Oil change intervals

Matt Moen wrote:

I change mine when the monitor hits ~25%. The truck has 34000 miles and the oil has been changed 5 times and is coming up on its 6th. My public school math tells me that’s about every 6k miles which seems reasonable.

The monitor on my Camaro is goofy because it must take into account time more than mileage. I change that every fall before I put it in storage. When I take it out in the spring it’ll say the oil life is only 50%. Dealership told me it’s due to sitting and not worry about it.

What else did they brain wash you with at that public school that seems reasonable?

I change oil and filter every 4000 mi. Run amsoil synthetic and motorcraft filters. Got 117000 mi on ford boss.

I change at approximately 5k.
The monitor will read between 32 and 40 percent oil life left.

For the guys that follow the manufacturers recommendation of 7500 or 10k because “they built it so that is the correct way” do you follow the maintenance schedule exactly? Just curious.

Fresh oil & filers are cheap insurance. My new Vettes I ran 5K miles w/Mobil One. My daily driver is likely older than most here. It’s 95+% and gets conventional oil/filter every 3K miles. I expect they will bury me in it.

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Didn’t we just discuss this?

Mobile 1 synthetic every 15,000 miles. Keep in mind 80% of those miles are hiway miles.

fins wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Matt Moen wrote:</div>
I change mine when the monitor hits ~25%. The truck has 34000 miles and the oil has been changed 5 times and is coming up on its 6th. My public school math tells me that’s about every 6k miles which seems reasonable.

The monitor on my Camaro is goofy because it must take into account time more than mileage. I change that every fall before I put it in storage. When I take it out in the spring it’ll say the oil life is only 50%. Dealership told me it’s due to sitting and not worry about it.

What else did they brain wash you with at that public school that seems reasonable?

What does that even mean?

I go based on the maintenance minder system. Used to be a 5k oil change guy. They have rear diff/tranny fluid and transfer case intervals as well in that system.

>Matt Moen wrote:<

What does that even mean?
[/quote]

I don’t think he even knows that.

A former disgruntled member reincarnated with a new name perhaps?

grubson wrote:

I don’t think he even knows that.

A former disgruntled member reincarnated with a new name perhaps?

Matt, If you mentioned Ram in your past I’m sure it sent a flag to moms basement hence the reply.

I’m not sure where that guy was going either.

As Dutchy would say ^^^^”Winternet”

The 3k mile oil change is far from dead for me and will keep doing so. Cheapest preventative maintenance you can do on a vehicle. 3k on the 2011 burb (225k miles) and 5k 2011 sonata (374k). Full synthetic oreilly brand for both.

Is oil and are motors better than they were 50 years ago? 50 years ago the recommended oil change was 3,000 miles.

IMO it really doesn’t matter if you change at 3,000 or 5,000 for conventional oil. Also 10,000 to 15,000 for synthetic is ok.

The only wrong answer is never changing it.

When is the last time someone heard of an engine failure due to lack of changing oil? I personally think it’s something that people go way over the top with and waste a lot of $ on. Like Dutchy said, take the conservative numbers and double or triple them and I don’t think there would be a bit of difference in longevity or performance.

It’s clear that most people here think following the manufacturers oil change schedule is absolutely crazy….

Manufacturers have reputations, lawyers, warranties and lawsuits to defend/appease.

Why would they intentionally put your purchase at risk?? Why would they intentionally make “less maintenance” for dealerships to provide?

I go by the book on my truck for oil changes (15,000 miles w/T6 full synthetic). I also keep up pretty close with other fluid and filter changes as well.

But I’m guessing some of those same 3,000-5,000 mile people have pushed their transmission fluid or differential fluid or spark plugs or fuel filters or serpentine belt WAY OVER what the manufacturer recommends.

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Exactly my point! Amen brotha!

B-man wrote:

But I’m guessing some of those same 3,000-5,000 mile people have pushed their transmission fluid or differential fluid or spark plugs or fuel filters or serpentine belt WAY OVER what the manufacturer recommends.

I already said I do 5k just for the vehicle inspection frequency more than anything but this is true for most people I bet. The “frequent trailer towing” schedule for 2013 ram 1500 with hemi said to change differentials every 20k, transfer case every 60k. Regular schedule, regardless of use, was also to replace 16 spark plugs every 30k. But engine oil was still based on the monitor which for me was always 10k even though I had tow mode enabled probably at least 50% of the miles. I bet very few people did most of that. It’s also interesting that with such an insane schedule that they wouldn’t lower the oil change interval too if it mattered.

fins wrote:

When is the last time someone heard of an engine failure due to lack of changing oil? I personally think it’s something that people go way over the top with and waste a lot of $ on. Like Dutchy said, take the conservative numbers and double or triple them and I don’t think there would be a bit of difference in longevity or performance.

