I do at 3,000. Been around 6 years since I read the manual but IIRC it give 3,000 for 'severe service'. Since most of my driving is only
4 miles to town and 4 back that certainly is sever service as it never gets properly warmed up.Harry K
I'll bet most, if not all, manuals give two service intervals. One for normal, the other for 'severe' service.
Harry K
Hi, Todya's engine and oil is more advanced compared to olden days. Like my neighbors just delivered new BMW does not even have a dip stick. After
10K km oil change I never saw old oil coming out has color change or any funny smell. If some one wants to change oil at 3K mile interval in most cases that's waste of money and time.
This instills a visible reminder of guilt and impending doom for the anal. And those who can't change their own oil.
You notice they put it on the windshield right where someone can see it every time they drive, and not the door. Probably illegal in California.
Steve
I just looked at mine (97 Lumina sedan) and it has "Short trip/city" and "Long trip/highway" maintenance schedules. It's a pretty lame format, showing pages for odometer increments. The short trip/city has 3000 miles or 3 months, whichever first. The long trip/highway has 7500 mile or 12 months, whichever first. Darn, this manual has pages stuck together because my basement flooded, and I'm throwing it away. But Chevy has a downloadable pdf file and I just downloaded that. That's a new one to me. I pasted what they say below. Since most of the miles we put on it are my wife's 6 miles to work and
6 back, it comes under the short schedule. And that's what I do, except it's sometimes closer to 4000 miles and that 3 month stuff is crazy. Forget about that. Maybe 6 months given out usage pattern. Once a year we do a trip about 3000 miles and I usually change it just before we go, along with doing any other maintenance I deem necessary. That's when I check hoses, antifreeze, etc. Not too long after we get back oil gets changed again. I don't worry about going 500 over.--Vic
##################################################### Short Trip Every 3,000 Miles (5 000 km): Engine Oil and Filter Change (or 3 months, whichever occurs first) Follow the Short TripKity Maintenance Schedule if any one of these conditions is true for your vehicle: Most trips are less than 5 to 10 miles (8 to 16 km). This is particularly important when outside temperatures are below freezing. Most trips include extensive idling (such as frequent driving in stop-and-go traffic). Most trips are through dusty areas. You frequently tow a trailero r use a carrier on topo f your vehicle. If the vehicle is used for delivery service, police, taxi or other commercia1 application. One of the reasons you should follow this schedule if you operate your vehicle under any of these conditions is that these conditions cause engine oil to break down sooner.
Long Trip Every 7,500 Miles (12 500 km): Engine Oil and Filter Change (or every 12 months, whichever occurs first). Follow this maintenance schedule only if none of the conditions from theS hort TripKity Maintenance Schedule is true. Do not use this schedule if the vehicle is used for trailer towing, driveni n a dusty area or used off paved roads. Use the ShoTrtr ipKity schedule for these conditions. Driving a vehicle with a fully warmed engine under highway conditions causes engine oil to break down slower.
4 miles should be enough to heat up the exhaust well. Probably. Can't say I ever checked it.
--Vic
For the past 4 years or so, my driving has been mostly moving the car for street cleaning, and to the market up the street every week or so.
I sometimes won't go through more than a couple of complete warm up cycle between changes...
As a result, I'm now changing oil by calendar month... do it every 90 days, ...even set up a Google calendar reminder.
Got 22 years out of my old 87 Accord... changed it's oil (Valvoline
10-40) every 3000... whenever I had the valve cover off for adjustments, it looked like the day it was built. It was the rest of the car that became an issue...Erik
I too...for me that's half a year of driving.
I had to join the "Lifetime Oil Change" program at my mechanic, which I think was $189, because the Honda Element is the first car I've ever had where I can't change my own oil. (The filter is inaccessible without ramps or being
6'8".) They're happy to do it every four months but I think that's absurd. They'll lose a bundle on me as I keep cars 15-17 years.Art
And I STILL change my oil roughly every 5000km (3000 miles) which is twice a year, more or less.
Daughter's new Civic comes on at about 8000km (5000 miles)
You like your biscuits at room temp??? To get the oil to "operating temperature" generally takes 10 or more miles - and to get the moisture boiled out, about 20 more minutes of driving, if it has done a lot of short trips over a period of weeks before.
Hey, it's YOUR car - do as you like.
I do the short trip thing too, and my exhaust generally lasts over
200,000 km - or over 12 years.
Not B.S. at all... Even modern oils will break down faster with short trip driving only... Plus you can have all sorts of fun things happen with the condensation that occurs inside the engine with short trips...
Oils and Engines HAVE changed since 1960, they have become a lot more modern and susceptible to having things like tiny fuel injector ports clogged by grit and metal particles in the engine...
Have you seen what a new aluminum engine block looks like when sand has been allowed to work on it for a while ?
~~ Evan
20 seconds ? No way... You haven't even sucked and pumped all the oil and thicker stuff out of the oil pan yet...
"Operating Temperature" means that the oil, all of it in the system, is up to engine temperature -- you know this by when the oil pressure drops into its operating range rather than the slightly elevated pressure you have when you first start up and when the engine coolant temp indicator moves from cold to its normal position in the operating range...
~~ Evan
Your new car will protect itself and not start unless all the pre- programmed conditions on the pre-flight check that occurs in the instant from when you turn your key from "lock" to "on" to "start" are met and the computer allows the engine to turn over...
If you have an older car and only drive on short trips (like less than
15-20 miles each way) your engine and the oil in it are not thermocycling properly and WILL NOT perform anywhere near "spec" for any length of time...~~ Evan
My manual indicates 7,500 miles or 12 months, whichever comes first. I changed last week @ 12 months and 4,863 miles.
I have not read all the replies , and may not, so if I repeat pardon me.
I think they all do the 3K because most of them offer free top-offs for the period of time between scheduled changes.
Colbyt
If you are using ANY oil between 3,000 mile oil changes, you got a serious problem somewhere. Usually, they leave the cap off, or the drain plug loose, and it's just a way for them to CYA.
Steve
I use Pennzoil 5w30 in a Trailblazer with 90k on it. Every 3k miles since the breakin oil was removed. Recently had the plugs changed, first time since new. Compression test each cyl. All 6 (4.2L inline 6 Vortec 275 HP 10:1 compression ratio) were within factory specs. Also use a Fram high density filter. Oil pressure is 41 PSI at hot idle, 70 PSI at 2k rpm. The motor is so quiet it's hard to tell if it's running. The factory 'change engine oil' light comes on each 5k miles after reset. As far as I'm concerned that 3k oil change rule is worth following.
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