Tip of the Day - Too Oily Too Often
Are you a Republican or a Democrat? Red Sox or Yankees fan? Equally emotional is this question: do you change your oil every 3,000 miles or follow the owner's manual and change it at 7,000 or 8,000 miles?
Get a bunch of car guys together, ask them what keeps a car running a long time and someone is bound to say it's frequent oil changes. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone say, "Getting 200,000 miles out of your engine is easy, just change the oil every 3,000 miles." There are variations on this theme too...
One is that when you buy a new car, change the oil after only a 1,000 miles. The idea is that all the little metal flakes that chip off and go into the oil are filtered out.
But now, according to this AP story, it seems that manufacturers are going to longer intervals before recommending an oil change: 5,000 and even 7,000 or 8,000 miles is not unsual. This is bad news for the oil change chains (which swear by the 3,000-mile rule) but good news for you.
I bought a Honda Fit last year and it has a maintenance minder. Not "reminder" but "minder." This keeps track of engine revolutions and other operating conditions and lets you know when to change the oil. When the time was up (at 6,000 miles) I consulted my manual and found that, for the first oil change, they DO NOT call for changing the oil filter. At Edmunds we basically believe that the folks that made the car should know how best to take care of it. So I just changed the oil and left the filter in there. I'll let you know how many miles I get on this engine.
Anyone interested in changing their own oil can read our "how to" on the subject.
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- Philip Reed March 30, 2007, 8:26 AM
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Philip,
Do you think Honda recommends that because it won't be detrimental to the engine to leave the filter in for longer while at the same time saving the owner some money in maintaining the car?
Obviously it can't hurt the car to change the filter, right?
What if you do have the filter changed but you put in a cheaper filter? Would it be better to change the filter every time in such a situation? I ask because the first oil change at my dealer was free. They changed the filter as well, but its a cheap Fram off-brand filter. So I wouldn't want it staying in for longer than a normal oil change cycle.
What do you think on all of this, or is a filter a filter and is oil just oil, as long as it meets the specs its supposed to meet?
Crowb: Really good questions which I'm not entirely qualified to answer. My feeling is that a filter is just a filter but oil may not be just oil. Honda touts their special formula for their cars and, well, they are known for being the most reliable cars on the market. So maybe there is something to it.
Bottom line, oil and oil filters don't cost much so better to err on the side of caution in what you use. I do think you might as well follow their intervals especially if there is a mileage minder. The cool thing about the mileage minder is that it does away with the consideration of whether you should use the "normal" or "severe" schedule. The oil change chains obviously believe that all of us do drive under the severe conditions. But the minder indicates that 3,000 is too early.
When I first bought my Fit I wanted to change the oil early. But a Honda engineer told me that the oil they ship the car with has additives that help the engine breakin. Changing too early means the additives have less time to properly work and the breakin is less effective.
I need to change the oil in my '99 minivan that has 117,000 miles on it. It's been 10,000 miles since I last changed it (not to mention 15 months). Usually I don't go more than 7,500 miles/one year, just like the manual recommends.
The best way to know if you are changing your oil at the most efficient time (not to soon, not too long) would be to get a used oil analysis. Most people won't want to spring for the extra $20-30 but IMHO it is worth it. It can tell you a lot more than if you can extend your oil change interval, ie. engine coolant leaks, high wear metals, etc.
My Mazda3 doesn't have a oil change minder. I'll probably get a UOA on my next oil change. This mainly so I can extend my oil change from the severe service interval (5000 mi) my manual calls for to the normal service interval (7500 mi). Then if I have any engine related warranty claims later I'll have pretty solid evidence as to why I extended the oil change interval.