Quoted: change oil? hmm... i just add a quart every week... works for me..

We call that "self changing oil".

depends on the car and how hard you drive it...

Quoted: 3,000 miles is a profit center for the lube and oil change places.

DING!  DING!  DING!   (and also for the dealership's own service center)


Paul is correct.

If you do regular city and highway driving, and don't live in the arctic or the middle of a hot desert, there is no reason to change oil at 3000 miles in any modern car I know of.

The ONLY people who tell you to do so are the people who make money off changing your oil.  Trust the people who built your car, and who want it to be reliable so you will be a repeat customer, not the people who make money off convincing you that you NEED something that you don't.


The manual of my wife's car says every 7500 miles, the manual on my car says every 10000 miles, btw.  

3-5k with synthetic or synthetic blend of some sort.  

I like Mobil ! the best, but at near $100 for the stuff to do an LOF on both rigs, it gets pricey, but  I just paid them off and want to keep them around for a while.  

Quoted: My '94 Accord manual says to change the oil every 7,500 miles for stop-and-go city driving

Are you sure you read that right?  My 2004 accord manual says to change the oil every 3750 miles for sever conditions use, of which MAINLY operating it in stop and go city driving is a qualifier.

Quoted: We won't be buying another Saturn.

How can you resist their excellent marketing, distinctive style, and high visibility among consumers?

Quoted: Our Suburban has that "oil life" sensor crap in it.  I don't know how accurate it is, but it NEVER goes off at 3K miles.

My mid-size Saturn wagon (w/V6) has it- goes off before 3K, telling me "Oil Change needed soon". If I let it go, it says, "Engine needs attention". Like clockwork.

I believe, from working in a dealership years ago as a mechanic, the more often you change your fluids, the longer your car lasts. Be good to your car, it will be good to you.

Quoted: 5k with dino oil for me. It's easy to observe the 5k increments on the odometer.

Me too, it's the only way I can remember. I also rotate the tires at the same time.

Quoted: Quoted: We won't be buying another Saturn. How can you resist their excellent marketing, distinctive style, and high visibility among consumers?

We've owned, my wife and I, four Saturns in the past twelve years, took good care of them, changed the fluids and had the servicing done when the manual recommended it, drove all over the Northeast and Canada to reenactments, put over 100K on two of them, other than replacing the usual brakes, tires, wipers, etc., we have experienced no problems.

I did get a notification from Saturn about the rear light assembly being defective, the dealer fixed it and gave me a loaner car while it was being worked on.

I like the mid-size wagon, but sadly, it's no longer made by Saturn. The new Saturn VUE and the Ion don't do much for me, frankly. Not sure what we'll get next time, but we'll be holding onto our two for the next three years at least. They have 70K on each.

my diesil needs a oil change about every 10k.

Quoted: The service manual on my 2005 Mustang GT has me changing the oil & filter every 3K. In addition, they have me changing my fuel filter at 15,000, which is odd.

You wouldn't think it's odd if you've ever seen the inside of a fuel tanker truck. Twigs, leaves, even birds can get all up in there, through the vapor recovery piping.

Quoted: There really are no hard and fast rule for oil changes . Some engines are more prone to developing sludge then others . Driving conditions and engine temp are also a factor . Five years ago I participated in oil analysis program where I collected samples from vehicles that went through my shop . Year , make , mileage and engine size were included in the 2400+ samples I submitted . The results indicated that the oil in vehicles that operated at higher RPM during cruise showed the most contaminated oil . The oil itself does not wear out , what happens is the additive package is used up in the suspension of particulate matter and the aeration caused by mechanical agitation . Synthetics fared no better then good quality organics because they suspend contaminates at the same rate , the only benefit is they hold on to their additive package longer ( That's why they suggest filter changes at the same interval as organics ) Bottom line is that oil & filter changes at 3-5K are cheap insurance for the longevity of your engine .

Thank you!  I try to pass this information along every chance I get, just have to watch out for the Scamzoil guys.

I do 5k with dino on my old Ranger 150,000 miles and use Mobil1 at 5k on my Tundra and RAV4

Quoted: Quoted: 3,000 miles is a profit center for the lube and oil change places. DING!  DING!  DING!   (and also for the dealership's own service center) Paul is correct. If you do regular city and highway driving, and don't live in the arctic or the middle of a hot desert, there is no reason to change oil at 3000 miles in any modern car I know of. The ONLY people who tell you to do so are the people who make money off changing your oil.  Trust the people who built your car, and who want it to be reliable so you will be a repeat customer, not the people who make money off convincing you that you NEED something that you don't. The manual of my wife's car says every 7500 miles, the manual on my car says every 10000 miles, btw.

