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Good oil change interval?


gr8shot
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You can do what you want, but I'll spend that extra penny and feel secure about my vehicles performance and maitenance.

 

I feel more than secure about 5k mile oil changes. I'm so confident, I've bet the engine on it!

 

I equate it to the belief that Premium fuel is better even if your car calls for regular, bottled water is healthier, Monster Cable products make your stereo sound better, spending more for "organic" food will make you live longer, and food goes bad the very instant the "use by" date rolls around.

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If 5k oil changes were "bad", the Ford owners manual for my 08 Ranger would not call for the oil and filter to be changed at 5,000 mile intervals for "SEVERE" conditions and at 7,500 mile intervals for "Normal" conditions. Needless to say, I run Amsoil full synthetic in it and change it at 5,000 mile intervals. I've put 50,000 miles on it now with no issues.

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Pushing off a $30 oil change can maybe save you up to $60 a year, how many oil changes can you really delay. Ok you saved $60-80 , but after 5 yrs you will have to give that back when buying new pistons and bearings for your overworked, under lubricated engine.

 

I personally change my oil when it is almost dark brown/black. If your oil is black and slugdy, you better be sure youve already caused some engine damage that will show its ugly face later in the cars life.

 

90 GP: 19x,xxx miles when parked for disassembly(due to body/frame failure): EXTREMELY neglected as far as normal maintenence, yet no problems with the engine.

 

95 MC: 196,xxx miles currently, also extr

 

oil color has very little to do with it's quality. change the oil in a diesel vehicle, run it for ~1000 miles, then tell me what color it is. you might describe it as "columbian roast".

 

If that were true, I would have had to replace the engine many times over in all my cars. The mere prospect of 5k miles damaging an engine in 5-years is ridiculous. You had to have made that up, otherwise, show me the proof. I'd be surprised to see any notable difference in wear after 20-years, or even 50-years. The headgaskets, transmission, or even the body will wear out long before the rings wear out.

 

Why's there a debate? Anything that people disagree about can become a debate. Where you believe 5k miles is too many, some believe a 5k mile oil change interval is just fine - including the company that built your car, and pretty much every company that builds cars!

 

$30! I don't even spend that much. I use the cheapest stuff Wal-Mart has. <$20.

 

.At 5k the oil is filled with contaminants and its ability to absorb more is greatly decreased which is why its important to replace it.

 

5K miles is a completely arbitrary number. how long do semis go between oil changes?

 

If 5k oil changes were "bad", the Ford owners manual for my 08 Ranger would not call for the oil and filter to be changed at 5,000 mile intervals for "SEVERE" conditions and at 7,500 mile intervals for "Normal" conditions. Needless to say, I run Amsoil full synthetic in it and change it at 5,000 mile intervals. I've put 50,000 miles on it now with no issues.

 

IIRC, all 3x00 vehicles are rated for 7500 for normal duty and 3000 for severe duty.

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Well, in case anyone wanted the info, I changed the oil in my GP and reset the DIC a few months ago. I'm currently just under 4000 miles, and the DIC is reporting 40% oil life remaining.

 

Keep in mind, I do NOT do short trips, the minimum trip my car makes is 15-20 miles, so it's always warmed up until the 'stat opens and all the moisture in the engine has burned off. I checked the oil tonight, it hasn't lost a drop. This is at 196k miles and counting. Then again it's also probably the quietest 3x00 engine I've ever heard. Not even a hint of piston slap, and she started right up this morning at -20.

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.At 5k the oil is filled with contaminants and its ability to absorb more is greatly decreased which is why its important to replace it.

