3,000 Mile Oil Change

[John105]

Anything less than 5,000 miles is a "money flush". Even then........

Wasn’t the 3k oil change invented by the oil change industry? I do know this—when my Volvo B27F V6 was rebuilt, the person who rebuilt it told me change the oil often these engines have an issue with their top ends (900 1990 dollars for that and a used tranny). He did tell me to shoot for 2500-3000 and then it will last. It did I drove it 1990-1998. But modern engines with no design issues seems a waste. Lexus was king inventing 5,000 mile services.

Trucks go up to 60k between oil changes. Imagine doing 45 qts every 3k….that exaggerates the wastefulness

 

[John105]

I do it whenever it is convenient. I work for a dept. store with a garage, so there are deals, coupons..etc; or I’m having something else done to the car so it gets done then.
Usually works out to about 5-6k miles, and it’s a mix of oils - sometimes bulk, sometimes synthetic…

As a kid I worked at Cadillac Olds and that was a Bennie even at minimum wage, using the lifts….

 

[shortyb]

Sometimes vehicles will benefit from a much shorter OCI, ie; 3K, due to what type of use it sees. Wife's Tiguan goes 1.47 miles to work 5 days a week. Year round. We do take it on longer drives with highway use about every weekend though. Once I changed to M1 5W-30 ESP, I did the obligatory VW 5K OCIs with UOAs (NOT Blackstone) for about 4 intervals. Fuel was up around 3%, but visc. and flash were still solid. TBN was low but still active, however, nitration was right on that 15 abs line so I consider the oil ready to change.

Was able to do an interesting experiment a couple years back with my department's newer Ford Interceptor PUVs, with the DI 3.3 V-6 N/A engines. Our shop was doing OCIs on all police vehicles around a 3K schedule due to extensive idling and intermittent heavy use (fast response calls etc.). With the PUVs, an oil life monitor was part of the info package. I consistently got around 2700-2900 miles when the OLM hit 0%. I did a couple UOAs on the drummed Motorcraft 5W-20 full synthetic they were using and found the OLM to be very accurate. So in this case, the 3K OCI was appropriate. I think if you're just doing a 3K without any analysis back-up, it could be a waste. However, if it makes you feel good......

 

[The Critic]

5k is the new 3k, but with the everyone going synthetic I'm thinking 7.5k is the new default.

A lot of fleet companies are at 7500 miles and they're keeping cars to 100K now.

 

[IndyFan]

Wasn’t the 3k oil change invented by the oil change industry? I do know this—when my Volvo B27F V6 was rebuilt, the person who rebuilt it told me change the oil often these engines have an issue with their top ends (900 1990 dollars for that and a used tranny). He did tell me to shoot for 2500-3000 and then it will last. It did I drove it 1990-1998. But modern engines with no design issues seems a waste. Lexus was king inventing 5,000 mile services.

Trucks go up to 60k between oil changes. Imagine do8ing 45 qts every 3k….that exaggerates the wastefulness

Actually, maybe, but that doesn't invalidate it. My father was a GM engineer and there was a time where this was considered by GM powertrain engineers to be a good and safe interval.

I run 5k oil changes on my vehicles but sometimes go past that without worry. I've run my 2018 Jeep to close to zero on the OLM, which took it to 8500 or so and did a UOA and it looked fine. My daughter's Renegade goes 8k to 9k every OCI. It does fine. But I have had engines where I felt the need to change them at 3k due to times where they ran predominantly short trips and I was concerned about fuel dilution. It's cheap insurance. It just depends on the engine and the way it is driven.

Btw, on my Corvette, I am planning 5k oil changes. But if I run it particularly hard, I will probably shorten that. I think it will work out to an early Fall and late Spring oil change each year, regardless of mileage. I'm betting that spring change will typically be well under 5k and possibly right at 3k, because that car will get driven hardest during the summer. If it winds up 2k or 2.5k I will post up, just for the entertainment of hearing the wailing and gnashing of teeth.

 

[gman2304]

Wife’s Ecotec 2.0T has 2,500 miles on the Mobil1 5w30 EP. 14 months on the oil and I plan on changing it in the next week or so with the same oil.

 

[gman2304]

If it winds up 2k or 2.5k I will post up, just for the entertainment of hearing the wailing and gnashing of teeth.

 

[Doc8404]

Our 2024 Nissan Pathfinder 3.5 we plan on 3-4k full synthetic OCIs.

