What is the ideal oil change interval?

Manufacturers are telling us that we can change the oil in our cars after longer and longer intervals. While that makes it look as if we are having to spend less, what are the true implications - both in terms of vehicle condition and value? Here, Kevin Tremblay of The Garage explains how long oil change intervals are not a good idea.

[arthursmith]

When the dealer is paying for the oil change it’s 10, 000 miles. When you pay the dealer tells you every 3000-5000 miles.

[arthursmith]

I change my oil and filter when I can’t see my oil dip stick level lines through the oil. Over fifty years of using this method and never ever had a engine problem. Best oil is clean oil. Cheapest insurance for your car/truck.

[aygwm]

400, 000 miles on my VW diesel. 10, 000 mile oil changes its whole life. No problems.

[adrienchan]

I agree w you. I keep my cars long time. I have my cars oil change every 6 months or 5000 miles whichever comes first. 6 month only 1000 miles ? I still do the oil and oil filter change !

[johnolejnik]

I know everyone has a story. I don't have a story as much as info. I had a 1995 gmc pickup. Changed the oil every 5000km with synthetic. Never had a problem. Did my first tune up at 300, 000km. Spark pugs looked new.
Sold it at 600, 000 km for $2200. Wow. Oil changes pay off in my books. Do them yourself it's not hard.

[Dagus]

On my Ford Focus 2007 1.6 diesel i changed the oil every 20.000km as the manual recommend. Worked flawlessly for 340.000km until i scrapped it do to rust. In 2018. Engine was still fine..

[malkeyatsingh]

while performing oil change, also keep in mind the engine idling, which most customers don't pay much attention . They only see the kilometers between oil changes. Idling too reduces oil life .

[jonguyen]

1 a year is good enough for cars if using synthetic oil. if you run it more than 10k miles then swapping the filter (synthetic)

[mikec]

Are you f***ing kidding me? Did anyone except me notice he couldn't even answer the question? As far as I am concerned this doesn't make him any better than the dealer. Just answer the question, how many miles? No need to qualify for 6 minutes and 29 seconds. Just two seconds is all you need - how many miles??? Answer??? Whoops after 6 and 1/2 minutes I for got to answer the g**d*** question.

[patrickmcmurray]

You are right! The manufacturer really only cares about more sales. If you want longevity in any car, its "Clean Fluids and Filters". Use older guidelines, not the manufacturers.

[tundrasever]

I use to change my oil every 3k on my old chevy truck. Now with synthetic they recommend 5k miles so i split it in half and do every 4k. I do a lot of short trips and a lot of times the motor does not get up to operating temp. 2013 tundra currently at 251k miles and running like new.

[dynomax]

ill stick to synthetic every 8000kms... i think its cheap enough for me

[vincentrobinette]

Never mind kilometers, miles, or even hours of run time. Go by the amount of fuel. I recommend changing oil after the engine has burned 100-120X more fuel, than the total capacity of the crank case, filter, and all lines.(total system capacity) If your crank case holds 4 liters of oil, change oil after it's burnt 400 liters of fuel, no more than 500. If your crank case holds 4 quarts of oil, figure 5 quarts if you include filter capacity and any lines or oil cooler if equipped, then change the oil after ~125 gallons of fuel.
The reason for this recommendation is, that it also compensates for severe driving, pulling trailers, adverse weather, or even excessive idling. I did this, when I used to drive a tow truck. very often, recovery operations involved running the engine at a high idle for extended periods of time, to work the hydraulic wrecker system and winch cables. This put hours on the engine, but did not accumulate mileage on the odometer. In a tow truck, mileage is completely irrelevant to the service requirements of the engine. In a regular passenger car, if you're driving smooth and easy on the freeway, you can go many more miles between oil changes, than if you're doing intown deliveries, taxi, waiting for traffic lights, and accelerating shifting through lower gears, just to have to slow down again. On the freeway, this oil change interval will net about 10, 000 Km, or just over 6, 000 miles. In town, this might net about 5-6, 000 Km, or somewhere close to 3-4, 000 miles. in cold snowy weather, that could drop you clear down to 4-5, 000 Km or, 2, 500-3, 000 miles. Very close to the oil change intervals recommended by independent shops.
Bottom line, the most accurate way to determine oil change intervals, is by the amount of fuel consumed by the engine divided by 100, X the total engine oil capacity. For lawnmowers, which often don't have oil filters, I recommend changing the oil after the engine oil after only 30 X the oil capacity of its crank case capacity. Very often, these engines only hold ~1/2 liters, so after 15 liters, or 5 gallons of fuel, it's due for an oil change. That will ensure the engine out-lasts the mower.

[TheSaintshockey]

As a ASE Master Tech this is a very true video... The Problem, people will do what they're told, not what they should do... It is all about lower owner costs while under warranty after that you pay, not warranty... Car manufactures must sell cars, not make them last 200, 000 miles... Synthetic Oil and filters are cheap, engines are not, thats my common sense advise, take it or leave it..

[arthursmith]

The oil absorbs gas heat moisture carbon acids and other harmful junk. Change it at least every 5, 000 miles or less. Google Irv Gordan and his 3, 000, 000 mile Volvo. Great story.

[flybobbie]

Just changed oil in my Z4 E89, 5k mile changes, the vanos system loves fresh oil, you can feel the difference.

[Sportwagenfreak]

2:16 Like who are trying to fool? Do the mechanics have X-ray eyes? How are they supposed to see "problems" from longer oil change intervals??

[tim]

My last car got superb oil and oil change intervals. I got the best filters and did whatever I could to keep the car in premium shape and rated as good as a owner can. Then a 17 year old who was drivin his parents car turned in front of me and I ended up with a totaled car. I got a check and it was for the average price of that car with the mileage that I had on it. I say don't obsess about such things. Do regular maintenance and realize that a car is temporary.

[trackpackgt]

Am I the only person that actually does long oil change intervals? I have went 20k on oils like Mobil 1 annual and amsoil SS with oil lab analysis at 20K the mobile was about done it needed an oil change but not too bad but on the other hand Amsoil still had some life left in it I still do 10 to 15K oil changes using Amsoil or mobile 200k+ on my truck and still going no need to change your average synthetic oil until 10k

[davidhickenbottom]

I do every 5 thousand its on the very safe side plus its easy to do the math, lol. Im at 215 thousand miles goings strong.