Can you believe this?

[thunderchild]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-autos-oil-change-20111215,0,4554184.story I could not believe this is actually coming up in the mainstream!!! What do you all feel about this? Are you as surprised as I am?!!??!

 

[67Customs]

As long as they don't pass legislation prohibiting it, kudos to them for trying to bring the unknowing public into the new century.

 

[david_ES2]

As long as I can still change it whenever I want

 

[JC1]

The link to checkyournumber.org is handy. However it only lets you go as far back as 2000, which stinks for me since my vehicle are a 98 and 97. That's also funny given the number of cars in California that are even older than cars from the 90s.

 

[Kestas]

What they're doing is no different than what many of here on BITOG are doing, encouraging each other to extend OCIs in an effort to protect our wallet and the environment without sacrificing our engines.

 

[CATERHAM]

I love the quote " it made sense when we had cast iron blocks and cast iron pistons". I don't know how that has anything to do with the OCI. Besides many engines still use cast iron blocks but cast iron pistons haven't been used for about 100 years!

 

[gomes512]

Most my neighbors sure follow the 3K oci. Two were surprised when they finally read the owners manual. What's with the stock photo from IL?

 

[Panzerman]

The manager of the Southern auto club said Cast iron pistons expanded and shorten old engine lifes, has anyone ever saw a cast iron piston, because I have not. I am not even sure if maybe steam locomotives have cast iron pistons. California can break off anytime now and just float away.

 

[Kestas]

I don't understand that at all. Pistons are now made from aluminum. If anything, they should expand even more than cast iron due to aluminum's larger coefficient of thermal expansion. Something got lost in the translation somewhere.

 

[ueberooo]

Originally Posted By: gomes512

Most my neighbors sure follow the 3K oci. Two were surprised when they finally read the owners manual.

Yup, kind of shocking numbers. Really wasteful, but truth be told I'd rather buy a used car from them than someone who stretched it too close to the regular use interval.

Quote:

Nationally 51% of vehicle owners said they believe oil should be changed every 3,000 miles or three months, according to an NPD Group survey. Few manufacturers require such an aggressive maintenance schedule. Above, an auto mechanic in Beecher, Ill. (John Zich, Bloomberg News / May 16, 2009)

Many oil change places still put that sticker with 3 month date and 3k miles into the future written on it. those sort of practices are probably what reinforced this myth. The checkyournumber.org website is pretty slow and only includes cars newer than 2000 models. Wasn't able to look mine up. Looked it up for a 2000 model and it said 7500, and it did not give me the severe service mileage. I prefer to use a weighted average of those two numbers. I change mine about ever 4k to 5k, I'm actually not sure what interval mid 90s subarus are supposed to run for. ford's rec in the mid 90s was 5k and I always thought that was pretty reasonable nr, but I always wanted to change it before that to be conservative, or in case part of my use would be considered severe service--which it probably would be, for winters where i make many ultra short trips. I hope that checkyournumbers.org does not make people err in the other direction. Both extremes are bad IMO. I do know many if not most cars that are mainly non distance commuting grocery getters make very short trips. Engines can last that much longer and burn that much cleaner if they are maintained well.

 

[rjacket]

Originally Posted By: Highline9

California if full of librals and green nazis. Im sure they would like to regulate your oil changes.

And some people who can't spell also live there

 

[CATERHAM]

That's just his accent.

 

[rjacket]

Originally Posted By: CATERHAM

That's just his accent.

LOL

 

[meangreen01]

I guess you can add spelling nazis as well?

 

[Highline9]

sorry "IS"

 

[fdcg27]

Guy made a typo. Leave that alone. Now, the curent state governor doesn't sound very liberal right at the moment, and I'm not sure what a "green nazi" is. The state was also the home of noted liberals Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. To use the word "nazi" as discriptive of those with whom we simply disagree is quite offensive to some people. Has to do with the extermination of an entire European people back in the late 1930s, early 1940s. The fellow who made the "green nazi" reference could look it up.

 

[Alamogunr]

I use synthetic in my '06 Avalon and change approx. every 10K. In the '98 F150, I use dino and change between 6 and 10 mo. Mileage never exceeds 4K. I had the last OCI tested and got excellent results. I see no reason to change. I hope this doesn't make me a California liberal. John W.TN

 

[daves87rs]

Interesting....

 

[Merkava_4]

What kills the oil is dirt ingestion and combustion byproducts. If everybody was driving in clean fresh air with a natural gas burning engine, then yeah, I could see the oil going 10,000 miles.

 

[meangreen01]

I want to thank the OP for posting the link to the article. While reading it, on the left hand margin I noticed related stories about JD Byrider type car lots. It's a three part series and is another interesting read. Written with a slant you'd expect out of the LA Times, you can learn about the next crisis our nanny state will attempt to save ourselves from. Check it out. It could use its own thread, but I'm not starting it. These politically tinged topics tend to get me in trouble.