How often you change your automobile oil? Other car questions?

I dont exceed 3500-5000 miles between changes, no matter who says what. Even if I used synthetics, I wouldnt do that.

I havent seen inserts at a FLAPS in a long long time. Maybe they make them but the FLAPS dont seem to stock them anymore, so I have to buy the assembly. Dont expect any of them to last more than 6 months or a year. Now, I havent tried the expensive silicone jobs, or the Michelins, etc but am pretty much forced to buy the standard stuff and change more often.

Not everything Autozone sells is crap, but some of the things are.

Learn to do it yourself. You can do it in the apartment parking lot, or in a vacant lot nearby. All you need to buy are a pair of ramps and the right size wrench.

I change my oil at 3,000 miles. The thing about changing your oil yourself is that you KNOW it was really done. I don't trust any of the quick oil change places, and to take it to a mechanic I do trust winds up costing me $40 for an oil change.

I am reluctant to stretch it out any longer than 3,000 miles. Maybe it's fine, maybe it's not. Without doing constant oil analysis you never really know. Oil and filters are cheap enough.

Any decent auto parts stores will have the inserts. Autozone is not a decent auto parts store. Look for a small store that is locally owned. Ask the guys at your local gas station who they recommend.

For parts that are blown, step into the Zone!

--scott

3,000 miles is very short. My car's service / oil change intervals are 12,000 miles.

Agree.. you never really know if the oil has been changed if having it done. But no way I can do it myself where I'm at now

Huh? can you explain?

I did it in college while living in a dormitory. And I have done long road trips during which I changed my oil by the side of the highway. You can do it yourself, no matter where you are.

AutoZone is not really known for quality products. They do sell some decent stuff, but they also sell some total crap, and they don't seem to know the differences.

--scott

Yes, it certainly is very short. It's the recommendation in the "severe service" schedule in the owner's manual for my car, though.

--scott

Is that reg dino oil?

Or synthetic?

Most of the time I use the Castrol synthetic, although the better flow characteristics of the synthetic can accelerate leak problems on older cars.

I currently have 460,000 on one car, and 270,000 on the other, both original engines. Last year I sold my old Chrysler Laser with 480,000 miles on the engine. Almost all highway miles.

It's entirely possible that I could get away with longer oil change intervals, but I figure that oil is cheap and the effort is minimal, and engines are expensive. So I'd rather err on the safe side.

--scott

+1

If you are using "whatever" brand oil don't go past 6000 miles. Our fleet people have tried many different oil change intervals and have tried oil analysis. They finally settled on 6000 mile oil and filter changes for any kind of service. The oil analysis route was worthless, by the time something shows up in the oil analysis it's invariably too late to do anything that will matter OR you have already noticed there is a problem.

I think it's just a profit move. It took space to stock the refill blades so they stopped carrying them so you have to buy the complete replacements at 3 times the cost. You can probably buy the refills mail order (buy several at a time) and save money.

I've heard lots of people knock AUtozone and other chain parts but have never had any problems with their parts in the past 20 years. You can look on their website and usually see the different levels of quality at least for some parts. I have also found a lot of info (and have ordered a lot of parts) from

. They have links to manufacturers sites for some parts and they explain their different quality levels, show cross references, etc. You can also see part numbers and notice how some different brands seem to have the same part numbers. I suspect that many times different companies are reselling the same source parts at different prices, sometimes with the only difference being the length of the warranty.

3000 miles. You cant go wrong.

By and large Auto Zone sucks. HTH, Ben

Any REAL auto parts store sells refills. The problem is thier is a couple of different kinds of refills and it's easier for autozone to just stock the blades. Be sure to take the old one in to match it up. Federated, or NAPA parts stores should have them, or can order them.

Bottom line on parts is " you do get what you pay for"

Read your owners manual and go by it. The engineers know a lot more about what your car needs than the jokers on this forum. Engines and oils have improved immensely since the 3000 mile oil changes of the 50's. Move into this century. READ your owners manual.

BUT, always use the extreme service schedule in the owner's manual.

--scott

Understand and agree

But I also think its possible to OVER maintain a car. No?

I mean there must be an optimal point on that curve somewhere..even with oil changes

OK.... sounds like my gut experience as well. I just feel like 3k miles is too short and was thinking 5k or a bit more.

Well now they also have these one piece arm/blade combos such as the Bosch Icon. The claimed advantage is no mechanical spaces for ice or snow to get in and jam things up. What you think abt them?

Sure, but you have to work really hard to do that. In the Phillipines there used to be a bus from Manila to Baguio, and they would tear the whole engine down every other trip, because mechanics were cheap and busses were expensive.

Yes, and with careful long-term oil analysis you can find precisely where that point is. It depends on your engine and it depends a whole lot on how you drive. However, you'll spend a lot of time and a lot of money determining where it is, certainly a lot more time and money than whatever you save by stretching out your oil change intervals.

Some manufacturers like BMW have done some attempt to use data from the engine control computer to determine optimal oil change points. Doing this is not as accurate as long-term oil analysis, but it's reasonably accurate and it does a pretty good job of compensating for driving style even if not a perfect job. If you have a system like this, you can use it.

--scott

Wow! Interesting!

Good point!

And well taken

Thanks for the advice!

Agree fully.

As you already know, I am not a great fan of oil analysis. For the cost of it, you can change your oil.