 

[M1Accord]

My wife drives a short distance to Starbucks every day, which qualifies as severe service and as such I change the oil. I don't like Starbucks. I believe Starbucks will destroy Western Civilization.

I hope you're joking. Starbucks is the Exxon and Chevron of coffee. It symbolizes American exceptionalism whether we are exceptional or not.

If we're talking synthetic oil, short trips aren't problematic if you're going to drive the same car again in under an hour. Most synthetic oil can do 10k-15k OCI without problem in non-turbo midsize or smaller vehicles.

To the OP, 3k OCI is a scam for most situations.

 

[John105]

I hope you're joking. Starbucks is the Exxon and Chevron of coffee. It symbolizes American exceptionalism whether we are exceptional or not.

If we're talking synthetic oil, short trips aren't problematic if you're going to drive the same car again in under an hour. Most synthetic oil can do 10k-15k OCI without problem in non-turbo midsize or smaller vehicles.

To the OP, 3k OCI is a scam for most situations.

My wife drives 1.8 miles each way to school.
I ask her to throw in some jack rabbit starts to make it worthwhile to change the oil often

 

[Nessism1]

I'm planning to join this 3k club! My commute is 6 miles, and I don't drive a whole lot otherwise. I've been doing 5k changes, but this cycle I was at 3,300 miles and one year, so I decided to drop the oil. This is a DI Civic, and the oil had a very strong gas smell. Plus, I enjoy changing oil, and no apology.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

My daughter's Renegade goes 8k to 9k every OCI. It does fine. But I have had engines where I felt the need to change them at 3k due to times where they ran predominantly short trips and I was concerned about fuel dilution. It's cheap insurance. It just depends on the engine and the way it is driven.

Is that the Fiat small one? My FIL has a '16 Trailhawk with the 2.4 Multiair/Tigershark. He was always doing the OCI's by MM and dealer did most of them. It also burned a good amount from new, at least 1qt every 2k.

At 83k he was getting trouble codes for low oil pressure. They replaced sensor, oil, filter etc. Put a gauge on it, 5psi at idle, 20 psi at higher rpm. Luckily he had the extended warranty. It took Jeep 9 months to replace the motor for whatever reasons of availability. At least he had a loaner and the extended warranty. It was in for 2 months prior waiting on fuel pump that died. Currently an AC issue waiting on parts but he's driving it it the meantime.

Make sure she checks the oil often. Consider a lower OCI with something that cleans out the rings.

 

[John105]

I hope you're joking. Starbucks is the Exxon and Chevron of coffee. It symbolizes American exceptionalism whether we are exceptional or not.

If we're talking synthetic oil, short trips aren't problematic if you're going to drive the same car again in under an hour. Most synthetic oil can do 10k-15k OCI without problem in non-turbo midsize or smaller vehicles.

To the OP, 3k OCI is a scam for most situations.

All kidding aside I hate starting a car up from cold, just to move it. My dad taught me mechanical sympathy so I guess it’s what I practice even with rental cars and machines I don’t own…

 

[M1Accord]

My wife drives 1.8 miles each way to school.
I ask her to throw in some jack rabbit starts to make it worthwhile to change the oil often

That is extremely short trip. My 2012 Fit gets 1 mile trip in the early morning and it is driven very spiritly after 10-15 seconds idle and about 200 yards of easy rolling to the stop sign from the driveway. But it is go time after that. Then it sits for 5 to 45 mins until it gets used again for 6 miles and sits again for 8 hrs to get another 6 miles. On weekend, it sees 100+ miles of various high speed and long distance easily. Sometime, it sees 250 miles on weekend. There is a OLM but I think it goes by miles. This car gets oil change about once a year using the best M1 0W20 and filter or best Fram filter the first 10 years and 150k miles. It is now 13 years and 180k miles and gets Kirkland 0W20 and same filters. It is due for an oil change as I had been busy physically and mentally and it is no longer fun to crawl underneath the car.

For ATF, I change it every 2-3 years regardless of miles and changed the ATF filter at 175k miles. The car looks great and drive excellent. It would love for it to get over 25 years and over 300k miles since its big brother 2002 Accord V6 is 23 years and already over 200k miles and and is due for timing belt and water change. If I was smarter, I would have gotten a I4 Accord instead of the V6 and not have to worry about the timing belt. Young people should not be making large purchases unsupervised.

 

[CKN]

I'm planning to join this 3k club! My commute is 6 miles, and I don't drive a whole lot otherwise. I've been doing 5k changes, but this cycle I was at 3,300 miles and one year, so I decided to drop the oil. This is a DI Civic, and the oil had a very strong gas smell. Plus, I enjoy changing oil, and no apology.

