How often to get an oil change

[ArmchairAthlete]

This is for a 2000 honda civic.

My dad insists that I only need to get the oil changed every time the Maintenance Required light goes from green to yellow.

Of course most would agree that the oil lube shops want you to go more often than you need to. I think they claim something like every 2500 miles. I'm way over that now, but my maintenance light is still green.

I keep a high enough level of oil there always though.

What do you guys think?

 

[The Stigenator]

its 3000 miles or 6 months.. but thats for normal driving.. thats what they say. Not 2500.

Anyway I have over 150,000 miles on my 2000 ford focus and I have been doing 5000 miles. Just keep an eye on the oil level and top up if needed. The oil level should be between the lines on teh dipstick. If its below the lower level, tehn its a quart low.. if its midway, leave it there.. if its lower than midway then you are on the lowerside, could top off a bit.

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

Yea, I do check the oil level. It's pretty black but it's got enough.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: TheGoodGuy
its 3000 miles or 6 months.. but thats for normal driving.. thats what they say. Not 2500.

Anyway I have over 150,000 miles on my 2000 ford focus and I have been doing 5000 miles. Just keep an eye on the oil level and top up if needed. The oil level should be between the lines on teh dipstick. If its below the lower level, tehn its a quart low.. if its midway, leave it there.. if its lower than midway then you are on the lowerside, could top off a bit.

Actually, that tends to be for "severe" driving...which is short trips, stop-and-go, dusty, cold etc. If you do "light duty" (highway cruising, long-distance, moderate temps), you can extend your oil change interval quite a ways beyond that. I usually do 5k as well.

I'm not totally sold on the indicators yet, because I don't know enough about what exactly they monitor. I can't think of a reason why they couldn't make one which worked well, but I have a nagging suspicion that they just use a timer/mile clock to give you an interval. In which case I'd prefer to err on the safe side and do 5k changes with dino oil, or 7.5k for synthetic.

You can get an oil analysis done if you really want to extend your OCI (often well beyond the intervals I quoted above) without the guesswork.

 

[natto fire]

A general rule of thumb is that over 90% of drivers should follow the "severe" listing in the owners manual. Because those lights are just designed to trigger at certain mileage intervals, they are not the most accurate. Like jagec said, you can get an oil analysis done if you want to lay done some bucks to truly protect your car.

In my opinion, repeated short drives and cold startups are the hardest on cars, even more so than the other things listed for "severe" in the manual. It always saddens me how many people will romp on an engine before it gets to normal operating temperature (for several minutes if the engine does not have an oil/coolant heat exchanger) because oil is basically useless in cold climates unless it has warmed up quite a bit.

Multi-weight oils have helped this problem a bit, but even still, it is critical to remember that before an engine reaches operating temperature, it is essentially a barely lubricated machine that will waste fuel and could possibly damage things with metal to metal contact. It is critical to realize how important oil is, especially in modern engines.

 

[imported_Shivetya]

I used to change my oil at 3K on all my cars, changed it to 6K with the Murano. However with this new Civic I am going to follow their recommendation and not do it until the car tells me to. Right now I am closing in on 6000 miles and oil life is still rated at 50% I believe.

My Murano I did every 6000 miles. Why did I go from 3K to 6K? Simple, I have motorcycles as well. Their maintenance interval is 6K (BMW). Considering their engines are higher performance than cars, run very high compression ratios, and I exert them more I figure if they can do 6K any old car engine damn well better make it that far.

Hell my K has a 13:1 compression ratio! If that thing doesn't stress oil then no car is going to.


Key reasons to change oil more often (if your car cannot tell you when)

1. You have a Turbo
2. You drive like a race car driver (idiot engine brakers and the like)
3. You like to pop redline, stay within 20% of it and such (I have a friend who runs his little ricer at 4 to 5k all the time (it redlines at 6500)
4. Your towing
5. Your offroad a lot
6. Your in very dirty conditions (read: farm levels of dirt -desert - etc)

 

[Vette73]

For most street cars 5000miles with a good Reg. oil will be fine. Now if your car is turbo or calls for a special oil then you need to change that. Also don't use fram filters.

