quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
I follow the vehicle’s oil minder. On the 3.0TT Explorer, that’s right around 8,000 miles. On the F350, it’s about 8,000 miles. On the Odyssey, it’s about 8,000 miles. On the other hand, with the Beetle, it works out to be about 8,000 miles. Wanna guess about the Focus ST? Yep, about 8,000 miles.

Truck’s got 165,000, the Odyssey - 120,000. I’ve had five other vehicles I put over 150,000 miles on before I got bored with them, but no issues.

I’ve been using synthetic for 24 years and whatever oil filters. I have no time for 3,000 or 5,000 mile oil changes.

Also, my truck is a 10 speed auto and even at 80 mph never goes over 3K rpm. Usually shifts at 2.5. Most miles are highway miles.

In my daily driver, a Gladiator I change every 5K with synthetic oil
In my Diesel F-350 it’s done when it tells me to, also synthetic. That has ranged from 4000 to 8000 miles.
In my Porsche it’s once a year which is about 3000 miles, also synthetic.
In my Tesla….never! ;-)

I currently have free oil changes from Subaru until my car hits 36,000 miles. They do it every 6000 with synthetic. In my previous car, I was using synthetic and a good filter and going 10K miles. I drive a lot, but the kind of driving I do doesn't put a heavy load on the car. No problems.

Get an oil sample kit from Blackstone (free). Mid drain, fill the container up, then mail it to Blackstone and pay them their fee. They’ll tell you the state of the oil. Anything else is old wives tales, or the mfr. predicting this and that, which I’ll never trust.

The Blackstone solution is the only way to really know. But with my four cars that are all old, it would not be worth it to "know" for each car and customize an interval for each ride, esp. since as engines age with lots of miles, the metals and pollutants in the drained oil aren't worth worrying about any longer. So, I change the oil on all my cars at the same time, at 5k+ miles, with full synthetic and Wix standard filters (vice the "HD" extended drain interval variant filters). Since 5k may be a little overkill for old daily drivers, I buy my oil in bulk when it goes on sale and rack it up in my garage, not letting any bottle get more than about a year old if I can help it, since I can't predict sales on 5 qt bottles.

But, if I had a newer more exclusive type luxury or performance car or truck, I'd do the Blackstone trick to understand what would be going on for the vehicle as it relates to the way I drive it.

quote:

Originally posted by Bentonville:
2001 Honda Accord with 400075 miles

Wow!
I thought I was doing well with my '02 Nissan, at 330,000.

You guys are doing good.

I only have 240,000 or so on my '05 SRT-10.

I use Mobil-1 and change it every six months.

Changing oil gets tricky when it is more than two gallons.

quote:

Originally posted by Bentonville:
Like many, I change oil in my vehicles according to mileage as recommended by the manufacturer. I have a 2001 Honda Accord with 400075 miles on it and it drives just as well today as it did in 2001. I change the oil every 3000 miles and follow all the other maintenance recommendations made by Honda.

At the local Honda dealer in Aug 2022. If I remember right the signage said it was/is owned by a local insurance agent.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
Get an oil sample kit from Blackstone (free). Mid drain, fill the container up, then mail it to Blackstone and pay them their fee. They’ll tell you the state of the oil. Anything else is old wives tales, or the mfr. predicting this and that, which I’ll never trust.

I use Horizon but agree with used oil analysis. GTDI (gasoline turbocharged direct injection) engines are prone to fuel dilution. The only way to check dilution is through oil analysis, preferably a gas chromatograph. It turns out I need to change oil on DWs car at 3,000 miles due to fuel dilution. The oil life monitor shows 65% remaining life.

OTOH, my truck which is not turbocharged can do just fine following the OLM. It will end up at 5% after 1 year.

Here's another option for oil analysis:

https://www.speediagnostix.com/

It's run by Lake Speed, Jr. (The Motor Oil Geek on YouTube).

I've used both Blackstone and SPEEDiagnostix for oil analysis. Both are good. SPEED has more information on it's analysis but it is a more expensive service.

When I first started with full synthetic oil was back in 2009 with a bmw. back then it was one year or 15k miles was the OCI.

My current BMW says one year or 9k miles. Every time I change the oil, I reset the counter and it goes to 9k miles.

My daughter's Subaru uses full synthetic also and while it was under warranty, we did the OCI at 6mo/6k miles. For the first four oil changes on the Subaru, I sent samples to Blackstone for anaylsis. After the fourth one, everything was fine, so I stopped. I'm going to send another one once her car hits 60k.

