Posted on 09/12/2010 4:48:45 PM PDT by Bad~Rodeo
I STILL remember learning from my father how to carefully remove a dipstick to check the oil level in our cars. It was drilled into me — along with turning off the lights when you left a room and clearing the plates off the table after dinner — that oil needs to be changed every 3,000 miles or so.
I’m not sure what I thought would happen if I didn’t, but I vaguely imagined an unlubricated engine grinding to a halt.
Childhood habits are hard to undo, and that’s often good. To this day, I hate seeing an empty room with the lights on. But sometimes, we need to throw aside our parents’ good advice. In March, for example, I wrote about how we should relearn the dishwasher and laundry soap habits we inherited from our mothers.
Add frequent oil-changing to that list.
“There was a time when the 3,000 miles was a good guideline,” said Philip Reed, senior consumer advice editor for the car site Edmunds.com. “But it’s no longer true for any car bought in the last seven or eight years.”
Oil chemistry and engine technology have improved to the point that most cars can go several thousand more miles before changing the oil, Mr. Reed said. A better average, he said, would be 7,500 between oil changes, and sometimes up to 10,000 miles or more.
The California Integrated Waste Management Board ran public service announcements for several years about “the 3,000-mile myth,” urging drivers to wait longer between oil changes. Although the information is a few years old, the board has a list of cars on its Web site and how often they need oil changes. The concern is not only the cost to
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
It has developed a serious ping, and the dealer did a "top engine cleaning," under warranty. Mechanic said usually a little bit of smoke comes out the exhaust during this. When they did mine, a lot of smoke came out. He suggested that I change oil every 3000 miles from now on and I do.
This cleaning did not solve the pinging, so they actually took off the valve cover and did a more in-depth service/cleaning. It helped for a few days, now the pinging is back. I'm inclined to think it's computer related.
I'm sure plenty of vehicles can get by just fine on 6-7, or even 10K intervals, but because of this experience, mine will be 3-4K from now on in any vehicle.
Holy deer droppings. What's your yearly total?
Why the hell does my ‘ become a ? when I copy and paste? Arghh...
“That’s cheap for synthetic, what brand?”
I’ve bought Mobil 1 there for $21, $22, and $26 for 5 quarts. Recently, it’s always been $21 or $22. I always check the quantity because the price is so low - heck it’s even lower than Sam’s. I’ve got roughly 30 of the 5-quart bottles in inventory now (keeping with my plan to have 4 to 5 years worth of non-perishables - and this oil is definitely non-perishable). Heck, after reading these comments, I may buy another 20 or so, for insurance, as $50 or even $100 per bottle in the near future would not surprise me a bit, once the dollar tanks.
Post #20
Pennzoil Platinum is also good stuff and avail for 21 or 22 bucks / 5 quarts at WM
BTW there is a “Free Republic” equivalent for motor oil on the internet.
Bobistheoilguy.com
They fight like cats and dogs over there about molecules.
Bookmarked, thanks
“I know this guy whos great uncle built a corolla that runs on water gets 100mpg”
I was reading about guys that use synthetic and keep sending samples to a lab to confirm its still good. You could change the filter and add a quart every 7000 and just keep going for years.
FORD recommends 5000 miles with our new Fusion. I have an ‘02 Explorer with 175K on it, and have always changed at 5K. About every other oil change, I top off the crankcase with 1/2 can of STP. At 175K it still doesn’t use a drop of oil.
I change the oil in the little 4cyl car every 3 months about 5000 miles it only holds 4 quarts so is cheap to do. My diesel work truck holds 3 gallons of oil a little bit more expensive a proposition it goes 10000 miles between changes. If you are running a fleet check out the testing and the moly oils they can run up to 25k and save you a bunch. My FIL is in the oil and additives biz and as long as your tests are to spec you are golden. They can also tell you a lot about the condition of your engine just from testing the oil.
My ‘96 F-250 drinks about three quarts a month (she expirates it through the flywheel) so her oil gets ‘changed’ daily.
Just flipped 200K miles.
It’s a pinging and not a tapping right? Reason I ask is because in my experience pinging is more associated with carburetion. But yours is probably fuel injected
Could your pinging problem be related to the fuel system/gasoline quality?
For synthetic high performance motor oils, consult both the auto and oil manufacturer for duration, and expect substantially longer intervals.
On my 1991 Chevy pickup truck I would change the oil every 5000 miles with regular 5w30 oil. I had around 415000 on it when we traded it in during the “clunker” program. Still the original motor.
You probably should have kept that truck.
No way, that's unheard of
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