Vehicle Oil Changing

When do you get an oil change?

1) When the sticker they put on your windsheild says?
2) According to the Manual?
3) When the dummy light says to?

BTW – All 3 are very different for my vehicle.

I use synthetic only, I change at 10,000 miles and rotate the tires at the same time.

Regular or conventional oil?

Synthetic I change At 4000-5000k
Conventional in my car I change every 3k

Coletrain27 wrote:

Regular or conventional oil?

Synthetic I change At 4000-5000k
Conventional in my car I change every 3k

This is what I do. I dont go by the oil life monitor thing. Those tend to be based on a set mileage as well, but I feel its too high which leads to problems down the road.

The repair shops and oil change places put 3000 mile due stickers on them even tho the OEM states 7500 miles and use synthetic that could go 10,000. There has not been a 3000 mile oil change interval sense the 80’s

Sticker???? You mean I’m not supposed to memorize all the vehicles mileage??

Diesels at 8k or less with hard work

My cars at 4ish

5-7k or when my oil life hits 20% – whichever comes first.

6K miles on Mobil 1.

When it says oil level low…

I run 5000 miles, change oil filter and add a quart, run 3000 miles then full change with filter. Mobile 1. Have followed this schedule on last 8 vehicles at least.

I use the oil the manual recommends (Semi Synthetic) along with the duration (5K).

Ripjiggen wrote:

When it says oil level low…

But then you add a quart or two to top it off and are good again because you have fresh oil.
DT

5K on mine, full synthetic, 10K on wifes or 1 year, full synthetic. Both are MFG specs.

PS, back in the day I had a commuter car (we called them beaters back then) 64 impala, 283 & 3 on the tree. The valve guides were so bad, it burned though oil like it was going out of style. The oil light would come on and I’d dump in a gallon of used oil. I ran that thing hard for 3 years before she finally said enough.

Anonymous wrote:

5K on mine, full synthetic, 10K on wifes or 1 year, full synthetic. Both are MFG specs.

PS, back in the day I had a commuter car (we called them beaters back then) 64 impala, 283 & 3 on the tree. The valve guides were so bad, it burned though oil like it was going out of style. The oil light would come on and I’d dump in a gallon of used oil. I ran that thing hard for 3 years before she finally said enough.

Lol, I had me one of them oil burners back in the day.
You’d pull into the gas station and tell em to check the gas and fill the oil

5k full synthetic.

The truck lights can be changed to what ever millage intervals you want. So I set that to 4500 and then don’t worry when I go over. Run full synthetic ams oil from the ladies shop cheaper then I can get for conventional and do it my self.

I typically buy new vehicles, and I run semi-synthetic manufacturer recommended.

First change at 2000 miles, clean the machining debris out

Second change at 5000 miles.

Then I change it every 5000 miles after that.

That way I can look at my mileage, knowing I have to change at every 5000 mile increment.

Since both my wife and daughter refuse to look at the oil change stickers, I just ask them to tell me when their mileage is on the “5’s”,,,,,,,

So every 5K miles, whether it needs it or not.

HRG

Syn Blend 3-4k
Full Syn 5-6k

Best to stay at the lower number. Trust me we see a lot of sludge issues and if you go by the dealer specs it is way to long of an interval. A lot of the timing chain issues are caused by this. Save your self some money guys, just change the oil early and often. Otherwise just hit me up when you need work.

I run 5000 mile intervals on Mobile One. I have been doing this routine since 1988 and I’ve never had any kind of engine problem that could even remotely be linked to oil.

It’s the damn transmissions that are my problem…

Shhh, don’t tell my truck 10,000 is to much between changes. At 350,000 miles I don’t want it mad at me.

In my old ‘79 F150 with the straight 6 I’d change it about every month or two. See it was one of those self draining engines that you only had to put in about a quart a week and it would drain out on its own.

My 2015 F150 gets changed by the manual with Mobil 1 Extended Service fully synthetic. I send a sample in for analysis so I have a good idea of what kind of wear and life I had left on the oil. It also looks at flash point so you can determine how much fuel it is absorbing. It helps me decide if I want to change it sooner or later. I usually make it 7-10K on a change.

Dutchboy wrote:

Shhh, don’t tell my truck 10,000 is to much between changes. At 350,000 miles I don’t want it mad at me.

Sorry forgot some of you guys are running grinders. Those can go longer with 4 gallon capacity. Use a premium filter at least.

I go by the sticker. I used to change my own at 5k but for $45 it’s worth having someone else do it.

Sorry forgot some of you guys are running grinders. Those can go longer with 4 gallon capacity. Use a premium filter at least.
[/quote]

Grinder = Diesel?

I change my fuel filters every other oil change.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

Sorry forgot some of you guys are running grinders. Those can go longer with 4 gallon capacity. Use a premium filter at least.

Grinder = Diesel?

I change my fuel filters every other oil change.
[/quote]

Yeah we call them grinders.

Ripjiggen wrote:

When it says oil level low…

A GM owner?

I change my car every 3750 which is what manufacturer says. Truck says every 10k but I do it every 5k.

I usually start thinking of changing mine once the computer gets below 10%. I think below 5% is when it really starts reminding you, so I don’t go below that. It ends up usually being around 7,500 miles with mobile one synthetic. I figure the computers were calibrated when GM was still using a semisynthetic oil, so I’m more than good going by it while using a better fully synthetic oil.

I’ve generally read the following

Conventional – 5k
Semi-synthetic – 7.5k
Full Synthetic – 10k

My daily driver tacoma gets it every 5k with full syn. My wives SUV gets it every 3K with full syn, but rarely leaves town anymore. My Weekend hunting/ boat hauler gets full syn every spring and fall. Never more than 5000 miles between changes there, closer to 3000. The kids rig get full syn every 5K, my knock around Honda Pilot gets full syn every 5K. The low mileage I own is the wifes Lexus and it has 106K. The Honda has over 300K miles. Never had a major repair on any of them. All of the get tire alignment/ rotation every 15K miles. Or in the trucks case every spring after bouncing it thru the fields hunting all winter.

5k since new. Don’t need a sticker to remember. My Dad and I drained our oil into a clean drain pan, and poured it in a 5-gal jug at 2500 miles. Back in the 70’s. Then it went into my brothers 66 impala when he was in college. The oil never saw the other 500 miles.

I do full syn and 10k miles or so. Basically the same as when the idiot lite goes off in the cab. Got quite a few miles on the half ton now and its still clean inside the motor based on recent borescope inside the valve cover.