How often do you change your oil ?

The manufacturer recommends an oil and filter change every 6000 km for my car, so that's what I do. I use regular motor oil and not synthetic. The way I see it, using synthetic would not really save me anything as it would cost 50% more and I'd have to change it at 9000 km (instead of 6000). Basically comes out to the same thing.

blakjak wrote: ↑The manufacturer recommends an oil and filter change every 6000 km for my car, so that's what I do. I use regular motor oil and not synthetic. The way I see it, using synthetic would not really save me anything as it would cost 50% more and I'd have to change it at 9000 km (instead of 6000). Basically comes out to the same thing.

curious - which manufacturer ?

Nissan recommends every 8k/km but since I like to push her. I change it every 7k with Castrol German 0W-30 Synthec with Bosh or K&N oil filter.

bembol wrote: ↑Nissan recommends every 8k/km but since I like to push her. I change it every 7k with Castrol German 0W-30 Synthec with Bosh or K&N oil filter.

What does that K & N filter cost you ?

blakjak wrote: ↑The manufacturer recommends an oil and filter change every 6000 km for my car, so that's what I do. I use regular motor oil and not synthetic. The way I see it, using synthetic would not really save me anything as it would cost 50% more and I'd have to change it at 9000 km (instead of 6000). Basically comes out to the same thing.

With typical driving you could probably do a lot more than 9,000km on most atmo engines and be fine. In fact at 9,000kms one might argue you would be "throwing away good oil" if you were using synthetic and changing it that often. I mean it does depend on your engine and driving habits but these days, generally, even dino oil can go 10-12k kms before changing, particularly if you don't do stupidness like idling your engine.

For example... A lot of GM cars have oil life monitors (OLMs) which monitor how you operate the vehicle and what conditions you operate it in. The majority of these cars use dino oil (not synthetic) yet most people find their OLM comes on from 8-14k kms. And that's based on dino oil. So, using synthetic you should be able to go a lot farther. (Note the OLM doesn't know you're using synthetic in these cars so it would still come on at the same time as it would for dino, but what I mean is it is programmed based on the use of dino oil.)

Really, IMO, when using synthetic you should be more worried about using a good filter (i.e. $10+) than the oil losing its properties after even 10,000km. Of course all of this goes out the window when your car is in warranty. In that case you want to stick with whatever the manual tells you regardless of what oil you are using, because if you don't follow that and you have an engine problem then you could end up SOL.

Mazda 3 '07 - I'm pretty sure it's a 6000K interval suggested but as soon as I hit 5000K I wait for a day off to do my next oil change (better safe than sorry). I use either Castrol GTX or the Quaker State performance thingy (not necessary, but I like how it runs). I also use a K&N Air filter and usually buy it online..

rogerrabbit168 wrote: ↑yeap, most of our cars, previous and current recommend the 6k km oil change, but our newest Vibe recommends 8K, but we still change the oil at 6K, just easier to remember

With conventional oil I assume ?

I follow the oil change indicator in the car. When it is reset on my BMW, it starts at 25,000kms. The countdown is based on your fuel consumption though, so it will decrease faster if you drive it harder (or more in city). I have changed it twice as often as required, usually when the indicator gets down to about 12,000 kms.

Had the car for 9 years, still pulling strong. I've tried many different synthetic oils, Mobil 1 5W30, Mobil 1 0W40, Royal Purple 5W30, Amsoil 5W30, German Castrol Syntec 0W30 and honestly, the best one that has worked in the car is 5W30 from BMW. It gives consistent engine performance (meaning the engine starts off running great and by the time you need to change the oil, it still feels great). With the other brands of oil, they start off great (even better than the BMW oil), but I find I have to top up more often, and around the 12,000 kms mark, the engine feels like it's lost a bit of oomph.

My inlaws changed the oil every 20k or when ever the monitor said it should, but most of the time 20k.

When I got it , I did one oil change a year since I only drive about 6k a year but I used the recommend synthetic oil.

Good thing, the Benz cost about $140 an oil change.

My Chevrolet has an oil life monitor which displays the percentage of oil life remaining. At 15% I take it in for an oil change. Also has the "change engine oil" display light up when required. Usually average 10,000 km between oil changes and that is with trailering and off road duty.
I think all cars should have this feature as standard.

4mths or 8K as recommended in the manual...

8k It's what Kia called for. I just bring it to the dealer and hand them a jug of Castrol edge 5W20.

I have seen experiments where the oil was just left inside the car for 1 year or longer without driving. The oil properties were the same as if it was just poured in. So don't waste your money and change the oil based on time it has sat in the engine.c vv vx

poedua wrote: ↑What does that K & N filter cost you ?

$14 tax in at tires23.

hammer wrote: ↑I have seen experiments where the oil was just left inside the car for 1 year or longer without driving. The oil properties were the same as if it was just poured in. So don't waste your money and change the oil based on time it has sat in the engine.c vv vx

Was it still in cans inside the trunk of the car?
Of course there would not be any change in properties if it was never used. Who was the rocket scientist that prepared that test and came to that conclusion?

hammer wrote: ↑I have seen experiments where the oil was just left inside the car for 1 year or longer without driving. The oil properties were the same as if it was just poured in. So don't waste your money and change the oil based on time it has sat in the engine.c vv vx

What about oil that was used but just not the recommended limit.
So if they say every 8K, what does the oil look like after a year and driving it for 500kms every month.

rogerrabbit168 wrote: ↑yes.

We have a 03 MDX, we are the original owner, currently has 98K on it and so far its pretty much trouble free, my wife loves the MDX, so we want to keep it it for a long time. What do you guys think, should i just continue going with conventional at 6K interval or switch to synthetic now?

If you're going to keep changing it at 6k, then I would stick with conventional. If you're willing to go longer then swith to synthetic.

The problem I have with low-mileage-interval oil changes with synthetic is that people often are throwing away good oil. If the car is not forced induction, not driven hard, not taken to the track, not driven in heavy traffic, not driven in a dusty (high construction environment), etc., a lot of the time there's no need to change oil that often. You do need to do an oil analysis to find out for sure, but a lot of the times it's just good oil going to the HHW for recycling (or worse disposed of otherwise). It's a lot of environmental load.

You may think what you're doing is "good for the engine" but really, in the long term, there's little benefit to be seen if the oil you are tossing out is still perfectly good. Not only does it cost you more out of pocket for the oil changes, it's also environmentally irresponsible.

Now if you have reasons to change it more often, like you've done oil analyses and seen that it should be changed, then definitely change it. But if it's just hey "xx kms have passed, it's time for a change", that's not really a good way of doing it especially with synthetic oil and modern engines.

I used to have the same "change it more often attitude" (and I've always used synthetic) but then someone said to me one day "you know you're throwing out good oil right? The oil you're tossing out is probably better for the engine than brand new dino oil." LOL.