I do 4000miles on my Turbo Saab with Syn and about 8000-9000miles on my Corvette with Syn oil.

 

[thedarkwolf]

One car every 6 months other car every year.

 

[LS21]

Originally posted by: Captain Howdy
A general rule of thumb is that over 90% of drivers should follow the "severe" listing in the owners manual. Because those lights are just designed to trigger at certain mileage intervals, they are not the most accurate.

Those lights take into account the driving style / condition (as recorded by computer)... thats why they put a light in there... its not a simple odometer trigger

However, for general rule of thumb, i change with regular oil every 5000, using factory filter

2500 is ridiculous. porsches and bmw goes 10,000+ (i think 30 and 15 respectively?).. and you'll notice a trend that most cars now have the manual recommend 5/7.5 intervals

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: LS21

Originally posted by: Captain Howdy
A general rule of thumb is that over 90% of drivers should follow the "severe" listing in the owners manual. Because those lights are just designed to trigger at certain mileage intervals, they are not the most accurate.

Those lights take into account the driving style / condition (as recorded by computer)... thats why they put a light in there... its not a simple odometer trigger

That depends on the car.

In some cases, it's simply a count of the number of crankshaft revolutions.
In some cases, it really is just an odometer trigger (the light in my '98 Volvo, for example, comes on every 5,000 miles; it's a fixed interval).
In some cases it does measure things like temperature and trip length and driving style.

It all depends on the car. Though the newer ones tend to be more sophisticated.

ZV

 

[overst33r]

7500 on synthetic for my miata. manual says 7500 on regular dino oil, I think that's a bit excessive.

 

[spidey07]

It depends. Some cars maintain your driving habits and environmental factors to tell you when to change the oil.

I've got 130K on my car. Changed the oil 3 times.

 

[Demo24]

Originally posted by: Shivetya


Key reasons to change oil more often (if your car cannot tell you when)

1. You have a Turbo
2. You drive like a race car driver (idiot engine brakers and the like)

I fail to see why you think engine braking is bad. Uses little to no gas and slows the car down. I engine brake all the time which means going down a hill I don't have to ride my brakes like every other idiot on the road in front of me. My car also burns very little oil so I can't see engine braking being a cause to that.


I generally change mine every 3-3.5k, mainly because a)thats whats recommended b)its got a turbo c)peace of mind as I want it to last.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: ArmchairAthlete
This is for a 2000 honda civic.

My dad insists that I only need to get the oil changed every time the Maintenance Required light goes from green to yellow.

Of course most would agree that the oil lube shops want you to go more often than you need to. I think they claim something like every 2500 miles. I'm way over that now, but my maintenance light is still green.

I keep a high enough level of oil there always though.

What do you guys think?

I didn't know that the Civic had a maint. req. light.

Personally, I'd just go with whatever is recommended in the owners manual.

 

[MixMasterTang]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: ArmchairAthlete
This is for a 2000 honda civic.

My dad insists that I only need to get the oil changed every time the Maintenance Required light goes from green to yellow.

Of course most would agree that the oil lube shops want you to go more often than you need to. I think they claim something like every 2500 miles. I'm way over that now, but my maintenance light is still green.

I keep a high enough level of oil there always though.

What do you guys think?

I didn't know that the Civic had a maint. req. light.

Personally, I'd just go with whatever is recommended in the owners manual.

FTW - The people who made your car and Warranty your car are not going to say change every 7500 miles (or xxxxx miles) if they do not think it is perfectly safe for you to do under average conditions.

 

[Jahee]

Whenever the service engine light comes on

Changed the oil 10k ago and it hasn't given me a warning yet, it displays a miles left figure, starts at around 2000 i think.

Not sure what the manual states but they recommend you have the car serviced every 15-20k miles i think.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Shivetya
2. You drive like a race car driver (idiot engine brakers and the like)

 

[exdeath]

The old rule I learned was 3 months/3000 miles but most people would agree that is outdated and it depends on the engine, environment, etc.

I use synthetic and change it roughly every 5,000 miles, or just about when it starts to get dark, but that's being extremely pampering. I also live in Dustville, Arizona with hot summers and like to romp on it from time to time.

