When is it time for an oil change?

[sjwhiteley]

They're mostly mortgaged.....

True dat. Probably why you see so many Escalades repossessed.

 

[Deadman]

True dat. Probably why you see so many Escalades repossessed.

It also affects how you maintain your vehicle. When you buy it and expect to keep it long term, you do the little things extra. But most seem to be of the mindset that they are just dumping theirs in a few years and starting a new mortgage.

I bought a case of oil filters for mine, so I'll be dumping it often. I do a lot of short trips, so moisture builds up in my oil, especially in winter.

 

[lbv150]

The vehicles I bought new are still owned and no plans to get rid of. Oil and filter changes every 3,000. The '16 Expy regardless of the oil monitor 3,000 with Motorcraft Semi synth... it has turbos and tight oil passages. So far I have pulled apart the '85 Mustang, '89 and 95 F350...zero cylinder wear, so no one can ever convince me that changing the oil "too soon" is a waste.

 

[Brent Harward]

5K-6K blend oil change. Tire front to back/balance 10K to 12K. Every other change. Use blend and NEVER GO BACK TO THE DEALER! They're **** orifices. JS

 

[TobyU]

The vehicles I bought new are still owned and no plans to get rid of. Oil and filter changes every 3,000. The '16 Expy regardless of the oil monitor 3,000 with Motorcraft Semi synth... it has turbos and tight oil passages. So far I have pulled apart the '85 Mustang, '89 and 95 F350...zero cylinder wear, so no one can ever convince me that changing the oil "too soon" is a waste.

The thing is, you have nothing else to compare it to. If you would have changed the oil with let's say plain old Valvoline at every 5,500 miles and pulled it apart you would still see the original cross hatcheswith zero visible wear.
Let's face it folks... Engines rarely fail and rarely wear out due to lack of lubrication from poor quality or dirty oil. Engines fail due to lack of oil.
Very rarely do engines actually wear out.
Now let me hit on another topic that's a sore spot for me, even using the best synthetic oil out there and changing every 3000 Miles you're going to see more repairs needed for the 05 and up timing chain, tensioner and cam phasers. They simply aren't making these plastic guides and parts durable enough. Clean synthetic does help but it's not the cure-all.
But this isn't actually what we would call wearing out. This is just a design flaw or poor quality design or poor materials and it is a shame that everyone is accepting a 1200 to $1800 job having to be performed between 85k and 115k as acceptable.

 

[now or never]

I change my oil every 3,000 miles no matter what and I use Mobil 1.

 

[TobyU]

I change my oil every 3,000 miles no matter what and I use Mobil 1.

And you'll be just fine doing that. You would also be fine changing at 7,000 with mobil 1. If you did some research and reading up on it though you'd probably switch from mobile one unless you using the extended performance. Mobil 1 isn't as good as it used to be but it's still a good synthetic oil just not one of the top-tier fully synthetic oils.

 

[armoredsaint]

It also affects how you maintain your vehicle. When you buy it and expect to keep it long term, you do the little things extra. But most seem to be of the mindset that they are just dumping theirs in a few years and starting a new mortgage.

I bought a case of oil filters for mine, so I'll be dumping it often. I do a lot of short trips, so moisture builds up in my oil, especially in winter.

i had a 2019 with the ESV/extended version and it was a POS, for over $100k it didn't have ACC!!! i returned it.

 

[duneslider]

And you'll be just fine doing that. You would also be fine changing at 7,000 with mobil 1. If you did some research and reading up on it though you'd probably switch from mobile one unless you using the extended performance. Mobil 1 isn't as good as it used to be but it's still a good synthetic oil just not one of the top-tier fully synthetic oils.

Over the course of almost 180k miles and two motors on my Jeep JK mobil 1 disappears at a higher rate than all other oils I have used. If I use mobil 1 I will be at least a quart low by 3k miles, all other oils it is less than a half quart low. This is seen using 5w20 and 5w30. I saw this consistently over the first ~50k miles and then stopped using mobil and went to Castrol and consumption nearly disappeared. I thought it was a fluke and tried mobil again for a few changes and again saw an increased consumption. I also saw increased consumption in my Hemi when using mobil 1. Maybe its just a chrysler thing but it was enough personal experience for me to not use mobil 1 any more. I replaced the first motor in my jeep at somewhere passed 60k due to a number of issues but when I tore it down there was significant carbon build-up in several cylinders. That is when I decided to not use mobil anymore.

 

[KenK]

I'm not claiming expertise on engine oil, here is my 2 cents.
Oils from back in the day had zinc and other additives to manage wear from high pressures of mechanical lifters on cam shafts. The EPA pushed auto and oil companies to remove those additives which is one of the reasons roller cams are ubiquitous now. Even though us gear heads see this as a good thing, it has come back to bite us because of long timing chains, cam phasers, and turbos. These things wear prematurely because of poor design of the components and the newer more "environmentally friendly" oils. If you don't believe it just fill an old flat tappet V8 with oil made for modern vehicles and take it to the drag strip. More than likely the cam will be ground flat and perhaps a connecting rod will be sticking out the side of the block by the end of the night.
This doesn't necessarily mean the new oils are horrible but they are made specifically for the application which includes satisfying the EPA. GM and others had huge issues in the mid 2000's when they tried to extend oil change intervals up to 15K miles to satisfy the EPA. Their new long timing chain and cam phaser engines were wearing out at alarming rates.
There is a new issue being noticed by BMW and others with the highest grades of synthetics, that is they are so thin and and light they are causing consumption and evaporation issues.
In line with what some have already said, earlier than scheduled oil changes may help prevent oiling issues being seen in modern engines and certainly won't hurt.
It is my understanding, which I hope someone can confirm, is that the 3.5L EcoBoost 2nd in the 17 and up Expys had upgrades to the timing chain guides and tensioners and added port injection to minimize carbon build up. Prior to that various people were recommending installing "catch cans" on these engines to mitigate carbon and timing chain wear issues.