www.bobistheoilguy.com
I've mentioned this place before. Everything you could ever want to know about any kind of oil and then some. Be sure to check out the forums.

I just go by the "Engine Oil Life" guage on my avalanche.  It gives you this neat pecentage of the life left in the current oil. (Per vehicle owners manual) Bases it on engine revolutions, temperature, etc, etc.  Gotta love technology.  SO, i just hit my fancy buttons on my steering wheel and when I see Engine Oil Life      5%..4%...3%... then i know its time to pull it into a quik lube for the grease monkey (oh, sorry, to not offend-ASE certified mechanic) to hook me up, and I'm on my way.  They even check the fluids and will replace your wipers for $45...Headlight for $15, and then the bargain of all bargains Serpentine belt for $95...ugh, no thanks, just the oil & filter please

Quoted: Quoted: I change my oil every 7,000 or so. I've owned 15 cars, never had 1 single engine problem EVER. Not one that involved the innards. Changing oil at 3,000 or spending $5 per quart for a fancy syn. oil is in my experience a big waste of time and money. Liar !!!   Complete nonsense - you're obviously just blowing smoke up everyone's asses, and HunterCO is laughing all the way to the bank because of how stupid you are - and all the repairs you're not telling us about.

You got me. I work for Greenpeace, and we strive to spread disinformation about oil changes in order to keep that nasty black goo from ruining mother earth.

Drat, outed again.

I'm going to go jump in my Jetta, fire up that Moby album, and hit the Starbucks before the Double-Mocha-Latte-MintTea is gone.

Quoted: You had cars go over 100K big fucking deal then you traded them and the next poor asshlole got stuck with a piece of shit you never took care of. You want a fucking medal for that? Yes not some but many techs are crooked assholes I will never argue that. Many car owners are jack offs that don't take care of there shit because they bank on trading it off and some poor person who could not afford anything else gets stuck with it. So take your 10K oil change and shove it up your ass I do this for a living and know what reality is. I don't make jack shit off an oil change I do it because I want my customers cars to last. Most of them are not jerk offs that can say fuck it and ride it into the dirt and then trade it in. Then afterwords come brag about how they never changed their oil for 10-12K. You in short have no idea what the hell your talkin about and indirectley you fuck people with your ignorance.

Normally I would worry about violating the COC with name calling, but in this case it's pointing out the obvious. You're kind of a dickhead.

I'm glad tho, that you don't make any money on oil changes and do it for the good of your customers. That's very noble of you. Do you carry old lady's groceries for them, too?

You check your oil level once a week and change it when it starts to look ugly.  There is this thing under the hood called a dipstick.  Did I miss something here?

Quoted: stay away from the synthetic stuff, its not worth it and many manufacturers do not recommend it. If you are barelyat 71k and you have had oil changes every 3k you will be fine. Many times the synthetic stuff is so thin and viscuous it can actually cause more problems than it can fix.

You do realize, of course, that claiming something to be "thin" and "viscous" is contradictory....

Synthetic oil IS NOT thinner or more viscous than dino oil. The high quality synthetics DO have higher detergent action, and can sometimes de-crud an area where the crud was all that was stopping a leak.

Synthetic oils are absolutely safe to use in ALL automotive engines. Synthetics are less likely to cause problems with sludge and varnish than dino oils.

Oh and BTW, the guy was right when he said you really only need your oil change every 5k unless it is used under real tough conditions.

There are 2 reasons for needing oil changes:

1. Breakdown of the oil
2. Dirt

Most vehicles are not driven in such a fashion as to cause oil breakdown of even dino oils in 3,000 miles. Synthetics are almost impervious to breakdown.

Oil does get dirty, however, and thus needs to be changed to keep as much crud out of your motor as possible.

Quoted: you are still good dont worry about changing your oil every 3K mi--imo, its just a scam for the dealers and oil changers to get more business more frequently

With modern oils, 3,000 miles is well under their useful life.

