2014 Town and Country oil change interval

[Corollaman]

I've been changing the oil at six month intervals which equals about 5,000 miles for us with Pennzoil 5w20 conventional oil. Mostly city some highway. Should I just be waiting for the oil change light to come on instead? I just wonder if I'm waisting good oil.

 

[CT8]

Only you can decide if you are wasting your money. You can do a used oil analysis to prove whether the oil change light or the 5,000 mile interval are the beast for you.

 

[Kuato]

Originally Posted By: CT8
Only you can decide if you are wasting your money. You can do a used oil analysis to prove whether the oil change light or the 5,000 mile interval are the beast for you.


Exactly. A used oil analysis will tell you if you are getting full usage out of the oil, or wasting it by dumping early.

Your Oil Change Light should be correct but without doing a used oil analysis you can't be certain. You're using conventional oil, which in general is good for at least 5000 miles and can be used further. Next time you change it, send in a sample to see how it's doing.

 

[bubbatime]

Just change it every 5K miles. At 20K, 25K, 30K, and so on. Makes keeping track of your changes easy.

 

[Timo325]

Originally Posted By: CT8
Only you can decide if you are wasting your money. You can do a used oil analysis to prove whether the oil change light or the 5,000 mile interval are the beast for you.


+2

You know your cars engine, what kind of trips you make, and under what conditions you make those trips. If you think your not getting enough money out of that Pennzoil conventional, then spend 20 bucks on a used oil analysis to see if you can extend a bit..

 

[beanoil]

OLM's are designed around many factors, including the "will this get it through the warranty period". The "will this make the engine last the longest" isn't really considered.
I think your maintenance plan of 5k intervals on conventional is spot on, but as stated, an oil analysis is your only sure way to know.

 

[KrisZ]

I don't know, the OLM on my GC last time went off at 7.8k miles with 95% short city commutes. I changed the oil at 5k, but didn't reset the OLM. I don't feel confident in conventional going that distance in Canadian weather and usage pattern.
My plan is to go by OLM using synthetic, but I need to use up my stash conventional.