The 3,000 Mile Oil Change Myth

[Doc_Bob]

The 6-cyl Toyota Camry's were infamous for small oil channel with numerous claims. My Dad's Camry has been a nightmare.

I use my 2007 Chevy Malibu Oil life monitor. I drive very gently. Most trips 50+ miles and never hammer the accelerator. 6K on my last Synthetic Oil and filter change and 40% oil life left per the OLM. Will I go to 10K??? Probably not. But doubling from 3K to 6K is a start! I have been "addicated" to 3K change intervals for years and it is a tough habit to break.

I "know" you can't tell the condition of oil from just looking at it, but mine looks like it did the day I filled the engine, just a touch darker.

The 3K mile oil change mindset is a leftover of a bygone era. 3K is near the status of a religious belief and therefore no amount of rational thought will change some folks opinion. I now I struggle to believe that it can be longer than 3K and to follow the engineers suggestions who actually built the engine. What a concept? Listen to the subject matter experts and not Pennzoil marketing.

I find changing my oil 2x year to be half as much $$$$ and half as much work as doing it 4x year.

Now, if I did lot's of stop and go, with lot's of idling, I assume that the OLM would indicate that extreme service mode and shorten the life of the oil. That is the only time I would change at 3K miles.

Oops, I did do the first oil and filter at 3K!!!!

Bob

BTW, my 2.2L 4-cyl does 37 MPG at 65MPH on summer fuel with one passenger on level Wisconsin roads. I wish I could get a 1.6L 4-CYL and see my mileage increase!

 

[Skyco]

Hi my name is Skyco and I too was a frequent oil changer

I've "retired" a number of company cars over the years that got much less frequent oil changes than my stuff. Guess what? None of them ever used oil or had an internal engine problem and all went 150,000 miles plus..

So now I go 5K miles on our Honda Pilot and about 4k miles on my 96 Powerstroke F350...I know, I know, probably a little early for the PSD but it has a tough life since it is almost always totin' a load...besides the PSDs are well know for running poorly when the oil gets too used for the oil driven injection system to run right...even though the oil is probably still fine for other purposes.
I must confess I change oil pretty frequently in my Suzuki DL1000 motorcycle, but it only takes 2.5 quarts and is a high performance engine relative to a car engine, and also has the transmission run in the same oil. And yeah my baby BX24 will also get treated to perhaps a little early oil changes....since I expect it to outlast ME, one of my sons will have it someday.

 

[ihookem]

You might notice the only people advertising 3k changes are the Quicky lube companies. It's a fact most oil dino oil is still good at 7-10 k. I go 15k with Amsoil in My Duramax diesel , 90k on it and has burned 1/4 quart in 11k mi. I might go to 20k and have an oil test done, or I might change it. I know a guy with 80k mi. on his oil with his truck and the test still says it's good for more use. If the test was wrong the engine would go 50 mi. down the road and the engine would be junk, so the oil still must be good. His dad told me he bought a 57 Chevy (327) And ran the same oil with a toilet paper filter for 110k. I asked him... Well what then? He looked at me and said "then the engine was junk," and walked away. Perhaps we just need better filters like 1 or 2 micron filters. We don't change our tranny oil every 3k, so as long as you can keep your oil kleen enough it's good.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm only 42 years old, so I'm probably off base here, but it seems that when I was younger, 5,000 miles was the normal period to change the engine oil and filter. Then somewhere in the 80's, commercials on TV started pushing that oil needs to be changed every 3,000 miles. I think it was those quick change places that were pushing it, but it could be the oil companies too. I don't rememeber any auto companies saying this, but I've always owned trucks and Jeeps, so I probably just missed it.

I change auto oil at five thousand miles and have never had a engine problem that was oil related. All my problems are elsewhere.

Tractor oil is changed once a year in the spring time. I usually don't run them too much in the winter, but when it warms up here, it's time to change fluids and filters regardless of hours.

Eddie

 

[frank_miller]

my engines are 10 to 15K drains. lawn stuff is either 1 year of 1.5 years, based on UOA. This is from a TX clown too! LOL

 

[motepoc]

I know I'm either going to be blown off, or thought to be lying, but here goes. I change my oil somewhere in the 25K to 30K range. I have a 1993 Buick LaSabre that has the big six cyl in it. It has 175,627 miles on it. Ii bought it brand new and took three trips to Pa from SC the first year. Got 32MPG from it then, get 30 MPG now. At 100,000 miles I started adding three cap fulls of Marvel Mystery Oil to each quart I put in it when it gets low. Guess, I'm can't expect it to run much longer even though it purrs when cranked, which it does instantly. Oh well, maybe I'll buy another LaSabre when this one bites the dust.
By the way, I also have a Regal that is going the same route, too bad for it too.