Now that both our cars are out of warranty, we just settled on a 6mo/7.5k OCI. I try to aim our months to be November and April. So oil change right before winter and right after winter. We both have GDI engines and at the 20k mark, I do that CRC Intake Valve Cleaner dodad cleanup thing. Meijer had a bunch on closeout for $4.97 so I bought a lot.


And I'll probably get made fun of again because every time I bring this up on car forums, someone has to say something about how I'm a cheapskate and stealing, but it's a program they offer.

I buy my oil from FCP Euro. After I change the oil, I order replacement oil and after it arrives, I ship the used oil back for store credit. For my BMWs, I even send the oil filter back. It costs me about $14 to ship it back, so oil changes are $14 (other than the initial up front cost of the oil). I've done the same with used brake pads.

In the past, they used to just give you a full refund but now it's store credit. Also in the past, if you used paypal to pay, they had free return shipping.

So oil changes now for both cars are $14 for the return shipping and $7 for a Subaru oil filter (FCP doesn't carry a filter for her car).

In fact, we're planning on changing our oils this weekend and swapping our snow tire setups on. I really need to buy a lift.

When using Blackstone you’ll pay an extra $10 for a TBN (total base number) analysis, to tell you the condition of the oil, or more specifically, the condition of the additives in the oil.

I read great things about Toyota’s 0W-20, made by Exxon-Mobil. Toyota specs it as an extended 10k interval oil, and three tests at the 10k mark have come back with a TBN of 1.4-1.5. Anything greater than 1.0 is still good to use.

Twice a year or at 5k intervals, whichever is the case. I have always used full synthetic and as long as it meets the vehicle's specs, I use it.

I would be willing to bet that it's accurate enough to use as your guide . Many people think they know better and that's fine too .

quote:

Originally posted by calugo:
I change my oil every 5000 miles rather than rely on sensors to tell me when to change my oil...

Same here. Honda recommends 5000 miles and I go with that.

The oil life monitors are usually pretty reliable since they track things like engine hours, RPMs, and driving conditions, not just mileage. Synthetic oil lasts longer, too, which is probably why you're seeing such a difference. For mostly in-town driving, though, I'd still keep an eye on it and maybe change the oil when it hits around 20% to be safe.

People people people! It's all just smoke and mirrors. My 2014 Subaru had oil changes at every 7,500 miles, but my 2019 Honda is 10k? Part of this is the EPA wants less waste oil to process, and they don't give crap what it does to the inside of your engine.

quote:

Originally posted by SgtGold:
People people people! It's all just smoke and mirrors. My 2014 Subaru had oil changes at every 7,500 miles, but my 2019 Honda is 10k? Part of this is the EPA wants less waste oil to process, and they don't give crap what it does to the inside of your engine.

So you're saying that the EPA sets the maintenance intervals for the automotive industry ?

What I'm saying is the EPA exerts pressure on manufacturers to reduce waste. The EPA has been instrumental in modifying the wear modifier additive package used in motor oils because anything that's used in motor oil eventually makes out the tailpipe. The maintenance interval is set by the manufacturer. But remember, anything that's fctory under warranty only has to last until the warranty is up.

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:

quote:

Originally posted by SgtGold:
People people people! It's all just smoke and mirrors. My 2014 Subaru had oil changes at every 7,500 miles, but my 2019 Honda is 10k? Part of this is the EPA wants less waste oil to process, and they don't give crap what it does to the inside of your engine.

So you're saying that the EPA sets the maintenance intervals for the automotive industry ?

quote:

Originally posted by jigray3:
When using Blackstone you’ll pay an extra $10 for a TBN (total base number) analysis, to tell you the condition of the oil, or more specifically, the condition of the additives in the oil.

I read great things about Toyota’s 0W-20, made by Exxon-Mobil. Toyota specs it as an extended 10k interval oil, and three tests at the 10k mark have come back with a TBN of 1.4-1.5. Anything greater than 1.0 is still good to use.

It’s decent synthetic but isn’t as good as Amsoil, Redline, etc.

And 0W-20 is a joke. My Toyota this is what they recommend for weight, LMAO. It’s a 300 HP turbocharged 3 cylinder. 0W is for cold start emissions. -20 is for MPG. First oil change I did, I went to 5w30 and I’ll probably go 5w40 next time. Now on some Toyotas they are even recommend even thinner oil. 0W-10 or some shit. What a fucking joke. This bs is all EPA based. Cold start emissions testing and CAFE as it relates to MPG. That thin ass oil certainly isn’t better for the motor if you want it to last or to perform.