How often do you change your oil?

[Passacaglia]

Just curious.

[ice4277]

I got a new car a couple months back and they told me I only need to get it changed about every 7500 miles or so.

[cartman]

My uncle runs an oil change center, so I let him change the oil every 5K.

[Ksyrup]

I treat oil changes like getting a new toothbrush - since the people who are telling me when to buy them have a vested interest in my repeat business, I automatically double whatever they tell me. So it's 6K miles for an oil change, and 6 months for a new toothbrush.

[Eaglesfan27]

Maybe, I'm the lone sucker so far, but I change my car's oil every 3,000 miles. However, I'm not fanatical about it. I'll sometimes go up to 300 miles over 3,000 before changing it if I'm in a really busy period at work.

[JeeberD]

I usually go between 4 and 5k between changes. My girlfriend gives me hell about it, though. And the car is approaching 100,000 miles, so I really should be taking better care of it now...

[st.cronin]

It's my understanding that in Europe they change their oil once a year, although I don't fully understand the reasons why. I think part of it is less driving, and maybe their cars are engineered differently (or perhaps their oil is). I go with 3000 miles on the theory that better safe than sorry.

[FrogMan]

on our 160k miles old Dodge Colt, it's every 3000 miles or about (5000km) and on the 2005 Matrix, it's the factory recommended every 5000 miles (8000km)

FM

[stevew]

I just changed mine the other day for the first time in about 10 months. I dont really drive all that much tho.

[stkelly52]

The only people who tell you to change your oil every 3000 miles are the people whose income is based upon you buying more oil. Every independent study has shown that there is no difference between changeing it after 3000 or 6000 miles.

[mhass]

Our Trailblazer has a meter that measures oil life. We were told not to change it before the meter got below 20%. That works out to about 4,000 miles.

[Klinglerware]

The only people who tell you to change your oil every 3000 miles are the people whose income is based upon you buying more oil. Every independent study has shown that there is no difference between changeing it after 3000 or 6000 miles.

I used to do it religiously at 3000, but I'm closer to 5000-6000 these days. My manual says that you could even wait up to 7500 if you drive it under mostly "ideal" conditions. I've done it at 7500 a couple times, but I think you're pushing it at that point--I definitely notice a difference after a 7500 mi oil change...

[cartman]

The only time I change the oil less than 3000 miles is after I've done an engine rebuilt. I'll change it at 500, 1000, and 3000 miles right after a rebuild, to catch any of the crud that might be left over from the work.

[AlexB]

It's my understanding that in Europe they change their oil once a year, although I don't fully understand the reasons why. I think part of it is less driving, and maybe their cars are engineered differently (or perhaps their oil is). I go with 3000 miles on the theory that better safe than sorry.

I don;t think there's any engineering differences, it's just that most people don't bother changing the oil until a light comes on the dash to tell you you probably should start thinking about it.

Admittedly mine's a company car - the oil gets topped up if low, but only gets changed when it gets serviced, which is every 12,000 miles, which lasts about 5-6 months now (used to be about 3-4, but I've changed jobs and my area is more localised now, cutting my milage from 45,000 miles a year to about 25-30,000)

I don't work on the 'better safe than sorry' theory, rather the 'it's not my car so who gives a rat's ass' theory! :D
(Edit: actually not entirely true - I don't thrash it, and do pay attention to the running temperature and sound - it's just that it has to be either a high temperature, strange noise or warning light for me to do anything outside of the standard service)

[LoneStarGirl]

The only time i ever change my oil is when i have to drive home to Texas, or if I am home, when I have to drive back to Mississippi. I've gone 10,000 miles without changing my oil before and nothing happened, I couldn't tell the difference, other than the fact my boyfriend kept bitching to me about it.

[korme]

i get free toothbrushes and oil changes - what now Ksyrup??!

[AgustusM]

Currently I have a nice 40K Truck, so to be on the safe side I change it every 5-6K.

However when I was younger, poorer, and frankly didn't think about these types of things I once ran my used Ford Ranger that I bought for 2 grand and I had for 5 years. It finally died at 245,000 miles - I had a job where I had to drive to grocery stores all over the state and drove easily 2,000 miles a week and I NEVER CHANGED THE OIL NOT ONCE!!! Lucky maybe, who knows - but I never tuned it up, changed the tires nothin - now sure it was an eyesore and I wouldn't let my kids now within 100 yards of the thing but certainly the "recommendations" of when to change your oil are obviously a little biased.

[Ksyrup]

i get free toothbrushes and oil changes - what now Ksyrup??!
You still need a lube job.

[Franklinnoble]

I go 6000-8000 miles between changes, but I run full synthetic in all my cars.

[albionmoonlight]

At 3,000 miles, I'll think, "I need to get an oil change when I get a chance." Then it is probably a few hundred more miles before I notice that I have some time to kill or will be around a jiffy lube or whatever and get around to it.

