Short oil life?

[chuck s]

3000 mile oil changes haven't been needed since the 1950s when full flow oil filters became standard. This is a fraud perpetuated by places like Jiffy Lube and others simply to sell more oil, filters, and other services. Doesn't hurt the engine but wastes a lot of motor oil and money.

My 1966 (sixty six) Mustang owner's manual specifies an oil and filter change every 6,000 miles or 6 months which ever comes first. Motor oil chemistry has come a long way in the past 53 years.

-- Chuck

 

[Machete]

I’m a 3000 mile oil change on every car, truck I’ve owned. The cost difference of waiting 5000 mi is negligible to me. I change oil on my boats mercruiser every season annually regardless of hours, as well as my lower unit oil every spring.

My 1992 BMW 735i 295,*** till I donated it.
1970 Harley chop 1 engine rebuild
2000 Ford Expy 185,*** no major repairs still going strong
1970 mercruiser original engine.
1976 mercruiser outdrive never rebuilt.

I could go on but you get the point. Frequent oil changes are worth it in the long run.

I’ve used motorcraft on my truck exclusively until recently switching to Kendal GT 1 synthetic and I immediately noticed an improvement in engine noise. I prefer the additive package over motorcraft

 

[rjdelp7]

I’m a 3000 mile oil change on every car, truck I’ve owned. The cost difference of waiting 5000 mi is negligible to me. I change oil on my boats mercruiser every season annually regardless of hours, as well as my lower unit oil every spring.

My 1992 BMW 735i 295,*** till I donated it.
1970 Harley chop 1 engine rebuild
2000 Ford Expy 185,*** no major repairs still going strong
1970 mercruiser original engine.
1976 mercruiser outdrive never rebuilt.

I could go on but you get the point. Frequent oil changes are worth it in the long run.

I’ve used motorcraft on my truck exclusively until recently switching to Kendal GT 1 synthetic and I immediately noticed an improvement in engine noise. I prefer the additive package over motorcraft

If your engine is making 'noise', you are doing something wrong. My 2000, yes 2000 sounds like it always has. Its smooth and quiet. It burns about a quart, between changes. You can place a full glass of water, on the top cover and not lose a drop. I use synthetic and change once a year. I currently have a Fram 'ultra synthetic' 15,000k oil filter. I currently am using Mobil 1 0W30. In the past have used 5w30 and 5w20.

 

[Machete]

All combustion engines make noise.

 

[Plati]

All combustion engines make noise.

Its a subtle difference!

Noise is unwanted sound judged to be unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, noise is indistinguishable from sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference arises when the brain receives and perceives a sound.

I would say neither of my Expy's engines makes noise, since I love the sound of the big V8 engines!

 

[Machete]

Here we go .... having to define the word “noise”.

Get a life.

 

[Plati]

Here we go .... having to define the word “noise”.

Get a life.

LOL

 

[chuck s]

Back to oil changes...

Dealer oil change yesterday. The "helpful" windshield sticker they affixed says to change the oil in 5000 miles or 6 months. I'm peeling it off almost as I type this.

-- Chuck

 

[jimz]

Back to oil changes...

Dealer oil change yesterday. The "helpful" windshield sticker they affixed says to change the oil in 5000 miles or 6 months. I'm peeling it off almost as I type this.

-- Chuck

Does oil have a shelf life? If it only last 6 months inside the motor without running it more than a few miles it must. For instance I only drive less than three thousand miles a year, so six months if very little use. So is oil like a gallon of milk and spoil on the shelf?


It seems all the people that help me remember oil changes use a different yard stick than my reality.

 

[1955moose]

Oil thats sealed in a bottle or in old days a can, shouldn't deteriate. Moisture is what breaks down oil in an engine. Short trips never burn off the condensation that makes it's way into motor, and exaust. That's one of the reasons why they say to change oil sooner if you do short trips, or let vehicle sit parked. I'm sure theirs others, and our oil engineers will give you the more scientific reason. I never graduated from Petroleum University, so I don't have those answers.

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[rjdelp7]

I own 3 vehicles. My 2011 Mustang GT get little use, from that and long Buffalo winters. I had Blackstone test my 5W20 Royal Purple(K&N oil filter), with 1600mi and 14 months. They said it looked excellent and I could probably go 2 years between changes. There email stated 5000mi is the norm. I had no issues and oil tested good(in spec). They said my oil sample was 'nice'. It does get driven, in mostly hot weather.

 

[JExpedition07]

I’m okay with spending a little more money on my 3,000-4,000 mile oil changes.

My 07’ is at 173k miles and does not burn a lick of oil between changes, always same spot in hash marks. Runs smooth and quiet, why run my lubricants longer, Oil and fluids are cheap but parts aren’t. I do understand today’s oils and filters can go longer but to each their own.

