Oil Change Interval

[Rob5589]

Full syn, about 7500. Part syn/conventional about 5000.

 

[Ucsdryder]

I run the Costco full synthetic. Diy about every 6000-7000. The Costco stuff tests well and is dirt cheap when it’s on sale!

 

[CorbLand]

We don’t have a Costco membership but we just got one in town 6 or so months ago. What do you all get it for per quart?

 

[hunterjmj]

Change mine around 3-5000 depending on the time I have. Don't think I've ever gone over 5000 miles. 09' Chevy 6.0 liter 233,000 miles. Seems weird but I actually enjoy changing the oil.

 

[summs]

I do every 7-10k. Depends on the weather. The diesel truck oil is black after 10 minutes, so it's hard to tell, but either milage or once a year, usually early September the cars get a good once over. Oil, filters, greasing, anti seize, cleaning. People change oil every 5k with synthetic oils is just overkill, but it's still cheaper than a new engine.

Brand really doesn't matter, it still has to meet standards, but I'll shell out the extra for T6 or Valvoline "C" approved. I've been using Wally word synthetic in cars for years and never had a hiccup and 5/5 are over or closing in on 150k miles.

 

[Ucsdryder]

We don’t have a Costco membership but we just got one in town 6 or so months ago. What do you all get it for per quart?

On sale it was 10 quarts for 31 bucks. I bought enough to change oil in both cars a couple of times.

 

[weekender7]

5000 with non synthetic, got a Toyota T100 showing 723,000 but drove it 2 years with the speedo cable broke.

 

[black dawg]

Have seen enough vehicles get 30-40k on an oil change in a years time frame to know that alot of oil is changed that doesnt need to be. These are all vehicles that are making it into the 300k mile range, so cant see that life has been shortened. This is all daily, mostly highway, but work trucks so also do alot of in town running around.

I have also seen vehicles that are only driven 15-20 minutes a day have awful looking oil by 3k.

Pretty hard (without sending in an oil sample) to make a recommendation on a particular vehicle/or how it is used, but 5k seems to be a pretty safe recommendation for a mixed highway/stop and go type vehicle that DOES get fully up to operating temp every time it is driven.

 

[traildust]

Rotella T6 in my Cummins....5-6K miles

 

[HuntHarder]

Every 5-8k on my ram 2500 gasser. Anything more frequent is wasting money and time.

 

[mi650]

On my truck, a lease, I go by the computer and let the stealership do it for 'free'.

On my car, 2000 Corvette, I do it myself with Mobile One and a K&N filter once a year. I put about 3-4k miles a year on it.

 

[RockAndSage]

OP, I work in the lubricants field, on the science and engineering side. A couple of points I can offer are to keep in mind that automotive oil degradation and performance loss generally comes from 4 key areas: 1) Mechanical work, breaking down the viscosity of the oil, 2) acids and oxidants altering the chemistry of the oil and its additives, 3) physical particulate inclusion, and 4) excessive heat, which alters the chemistry of the lubricant and some of its additives.

Mileage is only a proxy for all of this - a rough average indicator of all these factors, but different conditions can have any one of these factors in play far worse than the others. Steady highway miles in temperate conditions are going to have far less of all performance-degradation factors here than you'd have in the same vehicle with weeks of stop-and-go commute traffic in a Pheonix summer. However, the same highway miles in temperate conditions in a high-mileage vehicle will have a lot more blow-past chemical and particulate contamination from the pistons getting into the oil than that vehicle would have had at lower miles, and it will degrade that oil much faster.

Oil changes also aren't only about protecting from friction damage - it's also about minimizing deposit formation (sludge, varnish, etc), and keeping seals and gaskets protected.

