I'd go 4K on conventional, 5K on synth, if mostly around town. Another thousand if mostly highway.

Normal driving conditions
If the vehicle calls for synthetic I change at 5k if it calls for conventional I change at 3k.

I change my own oil so my oil changes cost $20 for 8 quarts of full synthetic and filter.

I changed the oil on our 2005 Honda Pilot every 3K with regular oil.

We traded it at ~220K and never had any major issues with it. Never burned an extra drop of oil.

Great vehicle!

After the very first 2 oil changes on my car I went with the manufacturer's recommendation of full synthetic at 10K or every 12 months which ever comes first. I'm sitting around 160K on the 2012 Camry now. Mostly highway speeds, very little stop and go or short trips. If I were mainly in town/short trips or extremely dusty environments I'd probably do it every 5K/6 months.

quote:

Originally posted by TheBull:
You can always pull a sample and send it to Blackstone Labs just before your next change ($30). You'll get the results in 2-3 weeks. They could tell you 10K OCI is acceptable for the oil and filter you are using.

If I were really concerned about it, this is what I would do.

As an engine ages, the blowby from combustion increases. Fuel dilution occurs. Crankcase oil becomes more and more contaminated. Performance additives within engine oil are consumed in fewer miles.

Changing engine oil more frequently than required is not recommended. But, for higher mileage engines, absent very specific tests for your engine performance, more frequent oil changes are of benefit.

We formulate additives for car lubricants every day. We test engine oils day in and day out.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 4MUL8R,

I really don't pay any attention to the miles. (though I do have an idea how many miles I drive a year)
When I drove only one vehicle, I would change it twice a year. Currently splitting the driving between two, I change them once a year. These days the one probably comes out close to 3K miles. The other probably under 1k.

I'm putting $40-50 in gas in it every week or so, I can afford to put $25 in oil in it once a year. Nothing bad has ever happened because of it, but the built in buffer on the back end has worked out well a time or two.

23 years old with 130k
36 years old with 213k

quote:

Am I being bullshitted here?

Not in the sense of intentional deception, no, but I see little practical difference between 5000 and 6000 mile intervals, or with full synthetic oil, 7500, for that matter. You've apparently done just fine so far, why not keep up the good work?

At about $50 for synthetic doing it myself, I’m an anomaly and do it every 3000 on both my 4Runners. To me it’s cheap insurance and it certainly can’t hurt but it can help.

I live in south Texas where it’s the temp of the sun year round so it’s harder on the oil.

I got with the recommended interval using Mobil 1 for the life of the vehicle. Oil related failures are rare. In my experience the rest of the car goes to shit after 200k and I eventually sell it when I get tired of replacing parts.

My vehicles get done on a 5k rotation, full synthetic. I don't care about the extra cost, as it brings piece of mind.

I have a 2001 Accord with 398,000 miles in it . It runs as good as it did in 2001. I have always changed the oil every 3000 miles and did all the recommended maintenance suggested by Honda. I rebuilt the transmission around 300,000 miles.

quote:

Originally posted by Bentonville:
I have a 2001 Accord with 398,000 miles in it . It runs as good as it did in 2001. I have always changed the oil every 3000 miles and did all the recommended maintenance suggested by Honda. I rebuilt the transmission around 300,000 miles.

Hey Bentonville, what is the source of your username? Have an area in Illinois named that after mom's family.
As to the oil question. My company cars got Dino every 7500 miles. Sister bought one off the company when they sold it. A 2005 Sable with 80,000 miles. Drove it until 2019 with over 200,000 miles with no engine related issues.
Based on similar experiences I do my own oil on 7500 intervals with full synthetic. I believe that to be over kill frankly.

This is engine specific.

On a direct gas injection (GDI) style engine where fuel is injected directly into the cylinder head , good rule of thumb is 5000 miles and no more.

On engines with terrible fuel dilution, like the Honda turbo 1.5L, no more than 5000 miles.

