Oil change intervals

[ultrarunner]

Anyone do a valve job with the stick with a suction
cup on it? I did a valve job on my dad's 48 Pontiac
Rub your hands on the stick/handle like your trying to
start a fire

When over to a friends house he was going to overhaul
his engine think it was a chevy V8 all I can remember he
had the engine on a hoist and was under neath it taking
off the oil pan but he for got to drain the oil first and got
his oil bath.

willy

Yep... that's how I did Model A Valve jobs and the pulled shims to reset crankshaft bearings with plastigage and Prussian Blue...

Don't forget the ridge reamer and crosshatch cylinder hone!

 

[ultrarunner]

People forget that as someone mentioned severe duty. Driving the car 5 miles in Atlanta to work is not as hard on oil as driving 5 miles to work in Cleveland Ohio. Not sure how many miles are on my car. I have a good idea though. The odometer stopped counting at 1 million kilometers. That is about 621,000 miles. A year later and still reading 621,000 miles. I drive about 33,000 miles a year so I change the oil every 4 months. Easy on oil driving where work is usually 44 miles one way. Oil gets warm enough with a long drive. Living where it is warm my vehicles do not suffer October to April cold weather. 10,000 mile oil changes with Mobil 1 diesel synthetic as recommended by the manufacturer has worked for me. Head never been off the engine. Still gets good mileage. Drinking oil like crazy. It uses at least a half quart between oil changes. Maybe closer to a quart. Still gets 50 mpg during the 60 degree season where there is no need for AC. AC kills the mileage knocking off up to 5 mpg or 10%.

I have done oil analysis when the engine was low mileage (100,000 miles). Reports came back high silicone like possible leaking air filter. Half a million miles later and it still runs well. Lots of air filter changes, fuel filter changes and timing belts and water pumps every 100,000 miles. I am still a fan of oil analysis. I should do one one in 3 months to see what it reports.

Wasn't BMW kind of forced to offer free oil changes because people who lease their cars turn them in after the lease is never having changed the oil?

Yes... every 12 months on request.

 

[ultrarunner]

I find it amazing that so many people don't trust the manufacturers advice about oil change frequency, what grade gas to use, proper air pressure in tires, etc. With virtually no expertise, they somehow think they know more than the experts. My experience is just the opposite. If anything, the manufacturers recommendations are usually on the conservative side. They certainly don't want their reliability reputation tarnished by offering bad recommendations.

But people will still change their oil way too frequently because of good, but misguided intentions and bad assumptions.

Owners Manual for my first car is simple... 40w and change every 500 miles.

I'm guilty of extending but so far so good...

Model A Ford.

 

[bmg88201]

My 1979 Chevy step side that I bought new got the oil changed every 3000 miles. I sold it with 418,000 miles on it. My 1991 Isuzu pickup had 307,000 miles on it when I donated it and I changed the oil every 3000 miles. This new Tacoma truck is the first car I have owned that uses synthetic oil. I cannot make myself go 10,000 miles between oil changes. Like I posted earlier, I will change the oil at 5,000, then the free dealer change at 10,000, then I change it at 15,000, then the free one at 20,000. When the free oil changes are over then I’ll change the oil every 5,000 - 7,000. We are all creatures of habit, plus I’m a bit stubborn, lol.

 

[ultrarunner]

My 85 work van always at max give and always up and down Bay Areas Hills with stop and go is changed every 2500 miles which is about 6 months.

A lot of the fleet did not go anywhere due to pandemic so just now getting back to regular intervals...

The old scrap metal guy everyone called the junkie would run every one's used motor oil in his 1955 GMC.... said it's used a quart a week for years...

Your mileage may very...

Sure would be nice to have a lift as crawling around is getting old...

Never paid for an oil change in my life until last week... local mechanic and just a nice guy... sending unit leaking on mom's Toyota...

 

[Robin Veerman]

My 1979 Chevy step side that I bought new got the oil changed every 3000 miles. I sold it with 418,000 miles on it. My 1991 Isuzu pickup had 307,000 miles on it when I donated it and I changed the oil every 3000 miles. This new Tacoma truck is the first car I have owned that uses synthetic oil. I cannot make myself go 10,000 miles between oil changes. Like I posted earlier, I will change the oil at 5,000, then the free dealer change at 10,000, then I change it at 15,000, then the free one at 20,000. When the free oil changes are over then I’ll change the oil every 5,000 - 7,000. We are all creatures of habit, plus I’m a bit stubborn, lol.

Thankfully your habit didn’t start with a Model A Ford…

 

[nyone]

Weight of oil may make the difference. 5w30 verses 10w40 should show a difference of oil use.

It may but I have since switched back to the oil type I was useing when I first bought the car and burn next to no oil.

 

[Tbone07]

Toyota knows what they're doing more than anybody on this site does. Follow your owner's manual. If it's 10k then that's fine.

On my 2012 6.7 Cummins the official service interval is 15k miles even with conventional oil. The oil looks black after 1k miles on a fresh oil change anyways. You can't even tell the difference between 1k mile oil, and 10k/15k mile oil.