Are oil change interval recommendations to short?

Question

I have changed the oil on my Mini Van every 50,000 miles. The car has 160,000 on it and is in purre-fect condition. I gave my previous car away with 180,000 miles on it and it's still driving now with 240,000 miles. Is it just making a buck for the industrie? What are your thoughts?

I think, that maybe, if you have a high performance race car, the oil change is important, but I like to see scientific proof of a normal car drivne at no more the 70 miles an hour in its lifetime, that oil change makes a significant difference

Answer 1

the 3,000 mile oil change is outdated. In Europe drain intervals have been 10,000 miles or more for years!
check out this link on extended drains: http://www.amsoil.com/redirect.cgi?zo=1463115&page=news/oil_drain_intervals_2_06

includes comments from GM

50,000 seems like alot, unless you are using extended drain motor oil (Amsoil), bypass filtration, and oil analysis. If you don't want to go to all that trouble, Amsoil is guaranteed for 1 year or 25,000 miles with their EaO synthetic nanofiber filter (or change regular filters at OEM intervals). check out their stuff here: http://www.amsoil.com/redirect.cgi?zo=1463115&page=products

Answer 2

I certainly hope you meant to type 5,000 miles instead of 50,000. If 50,000 is correct you are very lucky. If you read the owner's manual for most vehicles they recommend every 5000 miles unless it is used for what they call extreme use - towing, hauling heavy loads or very dirty or dusty conditions. The rule of thumb about every 3000 miles is a marketing strategy from the oil manufacturer. They want you to buy as much of their product as possible. It certainly won't hurt your vehicle, but may not be necessary. I always change mine somewhere between 4 and 5k and I've never had a problem,

Answer 3

I hope you accidentally made a misprint! If you went 50,000 in 4 months fine you could get away with it.
If not I'd like to me a mouse and look inside your valve covers. If your numbers are correct you're skating on "NO" ice.
Correct lubrication intervals are the best insurance any motorist can hope for. Nowadays most new cars call for 5,000 mile intervals with regular oil. Synthetics can go longer because of their increased formulation properties.

Answer 4

Ya, no, Doing that is EXTREMLY unhealthy for the engine. Oil has detergants added to the oil that brake down over time, with heat and wear. This detergant is whats giving oil its lubricating properties. Everytime you start the vehicle, you're burning off a VERY slight amount of oil, and if you have any oil leaks, mild or sever, you're losing oil that way too. An Oil change is what is called "Maintance". It is to ensure that the vehicle is being looked after and is going to live as long as possible, with as few repairs as possible. Its recomended that you change your oil every 3000miles/5000km with conventional oil, and depending on the brand of synthetic about 15000miles/20000km-ish, depending on brand. I still don't agree with that, and say that even synthetic should be changed at the same intervals, It just removes any impurities and keeps engine wear down by reducing metal filings from running threw the engine. I change My oil every 4000km, and I am very strict about it. If I am 50km over, I'm annoyed at myself for not doing it sooner.

I work in a garage and have seen the negative affects of no oil changes, most of the time its resulting in a new engine, or a new car. Not changing the oil frequantly creates major wear on the engine as all the particles will continue to be contained in the oil, when the oil gets low, you will starve the engine of oil and will cause excess wear and heat that will reduce the life of the engine. It is never a good idea to change oil every 50 000miles.

Plus, an oil change isn't expencive, $45, and a half hour of your time its done. (canadian dollars). every 5000km, that works out to be about $450 for 50 000km. Thats a better price then a $4000 engine (installation included in price.

Answer 5

Most people still use the 3 month or 3000 mile recommendations of old thinking that it makes the engine last longer. It doesn't, of course, and just adds to our nations dependance on foreign oil. I change my oil every 5000 miles and all my vehicles have over 150,000 miles on them.

Answer 6

i always change my oil at 3000 miles unless i am driving in stop and go traffic where it is harder on the engine. With synthetic oil you could run 5000 miles then just change the filter add oil to just full mark, at 10,000 miles I would change oil and filter. This is based on driving conditions ans full synthetic oil.

Answer 7

Rule of thumb change the oil and filter every 3000mi or every 3 months what ever comes 1st.

Answer 8

even if u use synthetic oil 50,000 miles is not a good change point.

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