 

[cmiles97]

I’m okay with spending a little more money on my 3,000-4,000 mile oil changes.

My 07’ is at 173k miles and does not burn a lick of oil between changes, always same spot in hash marks. Runs smooth and quiet, why run my lubricants longer, Oil and fluids are cheap but parts aren’t. I do understand today’s oils and filters can go longer but to each their own.

Why not 1,000 mile oil changes? Why is 3K better than 5K?

My sister is driving a 2000 Honda Odyssey with over 230,000, no oil burning and the original owner did 6,000 to 7,500 oil changes.

 

[JExpedition07]

Why not 1,000 mile oil changes? Why is 3K better than 5K?

My sister is driving a 2000 Honda Odyssey with over 230,000, no oil burning and the original owner did 6,000 to 7,500 oil changes.

If you run a full synthetic that’s fine. I use ford synthetic blend which is a dino oil blended with synthetic. 6,000 mile changes would turn an engine into sludge city with a dino oil.

 

[Machete]

Why not 1,000 mile oil changes? Why is 3K better than 5K?

My sister is driving a 2000 Honda Odyssey with over 230,000, no oil burning and the original owner did 6,000 to 7,500 oil changes.

Ha! My daughter drove her Pontiac sunbird for months w no oil registering on the dip stick. When caught this I thought let me add a quart. No change on the dip stick. So I added another quart. No mark on dip stick. I added almost 4 quarts till it registered on dip stick.

Car was running fine!

So why use oil at all?

 

[1955moose]

Her Pontiac probably ran on empty for 50 miles past the blinking fuel light. The no oil reminds me of that commercial years back for slick 50 I think it was. Showing the motor running with no oil in it.

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[rjdelp7]

Ha! My daughter drove her Pontiac sunbird for months w no oil registering on the dip stick. When caught this I thought let me add a quart. No change on the dip stick. So I added another quart. No mark on dip stick. I added almost 4 quarts till it registered on dip stick.

Car was running fine!

So why use oil at all?

So...How would you 'know' it was running fine? How would you know she went 'months', with no oil? If its burning 4+ quarts, between changes it is shot and on its last legs. I would never buy a used car owned by a female. They don't give a rip, about car care.

 

[jimz]

A dealer close to us seems to find used rentals for resale. Advertises them as one owner. He forgets that those one owners have had hundreds of different drivers. Maybe they had proper maintenance.

 

[mquick5]

Well 5 months & 20 days later the (Change Engine Oil Soon) light came on! I did the math and it's been 3,295 miles, since changed.

I'm thinking of biting the bullet and taking it to dealer for this oil change. And if it only goes another 3k miles before needed they will have record of a issue.

We don't tow with the truck or abuse it, seldom sees 3k rpms. Mostly city driving, but we have taken a couple trips out of state, and some across the state.

 

[cmiles97]

Well 5 months & 20 days later the (Change Engine Oil Soon) light came on! I did the math and it's been 3,295 miles, since changed.

I'm thinking of biting the bullet and taking it to dealer for this oil change. And if it only goes another 3k miles before needed they will have record of a issue.

We don't tow with the truck or abuse it, seldom sees 3k rpms. Mostly city driving, but we have taken a couple trips out of state, and some across the state.

How does the oil look on the dipstick? I bought mine used and immediately changed to a mobil 1. I let the oil life monitor plus checking to see if the oil has turned dark in color dictate my 1st 2 oil changes. Both got changed with 10% oil life left a little less than 8,000 miles. That was living in Alabama in 90F high humidity weather and I towed. I start & go (without warming up, unless there is ice on the windshield) and rarely leave my vehicle idling.

Do you leave your Expy idling often or let it warm up? Other than that or the oil life monitor getting bad information from whatever sensors it uses, I can't think of a reason for it.

I just had mine serviced at 5,000 miles since the last time and the oil life monitor said it had 42% left. The oil was just turning dark. I could have gone further but I'm just over 55K on it and my OCD makes me do it on the 5s (55,000..60,000 etc) LOL. After reading high mileage Ecoboost threads over in the F-150 forums, I've switched to 5k oil changes at the dealer that uses the Ford's semi synthetic oil. The "works" is their oil change, tire rotation and look the vehicle over special that runs about $46.

If you really want to know what is going on, try sending oil samples to Blackstone Labs. They analyze it and give you a report of exactly what's going on in your motor. There is a thread here in the 3rd gen section with an owner who posted his results.

https://www.blackstone-labs.com/?session-id=4b0cgr552gtxkw55kvoo4kb5&timeout=20&bslauth&urlbase=https://www.blackstone-labs.net/Bstone/(S(4b0cgr552gtxkw55kvoo4kb5))/