The 3,000 mile oil change is a myth
This is what the State of California says. Or more exactly what the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) says. The fact is that most drivers (including myself) change their oil every 3,000 miles (or 5,000 km) even though many automakers now recommend service intervals of 5,000, 7,000 or even 10,000 miles for most modern cars.
Research by the CIWMB shows that nearly 3 out 4 Californians change their cars' oil before it is really needed. This generates millions of gallons of waste oil, a product which is potentially very polluting.
CIWMB has released a website that explains this "myth" and has a short list of recommended service intervals for common cars. For example, a 2007 Nissan Altima can have its oil changed every 3,750 miles (25 percent further than 3,000 miles), and a 2007 Chevy Malibu every 7,500 (150 percent more). The rule is that we all should check this figure in the owner's manual.
Please note that this figure also depends on your driving habits and the quality of the oil you're using. Changing oil too late is also a very bad practice, because not only you can damage your car engine, but it increases fuel consumption and reduces performance.
[Source: CIWMB (Thanks to my buddy Mike for the tip)]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Steven 3:14PM (1/24/2008)
Considering that some Porsche's have a 20,000 mile oil change interval and many others are in the 10-15,000mile range, this has been bunk for years! One could suggest that is to ensure your motor will fail early, how does that hold up with those major manufacturers that have 50,000 - 100,000 mile power train warranties? This is just the kind of bunk that kills so many boyfriend girlfriend relationships. Dad belives soenthing that is a load of hooie, duacghet loves Dad and belvied everthign he says, daugytter spouits troe tio boyfirend who is soon dumpde be casye he disgreed with her dad!
Reply
snm.grr 3:02PM (1/24/2008)
Sigh. Some auto manufacturers bumped up the recommended change interval simply to get better ratings in consumer reports, only to have to revise those estimates back downwards later. My manual says my 1999 Passat 1.8t should have the oil changed every 5000 miles, but the dealer sheet updated in 2002 recommends much less, due to "sludge" issues with this particular engine (updated oil type, too). Simply reading your manual is NOT enough. Check with the dealer for updates on service intervals.
Reply
Tom 3:01PM (1/24/2008)
Most GM vehicles now have an oil life monitor system that is very sophisticated in calculating when you should change oil. GM back this up with a 5 year/100,000 mile powertrain warranty, so the engineers must be pretty confident.
Reply
Baumann 3:01PM (1/24/2008)
Tom's spot on. I have two GM vehicles (both 2006) and they both show me my "oil life." Typically the cars tell me to change the oil every 4500 - 5000 miles.
Reply
Steve 3:01PM (1/24/2008)
I don't give a CRAP what some "waste management" board says. Their bent is obviously going to be skewed towards the goal of "reducing waste," not making sure my car lasts a long time. Similarly, I don't buy into the manufacturer's recommendations either--THEIR bias is in making sure my car lasts the shortest time possible (as long as the warranty is over when it dies).
So I'll continue to change my oil every 3,000 miles, and unlike the idiots who listen to these people, I'll still have a working car when the odo hits 300,000.
Reply
MarkR 12:09PM (1/24/2008)
OLD NEWS. That was debunked years ago when consumer reports took 2 New York taxi of the same make and model changing oil in one every 3k and 5k in the other. then after 100k they pulled the engines and inspected. and the foud that they had virtualy the same amount of ware. definatly not enough to change oil every 3k.
My Toyota Tacoma recommends every 5k which Is what I do at Toyota so they can rotate the tires every 5k for the 100k tire warranty they offer. otherwise I'd probably let it ride to about 7k every now and then.
Reply
Chris 12:17PM (1/24/2008)
SNM - Most enthusiasts recommend changing to synthetic oil for the 1.8t engine, and then you are perfectly fine going 5k miles.
Reply
Mattias 12:45PM (1/24/2008)
That's funny.
The same engines sold in Europe get away with oil change intervals between 15.000km and 30.000km. You can hardly find an old diesel that has short 10.000km intervals (6000).
Reply
ug 1:27PM (1/24/2008)
http://www.recycleoil.org/
Reply
steven 1:12PM (1/24/2008)
You know it is "myths" like that ruin many a promising relationship. It goes like this... Dad says to daughter "always do 'X' with your car". Daughter of course loves and respects her father more than anyone and does not realize that he's full of tripe on this one. Girl meets boy. Boy does not "always do 'X' with his car" and what's worse, does the opposite of 'X' when driving HER car AND on top of that tells girl she's wrong. Girl dumps boy.