When going a long time with synthetics like 10-15,000 miles it's important you still change the filter at least once in between oil changes. Just because the oil doesn't break down easily doesn't mean it isn't getting saturated with crap and plugging up the filter.

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

Wow, thanks for all the discussion.

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: LS21

Originally posted by: Captain Howdy
A general rule of thumb is that over 90% of drivers should follow the "severe" listing in the owners manual. Because those lights are just designed to trigger at certain mileage intervals, they are not the most accurate.

Those lights take into account the driving style / condition (as recorded by computer)... thats why they put a light in there... its not a simple odometer trigger

That depends on the car.

In some cases, it's simply a count of the number of crankshaft revolutions.
In some cases, it really is just an odometer trigger (the light in my '98 Volvo, for example, comes on every 5,000 miles; it's a fixed interval).
In some cases it does measure things like temperature and trip length and driving style.

It all depends on the car. Though the newer ones tend to be more sophisticated.

ZV

Hmm, any Honda enthusiasts here that know which the case is with the 2000 civic's light?

I'm gonna check the manual too.

 

[overst33r]

Originally posted by: exdeath
The old rule I learned was 3 months/3000 miles but most people would agree that is outdated and it depends on the engine, environment, etc.

I use synthetic and change it roughly every 5,000 miles, or just about when it starts to get dark, but that's being extremely pampering. I also live in Dustville, Arizona with hot summers and like to romp on it from time to time.

When going a long time with synthetics like 10-15,000 miles it's important you still change the filter at least once in between oil changes. Just because the oil doesn't break down easily doesn't mean it isn't getting saturated with crap and plugging up the filter.

Your oil doesn't get dark until 5000 miles? Now that is amazing.

 

[exdeath]

Originally posted by: mariok2006

Originally posted by: exdeath
The old rule I learned was 3 months/3000 miles but most people would agree that is outdated and it depends on the engine, environment, etc.

I use synthetic and change it roughly every 5,000 miles, or just about when it starts to get dark, but that's being extremely pampering. I also live in Dustville, Arizona with hot summers and like to romp on it from time to time.

When going a long time with synthetics like 10-15,000 miles it's important you still change the filter at least once in between oil changes. Just because the oil doesn't break down easily doesn't mean it isn't getting saturated with crap and plugging up the filter.

Your oil doesn't get dark until 5000 miles? Now that is amazing.

If I go 3,000 miles it's clear amber in color, at 5,000 miles it's starting to turn at deep goldish orange but still translucent.

Engine is hand built with extremely tight piston to wall clearance with forged aluminum pistons in an iron block (.001" if I recall) and low 8.5:1 compression that doesn't see higher cylinder pressures when not under boost (ie: 90% of regular driving) so there is literally like zero blow by. The tight clearance is also why I use 5W-20 oil.

And I keep it changed meticulously so there isn't ever time for anything nasty to accumulate.

Car just rolled over 40k miles

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: exdeath
Engine is hand built with extremely tight piston to wall clearance with forged aluminum pistons in an iron block (.001" if I recall) and low 8.5:1 compression that doesn't see higher cylinder pressures when not under boost (ie: 90% of regular driving) so there is literally like zero blow by. The tight clearance is also why I use 5W-20 oil.

Interesting...more details?

 

[batmang]

I change mine every 3-3.5k miles. I usually check the oil level and color. If its mid to low and nasty, i change it. If its mid to high and is still brown.. i let it go a little longer. But... 3-4k is about the right time for me. Just check your level and color.

 

[imported_Truenofan]

1. You have a Turbo
2. You drive like a race car driver (idiot engine brakers and the like)
3. You like to pop redline, stay within 20% of it and such (I have a friend who runs his little ricer at 4 to 5k all the time (it redlines at 6500)

those would be true except the engine braking. i plan on changing quite often for my car. 3-5k at the most. 5k if i dont see any track/racing use. 3k or less if i go a lot within a short time.

 

[amdskip]

Once a year or every 10-15,000 miles. I run Amsoil in my 96 civic.