Roger and others who change their own oil...

[Red]

I've changed my own oil for about a year and a half and I enjoy doing it. When I did research on how often I should change my oil using regular dino oil, the answer was always 3,000 miles or 3 months, whichever comes first.

Further research suggested that this 3,000/3 month thing is only tauted by the oil industry and oil change places to generate profits... with the only evidence based on the fact that modern car manuals (like mine) recommend 5,000 mi changes under extreme conditions and 10,000 changes under normal conditions. And who knows their engine better than the company who ... engineered it?

The opposing side says that car companies tell you that because that want your engine to have a shorter life so you'll buy a new car sooner.

Both arguments seem very superficical and lack evidence, but they do make you wonder.

In my OWN experience of changing oil in my two '02 Honda Civics... after 3,000 miles the oil is a very dark golden color, but definitely not black.

Is there any evidence suggesting oil breakdown after x amount of miles? I know spending roughly $10 + hour of time times two cars for oil + filter change can prevent pricey engine problems, but what is a safe standard? I've moved from 3,000 miles to 4,000 recently in my changes and I really start to sweat after 3,000 miles but the oil is still "pretty".

 

[Electric Amish]

Don't forget that it's not always about the oil breaking down. It gets contaminants in it that can cause extra wear on the engine.

 

I totally ignore the 3 months thing, but I definitely adhere to the 3,000 miles thing, give or take a couple hundred miles. I change it when it's close to 3,000, and when I have the time.

 

[GasX]

If your oil is black, you have already gone too long without an oil change

 

I make it a practice to change my oil every three thousand miles period, why ?

Not only does the oil break down over time and mileage (Loss of additives, Ie ; anti-foaming, viscosity etc.) but contaminents enter the oil through air induction and from the by products of combustion.

(Acids, hydrocarbon compounds etc.)

 

[m2kewl]

3k oil change is BS. i just change every 5.5k miles on synthetic.

recently looked at all my engine parts when i checked valve clearance and it's clean as a whistle.

 

[CrazyDe1]

Originally posted by: Mwilding
If your oil is black, you have already gone too long without an oil change

I do mine religiously every 3000 miles and it's black as hell...I took my car in to get something else fixed and it had been 1000 miles since my last oil change and they asked when I did the last oil change cause the oil was black as hell.

 

[NutBucket]

I should check the oil in the motor I just pulled out of my car. I let it go about 10k since I knew it was coming out anyway. Its an Accord Motor with 150k on the clock. Its been driven pretty hard (by me) for about the last 60k of its life. First things first tho, gotta fix my oil leak.

 

3k oil change is BS. i just change every 5.5k miles on synthetic.

Ok Mr.Technician, what ever you say, what would I know ? I only been working on vehicles for the past 25 years plus.

 

[DurocShark]

Originally posted by: CrazyDe1

Originally posted by: Mwilding
If your oil is black, you have already gone too long without an oil change

I do mine religiously every 3000 miles and it's black as hell...I took my car in to get something else fixed and it had been 1000 miles since my last oil change and they asked when I did the last oil change cause the oil was black as hell.

It means you've got something wrong. Whether it's a valveguide or a piston ring or something else, I dunno... But you need to do a compression check ASAP.

 

[m2kewl]

Originally posted by: Roger

3k oil change is BS. i just change every 5.5k miles on synthetic.

Ok Mr.Technician, what ever you say, what would I know ?

i'm not knocking you roger - that's just my opinion and my car (you know opinions are like @ssholes and everyone has one) and my gamble.

roger <-- listen to this man!

 

[CrazyDe1]

Originally posted by: DurocShark

Originally posted by: CrazyDe1

Originally posted by: Mwilding
If your oil is black, you have already gone too long without an oil change

I do mine religiously every 3000 miles and it's black as hell...I took my car in to get something else fixed and it had been 1000 miles since my last oil change and they asked when I did the last oil change cause the oil was black as hell.

It means you've got something wrong. Whether it's a valveguide or a piston ring or something else, I dunno... But you need to do a compression check ASAP.

Yeah, I had them check it out and they said nothing was wrong w/ the engine. I think it might just be my driving....

 

[vi edit]

I change mine depending on driving conditions - in my car that gets driven in town in stop and go traffic with lots of idle time for all of it's miles and is turned on and off a bunch of times a day, it gets changed every 3000.

In my car that has nothing but highway miles put on it, and is turned on and off twice a day, I'll stretch it out to about 4000-4500.

