Breaking people of the 3000 mile oil change habit

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Confessions of a wife...er, I mean oil beater.

Went to a Pep boys today and grabbed a quart of Valvoline (full) synthetic. It said to change every 3,000 miles or 3 months... at $4.49 a quart!! I quess I'm just cheap, or maybe it's cause I used to be poor, but 3k at that price is a joke. Don't they know your supposed to conserve?? Fact is, people won't change til oil is so expensive that they see the light of reason.

I got a friend with an Audi Quattro who changes Mobile 1 out at 2k. I offered to take it off his hands at every change. I figured I'd get the oil tested, then blend it off 2 used for one new in my Corolla, drive 5k and get it tested again. He acted insulted!!

Frankly, if your car is old and leaks or burns some, I wouldn't change it at all if I was putting in a quart or so every 3-4,000 miles. Just change the filter once a year and top off when low. I used to have a 89 Corolla2 which I bought used from Avis. Yes, A Leased Car!! Had 25k on it and they had never changed the oil... believe me I checked!! I changed every 5-6k til it had 170k or so and then simply topped off. It burned a little and leaked a little at 170k, but I went to 210,000 mils or so like that with out a problem. Regular old oil; what ever was on sale down at K-Mart or whereever. Donated the car to the Salvation Army cause I didn't want to spend the bucks on it after I had used it as a pick up by taking out the back seat. Shocks were shot, needed new brakes and drums and rotors. But the tranny was strong and the engine ran like a top.
 
Domonic,"Furthermore I run a lower temperature thermostat to make sure everything runs nice and chilly when on the highway. "

I did that one time and (180 F thermo) and had umpteen deposits on the intake valves.
 
I worry about those cold thermostats as well, I used to run them on my previous cars, but I refuse to do it now. It's not worth a huge pile of horsepower anyways, so it's not worth the risk.

As far as not changing the oil on older cars, I'm thinking my sister's old beater is a candidate for this treatment. It's a 1991 Escort LXE (rare 4 door with the Escort GT 127hp engine) and has about 120k on it now) The last time I remember her having her oil changed was at least a year ago, with Mobil 1. Since then she's probably added at least 6 or 7 quarts of oil. Many times she would forget to check it and find it's 2 quarts or more low! It amazes me that this little car still runs. I figure at this point in the cars life it's time to just change the filter every 6 months to a year, and then keep topping up the oil when it's low. In a case like this it's probably worth it to stick with Mobil 1 for the added protection it might give her (emphasis on might). Keep in mind we're still using the TriSynthetic up here (still no Supersyn in the stores)

As I went out for my daily half hour walk at lunchtime from work, my thoughts (as usual) turned to oil (big surprise). I was thinking that it's not so much the dino oil 3k changers that I feel are wasting their money so much as the synthetic oil users that change at 3k. Although at the minimum I think the dino users should stretch it to 4k, and synthetic users to 5 or 6k, in order to at least get their money's worth. I guess I don't like being told what to do, and having Jiffy Lube say 3k/3mo or else your engine will die, just doesn't sit well with me. It's old school.
 
(1) I use synthetic. Why? Because it's the best! Why would you put cheap trash oil into your brand-new $20,000 car?

(2) 7500 miles. That's my oil interval, because that's what the manual tells me to do. Don't you listen to the guys who designed the car?

Troy

Where's my signature option?
 
quote:

Originally posted by troy_heagy:
(1) I use synthetic. Why? Because it's the best!

This is not always true, a high quality blend can outperform a low quality synthetic.

You'll find that out after you read a few more posts on this site!
smile.gif
Welcome aboard by the way!