 

Lol... this just makes me laugh. This is why we FILTER our oil... to remove the contaminants... :lol:

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And here's the verdict of the analysis. If it wouldn't be for the little bit of coolant still in the system, and residual dirt and wear metals 4k miles would be fine. The phosphorus and zinc levels are great. The silicon level is too high for my liking, so I'm going to buy a new air filter and see if that does the trick, but hopefully it's just leftover from the gaskets being changed. FWIW the oil on this analysis is only the second oil change since the HG's and Intake gaskets were changed. And the first change wasn't even 1000 miles after the gaskets were changed. And prior to that there was a lot of coolant in the oil when the gaskets went bad. So a little residual coolant seems normal IMO, along with a little bit higher number for dirt and wear metals. I'm going to do another analysis after about 3000 miles this time around and hopefully all of those numbers are trending downward, then I'll probably try one more around 4k or 5k depending on how it comes out at 3k.

 

As fast as I pile the miles on this car a couple thousand miles extra between changes will add up fairly quickly, not to mention the time saved by not having to change the oil once a month!!

 

 

Car oil analysis.pdf

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I noticed something on the Cruzetalk forum:

 

Everyone! Beware! I work at a tech school were we train the ASE mechanics for GM and others. The instructor there warned me that GM is having oil related problems with their engines and are re-thinking the oil life monitor program. Apparently 10,000 miles is just to long to go between oil changes and that is on average what you would get if you go by the system. I talked to the service manager at my dealership about this and he did not deny it. He recommended not going past 5,000 for an oil change and said that GM is considering to re-program the oil life monitoring systems to send you in at 5,000 rather it thinks it's time or not.
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10k mile change intervals? :eek: That change must be pretty recent. Does it have anything to do with GM's new Dexos oil?

 

Dexos is not an oil, but a standard. There are many Dexos compliant oils out there now, including Castrol GTX and Mobile 1 synthetic oils. From what I've understood, the greatest benefit of Dexos oil is preventing carbon buildup, which keeps turbo bearings from frying.

 

Regardless, GM is recommending a 5k mile oil change...

 

I think I'll stick to that.

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Sorry, what I meant is if Dexos is the reason behind the change to a 10k oil change standard in the oil life monitor. I'm almost certain older GM cars oil life monitors had you changing it far earlier than 10k. Closer to 4-5k, or so I thought.

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Sorry, what I meant is if Dexos is the reason behind the change to a 10k oil change standard in the oil life monitor. I'm almost certain older GM cars oil life monitors had you changing it far earlier than 10k. Closer to 4-5k, or so I thought.

 

Its possible, but I'm not entirely sure. If anything, its to cast doubt on the accuracy of these oil life monitors. They're only as good as the people who made them, and we know GM...

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I change the oil in the Acadia, based off of the oil life monitor. When I see it between 30-40% remaining, I change it. That equates out to about 7-8k miles for me.

 

Acadia is a few years old, about to hit 90k miles, and no issues yet.

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I change my oil religiously at 3,000 miles.

 

Subaru recommends 7,500 interval oil changes on my Outback. Well, sitting at 1,500 miles since its last oil change the oil looks OBLITERATED. Black as night. I think I'll be changing it fairly soon.

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I change my oil religiously at 3,000 miles.

 

Subaru recommends 7,500 interval oil changes on my Outback. Well, sitting at 1,500 miles since its last oil change the oil looks OBLITERATED. Black as night. I think I'll be changing it fairly soon.

 

Read through this thread a bit. Oil is designed to hold contaminants. Black oil doesn't necessarily mean bad oil. A reference was made earlier to diesel motors, where the oil turns black within a few hundred miles but is perfectly good to use for a few thousand more.

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Shouldn't synthetic oil last longer than regular?

 

I believe it does, but I didn't experience that when working on my Series 1 3800. The oil started to cause the engine to run a bit rougher any time I let it go past 4000 miles, whether it was synthetic or regular.

 

You notice that kind of thing when your engine mounts are always broken, lol.

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Andrei, I had already read the entire thread when I posted that, thank you.

 

And I don't really care. A $30 investment now sure beats $1000 at minimum for a new engine.

 

Oil is CHEAP. I do not understand the arguing in this thread. When in doubt, change it.

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