Question : How many months/miles before changing this oil? --Monroe Muffler told me FIVE months before it breaks down
I recently switched to this oil when Monroe advised it for my 1995 Corolla which has 150K miles. I paid a little more, but apparently this oil lasts a lot longer.....???
The automaker recommends that you maintain their recommended oil change interval, regardless of the oil you use.
Given a choice, I would follow the automaker's recommendations before I followed anyone else's.
I don't understand the elapsed time recommendations of oil changes. Seems to me elapsed mileage makes more sense. How does anyone know how far you drive in a set time period? If they said -- three months or three thousand miles, whichever comes first -- that would be better. Even then why three months? Does oil really degrade that badly if it's been sitting in your car for three months with very little mileage?
My mom had a Mercury (87) that she drove once or twice a week for maybe 15 miles/trip - it got less than 1000 miles/year. I would get it changed once a year. Usually she was on freeway speeds and seldom did short trips. If reversed, I'd probably have it done twice a year if she still drove. Not an answer but what the conditions are more important to me than miles/months. You will never, IMHO, go wrong with 3k/3months. Ron
A vehicle that is driven for infrequent short trips tends to build up condensation in the crankcase. I think Toyota's recommendation is actually
6 months or 5,000 miles, so you should not encounter any problems in 3 months with low mileage.
If you only drive a few times a week, for at least 30 miles per trip, then you could wait for 3000 miles to change the oil without regard to any time limit. But if you drive only a few miles for each trip (and the engine usually does not get fully warmed up), then you need to stick to the time limit of 3 months.
If you use a full synthetic oil (not including the Castrol scam oil), you can go 7500 miles or 6-9 months between changes. If you do the math, you will find that using synthetic oil with a longer change interval is about the same cost as conventional oil.
Uh-Oh. What do you mean Castrol Scam Oil? I just changed the oil in my Scion with Castrol Full-Synthetic. Are you referring to the 'Syntec Blend'? I have used that before, but have always kept to the 3,000 mile oil changes.
I am planning to go 4,500 with the full synthetic.
And, I have been using Castrol Dino for about 26 years now. On a 4 quart crankcase, I put in 3.5 Qts of Castrol GTX, and one quart of Marvel Mystery Oil. The three cars I have done this on have gone 247,000, 258,000 and 188,000 with no trouble!
Except that you can't go wrong with 3,000 miles/three months!
I Never do the Three months! I always stick to 3,000 miles (sometimes
4,000 if it's raining the weekend I hit 3,000!)Of course, now I am not driving like I used to. I'd go 100 miles on a Sunday, just for fun! With the price of gas now, and the value of vehicles, I drive less now.
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