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Old 05-14-2014, 12:46 PM   #69 (permalink)
Frank Lee
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: up north
Posts: 12,762

Blue - '93 Ford Tempo
Last 3: 27.29 mpg (US)

F150 - '94 Ford F150 XLT 4x4
90 day: 18.5 mpg (US)

Sport Coupe - '92 Ford Tempo GL
Last 3: 69.62 mpg (US)

ShWing! - '82 honda gold wing Interstate
90 day: 33.65 mpg (US)

Moon Unit - '98 Mercury Sable LX Wagon
90 day: 21.24 mpg (US)
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I won't change at 3000 and I won't pay for an analysis.

My driving isn't in the "severe usage" category so I consider several things: manufacturer's "normal usage" recommendation + knowing even that is meant to be idiot-proof and cover the worst-case scenarios + noting the recommended change intervals from others' analyses = I just go between 1x and 2x the miles of the mfg's "normal" change rec. And sometimes the filter gets changed every time or every other time, depending on... oh, gut feeling.

After decades of doing this, I can't think of any oil-related failures on any of my vehicles. The rest of the vehicle fails before the engine.

Cost: I went bananas a few years ago and hoarded a huge box of Wix filters (when there was a deeply discounted sale) for most everything me and my parents own, and a couple dozen cases of free (after rebate) dino, semi-synth, and full-synthetic oil. Until I use that stuff up my (very infrequent) oil changes are only a couple dollars each. Usually I use the cheap Fram or Supertech Wal-Mart filters, no problem. Heck, much of my older stuff had no oil filter at all!
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