 

[RagingBITCH]

What about the 4 cylinder in the 03-04 Accords? I had 2 salesguys tell me it was ULEV and used 5w20, and could be changed once a year or every 12,000 miles, whichever comes first. So is that just horsesh!t fed to me by Honda or should the oil be changed anyway every 3/3000?

 

It means you've got something wrong. Whether it's a valveguide or a piston ring or something else, I dunno... But you need to do a compression check ASAP.

Many things can cause the oil to turn black quickly including but not limited to the following ;

Worn piston rings/cylinder walls
Broken piston rings
Overly rich fuel mixture
Too low of a viscosity (motor oil being used)
Previous owner neglected oil changes and sludge built up
Stop and go driving
Short trip driving, not allowing the engine to come up to temp so as to boil off contaminents
Climate (Cold weather)

What about the 4 cylinder in the 03-04 Accords? I had 2 salesguys tell me it was ULEV and used 5w20, and could be changed once a year or every 12,000 miles, whichever comes first. So is that just horsesh!t fed to me by Honda or should the oil be changed anyway every 3/3000?

If the vehicle in question has synthetic oil in it's crankcase, you can stretch the oil changes to 7,500, no more, no matter what kind of oil is in an engine, dirt will find a way into it.

i'm not knocking you roger - that's just my opinion and my car (you know opinions are like @ssholes and everyone has one) and my gamble.

roger <-- listen to this man!

Understood

I just don't want everyone to think it's OK to skip the 3,000 mile interval.

 

[radioouman]

I adhere to 3000 miles too. My main reasoning is that many cars burn oil, and 1 quart over three thousand miles isn't unusual. Rather then adding a quart of oil, I'd rather just change it.

 

[KK]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
What about the 4 cylinder in the 03-04 Accords? I had 2 salesguys tell me it was ULEV and used 5w20, and could be changed once a year or every 12,000 miles, whichever comes first. So is that just horsesh!t fed to me by Honda or should the oil be changed anyway every 3/3000?

What's the owners manual say on that?

KK

 

[Triumph]

With many manufacturers now offering 100,000 mile powertrain warranties, I'd tend to disbelieve the argument that mfg's want their engines to fail. The oil industry on the other hand has a history of protecting its own interests. Plus you have the oil change industry wanting to keep themselves in business - they'd promote 500 mile oil changes if they could.

Synthetic oils have no problem withstanding high mileages, but I agree that many people forget about the contaminants. That's why I stick with a good round number, 5000, which is also what my manual recommends.

 

[mattgyver]

My dad once told me he went 50,000 miles without changing his oil. He said he didn't recommend it, but said he's never had a problem by letting one go over 3,000.
I try to not to let mine go over 3,000, but I've got a lot of miles on my vehicles and do anything that can help them last a little longer.

 

[Triumph]

Originally posted by: Mwilding
If your oil is black, you have already gone too long without an oil change

Now that, I can say, is complete BS. Your oil turns black after probably 200 miles. The color of the oil is a very, very poor measure of when you should change it.

 

[alphatarget1]

just did a 7200 mile change on my dad's accord v6 (96'), 97.3k miles on the odo now.

didn't want to go 7500 but yeah the air isn't dirty or anything around here and my dad drives freeway. we did a filter change at 3750 miles and added 1 qt of oil when we changed the filter (filter takes about 1 qt)

mobil 1 synthetic by the way

EDIT: for clarity

 

[FrustratedUser]

Originally posted by: Mwilding
If your oil is black, you have already gone too long without an oil change

No, the oil gets black long before 3000 miles.

 

[Ausm]

I use Catrol GTX and I change my oil every 3,000 miles but I have read of some sythetic oils that are good for 5k to 10K but I think that is waaay to long between changes.


Ausm

Roger in your opinion how would you rank the following oil in terms of quality?

Castrol
Penzoil
Valvoline
Havoline

and whatever else I forgot.

TIA

Ausm

 

[XZeroII]

My best friend got a car for free from a relative about 5 years ago. It was an 83 charger (hatchback). It had been sitting for over 10 years w/o driving or oil changes. The problem was that the car had to go that day. He drove it about 20 miles back to his house and basically ruined the entire engine

Lesson: Change your oil at least once every 10 years.

 

[RU482]

I just let it go until the oil starts to get dark or gets an odor. Usually between 4-5000 miles