Here we go again with OCI by " smell". Ridiculous.

 

[Nessism1]

Here we go again with OCI by " smell". Ridiculous.

I didn't change the oil based on smell. LOL. Assuming is what's ridiculous.

 

[IndyFan]

Is that the Fiat small one? My FIL has a '16 Trailhawk with the 2.4 Multiair/Tigershark. He was always doing the OCI's by MM and dealer did most of them. It also burned a good amount from new, at least 1qt every 2k.

At 83k he was getting trouble codes for low oil pressure. They replaced sensor, oil, filter etc. Put a gauge on it, 5psi at idle, 20 psi at higher rpm. Luckily he had the extended warranty. It took Jeep 9 months to replace the motor for whatever reasons of availability. At least he had a loaner and the extended warranty. It was in for 2 months prior waiting on fuel pump that died. Currently an AC issue waiting on parts but he's driving it it the meantime.

Make sure she checks the oil often. Consider a lower OCI with something that cleans out the rings.

Yep, Fiat with the same engine, just not a Trail Hawk. They had a TSB where they updated the ECM and it cured the oil consumption issue. We have 90k on this car now and it runs great. Before the reflash, it used about the same amount of oil you described.

 

[IndyFan]

Here we go again with OCI by " smell". Ridiculous.

Your lack of understanding and apparent lack of experience with DI is ridiculous.

Strong fuel odor in oil is NOT normal. It indicates the presence of fuel (you know...gasoline) in the oil. Having paid for one UOA with the oil in this condition, it was confirmed that fuel was present in the oil and shorter intervals were recommended by Blackstone. So I don´t see the need for spending $35 every oil change when the nose can detect it. It happened CONSISTENTLY when my Ecoboost was seeing only short trips. And predictably, when it was driven in a profile with longer trips where the engine was able to fully warm to operating temperature on a regular basis, the smell was either not present at all or mildly present. So it can be deduced that the presence of fuel in the oil is not as great. And so, I ran longer OCI´s when it wasn´t there or wasn´t very strong.

You see, your nose is an amazing instrument. It can collect data and your brain can analyze that data and make an analysis of that data. You can then make some decisions based on that analysis. It is very simple.

I think it would be fun to take a long trip with you and give you a little test. I would eat a bag of 10 White Castles and within a few hours, we would see if you are capable of making a decision to take action, such as evacuating yourself from the car, based on the immense amount of data data your nose would surely collect. In fact, it might be such pungent data that you would be tempted to vacate even while the vehicle is moving. I am sure you would then understand the concept. If not, then you can protect your pride and enjoy the clam bake.

 

[CKN]

Your lack of understanding and apparent lack of experience with DI is ridiculous.

Strong fuel odor in oil is NOT normal. It indicates the presence of fuel (you know...gasoline) in the oil. Having paid for one UOA with the oil in this condition, it was confirmed that fuel was present in the oil and shorter intervals were recommended by Blackstone. So I don´t see the need for spending $35 every oil change when the nose can detect it. It happened CONSISTENTLY when my Ecoboost was seeing only short trips. And predictably, when it was driven in a profile with longer trips where the engine was able to fully warm to operating temperature on a regular basis, the smell was either not present at all or mildly present. So it can be deduced that the presence of fuel in the oil is not as great. And so, I ran longer OCI´s when it wasn´t there or wasn´t very strong.

You see, your nose is an amazing instrument. It can collect data and your brain can analyze that data and make an analysis of that data. You can then make some decisions based on that analysis. It is very simple.

I think it would be fun to take a long trip with you and give you a little test. I would eat a bag of 10 White Castles and within a few hours, we would see if you are capable of making a decision to take action, such as evacuating yourself from the car, based on the immense amount of data data your nose would surely collect. In fact, it might be such pungent data that you would be tempted to vacate even while the vehicle is moving. I am sure you would then understand the concept. If not, then you can protect your pride and enjoy the clam bake.

Millions of motors with D.I. with the vast majority following manufacturers recommendations. It's Only " smell rocket science" on here.....

 

[IndyFan]

Millions of motors with D.I. with the vast majority following manufacturers recommendations. It's Only " smell rocket science" on here.....

Plenty of DI engines have had issues with fuel dilution of the oil. Well documented.

At the end of the day, I will do with my engines what I believe will make them last. Haven´t had one fail to go the distance yet.