Reply
steven 1:23PM (1/24/2008)
A.N. (sub req'd) covered this last year as well with the story "7,500-mile oil change is becoming the norm". Check out M-B and Porsche if you need more "proof". Some new 911's are going for 20,000 miles. Granted they use a dry sump and have twice the oil capacity.
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071203/ANA03/712030324
I think you'll also find one company here that was outta the spotlight on the sludging issue...
Recommendations by brand (Source: Auto Companies)
Acura: Software senses when oil change is needed
Aston Martin: 10,000 miles or every year
Audi: 5,000 miles in first year; 10,000 miles in later years
BMW: Software senses when oil change is needed
Buick: Software senses when oil change is needed
Cadillac: Software senses when oil change is needed
Chevrolet: Software senses when oil change is needed
Chrysler: 6,000 miles or 6 months; 3,000 miles in severe conditions*
Dodge: 6,000 miles or 6 months; 3,000 miles in severe conditions*
Ford: 7,500 miles; 5,000 miles in special conditions
GMC: Software senses when oil change is needed
Honda: Software senses when oil change is needed
Hummer: Software senses when oil change is needed
Hyundai: 7,500 miles
Infiniti: 7,500 miles
Isuzu: Software senses when oil change is needed
Jaguar: 10,000 miles
Jeep: 6,000 miles or 6 months; 3,000 miles in severe conditions*
Kia: 5,000 to 7,500 miles, depending on model
Land Rover: 7,500 miles
Lexus: 5,000 miles or 6 months
Lincoln: 7,500 miles; 5,000 miles in special conditions
Mazda: 7,500 miles
Mercedes: 13,000 miles or every year*
Mercury: 7,500 miles; 5,000 miles in special conditions
Mini: Software senses when oil change is needed
Mitsubishi: 7,500 miles
Nissan: 7,500 miles
Pontiac: Software senses when oil change is needed
Porsche: 12,000 miles or every year
Saab: Software senses when oil change is needed
Saturn: Software senses when oil change is needed
Scion: 5,000 miles or 6 months
Subaru: 7,500 miles
Suzuki: 7,500 miles
Toyota: 5,000 miles or 6 months
Volkswagen: 5,000 miles
Volvo: 7,500 miles
*Software senses if a more frequent oil change is needed, but factory prescribes the actaul oil change interval.
Reply
Noz 1:33PM (1/24/2008)
Absolutely rubbish. Use synthetic oil and you can change the oil on ANY CAR (regardless of any condition you want to through it in...short of VERY HEAVY TOWING OR EXTREME DIRT) at no less than 10K miles..even 15K miles is fine. It's total rubbish. Unless there is a mechanical breakdown (say of the filter), the engine is going to be fine. For the length of time we own cars. Synthetic oil breaks down far less, far later, and just remains much cleaner.
And no, you can't tell what the quality condition of the oil is by color...that's another bunch of crap.
Reply
rgseidl 2:59PM (1/24/2008)
@ Mattias -
true, but only one or perhaps a few select long-life oils are approved by the manufacturer for any given engine. These are usually synthetic and feature engine-specific additive packages, making them a lot more expensive than your garden-variety 10W30. If you decide to use cheap oil, you do have to change it after at most 15000km (9000mi) or so - even in Europe.
This is pertinent mainly because owners of cheap urban runabouts rarely shell out for expensive oil. There used to be some logic to that, because traditional engines designs feature aluminum pistons and cast iron piston liners. These materials have different thermal coefficients of expansion and therefore tend to suffer from a lot of blow-by during engine warm-up. Since urban runabouts often don't get a chance to heat up the block properly before the end of the journey, that means the oil inevitably gets diluted with unburnt fuel. Once the fuel fraction in the engine oil becomes too high, you have to change it regardless of how good it was to begin with.
In Europe, certain modern engine designs by VAG omit the piston liners altogether. Instead, they use silicate inserts during the crankcase casting process to limit wear and tear of the friction interface. Special post-processing then ensures the bore surface contains microscopic pockets for the oil near top dead center. The upshot is that both piston and bore surface are made of aluminum and therefore have virtually the same coefficient of thermal expansion, so tolerances in the interface can be much tighter. This reduces NVH by reducing piston slap and also blow-by, regardless of block temperature. I suspect VAG does by now sell these new engines in their US models as well, but you should ask your dealer and/or do some research to make sure if yours is one of them.
