how often/miles do you guys change your oil these days?

My car says 15k... but I'm closing in on 10k and I don't think I can wait any longer.

 

5K on my diesel truck, DD I just follow what the manufacturer says, and fun cars usually see a good amount of abuse so I change around 3k miles.. Cheap insurance

 

About 10-12k on my Accord, but it burns a quart every 1000 miles so over the course of an oil change interval the oil gets "changed" a couple of times

10k on our ML350 Bluetec like clockwork. Doesn't burn a drop.

 

In the States people really change oil FAR to quickly. 3000 miles?! Come on guys...

Obviously on very old cars they burn a lot more but on a modern car it's completely unnecessary.

 

7500 miles on Synthetic. So I do 2 per year.

 

6 Months or 6k miles ( Mobil 1 )
on all of my European vehicles.

3 Months or 3k miles on Domestic's

S

 

That is a great question and one I personally struggle with.

Let me tell you what I know, then say what I do on all off my cars. It may not be the best but it seems to work for me.

Synthetic oils do not wear out but they do get dirty.
regular oil does wear out. years ago Pa oil was advertized as the best protection, which it was. Today with modern oil refining technology and the additives they use, it does not matter
Always use the oil suggested by the manufacturer of your vehicle
Do not use synthetic oil in a car designed for regular oil
Most cars with synthetic oil recommend 13000 miles or once a year oil changes

I own many cars and I do not drive them often or many miles.

I change oil once a year
I always stay with natural oil or synthetic as recommended
You will have well meaning shops recommend synthetic oil on a older cars designed for natural oil. DO NOT DO IT!

Some off my cars only go 200 miles in a years period. I am not sure if that could be extended to 2 years but In have thought about it.

I keep a record on a spread sheet on oil changes, tire pressures, battery changes etc.

I am not sure if this is optimum but it has worked for me over two decades. I am curious as the OP is on what other people do especially with multiple cars

Best

Lee

 

I remember on my Dad's old Mercedes SL he would change the oil after ~7-8k miles and comment how the used oil came out looking almost new.

 

I tend to fall in the category of it's cheaper to change oil than do maintenance on the engine due to not changing it.

With that said, my used oil analysis said I could easily go 7500mi (mfg suggets 5k intervals) & suggested another analysis at that point to see how much past the 7500mi I could go.

 

As someone said - synthetic oils don't tend to break down. The oil won't have much dirt built up in just a few hours, so there's not much reason to change it during a race.

 

Well said. The problem if you have a lot of cars and therefore you do not drive each one a lot you end up changing oil all of the time even if you only put 200 miles on the car. There is no damage risk in that case.

Synthetic oil based cars are recommending 11000 to 13000 miles between oil changes. I do oil changes once a year on all of the cars. I do this because oil picks up acids from the combustion process so it is wise to change the oil at some interval.

Best

Lee

Lee

 

I currently have 2 vehicles I run dino oil in both of them on my daily driver I change it every 3,000 miles on my S2000 I like to put fresh oil in it when I take it out of storage in the spring and I also like to have relatively fresh oil in it before it goes into storage for the winter it usually comes down more to time than mileage when I change it on the S2000.

 

I'm a believer in oil changes every 3000 miles. I have a honda civic with 217,000 miles and it runs like a top.

 

Changing it too soon def never hurts but Im a big skeptic on the every 3k oil change that is pushed by every jiffy lube or the like in the nation......

 

I just sold a 2002 4Runner with 246,000 miles on it that saw 8000-10000 mile OCI's with Mobil 1. It also ran like a top.

3,000 is much shorter than the safe useable life of the oil, unless you have a 2 mile commute to work and the oil never gets up to temp to evaporate the moisture in it. Try 4000 miles next time ;-) You'll still be able to sleep at night, I promise.

 

It's a good idea to change the oil right before it goes into storage. This way, if the oil has accumulated any moisture in it, you get it out before it sits long-term. I'm guessing this storage period is 4-6 months? Fire it up and drive it in the spring - no need to change it again. The oil won't "go bad" after sitting for this short amount of time.