OIL.....again

New vehicles come with synthetic oil. I'd continue to change the oil-filter at 3K intervals, no matter what. Use a good brand filter (Wix or Puralator) not Fram. When the oil-change light illuminates, then change the oil and filter when the 3K mileage is reached from the last filter change. Syn oil is far superior to dino-oil in all aspects.

Dave S(Texas)

Just a thought. Years ago before there were any speedy oil change places around, the usual change for oil and filter was every 5K. After these oil change places showed up it became every 3K.

Roy

Often claimed, but not necessarily proven, I think.

And the oil is said to better then it was years ago.

You'all must by young guys. I remember when the 51 Hudson book recomended 2K it seem too long after yeaers of 1K or once a month. Of course we quit doubting when that engine ran 140,000 with only 1 qt per 2k miles usage.

Bill (an old shafe tree mechanic)

Our new Civic has an oil life meter and a maintenance minder thingy. When service is due it pops up with a code, like A1 is change oil and rotate tires, or A2 is change this and check that, etc, etc. There is no schedule even listed in the owners manual.

Steve

I dont doubt that synthetics are good, but a lot of people have it in their mind that they are light years ahead of the petroleum oils.

This has not been proven unequivocally. Modern dino oils are said to be competitive with synthetics and at a much lower price

Anyone who tries to push an oil change to 10-15,000 miles or more- synthetic or not --is an idiot in my book.

Depends on how you drive. I change every 7500 miles and with 113k, no use of oil between changes. My Regal gets changed once a year now, but was about 5k to 6k in the past and with 148k does not use any oil between changes. Runs as good as the day I bought it in '91.

The Quickie Lube joints would have you believe you should be there every week or two, but they make money from you. Since you probably work hard to earn the money, don't waste it.

Your money, your choice, but a terrible waste of money. BTW, very few new vehicles come with synthetic, just some high priced and high performance. Aside from some very severe conditions, there is no reason to change at 3000 miles. Oh, just one. So the Quickie Lube place can make a lot of money.

IIrc the hudson didn't have a oil filter.

Change every 5 Months or 7000 miles. Forget the "change oil" light. (totally useless) It's there for morons who don't know their arse from a hole-in-da-ground.

I feel just like you about that. I use Mobil1 and change oil and filter every 5K.

Yes, proven.

I used to fly RC model airplanes back in the 70's. I mixed my own fuel and had access to some synthetic oils. We could easily get a few thousand more RPM and you could lean that sucker out and never overheat it. I don't recall the detail except that it was very expensive. Convinced me.

About the same here - Mobil 1 and either NAPA or CarQuest premium filters every 5-6 mos or 5-6K in both current cars (02 Impala, 96 Dodge Caravan). My 86 TBird was still going strong at 135K when I let it go - very little oil usage between changes, using a similar schedule and either Amsoil or M1 and decent filters.

I don't think I've ever had the change oil light come on in the Impala except one time when I forgot to reset it after a change.

Tim,

It is, but with the higher temperatures, more precise bearing clearances and all the other factors involved in modern engines, the oil is under much more stress than it used to be.

I hate to say this, but I can remember when the recommended oil change interval was 1000 miles.

Regards, Bill Bowen Sacramento, CA

"Tim" wrote:

Show me hard data. Your saying it doesn't make it so.

Agreed. When I heard some cars had oil-change indicators, I assumed they monitored the condition of the oil somehow. When I heard they just count miles, then I knew it's just another idiot light.