You got my lucky number too! (222)
grin.gif
 
In 1963 I was working in a full service Standard station in CA. It was "sir it looks like you could use an oil change. Those tires don't look too safe. I can't see light through that air cleaner". One day a chemist from the refinery came in. He said "son use Delo 100 lube oil and a Frantz oil cleaner. Your oil won't need to be drained and your engine won't wear out". That was the end of telling people their oil will wear out in 3,000 miles. I thought everyone would want one. Instead people were saying "son oil is supposed to get dirty it means it's doing it's job". "If those were any good they would be on the new cars". "I've always changed my oil every 3,000 miles" etc, etc.
By 1966 I was working at Ford. My boss was Joe Davis a well known race car owner and mechanic.H said let's put one on the tow vehicle. He was impressed to say the least.
One day a guy said there was a new filter called a Motor Guard that he liked. I checked it out and signed up as a dealer. They stopped selling lube oil filters in the 1970's. I've brought them back. The big advantage of the Motor Guard is they filtered from the bottom up. No spillage when changing them.
I've had several ask me if they are as good as the Frantz. Any TP filter that seals the TP element good will filter absolute to one tenth of one micron.
For years I was using Mobil 1 15-50 oil in my 84 Subaru 4 cylinder. I changed the Frantz and added one qt of oil about once a year which was about 12,000 miles. After 30 years of never having an oil analysis done I sent a sample to a Cat dealer. He said the oil was in good condition for 82,000 but should be changed. I changed the oil four times in 240,000 miles. The way I drive a filter change at 4,000 for a 4 3,000 for a 6 and 2,000 for a 8 would be about right. I'm using synthetic in my Camry to get the maximum fuel economy with a filter change at 4,000 miles. The full flow filter is changed every 2 years.
We have two big Sullair compressors at work. The oil costs $60.00 a gallon. Someone came up with the idea of using a cheaper oil and changing it more often. I said no we will use the expensive oil and install TP filters. Both compressors have gauges that tell if the big glass filters need changing. I might have caused a lot of TP changing. A major oil company that put a Motor Guard on a similar compressor has to change the filter every day. They have a mechanic that makes his rounds. It's an offshore drilling rig.

Ralph
 
Just the fact that I use conventional dino oil and change the oil out at 5-6000 miles and have never had a problem .

Now that I have switched to the Castrol syn blend oil I am thinking to going 7500 between changes.
 
I think anything over 5000 miles is extended. I never change before 7500 myself, because I drive all long distances. As far the original post, I try to get people on a time schedule. I say pick a TIME interval and then an oil that allows you to go the miles anticipated in that time, considering conditions. Another point to the syn vs dino thing, I think you get a better result for the smae money changeing 2x as often with a dino that costs half as much. Say 5-6k on dino vs 10-12k on synth. I'll take the shorter interval on dino. fwiw, I change my car 4x a year and the woman's 3x.
 
Also, 3k changes would mean 7 changes a year for me and five for the woman. Multiply that times the cost of synth oil and it gets really dumb, really fast. 55q X $5 a quart= stupid.
 
I'll be running Q-Power 4x4 in the truck and PP Synthetic in the Civic....for 7k each.
then a UOA.
the Galant, she gets ST and Chevron supreme dino to use up my stash...about 4k mile OCI.
 
Well I can agree with extending oil change cycles on todays engines as they should not suffer the fuel problems seen with carburators, fuel dilution, high piston temps due to lean mixtures. We should not see the problems encountered with the point ignition systems of yesterday caused by incorrect timing. The only real problems today are coolant temps too low, or high and coolant in the oil due to gasket failure. My one time employer who runs the largest fleet in the US ran 6000 mile or once a year in those old engines based on oil analysis back in 1957. That was when we spotted the abnormals in the engines sited above. With todays engines and an engine lite to tell you something is not right in my opinion the time and resourses spent on oil analysis is wasted.
 
I still claim that 3k mile changes are not a waste IF the oil is re-cycled properly. When it is re-cycled, it gets a 'second life' - either as a fuel, or as a re-refined lube oil. This oil that gets used twice is that much oil that is NOT being pumped out of the ground, even if it is a very small amount. Also, how much oil gets taken out of the ground, burned as fuel, and only sees ONE use? Changing oil MORE often might be just what helps get more out of our reserves.