[CamEdwards]

my matrix has a light that comes on every 4500 miles to let you know it's time to change the oil.

[BigJohn&TheLions]

I haven't changed oil in 6 or 7 years...

More importantly, who here just dumps it down the sewer?

[jbmagic]

i had a friend who bought a new car, and for 3 years he didnt change the Oil. we told him many times to change the oil and he said its a new car and new car dont need oil.


guess what happen, he blew up his engine and it made a hole the size of a half dollar coin.

[Franklinnoble]

More importantly, who here just dumps it down the sewer?
I live out in the sticks... I've got 10 acres, and another 100+ of BLM land bordering my property. Recycling oil hasn't exactly caught on around my place.

[Cringer]

4,000 miles is fine by me.

My '93 Blazer hasn't had the oil changed in over 3 years. But, I am only at 3,000 miles since the last change so I'm fine. :D

My work truck is about every 35,000 miles, which breaks down to about every 6 weeks.

Has anyone used AMSOIL Synthetics? I have been reading about this some lately. This is one of their claims...

The only 25,000 mile/one- year and 35,000/one- year motor oil in the world.

[Bee]

I don't pay much attention to the mileage. The one car we drive a lot, get's an oil change about every 3-4 months. The other car gets one about every 5-6 months.

[Raven Hawk]

It's my understanding that in Europe they change their oil once a year, although I don't fully understand the reasons why. I think part of it is less driving, and maybe their cars are engineered differently (or perhaps their oil is). I go with 3000 miles on the theory that better safe than sorry.
The way that I understand it is that they there are two reasons for this:

1. Nobody in Europe drives their cars in Europe as much as we do in America. Therefore, 1 year worth of driving may equal 10,000 miles instead of the 15,000 to 17,000 that we usually pull here in the states every year.

2. The "Big Oil" lobby isn't that big in Europe and thus use of synthetic oil seems to be the rule rather than the exception. Synthetic oils don't require being changed as frequently.

Therefore, you can get 10,000 miles on one oil change. Guess what? That's how far you drive in a year.

[Raiders Army]

It depends.

[Ksyrup]

I am shocked - SHOCKED - no one has attempted a, "How often do you change your underwear?" thread yet.

Perhaps all of the brow-beating about parody threads is starting to work...

[Pyser]

ive made it to 154,000 on a freakin dodge neon.

how? well, i have an oil leak, so i just fill er up when the oil light comes on. i change it all out after about 5k or so, though, for filters and whatnot, and whatever else they do (magic pixie dust? i have no idea)

[Arctus]

Usually somewhere between 4000 to 5000 miles. I drive a Buick LeSabre with 190K miles on it and still no problems (knocks on wood).

[FrogMan]

ive made it to 154,000 on a freakin dodge neon.

how? well, i have an oil leak, so i just fill er up when the oil light comes on. i change it all out after about 5k or so, though, for filters and whatnot, and whatever else they do (magic pixie dust? i have no idea)
I've made it so far to 160k with my 1994 Dodge Colt, which is the old sister of the Neon. Same as you, I check the oil level regularly and I add some when it needs some and I change the oil every 3000 miles. While it's not running as smoothly as it was when it was new, it still starts every morning, even in temperatures as cold as -20F this past Winter. Never changed the engine.

FM

[tategter]

With my Mazda 6 the dealer recommends every 3k miles, the owner's manual recommends every 5k miles, and the Mazda web site recommends every 7.5k miles. Cracks me up that the car company can't even give me a straight answer.

I usually change it every 5-7k miles. My Ram 1500 with 40k miles gets changed every 3-5k.

[KevinNU7]

When my average miles per gallon falls below 28 I take it in. This usually occurs around 4,000 miles

[DanGarion]

My dad told me that back in the 60's-70's they used to tell people 10-12K miles.

[Leonidas]

I remember when the standard was to change oil every 8,000 miles. I have had more than one mechanic confirm to me that 3K is a BS number made to sell oil and oil changes and 5K is more than suitable to keep the car running.

[hukarez]

VW always had a every 5K oil change policy, so I pretty much do mine every 5K. Of course, I'll always use full syntec -- the last thing I need is for my turbo to go kaput.

[Leonidas]

VW always had a every 5K oil change policy, so I pretty much do mine every 5K. Of course, I'll always use full syntec -- the last thing I need is for my turbo to go kaput.

If you are using Syntec you should be able to go more like 20K between changes. That stuff is sweet.

[hukarez]

If you are using Syntec you should be able to go more like 20K between changes. That stuff is sweet.
Always using full Syntec. I'm just used to getting my oil changed every 5K. I wouldn't worry so much if I had a turbo timer installed, however.

[JimboJ]

A few years ago, Consumer Reports did a study on oil, and they concluded that there is no benefit to changing it less than every 7500 miles.