If your engine features an aluminum crankcase without any liners, it therefore does make sense to spend extra on an all-synthetic long-life oil. A key benefit of these fancy oils is that they contain viscosity improvers that sharply reduce the usual drop-off as a function of temperature. Therefore, they can make do with much lower viscosity at cold temperatures to begin with, which means they save fuel during engine warm-up. For an urban runabout, aggregate savings can be as high as 5%, especially in winter.
Reply
MarkR 4:53PM (1/24/2008)
3k is good if you are a hard driver other wise its over kill. I remember when 5k was the norm. and someone came out and said no 3k must do 3k and it was probably the oil company that funded the study. then about 5 yrs later is when consumer reports did their thing. unless you've got an old slopy engine 3k is overkill.
FYI: For those that don't know better or didn't grow up around cars. If you take your car to jiffy lube or a similar type place and they try to stick you with a new air filter every oil change. Ask to see the air filter. Hold it up to the light if you can see light through it your air filter is good, You've just got a sales push trying to sell more air filters to cover their bottom line due to cheep oil. Ask them to take the high pressure air hose and blow it off from the side that faces the engine if they won't do it go some where that will for oil changes. If its covered in dust and debris your over due for a new filter.
Reply
Chris 6:20PM (1/24/2008)
@ Steve
Why would a car manufacturer be bent on making your car last 5 years or less (the length of most warranties). My first car was a Dodge. The next three were Hondas. When my Dodge died prematurely, do you think I wanted to buy another one?
If a single car manufacturer had a monopoly on the car market, your argument might make sense. But there are too many high-quality auto makers out there that will happily take your money and give you a car that will last a long time with 10k mile oil changes.
My new CR-V tells me when the oil needs changed. Honda designs and manufacturers some of the best engines in the world. I'm certainly following their recommendations and not an antiquated guesstimate of 3k miles that doesn't apply to new engine technologies.
Reply
kballs 9:20PM (1/24/2008)
RE: cars that have insanely long oil change intervals (15-20k miles): they usually have HUGE oil reservoirs (2-5x more oil than a typical car with similar engine displacement). This means it takes 2-5x longer for the oil to get diluted with fuel and dirt and use up it's conditioners/additives.
There are actually some newer direct injection motors that recommend a 3000 mile oil change interval because with DI you get a lot more fuel dilution (because DI gives a lot more even spread of fuel in the cylinder, it covers more surface area of the cylinder walls, which means more may get past the piston rings over time).
Anyway, I seized the motor in an Explorer (Exploder lol) after the oil pump impeller sheared itself off because of being clogged with sludge. This was right after 100k miles (got it used at 90k), and the car had 5k mile oil changes (non-synthetic) for its whole life. I'd suggest if you want to go > 3k, use synthetic as it has much better sludge prevention.
Reply
John Rowell 12:27AM (1/25/2008)
I'm gonna continue to have my oil changed every 3,000 miles, and here are the reasons:
1. Having records of timely oil changes will help my car sell better when it's time
2. The car will run more efficiently, require less maintenance, and emit less pollution
3. I get a free inspection, warranty service, etc. with each oil change
4. Waste oil gets recycled anyway, and I think any slight pollution in this step is more than offset by the advantages I've listed above
Reply
Chris M 2:34AM (1/25/2008)
Toyota Prius has a recommended oil change interval of 7,500 miles, longer than the 5,000 mile interval for the non-hybrid Toyota models. The engine runs less, so both the oil and the engine lasts longer. Brakes last longer, too!
Reply
A_D_Hominem 6:16AM (1/25/2008)
I advise everybody I know to follow manufacturers' instructions but to read carefully and err on the side of the harsh conditions as I find that a significant number of drivers do not really fall into the "normal driving conditions" category. The last thing any of us would want would be a denial of warranty coverage because we followed the advise of some website.
Reply
Jo V 6:52AM (1/25/2008)
Up to 10 000 miles between 2 oil changes? My current car (European Ford) recommends 20 000 km...which is a lot...of oil changes. My previous (Audi) had a variable rate (sensor checking metal particles in the oil, etc) and turned out oil was changed every 35 000 km... Also Mercedes, BMW, Mini,... use this system since about a decade.
Reply