Engine Oil Change
 

I remembered reading that California is starting a campaign against 3000 mile oil changes (California launches campaign against 3,000-mile oil changes) and I started wondering about my own oil changes.

I follow hypermiling tip #1 (drive less) pretty well, and drive only about 3,500 miles per year. But I change my oil every 6 months (meaning only after about 1,750 miles). The manual even recommends every 4 months, if you live in Canada, which is my case, but I find that pretty extreme and annoying. I usually use Mobil Synthetic 5W-30 oil and Purolator PureOne filters (the gold ones).

What would you guys say, would I have any problems (e.g. sludge in the engine, etc.) if I started changing it every 11 months and 3000 miles (which is the recommended distance interval) in order to be more eco-friendly and waste less oil (and time...!)?

By all means, extend your oil change interval, especially if you are using synthetic oil. My car calls for 8000 km (5000 miles) using regular oil. With synthetic, I am looking at 12000 km or once a year.

If I were you,I'd change my oil every 18 or 24 months.

It depends on the type of driving you do. If you do all (or even mostly) city driving the recommendation is to change the oil more frequently based upon time rather than distance. The more severe use of city driving involves more cold starts, etc. which reduces the effectiveness of oil.

Decades ago I did my oil changes less frequently and ended up with an engine that had considerable sludge far before the 100,000 mile mark. Now I change the oil and the automatic transmission (partially - drain and fill) every six months, regardless of miles traveled. If you are doing taxi cab type driving (considered severe duty) most manufacturers recommend the oil change be done at every three months.

Frankly I don't care about being eco-friendly at all; I'm more concerned with preventive maintenance and longevity of my engine.

3-5K on dyno-juice; 5-10K on man-made monkey-juice.

I would change it every 24 months if it does not start to sludge before. Just check the oil˙s condition every few months and you`re on the safe side, Mazdas have great engines, that engine can go for a 100 years with that annual mileage:>

A friend of mine has a newer Opel with an 18000 mile oil change interval and 95% of that car`s journey are cold starts and less than 3 miles of driving. He forgot about changing oil and drove over 20000 miles with one oil. The oil did smell of gasoline, but was didn˙t even look that bad and the there was hardly any sludge. Good synthetic oils can go for a very long time.

Additional info
 

I drive 60% city, short distances, lots of cold starts (temp goes down well into the negatives (F)), lots of EOC to the (super long) red lights, and lots of re-starts...

It's about time a govt. said something about this.

Seems like a perfect case to get an oil analysis done, after all you don't want water condensing in your oil or the oil becoming acidic or diluted with fuel.
I didn't know anyone still recommended 3,000 mile oil changes, my car says right on the sticker on the air filter and in the owners manual to change it every 7,500 miles so I put synthetic in and change it every fall with 10,000 to 12,000 miles on that oil change and haven't had any oil related problems.

Our Honda CR-Z checks viscosity at every restart and some go 20k without the car saying the oil has broken down. The manual recommends 10,000 miles with synthetic 0W-20

...GM's Oil Life Monitor (OLM) starts out with a 20,000-mile "guess" assuming the use of their dexos1™ synth-blend 5W/30, and then 'shortens' that number for cold-starts, idling and slow-speed city driving.

Analysis
 

Does anyone know where to get a legit analysis done? I guess there are a lot of scammers out there... Also, how much would it cost?

I change my engine oil; 5w30 synthetic, every January regardless of distance, usualy 32000km - 36000km per year. The car now has aprox 125000km on the odometer.

Maybe I'm not too scientific, but couldn't just READING the dip stick color help a lot?

If it starts to look pretty gross, change it.

I fully realize that a lot of diesels dipsticks seem to turn black in no time, but for gas
motors; it would seem the visual would help.

Some (many?) say you can't go by dipstick color... but I do. If it's honey colored and has no evidence of milky condensation or gritty contamination, I say it's good to keep going and I don't give a crap how long it's been in there. It ain't milk after all.

I use a company called BLACKSTONE.
they are about $25-35
They will send you a little sample collection bottle and mailer for free.
nice people

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

ps. here is a report from 189000miles. I currently have 255000miles

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/v...27_page001.jpg

...well, that's sorta like looking at a glass of yellowish liquid and visually determining that it's actually ice-tea or beer and not a urine-sample...you gonna try it?

First ...that's wat TOOOO visual!!!:eek:


second.... '......or cheap white vine?':thumbup:

The only recommendation for 3K oil changes comes from people who are asking you to pay for it.

I agree that an analysis is the best course of action for you. Your extremely low annual mileage and frequent cold starts will cause a shorter useful oil life (in k's or miles) which makes you a bit of an exception. Only analysis will be able to tell you the appropriate interval.

Other factors to consider are, if the vehicle sits in a garage, carport or in the weather. Does it get an occasional long distance drive to boil out water and gasoline from the oil?

My guess, and that's all it is, is to just change it annually.

i have a very short commute to work each day,and change the oil in my tracker once a year. i use synthetic oil. my saturn has a change oil soon light. comes on every 5-6 thousand miles,thats when i change it.

...maybe, but I'll bet that NOBODY mis-understands the "analogy" being conveyed, ie: that you can NOT tell 100% just by LOOKING.

But since you know the history of it, you can tell a lot!

there nice thing about the report, is that they give you an idea of where you are at from a 'wear' point of view.
(the top portion)
the bottom portion tells you how much life you have in your oil.

a freind had bought a used truck w/ about 50k on it from a dealer. They said the do an oil channge on all used cars they sell. After driving to ca from texas and back, he remembered that I has given hom the free colloector and mailer.
so w/ about 7k on the oil he got back the results. The oil was still good and had another 5-7k of usible life left.
It reasured him that the dealer was not only reputible but actually used quality oil and filter.

