy trucks and he would always test the oils, not go by mileage.

 

[Hematite]

Builder:
Yes, that's correct. Short of actually testing the oil, the owners manual on the F150 says 5K in normal service and 3K for severe service. Severe service does include trailer towing. So the oil change interval should be governed by the operating conditions.

 

[tommu56]

My truck (06 2500 ram ctd maxicab) calls for 7,500 miles or 15,000 between changes I usually do it first weekend after I hit 10,000 no problems so far in 66,000 miles in 3 years with dino oil.

tom

 

[Baucom]

OT:

Hematite--how's that MF 2925 holding up for you? The guy that delivered my 2823 had 1 of the 2900 series MFs and spoke very highly of it. There aren't too many of us on TBN with a MF mower.

Back on topic--I stick with the severe svc. schedule in the manual on my truck just because I meet several of the criteria for severe svc. About the only people who meet the "normal" svc. standards are those who put on nearly all of their miles cruising on the hwy unloaded. Stop and go, dusty conditions, short trips, towing/hauling, are all considered severe, and most people will meet at least a couple of those conditions.

 

[Duffster]

I just talked to a friend of mine that does fleet maintenance for an OTR trucking company. He said they change the oil every 30k miles on regular dino oil.

He said they take random samples or if they suspect something on a particular rig.