3000 miles oil changes

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Originally Posted By: hal
3000mi oil change interval is ridiculous with synthetic. if you used cheap no-name gas-station dino oil yeah 3k would be right, but good dino u can go longer. synth blend 5-6k easy, and synthetic easily up to 10k

it is such a waste of oil to change it any sooner. thanks for contributing to the world's energy problems!


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No problem.
 
No argument here, I definitely agree with that. you=ignorant
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Especially as you have a full working knowledge of my vehicles, how I use them, where I use them, what I expect of them, what I receive from them, the money I save. Yeah, I hear your opinion.
 
maybe you should get a UOA, and then your moronic thought process would be curbed.
 
If you think you need synthetic oil at 3000 miles intervals, have you also considered synthetic fuel? I mean, all the harm that conventional fuel is causing can be averted.

Another step in the right direction would be to live on a tall hill and coast to your destination, hiring a tow truck for the return. Think of all the problems associated with actually running your engine that you won't have to worry about.

NOTHING is too good for your pick-up or Korean import or whatever.
 
I have one 300,000 mile UOA sitting in the driveway, one 209,000 UOA sitting in the garage, about 2,000,000 miles total UOA since 1990.

I have also done a July, 2008 to December, 2008, 6 month research project on just the UOA's on BITOG. Got several students working on interpretation from several angles including piston speed, wear area in square inches, all kinds of data not normally considered by someone just browsing the UOA's. I fully understand UOA's.

Whatever you wish to do to/with/by your personal vehicles, you certainly have my best wishes and I hope you the best of luck. Use only what you believe to be the very best under what you consider the best conditions. When you get to 2,000,000 miles with an average close to 200,000 miles per vehicle, lets talk again. Imagine the stories we could tell and the experiences we could share.

Time to say goodnight , Frank.
 
have put over 250,000 miles on original engines in more than one vehicle, with oil change intervals dependent on the type of oil i used and manufacturer's recommendations for the vehicle. cars sold still running.

it's unfortunate when people don't care about conservation. i think i understand now why people don't try to convince others that oil can last longer than 3000 miles, because arcane ways of thinking apparently supercede all.
 
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Can he prove his illness is directly responsible for those vehicles still being servicable? No.

It's like, "I hop around three times on one foot with the oil can in my hand before I pour it in and all my engines run 200k miles". "Anyone who spins only twice is stupid".
 
wouldn't doing 3k oil changes every time skew the results of a UOA study anyway?
 
I have done 3k with M1 syn for the last 8yrs on one of my vehicles..a buddy finally beat me down enough to up to 4k for the last few changes...then shortly before I joined this forum, that vehicle is no longer a DD, I doubt I will put 3k per year on it so I am considering a switch back to dino.

I know there are MANY cars on the road with dino and have lasted hundreds of thousands of miles, but if 3k w/ syn is over kill, than at least he can sleep well at night knowing his cars are protected.

Older age (in my 30's now) and tighter budget have driven me to look for reasons to switch to cheaper stuff in my life...oil is one of those sacrificial lambs and I run cheap syn-blend in my DD and am switching to dino or blend in my other vehicle that used to get the full-syn...

I ran 180k on one car & 150k on another using dino every 3-6k depending on my mood...they both lasted...but I see BOTH points here...they are both valid...it is a waste now that I know what I know, but if it helps him sleep better then so be it...I have done every 3k religiously from '98-'08 in 2 separate vehicles (one dino & one syn)...but if I give advice to "others" I tell them 5-7k on syn & 3-5k on dino...depending
 
Originally Posted By: FrankN4


I don't have a fat pension so I save a fortune by changing on a 3000 OCI with synthetic. If I finance a car or truck, I usually go three years. That means for three years I am making payments and up to about 3.5% interest(special deal because of some past stuff) Then the vehicle will last me for about 10 years of daily use. That means for seven years I pay no payments and I pay no interest. Compared to the price of synthetic oil and filters at 3000 OCI, I save a small fortune.(children, grandchildren, fly rods and camping gear) I also have absolute confidence that I am going to start out and return home. Lots of saved money and peace of mind is something I rather enjoy.


You would save twice as much money if you went to a 6000 mile OCI with synthetic oil though, and you could easily do that without any problems whatsoever. 6k is a walk in the park for any synthetic oil. Do you honestly think you're going to have a problem with your engine if you don't drain that synthetic every 3k? Seriously? You've read the UOAs here right?

I guess I still find it odd that so many people who visit this site on a regular basis and read all the UOAs and all the testimonials from people, but yet still stick to a 3k OCI, especially with a more costly synthetic oil. Long time visitors to this site know that a 5k interval with any good quality conventional oil is a perfect recipe for long engine life. I know it's your money and you can do what you want with it, but why spend money where it's not necessary at all? Even if I had ten million dollars in the bank I wouldn't change my oil any more frequently than I do now (6 months or 5000 miles in my wife's Honda with conventional oil, and I use synthetic in my Corvette and wait until the oil life monitor counts down to zero)
 
I'm gonna say it again...........OCIS are not a black/white;yes/no answer!!!! OCI is different and unique for each engine,driver,drive,etc.,etc.,etc.......... Some oils/situations need changing at 3k and some oils/situations can go 10k. So different answers to the same, "how long an oci",question can be correct.
 
