Changing Oil Interval Featured

Open the glove box, remove the owner's manual, turn to the section labeled Maintenance Schedule, read what it says about changing the oil, do that. Don't whine.

There are two factors in oil change intervals. One is contamination from use. You get piston blow by, potential metal wear etc.

The other is from sitting with condensation. You still have some residual contamination from the old oil. Personally, ally, I'd go with a one year maximum. You can also have the oil tested but that would probably cost the same as changing.

When you do drive, it should be driven long enough to get the oil heated to drive off any moisture.

You can pose this question to 10 people and get 12 answers.

One more thing. Oil is cheaper than engines.

Yes, oil is cheaper than engines. I do not drive my car or truck all that much being retired, so every year when I get it inspected I have the oil and filter changed. I don't mind the extra $ 50 to $ 100 a year to get that done. Same with the yard tractor, I change the oil and filter once a year with the synthetic , needs it or not. Also on that I change the air filter.

I do not drive as much either and only change it once a year.

New cars will usually tell you when to change. New car a few years ago told me to change after a year which I did at dealer. He set it to change every 6 months which I learned how to set it myself and reset it to a year.

My vehicles tells me when to change the oil, but it isn't "setable". The ECU does some fancy computing based as miles, environmental conditions, driving style, etc. Maybe time plays into the calculations, but I don't think so. It determines how much "life" the oil has left, on a percentage basis.

I can display the oil life reading all the time or just check it when I want, but at 15% it displays automatically at startup but I can turn it off. At

I never let mine go below 30%, which usually means about 7K miles.

Uf the miles went on a mile at a time you want to chane it at well under 3000. If it went on 100 or more at a time, 30 trips a year, with synthetic oil 1nce a year is adequate. You could LIKELY get away with every 2 years depending on your climate (if temperature and humidity are relatively constant and moderate) I am putting about 3000 miles a year on my vehicles the last while and change my oil once a year with synthetic on both vehicles here in southern Ontario where the temperatures and humidity are "all over the map" and my trips are generally 15-20Km at a time with the off 100Km trip thrown in for good measure

Here in sunny warm southern Ontario Canada - the Kia dealerships are advising that ~ everyone use the extreme service mtc. sched. ... like taxi cabs & such .. because we live n Canada ,, duh.

I just use the mtc. sched. in the owners manual.

If my annual miles were very low - I would follow the Manual until Warranty was expired - then get annual oil changes. - 19 months is a too long in my opinion.

If the very low miles are accumuluated from _many_short_trips_ - 6 month oil changes. < these people DO exist - church on Sunday and one other in - town "trip" > John T.

Absolutely!!! And the "coking" issues that plagued many - chrysler and Toyota included - were virtually NEVER experienced with vehicles serviced on the "extreme" cycle with synthetic oil. Dealer mechanics I know claim they have NEVER seen a doking failure on vehicles serviced that way while those running "normal" cycle with Dyno oil were better than 30% likely to fail in under 120000km - (Chrysler dealership and Toyota dealership with the "succeptible" models.

That is one thing I failed to mention. As you say, big difference if you only drive a few miles at a time vers driving for half an hour or more and put on the same milage. Climite may make a difference. Probably bad near the ocean with the salt air and cold weather.

To all of you, Would you pay extra for high mileage oil if you have

Would you get synthetic, semi-syn, regular if you were keeping the car 4 or more more years?

I know that they are all different and a friend's Chevy is like yours. In my case the dealer recommended twice the changes as the manufacturer as they could set it.

But is has better lubricating qualities since it is made from recycled pantyhose and has the added crotch lube to make it more slippery.

I is hard to get a handle on exactly what synthetic oil is and composition varies but it is still based on petroleum. Regular old oil still might have a lot of synthetic additives. Generally I believe synthetic is a cleaner oil that does not degrade as readily and lasts longer.

You have to remmeber the dealer makes money so the more he wants it changed, the more they make. The manufactor does not make money after the car is sold.

I have a 25 year old truck with 374000km on it that I intend to keep for at least another 5 years that foes not burn oil (leaks a little - i thiunk from the oil filter adapter) and it has never seen anything but synthetic oil - and no "high mileage" oil - has never gone more than 10000km or 6000 miles on a change.

Dealerships make a LOT LESS on oil changes than they do on rerpairs. Figure it out. The oil change costs a few dollars more than you pay for oil at the big box store where it is sold as a loss leader.

If the dealership cleared $5 profit on every oil change in the 10 years I was service manager I'd be VERY SURPRISED - and that includes the markup on the oil and the filter. We were always aggressively competetive with the local lub shops.

The dealer may not make much if anything on the oil change, but the more you go in for the change, the more things he may be able to sell you on. It also keeps you coming back and being familiar with the dealer, so you are more tempted to buy things like batteries, tires, and even a new car from them.

I don't think the car dealers around here are that agressive on the oil changes.

My daughter and I both bought Certified Pre Owned Hondas. They each came with 2 free oil changes - good at any Honda dealer. The oil change gets billed as a "warranty service" and is covered by Honda America.

Seems like Honda America thinks it's worthwhile to have buyers come back to the dealer - any dealer, even if it costs Honda corp something.

I got mine done at the dealer where I bought the vehicle but my daughter left town and has used a dealer near where she lives.

My 12 month bumper-to- bumper is up this month, so I won't be going back to the dealer unless it's a powertrain issue (7-year/100K warranty under CPO) Repairs will be DIY or a trusted local shop.

It's called marketing and is no different from what any business does:

Build customer familiarity, create loyalty, offer broad customer service and one-stop shopping, etc. etc.

Having said that, most of the auto dealers in my neck of the woods (burbs of a major southern city) flat suck- even ones that are part of large regional and national dealership companies. I've lived here a good while and have owned several different brands of cars and trucks.

The dealer I bought my current car from a few years back is the worst run car dealership I've ever dealt with in any of the four states where I've lived.

From initial purchase screw-ups and multi-visit needless follow-on due to sales paperwork and structuring mistakes- including title-processing errors in a simple straight cash transaction, through two years of free maintenance included with the purchase and two recalls. They're bloody awful and make the crummy performance of the other four dealers around here for my brand almost tolerable.