Oil Change

RTFM and change it at whatever interval the manufacturer recommends.

As an aside, unless you've been putting vegetable oil or hair conditioner in there, 2500 miles is way too frequent.

My opinion is that whenever you have time, somewhere between 2000 and 5000 miles. My mechanic seconded it. Oil is not that fragile.

Synthetic oil is wonderful, but not worth the expense as it picks up dirt from its environment. So what if the oil lasts longer if it is dirty. My mechanic seconded it too.

And I have it done by a "real" mechanic, not a fast lube place.

Basically I take my car in twice a year for a preventative inspection, oil, trans (they change is about ever 20K miles), tie rotate. I put on between 6K and 9K miles a year: closer to 6K since Obama's Great Recession. Now that it has ended, I am hoping to pick up a lot more work this year.

I remove the sticker from my glass. My mechanic caught me removing his sticker and I explained that I did not want the other guys feeling to get hurt. He was thoughtful for a moment and then made a slight grin. Chuckle!

Love my American Made Subi, made by the United Auto Workers, with more American made parts than Ford, GM, Chrysler...

Thanks. I think the manual recommends 3000k so I will go with that from now on.

At least I know the place is honest. He topped off the other fluids and did not charge me anything.

Silly. Everyone knows you are suppose to use bacon fat!

:-)

My old Pontiac proved that oil can leak through solid metal. I never had to change the oil, although I did. My oil changes were all across the roads, in my parking space ...

Went through a quart every two weeks. Spent about $3000 over the years trying to fix that. No joy.

My current Subi doesn't leak a drop.

How long does it take for you to rack up the 2500 miles ?

As a retiree, who no longer makes a 45 min each way commute on an Interstate, it now takes me a year to rack up 2500 miles. My 2008 only has 38,000 miles on it now.

So with a greater % of time spent idling at lights etc, and more short trips vs long, I change oil every 6 months "whether it needs it or not", and regardless of mileage.

What kind of car and what year only goes 3000 miles now ? I know the older ones did,but that was many years ago.

I have been driving Toyatos and one of them said 7500. My 2017 Toyota says every 10,000 unless severe conditions. It does use the synthetic oil. Everything else was regular oil.

I had a 1991 Toyota and put 200,000 on it. Changed the oil 2 times per year needed or not. Usually put about 12,000 miles on it a year. I think it was recommended at 7500 miles. My truck does not get driven very many miles now and I change it once a year even if it does not need it. The truck is seldom used to haul very much, so it is light duty use.

On Thu, 8 Feb 2018 12:14:26 -0600, philo wrote in

I change my oil and filter ever 5000 miles. Been doing that for the past 50 years. Never had a problem.

My car is a 2006 Vibe and I only put on 5000 -6000 miles a year

Yes. Since I only drive 5000 a year or so, probably I should just do it every six months

Sounds reasonable.

I agree with that. Both oils and engines have greatly improved over the years and most car makers are in the 7500 mile range. I did that for years, but traded by 75,000 or three years. Now that I'm retired and drive less, I'll probably go for 5,000 miles. This winter I drove less than ever. Bought a new car at the end of October and have 2200 miles so far. Though I will put on 3000 more by the end of the month.

If you only need 2 oil changes per year - don't sweat the mileage detail. John T.

Synthetic oil claims it lasts longer, and dont need to be changed as often. Supposedly it lasts longer. I've never used it, so I am only quoting what I was told. I figure if a car had regular oil when it was made, thats what I use. If you switch to synthetic, there is still a fair amount of regular oil in it. Blending them does not seem like a good idea, which is why I have never used the synthetic.

My car started oinking at start up so I stopped using it.

Not if the miles go on 1-5 at a time over a 4 month period.

With regular oil 90% of North American driving falls i nto the "severe" category

Short trips where the engine does not get up to full temp for 20 minutes or more is "severe" by the OEM definition.

All of the cars with "coking" problems have no problem if serviced according to the severe schedule and/or using Synthetic oil.

Use synthetic and change twice a year That's what I do with mine - roughly the same usage.

Blernding is no problem. The synthetic oils commonly on the market today are fully compatible (not ester oils though)

Synthetics DO last longer - with regular oil I changed3 or 4 timesa year.