I'm still not seeing why this is an issue. I'm have been changing the mobil 1 in the wife's car right around 4k. Do I know I could go longer? Yes. But since it does a lot of short trips (mostly city driving), and it the family car (with little one in tow), I take no chances. And it still runs great for being an old car.

Now on my other cars, that is a different story. My car will go longer on its PP changes, and the other car only gets two oil changes a year...


so it works out in some crazy way..
 
Originally Posted By: FZ1
I'm gonna say it again...........OCIS are not a black/white;yes/no answer!!!! OCI is different and unique for each engine,driver,drive,etc.,etc.,etc.......... Some oils/situations need changing at 3k and some oils/situations can go 10k. So different answers to the same, "how long an oci",question can be correct.



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Originally Posted By: Patman
Originally Posted By: FrankN4


I don't have a fat pension so I save a fortune by changing on a 3000 OCI with synthetic. If I finance a car or truck, I usually go three years. That means for three years I am making payments and up to about 3.5% interest(special deal because of some past stuff) Then the vehicle will last me for about 10 years of daily use. That means for seven years I pay no payments and I pay no interest. Compared to the price of synthetic oil and filters at 3000 OCI, I save a small fortune.(children, grandchildren, fly rods and camping gear) I also have absolute confidence that I am going to start out and return home. Lots of saved money and peace of mind is something I rather enjoy.


You would save twice as much money if you went to a 6000 mile OCI with synthetic oil though, and you could easily do that without any problems whatsoever. 6k is a walk in the park for any synthetic oil. Do you honestly think you're going to have a problem with your engine if you don't drain that synthetic every 3k? Seriously? You've read the UOAs here right?

I guess I still find it odd that so many people who visit this site on a regular basis and read all the UOAs and all the testimonials from people, but yet still stick to a 3k OCI, especially with a more costly synthetic oil. Long time visitors to this site know that a 5k interval with any good quality conventional oil is a perfect recipe for long engine life. I know it's your money and you can do what you want with it, but why spend money where it's not necessary at all? Even if I had ten million dollars in the bank I wouldn't change my oil any more frequently than I do now (6 months or 5000 miles in my wife's Honda with conventional oil, and I use synthetic in my Corvette and wait until the oil life monitor counts down to zero)


What if you do a bit of both?
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I'm taking most of what I'm learning here, minus the wife's car...
 
I used Mobil-1 for the first 80K KM (50K Miles) changed at 5-6K KM (3700 Miles) as per the warranty, once the warranty was up I went to Amsoil and started changing it twice as long. (10K KM / 6K Miles) and my UOA's have never looked better.

Now I'm fighting a problem with my air filter not doing it's job so I haven't gone any further in mileage, but once I solve this problem I will be pushing it even further because I have confidence from my UOA that the oil is holding up and not becoming abrasive and acidic.

My SUV now has over 150K KM (90K Miles) and has been using the 10K KM (6,000 Mile) Change interval for the past 70K KM (44K Miles) and has never run better.

Under the oil cap it is spotless and the UOA's come back the same as when I changed it at half the mileage. IMO this means that the oil is still good.

Now in my case the oil is showing high insolubles after a 10K KM (6K Mile) run, but this is a bad air filter and/or poor choice of fuel (Canadian Tire Fuel with High Sulfur Content)

So since I got my last UOA I have done an Auto-RX clean/rinse and have changed to Shell Top-Tier fuel, and have bought a Wix Air filter... I will be running my next sample out to 10K KM (6K Miles) again and will see how it returns...

If it returns good with low insolubles and a good TBN / TAN then I will run it for 15,000 KM (9,000 Miles)

MONEY SAVED!!!!!
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Aggravation of changing... A lot less!!!!
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A 3000 mile OCI, to me, means one of three things.

One, theres some sort of out-of-the-ordinary powertrain or duty cycle involved and I should be interested in hearing more about it.

Two, the person is an idiot, and the right thing to do is point out that the manufacturer of the oil, the manufacturer of their car, their mechanic and anyone else with a clue would change at a longer OCI.

or

Three, this is a person old enough that they've decided to completely stop learning, and just do what they've done in the past.

For each their own. FWIW, my old man has a Camry with 275,000 miles. Probably 10,000 mile OCI's with dino. The engine is the only thing left working like new. Same with my Corolla that died at 213,000 of a bad clutch. Engine was fine. 10~15,000 mile OCI's. Now I go 7500 on syn, but the value of my cars is much higher and I've become anally conservative.
 
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Three, this is a person old enough that they've decided to completely stop learning, and just do what they've done in the past.

When I was a teenager, In the 60's and early 70's, I worked at a gas station. I remember some of the oldtimers that would come in and would only use Non-detergent oil in their cars. The oil cap and fill tube would be covered/filled with sludge. I'd point out the sludge and tell them they needed to use detergent oil and they'd just get mad. One of them told me it was good enough for his father so it would be good enough for him, and he was in his 60's.
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Some people will never change.
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If someone feels comfortable w/ 3k oci's then that's their choice.
 
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I would like to go longer on my Malibu, but with the short trips, city driving and very cold winter we just had the OLM signal a change was needed at 3100 miles.

Like others have said, I've subscribed to the thinking that a set mileage for an OCI isn't always a good idea in many cases. I've altered my OCI depending on conditions for years now, and have always had a clean engine regardless of oil used.
 
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