Oil change miles -- how often do you change oil?

[ShadowsPapa]

I'm on the every 5k plan. Easy to remember and gives me peace in mind. I'm old and used to doing every 2500/3000, so probably a mental issue I have in that it seems wild going 10k.

Even I don't hit that 10,000 miles on the monitor. I check now and then, and there's been times I drive maybe 1,000 miles but lose 15-20% on the oil life when 10% should equal 1,000 miles if it was a perfect timer and nothing more. So it's telling me I either didn't get it hot enough long enough, or was loading the engine more than typical (plow snow or tow a trailer in hills and watch that oil life monitor drop quickly)

or very low engine RPM are known as Severe
Duty vehicles.

So much for those who love to keep the RPM down LOL.
It's not a good thing. Run it, work it.

I'm in the "you can, but should you?????" side of it.
I do the oil analysis, and even when they say "you can run xxx more miles on this oil", I cut that number down and use it only as a guideline.
In the days of 7500 mile oil changes I was in the 3500 mile group.
Today, in the 10,000 mile oil change bit - it's an IDEAL and how many of us always drive ideal?
Since 5 is an easy number and ensures I change more than once a year - I'm typically in the 5-6 range - DEPENDING on how I've used it.
I prefer frequent tire rotations, especially on these expensive A/T tires - they can wear weird really fast and since I like to handle both tire rotations and oil changes at the same time, that also means my oil changes are more frequent than I know I could go and be ok.

It's like the tach - redline is something like 6500 RPM - does that mean you should keep the engine up there most of the time?

You can hurt an engine with oil changes too far apart,
you can't hurt it shortening the interval.
A short interval also means you can fudge a bit either direction if you just don't have time for an oil change that week.
But if you take it to the max, you should drop what you are doing and change it NOW, not later.

Sponsored

 

[PsyRN]

I don't keep track of miles. When it gets around 10%, that's when I change it.

 

[DanW]

how often does everyone change their miles , I thought synthetic was good for 7k miles ?

Go with the oil life monitor. It won't stress the oil. It will signal a change between 7k and 9k, depending on driving pattern. I have run Mobil 1 EP 0W20 to about 8500 and did an analysis that showed it to still be in good shape. That oil is designed to survive 20k in a direct injected turbo engine, so the Pentastar is a cake walk for it.

I do 5k, but that's just OCD and I like tinkering with my Jeeps.

 

[Hootbro]

My wife does it every 5K for me.

 

[SF_E60]

I do oil changes every 4k miles, it's not my daily. If I have a long road trip coming up 1k+ miles and I'm around 3k I'll do an oil change.

 

[Marmaduke]

I did my first at 1200 miles. I plan to do the rest on 5000 mile intervals. Dealer said Jeep and the oil manufactures disagree on intervals, but that’s an easy one.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Go with the oil life monitor. It won't stress the oil. It will signal a change between 7k and 9k, depending on driving pattern. I have run Mobil 1 EP 0W20 to about 8500 and did an analysis that showed it to still be in good shape. That oil is designed to survive 20k in a direct injected turbo engine, so the Pentastar is a cake walk for it.

I do 5k, but that's just OCD and I like tinkering with my Jeeps.

Heck, maybe that's my excuse? I keep checking the odo - is it time yet? is it time yet?
Hmmm, maybe you've run across some of my real reasoning. Can't keep the hands off the cars even if there's nothing really wrong.

Interesting post.

 

[FloridaMan655321]

Even I don't hit that 10,000 miles on the monitor. I check now and then, and there's been times I drive maybe 1,000 miles but lose 15-20% on the oil life when 10% should equal 1,000 miles if it was a perfect timer and nothing more. So it's telling me I either didn't get it hot enough long enough, or was loading the engine more than typical (plow snow or tow a trailer in hills and watch that oil life monitor drop quickly)

You know, I’ve never even looked at that monitor thing. Forgot it existed. I’ll give it a look the next time I’m close to an oil change just out of curiosity (I just got it done 2 weeks ago).

 

[XraytecH]

I go by the oil life indicator.

Around about 50% is when I think about changing the oil.

 

[ChrisNLA]

Oil is cheap. Engines ain't.

We generally stick to 5K miles on everything in the driveway except for my old beater project truck that sometimes goes for years with me forgetting to change the oil.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Oil is cheap. Engines ain't.

We generally stick to 5K miles on everything in the driveway except for my old beater project truck that sometimes goes for years with me forgetting to change the oil.

What I found interesting is that if you have the dealer we buy from do an oil change in the WAVE program, they put a reminder sticker on the Jeep - and the miles on it indicate 5,000 miles until next change, or 6 months. Interesting. (but hey they do make money on oil changes, even the "Free" ones)

 

[ChrisNLA]

What I found interesting is that if you have the dealer we buy from do an oil change in the WAVE program, they put a reminder sticker on the Jeep - and the miles on it indicate 5,000 miles until next change, or 6 months. Interesting. (but hey they do make money on oil changes, even the "Free" ones)

Gotta make that money

I have a little roll of stickers I put on all the rides (five in total if I count my moms SUV) just like an oil change place. The GF called me one day and was all concerned that she was gonna go over what I wrote on the sticker before we could change the oil.

I said look, a few (or even several) miles over ain't gonna hurt it - and besides you're more likely to wreck the car again than kill the motor over an oil change ?

She does not think I am a comedian.

 

[Guns_N_Rosaries]

Change all the fluids at half the intervals recommended by the manufacturer and you'll get twice the life out of it.

 

[DanW]

Here´s a peace of mind thing....The Pentastar that made 625k miles in a Promaster van did 7,000 mile changes with mostly Mobil 1, but some Valvoline synthetic along the way (I think all the major brands and even a couple of generics are great oils), did so on 7,000 mile oil change intervals with a couple going over 7k to 8 or 9k. That engine´s timing chain stretched and the guides broke. The rest of the engine appeared to have lots of life left in it, otherwise.

 

[Sikjeep2]

I change mine when the light comes on. Which is about 7,000 miles. I use Mobil 1 0-20.

Sponsored