Having said all that, I change my conventional at about 5-6k miles. Why? I'm cheap, and can't stand the thought of throwing away something I haven't gotten the full use out of!
 
I used to change mine at 3K miles all of the time, but now, I actually DO pay attention to my OLM in our Honda. Now granted, I DON'T let it go all the way down to 0% before a change, but at 20 to 30%, there is roughly 4500-6500K miles on the oil, so it would be a little hard on a petroleum and a little light on a synthetic.
 
One possible good thing about doing the 3k oci is when you are selling your car. A lot of people want to see or hear that you did change the oil every 3k because in their mind that means you did take care of your car. Even if you did not touch any of the other fluids!
 
Quote:


One possible good thing about doing the 3k oci is when you are selling your car. A lot of people want to see or hear that you did change the oil every 3k because in their mind that means you did take care of your car. Even if you did not touch any of the other fluids!




Yes, that would be good to know of any car you buy, but for me a bigger good news would be to know what the owner was using synthetic oil - that to me shows he/she care for her car
grin.gif


Will
 
Quote:


In 1963 I was working in a full service Standard station in CA. It was "sir it looks like you could use an oil change. Those tires don't look too safe. I can't see light through that air cleaner". One day a chemist from the refinery came in. He said "son use Delo 100 lube oil and a Frantz oil cleaner. Your oil won't need to be drained and your engine won't wear out". That was the end of telling people their oil will wear out in 3,000 miles. I thought everyone would want one. Instead people were saying "son oil is supposed to get dirty it means it's doing it's job". "If those were any good they would be on the new cars". "I've always changed my oil every 3,000 miles" etc, etc.
By 1966 I was working at Ford. My boss was Joe Davis a well known race car owner and mechanic.H said let's put one on the tow vehicle. He was impressed to say the least.
One day a guy said there was a new filter called a Motor Guard that he liked. I checked it out and signed up as a dealer. They stopped selling lube oil filters in the 1970's. I've brought them back. The big advantage of the Motor Guard is they filtered from the bottom up. No spillage when changing them.
I've had several ask me if they are as good as the Frantz. Any TP filter that seals the TP element good will filter absolute to one tenth of one micron.
For years I was using Mobil 1 15-50 oil in my 84 Subaru 4 cylinder. I changed the Frantz and added one qt of oil about once a year which was about 12,000 miles. After 30 years of never having an oil analysis done I sent a sample to a Cat dealer. He said the oil was in good condition for 82,000 but should be changed. I changed the oil four times in 240,000 miles. The way I drive a filter change at 4,000 for a 4 3,000 for a 6 and 2,000 for a 8 would be about right. I'm using synthetic in my Camry to get the maximum fuel economy with a filter change at 4,000 miles. The full flow filter is changed every 2 years.
We have two big Sullair compressors at work. The oil costs $60.00 a gallon. Someone came up with the idea of using a cheaper oil and changing it more often. I said no we will use the expensive oil and install TP filters. Both compressors have gauges that tell if the big glass filters need changing. I might have caused a lot of TP changing. A major oil company that put a Motor Guard on a similar compressor has to change the filter every day. They have a mechanic that makes his rounds. It's an offshore drilling rig.

Ralph




What filters is this guy talking about?
 
Quote:


The 3/3 oil change died out in Oz a loooong time ago. Why not in the U.S?



Because the oil is/was very cheap here especially in relation to income, assuming those 3k OCIs are done using typical bulk dino. Even now, you can get your whole oil change (parts and labor) for $19.99 at many fast lube places. If this was more expensive, people would have more reason to reconsider such short OCIs.

Also, since the fast lube places make a lot of money on it (maybe not from the basic oil changes themselves, but from all the other stuff that they try to upsell you), it's in their best interest to bring you into their shop more frequently. So they spend significant advertising money to keep the customers informed that anything over 3k/3months is KILLING your engine. And then if they tell you that $19.99 is all it takes to stop the KILLING, then you gladly keep on doing it.
 
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