There's also the issue of time. Acids and oxidants can be particularly bad for oil with time, mostly degrading its viscosity (and how well it keeps your car's parts from grinding against each other as a consequence), so even if you have a vehicle that is getting less than 5k miles a year (like a classic/hotrod, etc), change that oil out annually or every six months, no matter what is advertised by either the oil's manufacturer or the vehicle's. Even low-milage acid and oxidation accumulation can cause outsized impact with time. However, the higher the quality the oil, the better the synthetic molecules and additives will be engineered to tolerate all of this, and the larger your margin of safety before it becomes problematic. Oil quality absolutely does matter - don't let anyone convince you otherwise. But you can get reasonably similar performance out of lower quality oils just by changing them out at more frequent intervals.

Changing oil and filters early and often manages all of this. I run some pretty premium synthetics, and the absolute best filters I can find - and I still change my oil out at 5k miles or every 6 months, without fail. If I'm doing a lot of towing, off-road driving, or stop-and-go driving, especially in the summer months, I'll change it out every 3k miles - especially if I see the oil darkening.

A final point - what I do is for absolutely maximum performance for long-term durability and reliability of my vehicles. They won't suddenly break down and die if I go a month or two long, or get a couple of thousand miles overdue. But these maintenance norms absolutely do extend the life of a vehicle. Most people simply won't ever notice any benefit if they're getting rid of a vehicle every 3 or 4 years. You only see it if you've got something you value, and don't intend to part with.

 

[txjustin]

Black stone will mail you the sample kits for free.
Send in a sample.
Read there recommendation.
Keep extending the interval based on there recommendation until they tell you that's long enough or to much. Round it back and use that interval.

That’s what I do. My ‘22 f150 is good for 10k miles.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[49ereric]

10K usually but it was 11K last time.
Mobil 1

 

[Iowafarmer]

How do the oil life indicators on vehicles work? Is there some science behind it, or is it just arbitrary?

If I didn't use the life indicator, I would be changing oil a lot more frequently (every 5000 miles).

Makes me wonder if I should trust the computer.

Thanks!

Well the fact that you have to reset it when you change the oil tells me it’s not really monitoring your oil condition just your driving I don’t use it local dealer ship told me change it by miles on odometer

 

[Amos Moses]

17 f150 3.5 ecoboost. I change it myself every 5k or less with full synthetic. Rather change the oil too often than deal with turbo issues.

 

[WV Mountaineer]

Full synthetic in all of them. Every 7000 on the gassers. And, a new diesel I’ll change every 7000 until 28000. Every 10,000 miles. Change fuel filters 3 times a year on average. With synthetic, I’m fine with these mileages.

 

[AppalachianHollers]

On my Toyota, I use Costco full synthetic every 7,500 miles—but often it ends up being 8,500 by the time I get to it.

On my work truck, a Chevrolet Silverado 1500 with a 4.3L V6, I get it changed every 5,000 miles with blended synthetic. But that’s because it‘s closing in on 250k miles (and the company pays for it, lol).

 

[Wapiti406]

I change every 5k for my GMC 1500 and wife's CRV. At 5k the GMC is ~30% OLM, the Honda is ~40% OLM. Im sure this is just an arbitrary mileage, like 3000 used to be, but full syn oil and wix filters are cheap maintenance.

 

[MuleDeerMike]

The manual in my wife's Honda says the oil change indicator is an algorithm based off the amount of engine starts and the amount of the revolutions of the motor I believe. Makes sense to me.

I have an LB7 duramax and I believe the manual says to change oil every 5000 or 5500, there's no indicator in this truck that tells you when to change it but I sent a sample of my oil to a company called Blackstone laboratories for an analysis back in 2018. They ask how many miles are on your truck and how many miles were on the specific sample and then give you a full report of the amounts of all the different metals and the chemistry of your sample and then give a recommended interval of when to change your oil. I believe they recommended 9,000 miles for my truck with the caveat that a second and third sample would likely yield an even higher interval. I decided once was enough and stuck with 8,500 miles between changes and all has been good ever since. It was pretty cool seeing the analysis report, I would recommend it.