Oil change - Every 3750 or 3000 miles?

5970 Views 15 Replies 9 Participants Last post by armoody, Sep 20, 2005

blkjack

Discussion Starter · Sep 15, 2005

Just curious what everyone is doing with their oil change intervals. This is my first japanese car and don't know if I can trust the manufacturer recommended 3,750 mile oil change interval or if I should change it every 3,000 miles.

:hmm:

I appreciate the input.

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

PumaFiveOh

· #2 · Sep 15, 2005

blkjack said:
Just curious what everyone is doing with their oil change intervals. This is my first japanese car and don't know if I can trust the manufacturer recommended 3,750 mile oil change interval or if I should change it every 3,000 miles.

:hmm:

I appreciate the input.

I would say it all depends on what type of oil you use. If you are changing your oil every 3K miles then it doesn't really matter what decent oil brand you use. If you are using synthetic, which you should only use after about 6K-7K miles are on your engine, then you could wait a little longer (4K-5K miles).

But becasue I'm such an anal person and semi do it yourself gear head type...I use synthetic and still change it around every 3K miles.

scr38

· #3 · Sep 15, 2005

It depends on how you drive. If you do mostly short distance driving, stop and go, then change it every 3,000. If you do mostly long distance highway driving then 3,750 is OK. Of course if you drive in very dusty conditions, very hot conditions or drive hard you may want to change more often than 3,000. I would make the first oil change much sooner, maybe at 2,000.

92TripleBlack

· #4 · Sep 15, 2005

blkjack said:
Just curious what everyone is doing with their oil change intervals. This is my first japanese car and don't know if I can trust the manufacturer recommended 3,750 mile oil change interval or if I should change it every 3,000 miles.

:hmm:

I appreciate the input.

I would do the first one early. I did mine at 1500. This is the one that has all the filings in it from break-in. After that, do what you've always done. You can't hurt it by changing it more often. I switched to Mobil 1 and go a little longer.

blkjack

Discussion Starter · #5 · Sep 15, 2005

Thanks for the input. I'll probably go get it changed tomorrow.

inf3rno

· #6 · Sep 16, 2005

PumaFiveOh said:
I use synthetic and still change it around every 3K miles.

thats not good, changin your oil every 3000 miles if using synthetic. regular oil change it every 2700-3000 miles... no longer. if going synthetic then do some good 5000 miles if you go hard on your mada but if not go 5000 or more

armoody

· #7 · Sep 16, 2005

inf3rno said:
thats not good, changin your oil every 3000 miles if using synthetic. regular oil change it every 2700-3000 miles... no longer. if going synthetic then do some good 5000 miles if you go hard on your mada but if not go 5000 or more

This is a very informative article about oil. I may have gotten the original link here or on CT. Without reading it again (its been several months) I seem to recall that you can't change your oil too often (you just don't necessarily need to).

http://www.lincolnsonline.com/article105.html

Basically, Mobil 1 is the way to go, and change oil often. There is really some good description of why the long service intervals on some cars can be hazardous and risky even if it looks like you are not losing volume.

PumaFiveOh

· #8 · Sep 16, 2005

inf3rno said:
thats not good, changin your oil every 3000 miles if using synthetic. regular oil change it every 2700-3000 miles... no longer. if going synthetic then do some good 5000 miles if you go hard on your mada but if not go 5000 or more

The only thing that it's not good for is your wallet, but you can't change oil too often. I also have had and still own Turbo and Blown vehicles..and on those cars changing the oil every 3K miles is almost a necessity. For one the oil is also lubricating the turbo, and the extreme temp and the over all high performance engine break down the oil pretty quickly.

I agree that you don't need to change at 3K intervals on a Naturally aspirated motor, but I don't mind as I always have huge cartons of Mobile 1 synthetic in the garage so for me it's just a fun little tune up hobby every once in a while. Especially because I hardly put any miles on the Armada so I do not have to change it all the time.

mrenadette

· #9 · Sep 16, 2005

I always follow the manufacturers recommendation on oil changes. Jiffy Lube and the oil manufacturers have done a good job of convincing everyone to change their oil at 3000 miles. If you think about it Jiffy Lube and the rest have much to gain by convincing us to change oil often, while the manufacturer is making his recommendation without any financial interest other than making sure your car is reliable over the long term.

As a point of reference, I had a Boxster and Porsche recommended changing the oil every 15K miles, annually if you didn't drive 10K/year. Of course the Boxster has a 10 quart reserve of Mobil One. At $200 for an oil change, you weren't anxious to do it any sooner than necessary.

BMW's on board computer now tells the driver when to change oil. If I am not mistaken, my wife averages about 10K between oil changes. The oil reserve is only 5 or 6 quarts on the BMW.

If I recall properly, Nissan recommends 3K miles for "heavy" use and 6K for more moderate use. Based on what I experienced with the Porsche and BMW, I thing these are reasonable recommendations. A lot of people will tell you they do it often and it is "cheap" insurance and that is fine. I follow the manufacturers recommendation and I believe this gives me plenty of insurance without wasting time or money.

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manny0

· #10 · Sep 16, 2005

I use synthetic and change it around every 4K miles

armoody

· #11 · Sep 17, 2005

mrenadette said:
...without any financial interest other than making sure your car is reliable over the long term....
.

long term meaning until the end of the warranty

inf3rno

· #12 · Sep 17, 2005

lol.. good one! :rrg:

markandjenn

· #13 · Sep 19, 2005

Do vehicles these days even need oil changed that often? I thought that the 3000 miles was a myth from the old days that is perpetuated by greedy companies like Jiffy Lube. On my Envoy I had a "Oil Life Sensor" that supposedly monitored the oil and recommended when to change the oil. The truck ended up telling me to change the oil at about every 11,000 miles. I have to assume that this standard should apply to most non-performance engines. Anyone have any similar experiences on changing oil at more than 3000 miles?

mrenadette

· #14 · Sep 19, 2005

armoody said:
long term meaning until the end of the warranty

I would argue that it is in the long term financial interest of the manufacturer that your engine not fail at 61K miles. Are you going to go and buy another Nissan if your engine fails even at 100K? Auto manufacturers spend a lot of money to make sure their product is reliable well beyond the warranty period and that their products have a repuation for being reliable. Do you think they would risk their reliabiilty reputation for the sake of a few oil changes that they don't even pay for?

blkjack

Discussion Starter · #15 · Sep 19, 2005

Thanks for all the input. I really appreciate it.

:urthebest

armoody

· #16 · Sep 20, 2005

mrenadette said:
I would argue that it is in the long term financial interest of the manufacturer that your engine not fail at 61K miles. Are you going to go and buy another Nissan if your engine fails even at 100K? Auto manufacturers spend a lot of money to make sure their product is reliable well beyond the warranty period and that their products have a repuation for being reliable. Do you think they would risk their reliabiilty reputation for the sake of a few oil changes that they don't even pay for?

I could argue that for most of the past 30 years the big three have become experts at engineering parts to last most of the time at least until the end of the warranty. I could argue that's one reason why GM loses market share every year, it basically builds disposable cars. But, alas I'm not in an arguementative mood (is that a real word?).

A little true false quiz for us all: (hint the answers line up with losing or gaining market share)

Chevrolet= reliable past end of warranty?
Ford=reliable past end of warranty?
Dodge = reliable past end of warranty?
Toyota=reliable past end of warranty?
Nissan=reliable past end of warranty?
Honda=reliable past end of warranty?

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