...when you DON'T have a good picture, accept the DATA contained in the 1,000-WORDS!

...but, (as President Reagan said) "VERIFY!"

Vehicle sits outside.
I take 200 miles (one-way) road-trips 4 times a year.

One of my cars is a '97 Ford Escort that's mainly used when we take longer trips and only has 32K miles on it right now. I change the oil (conventional) in it every 3K miles regardless of elapsed time. It's a 15 year old car with 32K miles and has had 10 oil changes since new so it's averaging an oil change every 1.5 years. Viewing the head/valve train from through the oil fill hole it still looks just like new inside. With the type driving I do in this car I wouldn't be afraid to let it go 5K miles between changes regardless of elapsed time. The oil I drain out of it when I do the oil changes still looks very clean, I pour it back into oil bottles and use it for topping off oil in my '88 Escort Pony which uses/leaks lots of oil. If it were me and most of the trips were short trips of under about 10 miles where the oil barely reaches temperature I'd continue to change it every 3K miles, but if the oil get hot enough to burn off moisture it should be able to go 5K miles with no problem regardless of elapsed time, maybe even further on synthetic.

When I was a child my dad had a '68 Mercury that was used basically for longer trips for the first several years of it's life. He changed the oil every 3K miles regardless of elapsed time and this was back when oil wasn't as good as it is today. When he sold the car it had 168K miles on it and if I recall correctly it wasn't using but about 1/2 quart of oil between changes.

I think this is the key reason the 3000 mile change interval is still with us in this day and age of far better oils AND engines: momentum. Plain and simple momentum. For every story about a long lived car with excessively changed oil, I can give one about a long lived car that didn't have lots of/regular oil changes.

I have seen a Nissan 2 liter 4 cylinder with 540K miles that looked like new inside and ran like new. 110 mile commute every week day. The car was rusted so bad you could see the pressboard of the door's inside trim panel from outside the car.

regards
Mech

Amsoil ASL series will allow up to 25,000 miles or one year between oil changes or their SSO (signature series) will allow up to 35,000 miles or one year. Ofcourse this depends on the type of driving you do, normal or severe service and condition of your engine. You must also use an Amsoil oil filter to obtain this extended oil change interval claim from Amsoil. The SSO or signature series is a 0w30. Go to the Amsoil web site and check it out. I use their products in all of my vehicles including their lubes. You will also save money along with using less oil plus your engine will last forever. Find a dealer in your area as you cannot buy Amsoil at any parts places. This is how they keep their prices low. Once you start using Amsoil you will never stop using it.

changing filter
 

can you change an oil filter without draining the oil? would it be a good idea to change the filter and top up the oil if you were going to go long intervals between changes?

...yes, the oil has to be pumped up and into the filter, so removing the filter (usually) only spills the oil contained within the filter itself, typically < 1 quart.

It CAN be done but does it make any sense? The oil will need changing far sooner than the filter gets anywhere near plugging up.

I just noticed that the local Ford dealership puts a sticker on my windshield indicating that the next change is due inn 5000 miles when the spec for my car is 10,000 miles. Scam artists.

I wonder, would lots of eoc be considered heavy duty cycle usage or would it be considerable less since the motor runs so little?

AJ, not to keep plugging Amsoil, but they have an excellent oil analysis program which goes hand in hand with their 25,000 and 35,000 mile oil change intervals. Check out their website. redorchestra, you do not have to drain the oil to change the filter. Many people who run Amsoil for 25-35,000 miles will change their filters at half way through the oil change interval and top off the engine with the quantity of oil that their filters hold. If your oil filter is mounted vertically on the engine then it is always best to fill it with oil before installing it. That way your oil pressure will be almost immediate upon start up after the oil and filter change.

I know :thumbup: My father always does it on his '03 Corolla.

However, it seems Mazda engineers weren't thinking about anything else other than zoom-zoom. The filter screws on horizontally on the back of the engine halfway down!!! You literally have to stick your entire arm up to the shoulder between the firewall and the engine to get to it :mad:

Hondas and Nissans are made that way too. I do my own oil changes and I won't buy any car that is designed that way, no matter how good a car it is.

Toyotas are easy. Open the hood, and the oil filter is right there, easily accessible.

I understand. I too have seen many cars where the manufacturer has built the car around the oil filter. I once saw a friend cut an access hole in his firewall to get to the oil filter instead of having to be a contortionist. It was quite effective and he made an aluminum cover to place back over the hole then laid the carpeting back down over it. You would never know it was there. That was way back in my high school days over 100 years ago.John.....

AJ, with the quality of oil & filter you are using, I agree with SentraSE-R, you could extend that OCI by at least a factor of 3 or 4.

On my wife's '01 Sportage (2.0L), (second cousin to the motor in the Protege), with traveling a total of 3 miles round-trip to/from work daily, I would do an OCI every 18-24 months, as a matter of precautionary maintenance, using regular dino-based oil.

AFAIK, Honda's R series (base Civic) still spins backwards but their K series (CRV, Civic Si), the L-series (Jazz/Fit) and all of their modern V6's spin in the other direction and have the filter in the front. I'm not certain on the Insight.

I change my oil every year at about 11k miles. Just hit year 2 with my car, and a new Blackstone report should be on it's way soon.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...Blackstone.jpg