Still, no engine has ever died from having too many oil changes.

car engines, in good working order and no oil leakes can go 6K+ before an oil change, w/ regular oil (i change mine at 5.5K) just check your oil level every-now-and-then to make sure that the level is ok and its still pretty clean hi-preformance engines or high wear, i would opt for synthetic, or per your engine/user manual (mobil 1 synthetic, per your user's manuals' weight), and they will last 10K+

The oil itself may be capable of going 10,000 miles, but most filters will be absolutely useless by that time.

Quoted: I use good dino oil and factory filters, changed every 5000 miles.  Never had an oil-related failure or problem.  Ever. Change your own oil, or take it to someone worth a damn.  I wouldn't trust the twits working in Jiffy Lube to bag my groceries without messing something up.

+1

And whatever you do, NEVER let them touch your transmission for ANYTHING.

I change mine and rotate the tires every 5,000 miles because it's easy to remember. Not to hijack the thread but is there any major differences in the brands of dino oil?

Edit: never mind, I just noticed Thistle's link to the oil website.

Quoted: 98 Plymouth Neon.  While under warranty, I did the Mobil 1 oil and filter every 3000-5000 miles depending on the driving conditions.  Now, at 100,000 miles, I run to 8,000-10,000 miles, and I check the oil condition by sending it off for analysis.  When I drain it at 8,000-10,000 miles, the oil is still well within normal limits on viscosity, contamination, and additive package effectiveness. Wear metal content of the oil shows that the engine is still operating in almost brand-new condition, and when I had the cylinder head cover off at 80,000 to replace a spark plug tube seal, the interior looked brand new, including the cam lobes and other valvetrain components Jim

That is consistent with what I have seen. I recently had to replace the oil pan gasket on my 1997 Dodge Intrepid, which requires removing the oil pan. The engine looked brand new. The oil pan was completely free of sludge and any sort of debris. Aside from the oil, it was clean enough to eat off of.

Mobil 1 Synthetic oil is good stuff. Their filters are pretty good too....Though I use K&N or PureOne filters these days.

Quoted: The very best way to positively determine the right oil change interval for your vehicle is to have a sample sent out to an oil analysis facility like Blackstone Labs. The can tell you exactly how much viscosity is left, percentage of remaining additives and any contaminants that may be in there.   Blackstone only charges about $18 or $19 for the analysis.   Worth every penny. Another thing, it's not just a function of mileage on your changes - it's also a time factor.  If you drive only 2000 miles in a single year you better be changing your oil more than once. Bottom line - the oil analysis is the best way to be sure. CMOS

+1 for that too.

Oil analysis is a good idea.

Quoted: A lot of manufacturers (especially GM owned companies) are recommending 5W-XX motor oils, as well as oil changes every 15k miles. my personal opinion on that (as well the mechanics at a couple of GM dealerships i've talked to) is they are recommending the lighter oils to help increase gas mileage (every little bit helps when the average MPG of your companies entire lineup has to be around 25mpg or you take a big tax hit, dont remember the exact figure), and changes every 15k miles so that the engines will go out sooner, i.e. more likely to spend big dollars at dealerships to maintain the vehicle, or even better, buy a new car sooner.

The long oil changes are reccomended because many engines are leaving the factory with high quality synthetic oils like Mobil 1, which really can go that long and longer without any real breakdown. Personally, I wouldn't go that long without at least changing the filter.

My understanding is that the 3000 mile recommendation was based on carbureted engines.  Fuel dilution was (is) a concern with carburetors and older engines.  Modern engines and electronic fuel injection has improved things dramatically, as well as better additive packages.  Unless you are truly driving in heavy duty conditions (lots of dust, towing, etc), 3000 miles is fine on modern oils and engines.

I change at 5000 miles because I dont trust additive packages past that without analysis, and the filter needs changing also.  If you do oil analysis you can probably push the oil change interval further, but it is cheaper for me to just change at 5000.