If you have an engine with really long timing chains, no more than 5000 miles.

Over the last ten years, manufacturers have increased intervals to 10,000 miles and we saw that the oil wasn’t able to protect the timing chains. The timing chains stretched to way past spec and now you have an engine with worn timing components.

The new SP spec oil has a specification that is designed to limit timing chain stretch. Supposedly the new oils are better at protecting these components over extended intervals than the previous SN+ spec oils.

I do it myself every 5000 miles on every car I own. It’s cheap and easy.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bubbatime,

quote:

Originally posted by Ironmike57:
I did full synth every 5k and I got 430,000 miles on my 2016 Honda CRV. I also went up from the recommended 0-20 weight to 05-30.

THIS!

Keep in mind that ALL manufacturers are using very low weight oil in order to get a 0.001% improvement in mileage. Plus I believe that no manufacturer gives a rats ass about you after the warranty runs out. There’s an automotive engineer that runs a blog (can’t find it at the moment) that is a big proponent of running a more moderate weight oil like 5W-30. I switched my oil to this in my Gladiator and had the oil analyzed and the report came back stellar. They were very impressed with how low the wear metals were so for me it’s 5W-30 full synthetic at a 5000 mile OCI

0W-30 would also be an upgrade, especially if you live in cold climates. IIRC, the first number is the temperature grade and the second number is the weight of the oil.

I’ve mentioned this before on here but I will state it again. I used to listen regularly to a local am radio show where 2-3 local auto shop owners would answer car questions. They mentioned these dealer specified maintenance intervals and the reason behind them. It is not to make your car last longer, they are designed to make the maintenance as cheap as possible for the first two years after the auto is purchased. Most buyers keep their cars for about 2 years and trade them in, the auto manufactures are trying to get those people to come back and buy again. They do not care about making your car last longer. Yes, at some point they do not want the oil issues that Toyota had, but their main goal is to sell new cars. This is from large auto repair places with ASE master mechanics. Choose to believe them or not.

Don’t be so naive by listening to what the manufacturers recommend for maintenance intervals, try to find some evidence of what works.

When I owned my Lexus it had “lifetime” transmission fluid. Did I believe Lexus since they are the manufacturer and know best? Nope, anyone that knows anything about lubricating fluids can tell you that no lubricant lasts forever. Additives go bad and the fluid becomes contaminated.

If you really want to know, take an oil sample and send it to Blackstone and get it analyzed at different change intervals.

You could have a sample taken and analyzed. Last one I had done was something like $40. Lab confirmed the factory 10,000 mile service interval, as well as letting me know 13k was probably ok too.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
As an engine ages, the blowby from combustion increases. Fuel dilution occurs. Crankcase oil becomes more and more contaminated. Performance additives within engine oil are consumed in fewer miles.

Changing engine oil more frequently than required is not recommended. But, for higher mileage engines, absent very specific tests for your engine performance, more frequent oil changes are of benefit.

We formulate additives for car lubricants every day. We test engine oils day in and day out.

Do you happen to work at Ethyl Oil near Richmond?

daughter and i both have gdi engines. her's recommended is 6mo/6k miles, mine is 1yr/10k miles. Our cars get oil changes and tire rotations every December before the first snow when snow tires go on and every spring when the snow tires come off. Her last oil change was Dec. 16th, and she's only put 1400 miles on her car to date. It's still going to get changed in the spring when we put the summer tires back on.

I drive more and I usually change mine around 7500. I buy oil and filter (for my car, her car I have to buy a subaru compatible filter from a local shop) from FCP euro. After ordering new oil, changing it, i send back the used oil and bmw filter for store credit for my next purchase. Not sure how it breaks down but I think it's saving me money. I'm about to order new front pads for my car and will get store credit when I ship back the old used ones.

I do the cheap gdi cleaning every 20k miles or so with those spray things into the intake.