Weekly. I’ve seen blown engines from lack of maintenence even though the oil life system says 60%.
A good portion of the modern engines these days also burn a good amount of oil, especially after 5,000 miles as the oil breaks down. I see engines 2+ qts low on oil daily. There’s a lot of people who think you can run 10k on oil changes and never open the hood. They come in low on oil and the customer is confused why their sticker says they’re OK, and their oil life monitor says they’re OK yet their engine is low on oil, oil is black and their timing chains are noisy.
I recently dealt with a customer that owns a 21 chev with the baby duramax. We warned them against using amsoil and their recommended intervals. They didn’t listen and the engine failed at 80,000 miles. Talk about an expensive lesson learned the hard way. They literally had changed the oil twice and was 10k away from it’s 3rd oil change… Twice in 80,000 miles. You can’t fix stupid. They drank the kool-aid and paid the price.

If you guys are buying new vehicles, what’s the warranty say for oil changes ? Doesn’t matter much what a engineer says to gim, that engineer won’t be authorizing any warranty issues. My trucks oil life says 7500, I still do 5k. And my oil is dirty at 5k would imagine it much worse at 7500

Bearcat89 wrote:

If you guys are buying new vehicles, what’s the warranty say for oil changes ? Doesn’t matter much what an engineer says to gim, that engineer won’t be authorizing any warranty issues.

I have two vehicles that are both still under factory warranties, and I’ve also added extended warranties to them (I know, some people think extended warranties are dumb, but that’s another topic).

The warranty on the Ford states every 10,000 miles (minimum) and the SUV which is a hybrid is every 5,000 miles. The SUV is still under Toyotacare which goes through 25k.

I’m not one to do what Grubson stated above and go for 40k in between changes. That’s stupidity.

The next time I bring one of my vehicles in, I’ll try to have another honest conversation with the tech about oil life on this.

I looked up the maintenance schedule for the 3.0 Duramax, sounds like 7,500 miles between oil changes…

Changing it twice in 80,000 miles is well beyond foolish.

And as Grubson also said, pop your hood occasionally and check the oil.

Last summer before a long trip my neighbor stopped by and I had the hood of my truck opened up.

The first thing out of his mouth…”Got some car troubles huh? Figures since it’s a Ram!”

I smiled, replaced the dipstick and shut the hood. “I had the hood opened so I DON’T have car troubles.” He didn’t have much to say after that lol

Just an fyi for those who buy a new vehicle and follow the recommended intervals/oil minders. If you do and keep your history (whether done at jiffy or the dealer) and have engine issues out of warranty, by all means, ask for factory assistance with any repairs. If you can prove you followed their engineers recommendations, they should step up. I know Chrysler does all the time. We recommend 5k whether its synthetic or semi synthetic. Diesels are 10k synthetic. 3k conventional (very rarely do these anymore)

grubson i’m with you on this one.

B-man wrote:

And as Grubson also said, pop your hood occasionally and check the oil.

Good practice I try to do is every time I’m fueling up is check the oil and other fluids.

weedis wrote:

The 3k mile oil change is far from dead for me and will keep doing so. Cheapest preventative maintenance you can do on a vehicle. 3k on the 2011 burb (225k miles) and 5k 2011 sonata (374k). Full synthetic oreilly brand for both.

Tough to argue with those miles, and I know you learned from the best!

B-man wrote:

I looked up the maintenance schedule for the 3.0 Duramax, sounds like 7,500 miles between oil changes…

Changing it twice in 80,000 miles is well beyond foolish.

And as Grubson also said, pop your hood occasionally and check the oil.

Last summer before a long trip my neighbor stopped by and I had the hood of my truck opened up.

The first thing out of his mouth…”Got some car troubles huh? Figures since it’s a Ram!”

I smiled, replaced the dipstick and shut the hood. “I had the hood opened so I DON’T have car troubles.” He didn’t have much to say after that lol

I like your neighbor

Question? Does anyone send there oil in for oil analysis like Blackstone? And go off there recommendations?

I bet you could drive a vehicle for longer than most of you guys keep them without ever changing the oil without any issues.

Awhile back, we had a truck come in with engine noise, internal. Tech lifted the truck and noticed the FACTORY INSTALLED oil filter was still on the engine… 47,xxx miles. It was a rental truck and then sold at auction to a independent dealer who sold it… without so much as checking/changing the oil evidently.

big_g wrote:

Awhile back, we had a truck come in with engine noise, internal. Tech lifted the truck and noticed the FACTORY INSTALLED oil filter was still on the engine… 47,xxx miles. It was a rental truck and then sold at auction to a independent dealer who sold it… without so much as checking/changing the oil evidently.

I HATE hearing something like this. What a terrible waste.

I agree with grubson.

Take a gallon jug to a shop and ask for them to fill it with used oil from a car(s). Most cars only hold 4 qts. I’ll bet most shops will need 3 cars to fill a gallon. Don’t ask me how I know. 99% of car/truck owners never check anything underthe hood? Famous last words “The oil light didn’t come on”

As far as manufacturers go, if they are so smart why did they remove transmission dipsticks?
Another thing why doesn’t the oil light come on when a vehicle is 2 qts. low?