Routine Oil Changes

[Folks]

I was a passenger in a fairly new car with 20,000 miles on it when the oil pressure idiot light came on. The reason it came on was that the oil had not been changed during the first 20,000 miles. So, Z, the answer to your question would seem to be at least 20,000 miles.

Live hard, die young, and leave a beautiful memory.

 

[BilgeRat]

I'm not surprised. The EMD diesels that I make a living with do not get scheduled oil changes. We change oil filters at 1400 hours and draw samples for analysis on the first of each month. The only time oil is changed is when analysis indicates that it needs to be changed or it is grossly contaminated with water, fuel or metal from a failure.

Remember, we're talking something with a sump capacity of around 300 gallons, so the cost of analysis is way less than the cost of an oil change, and that's just reversed with a small sump capacity. Heck, we quit doing analysis on the generator engines; they hold eight gallons and oil and filters are changed every 500 hours. (Which is more hours than John Deere recommends.)

 

[JEBar]

I'm really amazed at the comments this thread has evoked. Wow. I knew of a Mechanical engineer who worked for a very large oil firm and he removed his oil filter every 10k and simply added the missing pint of so for the life of the car. No wise cracks about the life of his car pleeeeaaaze!

years ago I had a friend who owned a Gulf oil distributorship (yep, Gulf oil) .... he followed much the same theory .... he said that as long as the oil didn't become overheated and was kept clean (filtered) that it was good .... that was back in the era when most of the industry recommended a 3000 mile change interval .... he said that changes such short change intervals were purely to sell more oil .... I never got up the nerve to follow this practice

Jim

 

[Folks]

years ago I had a friend who owned a Gulf oil distributorship (yep, Gulf oil) .... he followed much the same theory .... he said that as long as the oil didn't become overheated and was kept clean (filtered) that it was good .... that was back in the era when most of the industry recommended a 3000 mile change interval .... he said that changes was purely to sell more oil .... I never got up the nerve to follow this practice

Jim

Me nether. LOL

 

[Folks]

I'm thinking that knowledge of oil changing is still stuck in the age of doctors using leeches to bleed the patient. I'm running all the data and all that I can find is that those who change their oil every 3,000 miles have a 100 percent more probability of developing frequent urinary track infections along with excessive trips to the bathroom all threw the nite. I'm the exception; I don't change my oil that often.
PS If anyone hears form Z I've got some white boots I'm trying to sell.

 

[Folks]

I was a passenger in a fairly new car with 20,000 miles on it when the oil pressure idiot light came on. The reason it came on was that the oil had not been changed during the first 20,000 miles. So, Z, the answer to your question would seem to be at least 20,000 miles.

Hey jambe, you're funny.
PS I have some white boots for sale.

 

[sdewolfe]

Like most of you I have seen the arguments over the proper oil to use, the best filter, and oil change intervals. Internet "experts" are all over the map on this subject. I recommend that you not worry about it and use the oil and change intervals recommended by Elio, when they are published.

If you don't like old Volvos you may never have heard of Irv Gordon. I like old Volvos (I have three of them.) I got to meet Irv in 2010 at a Volvo meet in Kansas. His car has a CB radio, driving lights and a row of mileage badges from Volvo. Other than that it is just as it was the day he bought it. Except it has A LOT of miles on it.

At around 600,000 miles he let his mechanic take the head off to inspect the engine. This was more to appease the mechanic's curiosity than anything else; he had never seen an engine with over 600,000 miles on it. He could not find even a ridge in the top of the cylinders!

There have been repairs, of course. Some body work. Some interior work. Normal wear items have been replaced on schedule. But the car has the original engine, transmission, and rear end.

Irv is now well past 3 million miles on his 1966 Volvo P1800. Every mile he puts on the car is a new record for a privately owned, non-commercial vehicle. He has been asked time and again, "What is the secret to making a car last for three million miles?" Irv's response:

"Just follow the owner's manual. It's a piece of machinery and can't take care of itself. Have its scheduled maintenance completed. … Do what the manual calls for, not what the dealer calls for. People who built the car wrote the manual.

"Use gasoline from a high-volume station to keep crud out of your engine. It's also good to wash your car regularly and wax at least twice a year.

"When your car makes a funny noise, listen to it. Use only genuine Volvo parts for repairs."

Irv is 75 now. He was asked, after the 3 million mile day, if he thought 4 million miles is possible. "There is no doubt the car can do it. I don't know about me though."

 

[JP]

3k oil changes are a thing of the past and are a marketing gimmick now. Oil is much better than it was even 20 years ago. Change the oil as much as you want but at $25 for a 5 quart jug of synthetic, I'm happy to wait until 5k. 5k between changes isn't a new thing either. For example, my mom's dodge Durango is 10 years old and goes 5k between changes as per the service schedule. 75k miles and doesn't use any oil or have any lost compression. Longer intervals are where the technology is going but whatever gives you piece of mind

 

[BilgeRat]

years ago I had a friend who owned a Gulf oil distributorship (yep, Gulf oil) .... he followed much the same theory .... he said that as long as the oil didn't become overheated and was kept clean (filtered) that it was good .... that was back in the era when most of the industry recommended a 3000 mile change interval .... he said that changes such short change intervals were purely to sell more oil .... I never got up the nerve to follow this practice

And I would be willing to bet a dollar to donuts that oil analysis would have borne him out.
Tom

 

[electroken]

Ah! But how long will that engine life be? LOL Z

During my brief stint at a Pontiac / Acura dealership in 1986-87 we had 2 Pontiacs come back with seized engines. One had 34k miles and the other 35k. Neither one had ever had the oil changed or even checked. Both still had the factory blue-painted oil filter and a thick layer of stuff that used to be oil in the oil pan. GM understandably denied both warranty claims.

So 30 years ago the answer was about 35k miles.