Is it a myth that we must change the oil in a vehicle every 3 months or 3000 miles? or can we go longer?

Question

regular auto

3 months or 3000 miles?

does the oil have to be changed at this point or does the oil actually last longer?

Answer 1

It's funny you ask. I was researching this information the last 3 weeks.

The mileage can get higher but months seem fixed at around 3 months to 6 months. That's because modern oil resist break down better than your father's engine oil. So many auto manufacturers are recommending higher period. BMW even recommends 15K mile drain period (which I think is crazy).

But the anti-corrosion additive can only do so much and having oil with depleted anti-corrosion additive is only going to cause metal to corrode.

===
Whatever you do, check the condition of your oil when you drain it. Feel the oil (and compare it to the feel of the new oil). Feel it to see if it is still slippery. It is a low tech test but still valid test. Also if you have the tools, dissect your oil filter from time to time and inspect it for solid particles (clumps of sludge or metal filings).

If you are worried about your engine, always go with synthetic engine oil. They are much better at resisting thermal and shear break down. Because they are more expensive they also usually have higher quality corrosion resistance additive. Many modern engines run hotter and easily create engine sludge (especially small engines and turbo engines).

For good scare story go to google and search for "engine sludge". The information is enough to make you change oil EVERY 3 month / 3k to 5K miles.
===
Your next worry is the oil filter. Please see this link

http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilterstudy.html

Good luck.

===
Don't forget to vote for the BEST ANSWER - please - whoever it may be.

FACT: You also get +3 points when you vote for BEST ANSWER

Answer 2

it's a trade off. technically speaking, the best thing for your car would be to have an unending supply of fresh clean oil. Of course that's not possible. You could change the oil every week and the engine would probably never fail, but the waste and the cost would be prohibitive. So it's a balance. At what point does the oil really stop performing and warrant you spending another 30 or so dollars on a change? I only use full synthetic in my car ( mobil 1). My car came with an oil change indicator and it tells me when I need to change my oil. It is generally between 5,000 and 6,000 miles, but I do ALOT of highway driving.
If you want to do the 3,000 mile 3 month thing, you can. Really the more often you change your oil the better. However you have to balance the cost of frequent changes with the benefit to your engine. Honestly, 3000 is probably more than you need to do, you could get away with 5000 and probably be fine.
If you are REALLY concerned you can actually have your oil tested. There is a company called Blackstone Labs, I pasted the link below, they will actually analyze your oil and tell you exactly how much life it has left, the degree of viscosity break down, what contaminants have made thier way into your oil, etc. Here is what you do. drive your car for 3000 miles and have the oil tested. Then drive it up to 5000 and test the oil again. See what he difference is. Then you will know for sure!

Answer 3

If you use modern fully synth with a API rating of at least GF-4 you can do at least 5000 miles. More than that depending on how you use your car.
Said this, I just look at the oil.
Old oil becomes very very runny, the opposite of thick, simply get the dipstick out and feel the oil with your fingers, if it's new, it'll be gold and fairly consistent and won't smell, if it's old it's stinky, runny, black and generally burned out.
It's true however that debris/filings will circulate and will eventually clog the oil filter if maintenance isn't observed.

When in doubt, take it to some professionals, which by the way will rotate wheels at the same time, change sump plug ring, lightly lube oil filter O ring before fitting it and other little things that mechanics do while under there, like taking a look at the brakes, state of steering linkage rubbers, exhaust mounts etc..
You should be able to get a quote here:
http://autocare.servicesarticles.com/tires.php
or here, not too sure, just have a look
http://autocare.servicesarticles.com/autocareappointment.php
hope I helped, best of luck.












RE:
Is it a myth that we must change the oil in a vehicle every 3 months or 3000 miles? or can we go longer?
regular auto

3 months or 3000 miles?

does the oil have to be changed at this point or does the oil actually last longer?

Answer 4

Oil
never "wears out"...it becomes contaminated by other fluids and solids in the engine as well as dirt brought in by the air intake that gets past the air filter. Gasoline gets past the compression rings on each piston with every combustion and into the oil, breaking down the oils ability to lubricate. Over the course of about 3000 miles or 3 months, the oil has become so contaminated that it has lost almost all of its lubricating qualities and isnt keeping the parts that require oil from wearing against each other.
Not changing your oil will shorten the life of any engine by half or more. Newer synthetic oils now claim to extend the time between oil changes up to 15,000 miles. But I am old school and am very reluctant to believe this. I do know for a fact that synthetic oils are far superior to fossile oil in their lubricating abilities. Here is what I do. I use Mobil one semi synthetic 10w30 in almost everything I own. I change the oil every 5000 miles along with the filter...I use WIX filters only. I can honestly say I have NEVER had an oil related failure since I have been useing the afore mentioned products and time tables.

Answer 5

If you drive in ideal conditions (no winters, dust, and no short drives) it's quite safe to go 5,000 miles between changes. The problem is nobody qualifies for all these things. Fresh changes with quality oil filters is very cheap insurance if you want it to rack up 200,000 or more miles. An exception may be if you were to take a trip from NY to California and back in a 3 month period. Go for it! Cool and frigid conditions cause cylinder wash down (gasoline) an that raises he*l with motor oil. Everyone has given you great answers. Please read and retain.

Answer 6

first thing to understand is that oil does not lose its lubricity. however the additive package in the oil breaks down over time, and the oil absorbes contaminants like dirt, acid, water, etc. second, the mileage at which an oil change is recommended varies depending on the use of the vehicle. if you do mostly city driving, then you are subjecting your vehicle to what the automakers call severe duty use, and thus the oil needs to be changed more frequently. if you use the vehicle for mostly highway driving, then you can change oil at longer mileage intervals. at 3 months however the additive package has broken down to the point where it needs to be replaced.

there are longer change interval oils on the market now, and you can push oil change intervals further these days than in the old days, but not too much further. i recommend changing your oil at least 3 times per year, rather than the 4 times i used to recommend.

Answer 7

Actually, you NEVER need to change your oil... its true and documented.. ! (of course you WILL need to change your engine)

The thing about oil is that it is pretty flexible.. but your engine is not. The grittier the oil gets the more it wears away at the engine...

Personally (you are not going to like this part) I change my oil monthly (and the filter of course). I put on about 1000 miles/month so that is not a factor...

I also have three cars.... one with 300,000 and an old beetle that finally blew a valve with over 500,000. My other car is still going strong at 100,000+ . I do the work myself so the oil and filter costs me about $10 per month or $80 per year more then your 3 month cycle. That is very cheap insurance for the engine and the mileage I have put on them seems to bear it out.

My guess is that others will echo the same thing.. (but then again who knows).

.

Answer 8

Look in your owners manual under scheduled maintenance for oil change intervals. Oil last much longer than 3000 miles and your driving habits has a lot to do with how often you should change it.

Answer 9

It depends on the oil you use, traditional oils can go 5,000 miles and synthetic oil Can go 15,000 miles but you still need to change your filter to make sure the oil is clean, by the way a top tech i know recommends adding a quart of automatic transmission fluid to increase cleaning ability

Answer 10

The 3000 mile oil change is just a big marketing hype created by the oil companies to make you buy their products. I go 12,000 miles between oil changes and I never have any problems.