time between oil changes

Marcussen · Dec 21, 2006

Any good Dino oil should last 5000 miles no problem, especialy if it's highway miles. I have been looking at new trucks and the ford F350's have an engine hour meter as well as an odometer. The hour meter would be the way to go for oil changes not miles. I looked at two used trucks one was 30 miles for each hour on the engine, the other was 45 miles per hour.

One thing about new vehicles is that you have follow the manufacturers recomendations for maintenance to keep warranty valid. (I don't know how they can tell if you change your own)

SkyPup · Dec 21, 2006

Marcussen said:
One thing about new vehicles is that you have follow the manufacturers recomendations for maintenance to keep warranty valid. (I don't know how they can tell if you change your own)

The only way that they can tell that you've changed your own is when you present them the purchase receipts for the oil and filters you've used, otherwise they don't bother with honoring your warranty.

Dargo · Dec 21, 2006

kenmac said:
I would love to see a comparision between an oil analysis and the vehicles computer oil life meter though.

I would love to see this info. also. Mabe someone here has compared oil meter vs analysis. Would be good to see how close they are

The fact is that the oil life meters on vehicles are basically a simple reminder to change the oil every 5k miles or whatever time frame they decide. I have two vehicles with these worthless gagets in them. They will tell you the exact same thing on the remaining oil life if you use the cheapest dino oil or the highest quality group 5 synthetic. There is nothing at all special about them and they most certainly do not check the quality of the oil in your vehicle and report the remaining oil life based on an internal oil analysis as I was told by the salesperson.

Other than a simple reminder, I see no other real life function of the vehicles' onboard oil remaining rating. In my '06 Honda Accord I was in a hurry and used regular ole Pennzoil 5w-30 as recommended. On the next oil change I used the top full synthetic Amsoil 5w-30 that is guaranteed to last 25,000 miles. Guess what, the car said that both oils needed to be changed at the exact same time. Yeah, right.

I did the same thing in my wife's car with the rest of that case of Pennzoil but went with Red Line's full synthetic 5w-30 on the next change with a Donaldson filter. Same result. The vehicle's onboard "computer" tells you nothing about the quality of the oil in your engine. Other than a reminder, it's useless graphics intended to "wow" people and sell vehicles.

kenmac · Dec 21, 2006

DUMBDOG said:
Just stick to dino oil and watch the pickup, it will tell you when to change oil. Three and five thousand mile changes are outdated. You bought a smart pickup, listen to it. Switching to a syn oil and changing it at five thousand will just cost you more money. If you are concerned, have the oil tested.

So you are saying that my vehicle knows when my oil is bad no matter what oil brand I use ? I dissagree with this statment . the only way to tell if the oil is any good is through uoa.I wouldn't run any mineral (straight dino )oil 7500 or whatever miles you are suggesting he change.That's outdated thinking. My father inlaw don't know anyone should have to change oil at all.

Switching to a good synthetic & changing at 10,000 miles will give better protection using straight dino at 3000 mi changes.If he chooses to change synthetic oil at 5000 mi.( I wouldn't do this ) but,,he's not wasting money, he 's still getting great wear protection over dino

kenmac · Dec 21, 2006

Dargo said:
The fact is that the oil life meters on vehicles are basically a simple reminder to change the oil every 5k miles or whatever time frame they decide. I have two vehicles with these worthless gagets in them. They will tell you the exact same thing on the remaining oil life if you use the cheapest dino oil or the highest quality group 5 synthetic. There is nothing at all special about them and they most certainly do not check the quality of the oil in your vehicle and report the remaining oil life based on an internal oil analysis as I was told by the salesperson.

Other than a simple reminder, I see no other real life function of the vehicles' onboard oil remaining rating. In my '06 Honda Accord I was in a hurry and used regular ole Pennzoil 5w-30 as recommended. On the next oil change I used the top full synthetic Amsoil 5w-30 that is guaranteed to last 25,000 miles. Guess what, the car said that both oils needed to be changed at the exact same time. Yeah, right. I did the same thing in my wife's car with the rest of that case of Pennzoil but went with Red Line's full synthetic 5w-30 on the next change with a Donaldson filter. Same result. The vehicle's onboard "computer" tells you nothing about the quality of the oil in your engine. Other than a reminder, it's useless graphics intended to "wow" people and sell vehicles.

Thanks dargo, that's what I kinda thought, but I don't own a new vehicle with one of these olm systems.I just can't figure why ever since these olm systems came out that some folkes here seem to think that's what you should go by as far as changing oil. The factory could set these things to come on at 10,000 mi and some would say change the oil when the olm light comes & you'll b ok.

dqdave1 · Dec 21, 2006

GM has an oil life moniter system which does a good job of knowing when to have you change the oil. Read previous post that links you to GM webpage. This onboard computer does watch your driving habits and adjusts the % of oil life accordingly. I use Mobil one for easier starting in cold and because it is better (synthetic oil that is ) than regular oil. I know when the Oil Life moniter tells me to change oil I have not done any damage to the engine and the oil will not have broken down.

dqdave1 · Dec 21, 2006

GM has an oil life moniter system which does a good job of knowing when to have you change the oil. Read previous post that links you to GM webpage. This onboard computer does watch your driving habits and adjusts the % of oil life accordingly. I use Mobil one for easier starting in cold and because it is better (synthetic oil that is ) than regular oil. I know when the Oil Life moniter tells me to change oil I have not done any damage to the engine and the oil will not have broken down.
The systems on many vehicles do only decrease % of oil life by miles or hours on engine and good only for a reference to the unknowing owner that has to be reminded of evrything.

DUMBDOG · Dec 21, 2006

kenmac said:
So you are saying that my vehicle knows when my oil is bad no matter what oil brand I use ? I dissagree with this statment . the only way to tell if the oil is any good is through uoa.I wouldn't run any mineral (straight dino )oil 7500 or whatever miles you are suggesting he change.That's outdated thinking. My father inlaw don't know anyone should have to change oil at all.

Switching to a good synthetic & changing at 10,000 miles will give better protection using straight dino at 3000 mi changes.If he chooses to change synthetic oil at 5000 mi.( I wouldn't do this ) but,,he's not wasting money, he 's still getting great wear protection over dino

My point was that I feel that GM is smarter than I am, their programming results indicates the type of driving habits, idling times, etc. Switching to a syn oil and changing every five thousand miles is just throwing money away. Just follow the manufactures recommended changes and the vehicle will last a long time. In over thirty five years of driving, I have only had one engine failure and that was on a a high mileage used car where the previous owner did not believe in oil changes. My problem is usually that the my vehicle will fall apart well before the engine does.

The only time that I do not follow their recommendations is on my Kubota, the manual tells you to change the oil every 100 hours and the filter every 200 hours, I change both every 100 hours just in case that during the busy season it gets a few more hours on it.

kenmac · Dec 21, 2006

DUMBDOG said:
My point was that I feel that GM is smarter than I am, their programming results indicates the type of driving habits, idling times, etc. Switching to a syn oil and changing every five thousand miles is just throwing money away.

If I followed what the manfacture recommended , I would be using their oil , oil filters, air filters , brakes ,etc,etc,. Like I said I wouldn't change synthetic at 5000 mi unless it was some very harsh driving conditions, but I know some that do because they are after wear #' s. I don't think wear #'s change much if any from 5000 to 10,000 miles ,but it works for him. I used synthetic in my ex drag car & changed it about every 2 weeks