Comments on: Don’t Be Fooled Into Thinking an Oil Change Every 3,000 Miles Is Necessary

By: Patrick McClammy

Patrick McClammy — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 21:16:14 +0000

This is not entirely true. The darkness you seen in your oil has nothing to do with how dirty the oil actually is, all that is is excess carbon that is picked up from the firing of your engine, just by looking at the oil won’t tell you how “good” it is. A TBN test is one of the only real ways to see how much of the additives that the company has placed in the oil to help it do its job of neutralize the acids in your engine along with cooling and cleaning are left to see how much life is left on your oil. The additives in the oil breakdown over time and especially with the heat of running your engine, the fact is changing the oil in your car has nothing to do with it really being dirty its the fact that it breaks down and can no longer do its job, oils purpose is not just to lubricate the engine but also cool it and remove anything in the engine such as sludge from old oil as well as very tiny metal particles from your engine. you should always change your oil every 3000 miles. Now 3 months is a bit soon it will not break down by then, but if you spend a lot of time sitting in traffic running the engine, not racking up miles, but still running it you may want to consider 3 months, if you just do small driving around town not really in traffic you should be fine up to 5 months or so. as long as you change your oil roughly every 3000 miles or 5 months (which ever comes first) your engine will last you a long time, now one thing to note with the oil change sensors in your car, most of them don’t actually ever touch the oil, they work with your odometer and do it based on how many miles you have driven, which the number of miles often can be changed. Your car coming from the dealer will often have it set to 6000-9000 miles do to the fact that the manufactures often ship with synthetic oils, which do to the molecular enhancement of these oils they do not break down near as fast as conventional oil.

By: Artan

Artan — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:05:47 +0000

My friend i never ever changed the oil in my car, never. The 3000-5000-10000 miles change is what the companies want. The car doesnt need that oil change. You just check the viscosity and its fine. VW paasat 1.9 TDI is my car still running, 200000 miles now i never changed the oil since 8-9 years. Cheers Artan from kosovo.

By: Artan

Artan — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 09:21:03 +0000

I have a VW Passat 1.9 TDI 2003, filled up with Fully Synthetic Oil in 2003, since then the oil hasn’t been changed for 200.000 Miles, i still drive the car. I regularly check teh oil viscosity which is as it is new. Dont waste your money for nothing. If you change the oil they take that black oil and put one spoon of chemical and from bleck it becomes amber in color and then they pack it and sell it to you in a store. We are living in the world of fraud!

By: Me

Me — Thu, 12 May 2011 00:11:44 +0000

“To those who like to drive their oil for 7500 or even 10000 miles, do whatever you want, I’ll do what makes me happy.” Haha….calm down bro….it’s just oil!

By: Alt2Att

Alt2Att — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:14:30 +0000

Glad to see I’m not crazy. I’ve been changing my oil every 5,000 miles for as long as I’ve been driving. It has seemed to work so far.

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 04:22:05 +0000

I have a 2005 Toyota Camry and ive driven my car about 1000 miles past its recommended mileage but the oil change light hasn’t come on yet. I checked the oil and there was still a sufficient amount left and the color was still amber-ish. Should I wait til the light actually comes on or should I go ahead and get it changed?

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 21:07:19 +0000

If you are using conventional oil and your car doesn’t get driven much then changing the oil every 3 months is great for it. Oil just sitting around breaks down. I don’t know why people try to get as much as they can out of oil, it’s cheap in my opinion. Your engine depends on it, newer oil is always going to be better than used oil. Plus, if you can change it yourself, it’s super cheap! It’s best to go with a fully synthetic oil too. A little more money but soooooo much better than convetional oil. This oil can go longer even without much driving on it. I use full synthetic in my cars and go 4000-5000 miles or 4-5 months btwn changes, depends which happens first and how I drove the vehicles. If most is highway driving I’ll go 5000 miles. Some say I’m wasting my money but I don’t think oil cost much and I sleep better at night knowing I have good oil in my engines. Alot of short trips and periods of non use is what wears out oil. Now that I do my own oil changes it only costs about $28 out the door for fully synthetic oil and a filter. Used to cost my $35 to go to the quick lube and get conventional oil. I now spend less and the oil lasts longer. To those who like to drive their oil for 7500 or even 10000 miles, do whatever you want, I’ll do what makes me happy.

By: Fat Boy

Fat Boy — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 01:09:29 +0000

I have a 2002 Ford Explorer with 180,589 miles on it, and at around 15,000 miles, the check oil light has come on after about 14 miles from the 3000+ put on the sticker. The truck runs great.

By: Beverly

Beverly — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 14:09:06 +0000

I bought a new car 2009 Lexus, but I rarely drive it because I travel to work in a van pool. Often times my mileage is under the number before the oil change date. My friend who thinks he knows about cars andsays I should change the oil based on the earlier of. The date comes way before the mileage for me because my car is often sitting in the garage. How often should I change my oil? Based on the date or based upon the number of miles I drive? He says based on the date, and I disagee.

By: Curtis

Curtis — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 17:32:35 +0000

One more thing, my father has a 2003 ford f150 that is a daily driver for a traveling business. He changes his oil every 3,000 miles and the truck is running as strong as ever with not a single clickm tick, or knock in the motor. The truck is running on 220,000! that’s right, a ford with OVER 200,000 miles and not a single noise coming from the engine compartment. now tell me a constant oil change and taking care of a vehicle wont improve the life of the vehicle.