Oil Changing Frequency a Myth?

[greasedlightning]

Does anyone else agree that the recommendation of "every three months or 3000 miles" when it comes to changing your oil is overkill? We change ours about once a year, and our car runs great.

 

[Big Al]

Oil manufacturers have said there's no need to change the oil every 3000 miles because the oil is designed to last a long time and deal with the wear and tear in an engine. Changing it out once a year is usually sufficient.

 

[Hotrod25]

Wow - once a year? I would not go that far or long in between. Mine is changed almost every 3,000 miles. The most I've let it go is 5,000 miles.

 

[FenderBender]

I let mine go all the time and my car runs great too. As long as you don't let it go dry, you shouldn't have a problem. Right now, my truck is about 5,000 over because I just haven't had the time to get to the shop.

 

[jason]

It depends on a few factors. The oil you use is a big factor. Synthetic can now go up to 10,000 miles between changes. Toyota's are coming from the factor with 0-20 weight synthetic, and they say 10k between oil changes or once a year.

I used to go closer towards 4-5k between changes with non-synthetic.

But then again I knew a girl who never did an oil change and put over 60k miles on her car before the engine died, and that was because she had no oil in it at all by that time.

 

[mustangs&lightning]

A family friend of ours is a mechanic and has said several times that the concept of changing your oil every 3,000 miles is a myth, however he recommends changing it every 5,000 miles.