 

[thatguy]

The owners manual on my wifes 2002 Honda CRV (holds 4.5 qts) said to change the oil at 10k... We thought that was too long for so we shoot for around 5k.. It does not have an onboard oil analyzer, which it did though..

I am switching my wifes car over to Amsoil and going to go for around 15k, with changing the filter a couple times inbetween.

My 2002 Dodge/cummins (holds 12 qts) manual said under severe condition (which is anything except 100% highways miles) would be 3750 miles, I go for 4k. Even with highway driving it said change it around 6k or so. They recommended the same intervals for synthetic oils as well.

Brian

 

[Dargo]

I happen to do a considerable amount of business with a company that replaces about 8000 to 10,000 vehicle engines a year. Do you want to know what is by far the most common reason for the engine failure? Lack of proper lubrication due to motor oil that tests out at being far past it's usable life. Since this is an indisputable fact, I'm likely never going to push any 20k miles between oil changes. Just because you do one, two or even ten oil analysis', exactly how do you know if or when your engine starts to break down it's oil prematurely due to contamination, a defective filter, a poor batch of oil, a defective air filter, etc., etc., etc.? The fact is you don't.

Since it would be a rather difficult task to challenge the manufacturer's recommended interval that ranges between 5k to 10k, I personally think you're playing with fire (based on what I see every day) by pushing it past that mark. I'll readily admit that I used to do my oil changes at 3k right on the button for decades. Heck, I am the guy who even keeps a little log book in the glove box that not only logs each and every oil and filter change, but also every single thing done to the vehicle except filling it up with fuel.

I know of dozens of Chrysler/Dodge and Toyota dealerships that required the use of synthetic oil in the engines that were known to be troublesome; i.e. the 3 liter Toyota and the 2.7 liter Chrysler. The dealerships couldn't actually "require" the customers to use synthetic oil in those engines, but the customers who did so basically never experienced the sludge problem that is well documented with those issues. If I recall it correctly, both manufacturers refer to the issue as "premature gelling of the lubrication".

Anyway, I digress. I do feel that changing oil every 3k is a waste of money. However, based on experience, that waste of money is generally not as much as the financial loss from those who tend to push their oil too far. I'd have to say that it would be a good plan to either follow your onboard oil monitor or go by the manufacturer's recommendations. Either way, I believe you're covered quite well and are not likely to become one of my statistics.

 

[VA_Joe]

I agree - 3K is too little and 10K is too much. I usually think about changing at 5K and actually do the deed about 6K or 7K.

One thing about using the engine oil monitor on GM trucks is that you still need pay attention to the maximum recommended time and mileage intervals even if the engine oil monitor says the oil is okay. This is because the monitor on GM trucks is not analyzing the oil but rather monitoring how the engine is being used (number of starts, engine oil temperature, pressure, engine run time, rpms, etc.). It has no way of knowing if there is a water/sludge build-up or metal filings in the oil pan (at least not on GM trucks). The monitor should only be used as an indicator that you need to change the oil earlier than usual (due to "heavy" or "extreme" duty use) vice exceeding any manufacturer recommended maximum time/mileage intervals.

With that said - it will be interesting to see if Diamler can get their new and improved engine oil monitor (per the article) to work reliably in production cars and get it down to a price that normal folks can afford. Since they haven't even gotten it into fleet vehicles yet - I get the feeling they still have a way to go.

Joe

 

[Doc_Bob]

I agree - 3K is too little and 10K is too much. I usually think about changing at 5K and actually do the deed about 6K or 7K.

With that said - it will be interesting to see if Diamler can get their new and improved engine oil monitor (per the article) to work reliably in production cars and get it down to a price that normal folks can afford. Since they haven't even gotten it into fleet vehicles yet - I get the feeling they still have a way to go.

Joe

Looks like great technology with a learning curve. It would be nice to see the OLM and the "direct" oil monitor (Mercedes) run at the same time on the same vehicle. Different methodologies measuring different parameters. They sound complimentary.
Bob