OK , where do I start .

There are usually 2 or 3 service schedules for each vehicle .
Normal , Severe , and Climate ( Hot - Cold ) . Read the manual
as to what constitutes Normal . It's a fantasy .

Now for manufactures recommendations :  What business are manf in ?

They sell NEW cars . so their recommendations are based on having the vehicle
survive the warranty period , beyond that they don't care .  It's not in their best interest
to produce a vehicle that lasts a long time . It used to be that 10 years was what they
considered the max useful life span . They also have meet CPM ( Cost Per Mile ) operating
standards and CAFE ( Corp Average Fuel Economy ) set by the government  . So again
if they can stretch the interval enough to skip 4-5 oil changes and make it out of warranty
they win .

Sometimes it bites them in the ass . Toyota had a Manf recommended (Normal)
service interval was 7500 miles in the late 90s . Then they started to see sludge
related component failure . So they issued a bulletin to reduce it to 5000 miles max .
Now Subaru is having similar issues on their DOHC  2.5 .  The amount of
contaminates the oil can hold has little to do with quality of the oil . It is purely a
function of volume . So your 3.7 qt engine will require more frequent changes then
the same size engine holding 8 qts .

As for making money off oil changes .  I don't , in fact it's the lowest
profit margin service I offer . I only do it as a customer convenience at the
same price as the quick lube places . Only when you get it done at my shop
the work is being done an ASE master technician that looks over the overall
condition of the vehicle . Not some kid that got fired from McDonalds last week .

Next point is that I make more money off people that DON"T service
their vehicle regularly . It's your vehicle . Treat it however you wish

I change my oil every 3K miles, $25 - so what? It's an older engine and I wish to keep it running as well as possible.

You could probably get away with driving 8K miles without changing oil. I wouldn't do that, however.

150+k miles on V6 chevy 1/2 ton pu. I change the oil every 8k to 10k. The truck only had Mobil 1 in it. I got to say that in 8k miles it may be 8oz low which is dam good for a truck with 150+k. I plan on keeping it till 200+k or repairs cost more than truck.

Quoted: The military has a program where they take a small sample of the oil and test it, then replace it when it actually needs changed.  They normally go a lot longer than 5000 miles.

but the military can offord to buy new engines whenever they need it

I change mine every 3,000

Quoted: I change around 7k I do have a Toyota though, they don't need oil

I have 200,000+ miles on a 95 Jeep Grand Cherokee ( I am original owner )

I have personally changed the oil at intervals always between 3K-6K new Mopar Dealer filter and 6qts of Valvoline 10W-40.

Thing still runs like a scared rabbit.

4.0 litre inline 6cyl

With a tankful of gas running approx $50 these days ..... a $12 oil change is your best bet at preserving your investment.

Quoted: subaru STi with synthetic..i change it at 4500..but i do it myself so i really dont mind. its relatively clean, its kind of like cleaning my guns, it gives me time alone in a nice quiet place :)

Much wisdom here.

vmax84

I remember riding around in old LADA Taxis in Cairo. They never change the oil. If they did, the car would instantly vaporize. Sludge is the only thing holding the car together.


They also drive there at night without their lights on to extend the life of the battery. It's Egypt. Don't ask.    

Quoted: Not to Hi-jack much but:       I have religiously changed my oil every 4-5K for the past 130,000 miles with Mobil 1 5W-30 with PureOne filters and have experienced no problems at all.  Last time I changed oil I let it go about 6500 miles before changing, and lo and behold I only have about 1.5 qts left in the engine (it only holds 3.5 overall - Honda).   I have since put about 3500 miles on it and have checked it every few days to find NO CHANGES in the oil level.  It doesn't smoke on startup, and I have yet to see blue smoke out of it at any other time.  WHERE THE HELL DID 2 QTS GO ALL OF A SUDDEN??? Bottom line - should I slip up to 10W-30 in an effort to forestall any possible blow-by or leak down?? Opinions please???

The W number is the winter viscosity.  I don't think switching from 5W-30 to 10W-30 will have the desired affect you seek.