GM, California to Bust ‘3,000 Mile Myth’

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Wednesday, June 11, 2008 VOLUME 8 ISSUE 24
Reprinted with permission. ©2008 LNG Publishing Co., Inc

By Nancy DeMarco
General Motors yesterday joined the California Environmental
Protection Agency and its Integrated Waste Management
Board in the state’s “3,000 Mile Myth” campaign to educate
drivers on reducing motor oil consumption by following their
automakers’ recommended oil drain intervals.
In response to research showing that 73 percent of
California drivers change their oil more frequently than
their vehicle manufacturers recommend, the Board has
launched a new public information program to educate
drivers to follow automaker guidelines for oil change frequency.
The program, said the Board, is “designed to
bust the 3,000-mile myth, the old mantra that drivers
should change their oil every 3,000 miles.”
Unnecessary oil changes, the Board said, generate millions
of gallons of waste oil per year and have the potential
to pollute the state’s natural resources.
GM said yesterday that it will support the Board’s program
to help motorists understand how frequently they
need to change their engine oil and the proper methods
of doing so. “The traditional 3,000-mile oil change recommendation
was based on engine and oil technologies of
the past,” GM said.
“General Motors and the California Integrated Waste
Management Board share the common goal of reducing
the amount of both new and used oil in order to help protect
the environment,” said Peter Lord, executive director
of GM Service Operations.
“In California alone, more than 2.5 million GM vehicles are
equipped with the GM Oil Life System,” said Ron
Strayhorn, regional service manager, GM’s Western
Region. “Owners of these vehicles can reduce the amount
of oil they consume simply by following their GM Oil Life
System, which for many drivers can be thousands of miles
between changes as opposed to the old standard.”
These 2.5 million vehicles will save 8 million gallons of oil
a year if their drivers follow the Oil Life System rather than
following a 3,000-mile oil change interval, according to
GM. With the Oil Life System, a computer-based software
algorithm, vehicles typically need oil changes every 5,000
to 7,000 or even 10,000 miles, depending on operating
conditions.
Nationally, there are 31 million GM vehicles with the Oil
Life System, GM spokesman Tom Henderson told Lube
Report. Following the System rather than a 3,000-mile
drain interval could save 100 million gallons of oil annually.
Auto manufacturers today are calling for 5,000-mile to
15,000-mile drain intervals, Jon Myers, communications
director for the Board, told Lube Report, “but quick lubes
are still saying 3,000 miles, so we need to educate drivers.”
Radio public service announcements are running in
California now, Myers said, to convey the message that
drivers need to check their auto manufacturers’ recommendations.
The Board has also set up a web site,
http://www.3000milemyth.org, with consumer information to
support the campaign.
The campaign urges motorists to check and follow their
vehicle manufacturers’ guidelines for oil changes, and
also to consider using synthetic oils that will allow longer
drain intervals.
Estimating that each driver in California drives about
15,000 miles per year, the Board noted that changing oil
at 5,000 miles instead of 3,000 miles will reduce the
amount of used oil generated by seven or eight quarts,
keeping the oil from entering the waste stream and saving
the driver about $76 per year.
“When it comes to oil changes, less is more,” said the
Board. “You’ll have more money in your wallet by changing
your oil less, and fewer oil changes mean less oil that
needs to be safely managed and recycled.”
The Board, part of the California EPA, is based in
Sacramento, Calif.
 
It's about time that a public information campaign has been started on the blatant waste andpollution caused by overfrequent oil changes.
 
I say keep on changing the oil and recycle the used oil! That way nothing is wasted.
 
Does this mean I can't dump my used oil down the storm sewer anymore?
LOL.gif
j/k
 
Originally Posted By: d00df00d
This is going to turn into automakers + EPA vs. mechanics...


I thought that happened about 10 years ago.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris71
I say keep on changing the oil and recycle the used oil! That way nothing is wasted.

I don't think the material waste is the biggest part of it by a long shot. It is the productivity tied up in the oil change infrastructure. The dollars could be put to better use.
 
I can't stand people who get oil changes every 3k miles now. Just today my coworker told me he was going in for an oil change. He said he had like 5 miles under 3k since the last one. I didn't argue or talk to him about it because it isn't any use. I've tried before and people don't listen.

I think some people seriously believe that once your oil reaches the 3k mark it totally fails to do it's job. Most don't even know what oil truly does, except that this mysterious liquid be changed every 3k miles or your car's engine catastrophically fails.

The funny thing was that I use to be there with them, although I was more skeptical of the whole 3k mile thing.
smirk2.gif
 
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Those quick oil change places put a sticker on the windshield that has a date, 3 months out, to go back for another oil change. Or 3k miles which ever comes first. IMO they are the ones poisoning people's minds and the environment.
 
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Originally Posted By: GMFan
I can't stand people who get oil changes every 3k miles now. Just today my coworker told me he was going in for an oil change. He said he had like 5 miles under 3k since the last one. I didn't argue or talk to him about it because it isn't any use. I've tried before and people don't listen.

I think some people seriously believe that once your oil reaches the 3k mark it totally fails to do it's job. Most don't even know what oil truly does, except that this mysterious liquid be changed every 3k miles or your car's engine catastrophically fails.

The funny thing was that I use to be there with them, although I was more skeptical of the whole 3k mile thing.
smirk2.gif



Your coworker goes to those quick oil change places and that is what they preach 3k or 3 months. BITOGers know better than to go to those quick oil change places because the put in cheap oil/air filters and strip your drain bolts.
 
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Originally Posted By: lazaro

In response to research showing that 73 percent of
California drivers change their oil more frequently than
their vehicle manufacturers recommend
, the Board has
launched a new public information program to educate
drivers to follow automaker guidelines for oil change frequency.

For some reason, I find that hard to believe.
 
Originally Posted By: sunfire
Those quick oil change places put a sticker on the windshield that has a date, 3 months out, to go back for another oil change. Or 3k miles which ever comes first. IMO they are the ones poisoning people's minds and the environment.


EXACTLY ! That 3k figure is a marketing thing . If they could have pulled it off , they would use 2500 miles , but that would have been pushing it . 3K worked out real well for many years .
 
For prolly most who bring it in to the shop for the 3,000 oil change is the only time the fluids are checked ,tires aired ect.
 
"The campaign urges motorists to check and follow their
vehicle manufacturers’ guidelines for oil changes..."

Good grief, that's what I do. I expect that is what a lot of car owners do. My owner's manual says to change the oil every 3000 miles for the type of driving I do. If I do mostly highway driving I change every 6000 miles--just like my owner's manual states.

I'm as cheap as anybody--if I don't need to change every 3000 miles then I won't, but then I'm not following the manufacturer's recommendations...
 
Why, they just need to refer all those folks in California to BITOG, where they would become fully and properly educated about the myths and realities of motor oil!

Helen, is our server big enough to handle everyone from California?
 
Originally Posted By: Steve S
For prolly most who bring it in to the shop for the 3,000 oil change is the only time the fluids are checked ,tires aired ect.


that is true, if everyone was going 7500 miles on oil, that leaking transmission would burn up from being out of fluid before someone saw it leaking.
 
GMFan said:
I can't stand people who get oil changes every 3k >miles now.

It's no worse than the 5K changes on SYNTHETIC, which comprises the vast majority of the UOA's posted on this website.
 
Some engines are sludge prone and require 3000 mile oil changes (such as the Toyota DOHC 3L V-6 and Chrysler 2.7L V-6). Arguably you can go longer, but I've seen first hand the damage that can happen if the oil is run for too long in these engines.
 
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