Car care advise from a finance geek website.

[gizzsdad]

This from a thread inquiring as to whether people were actually following the "Preventative Maintenance" schedule.

"Changing your oil every 3000 miles is a waste. Of your money, and the environment. Buy a GM car - it will tell you when the oil needs to be changed. Usually, that is 5,000 - 7,000 miles, or once a year (you should do that in the fall). When I worked at GM, we ran a Corvette for the equivalent of 100,000 miles on the highway with no oil changes. No harm done. Topping up the oil as needed was enough to renew the additives."

Discuss.

Edit - a little later I found this:

"My hubby is an ASE certified mechanic with over 25 years experience.
I won't let him read this thread for fear of endless hours of rantings from him concerning a good majority of the responses!
He is a stickler for maintenance. He does things far earlier than suggested by manufacturer to our own vehicles.
I have a 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 6,000 miles on it and it has had no less than 10 oil changes since I bought it new 3.5 years ago. Overkill... yes but our vehicles LAST pretty much forever."

 

[MolaKule]

Quote:
When I worked at GM, we ran a Corvette for the equivalent of 100,000 miles on the highway with no oil changes. No harm done. Topping up the oil as needed was enough to renew the additives."




Yea, sure.

If that is such a good idea then why doesn't GM suggest this in their Operators and Maintenance Manuals?

 

[SteveSRT8]

From one extreme to another!

 

[John_K]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
From one extreme to another!


This seems to be the norm with car maintenance--overkill or ignore. And 10 oil changes in 6000 miles? Can I have the "used" oil?

I actually knew someone once that changed the oil every 3k miles. If they were driving home and it hit 3000 miles, they ACTUALLY STOPPED AND HAD IT TOWED THE LAST FEW MILES HOME! Unbelieveable.

John

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
From one extreme to another!



+1

 

[[RT] ProjUltraZ]

what bbs... he meant the transmission fluid and coolant not the oil

 

[KrisZ]

Why would I take car care advice from a finance geek website?

 

[FirstNissan]

6000 miles for 10 oil changes? My old neighbor was the same way, worked for Toyota as a mechanic. Did an oil change on his new scion anytime he was bored or had downtime. In the first 10K, he had done 5-6 oil changes. Quite a waste of good oil thats for sure.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: MolaKule
Quote:
When I worked at GM, we ran a Corvette for the equivalent of 100,000 miles on the highway with no oil changes. No harm done. Topping up the oil as needed was enough to renew the additives."




Yea, sure.

If that is such a good idea then why doesn't GM suggest this in their Operators and Maintenance Manuals?


They forgot to mention they added MMO to the oil and that allowed the super extended OCI!!

 

[PZR2874]

3 1/2 years 10 OC's... Sounds about right if the car got 2 mile short trips and/or sat for 3 months at a time....

Entire story please?

 

[Quest]

LOL! It goes to show the ignorance (in general, not specific to us BITOGers) among general NA motoring public.

Q.

 

[AdamL]

10 changes in 3.5 years works out to about every four months, right? Ridiculous, but about right for someone following conventional 3mo/3000mi wisdom.

I follow the manufacturer recommendation, which for Subaru is every 7.5mo/7500mi. So, with 14,000 miles on the car I've made 5 oil changes. Ugh. (Okay, I threw in an extra right before a long road trip because I was approaching the 7.5 month mark, and changed again when we got back).

 

[PZR2874]

^See how you are ? LOL

 

[Russell]

Change oil/filter every 4,000 to 5,000 miles on my BMW, Generally use a blend. Drive about 1,500 miles per month with 50/50 city/highway driving. Seems to work fine.

As for the general driver, they treat a car like a toaster. Use it up and get another.

 

[chubbs1]

Balance, it is all about balance and educating yourself on what type of driving style you have and how it affects oil. There is a lot more if you want to be a real stickler but just following that helps.

 

[Topo]

Originally Posted By: MolaKule
Quote:
When I worked at GM, we ran a Corvette for the equivalent of 100,000 miles on the highway with no oil changes. No harm done. Topping up the oil as needed was enough to renew the additives."




Yea, sure.


If that is such a good idea then why doesn't GM suggest this in their Operators and Maintenance Manuals?


It just goes to show, you can do about anything to a car for the first 100,000 miles, it's after period that you may run into troubles from [censored] poor maintenance.

 

[tig1]

I've always said "it doesn't matter much what your doing today for oil changes as to the performance of the engine, it's when your engine has 200-300K on it, that"s when what you do today matters".

 

[dparm]

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: tig1
I've always said "it doesn't matter much what your doing today for oil changes as to the performance of the engine, it's when your engine has 200-300K on it, that"s when what you do today matters".


Now THAT i can agree with.

Manufacturers only care about getting the car past their warranty period, after that, you're on your own.

I service one too many cars with 200k+ on them and see the effects of poor maintenance on some vs others which you wouldn't guess that it has 250k on the clock.