OT: frequency of oil change

[Seramount]

driving a 17-yr old Acura RSX Type-S that I truly love.

since I'm only putting 3.5K miles/yr on it now, I change oil/filter about every 18 months or so.

the 2-L engine goes to 8200 rpm and is somewhat notorious for using oil due to the VTEC setup, so I'm adding a quart every 500-750 miles 'cause VTEC is a hoot.

with the regular addition of fresh oil, not overly concerned about how dirty it gets by the time it's changed.

[Ralph]

Agree....the first years away from International were not great engines.

[bigbill]

Originally Posted by jadmt

there is a guy on Ram heavy duty gassers who has a 2021 6.4 hemi with over 250,000 miles and claims all he has done is changed oil every 10,000 miles. there are some that have over 500,000 with minor engine work. We probably change oil way too often. not like the old days where oil was not nearly as good now were the quality of engines.

That's a lot of miles for a few years. In the horse world, the vast majority of trucks are diesels. A friend has a RAM 2500 with the 6.4 gas that pulls a big fifth wheel trailer, and he does alright when towing. We travel together and let him set the pace on hilly roads. The negative is 14 mpg without a trailer, while I get 22 mpg in my F250 with a 6.7 diesel.

My wife drives a Chevy 2500 with a 6.6 diesel so we're a two truck family. This summer we are getting my son's 2018 Ford Escape so we can leave the trucks parked when we're not traveling.

[CAAD]

My cars have those intelligent oil monitors but I never go by them. They are usually showing just below 50% when I go and dump the oil. 5k intervals for me. My run around car is around $30 bucks in supplies and my weekend car is around $65, plus 20min of my time. I have Fumoto drain valves on both cars to speed things up a bit more.

[homagesilkhope]

Originally Posted by bigbill

My wife drives a Chevy 2500 with a 6.6 diesel so we're a two truck family. This summer we are getting my son's 2018 Ford Escape so we can leave the trucks parked when we're not traveling.

Understood. Yet you'll not want to leave that F250 too parked. Ask me how I know (6.0 owner here)!

[dddd]

Originally Posted by CAAD

My cars have those intelligent oil monitors but I never go by them. They are usually showing just below 50% when I go and dump the oil. 5k intervals for me. My run around car is around $30 bucks in supplies and my weekend car is around $65, plus 20min of my time. I have Fumoto drain valves on both cars to speed things up a bit more.

I would advise not worrying about much about OCI since the car has the computer always looking for worst-case variables of the sort that might shorten oil life.

But I wouldn't sleep well knowing there was a drain valve down there that might not take a debris strike well at all compared to the industry-standard drain plug bolt.
Seriously, some of these valves protrude quite a bit and are just hollow brass.
I believe that's why drain plugs are so big, not so as to drain faster, but to be able to take heavy torque so as to take a solid hit from a very solid who-knows-what that fell out of Bubba's truck up the road.
From personal experience, I've found dents in the rather heavy-gauge steel of more than one car's oil pan, and I'd like to think that the drain plug could take such a hit just as well.

The Fumoto valves are fine-looking hardware, but perhaps really suitable only for track use? Losing your oil on the roadway would trip the warning light and hopefully be seen quickly by the driver, but leaves the roadway in a possibly deadly condition for following drivers.
Some cars do position the drain plug well above the other low-hanging bits of the undercarriage, so I guess might be fine with a protruding valve.

I've been doing my oil draining via the dipstick tube using an electric-powered vacuum jug apparatus, which reaches the very bottom of the pan well below the top of the threaded drain bung. I still have to get under the Camry to swap the filter element out of the canister. But at least that only has to be done every second oil change.

[CAAD]

Originally Posted by dddd

I would advise not worrying about much about OCI since the car has the computer always looking for worst-case variables of the sort that might shorten oil life.

But I wouldn't sleep well knowing there was a drain valve down there that might not take a debris strike well at all compared to the industry-standard drain plug bolt.
Seriously, some of these valves protrude quite a bit and are just hollow brass.
I believe that's why drain plugs are so big, not so as to drain faster, but to be able to take heavy torque so as to take a solid hit from a very solid who-knows-what that fell out of Bubba's truck up the road.
From personal experience, I've found dents in the rather heavy-gauge steel of more than one car's oil pan, and I'd like to think that the drain plug could take such a hit just as well.

The Fumoto valves are fine-looking hardware, but perhaps really suitable only for track use? Losing your oil on the roadway would trip the warning light and hopefully be seen quickly by the driver, but leaves the roadway in a possibly deadly condition for following drivers.
Some cars do position the drain plug well above the other low-hanging bits of the undercarriage, so I guess might be fine with a protruding valve.

I've been doing my oil draining via the dipstick tube using an electric-powered vacuum jug apparatus, which reaches the very bottom of the pan well below the top of the threaded drain bung. I still have to get under the Camry to swap the filter element out of the canister. But at least that only has to be done every second oil change.

Neither drain valve has a 90-degree bend so they don't protrude under the plan. Plus one car has a 1/4in aluminum engine skid plate and the other car I replaced the felt under tray with a 5052 alloy under tray. If something gets through those I'll have bigger things to worry about.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Seramount

driving a 17-yr old Acura RSX Type-S that I truly love.

since I'm only putting 3.5K miles/yr on it now, I change oil/filter about every 18 months or so.

the 2-L engine goes to 8200 rpm and is somewhat notorious for using oil due to the VTEC setup, so I'm adding a quart every 500-750 miles 'cause VTEC is a hoot.

with the regular addition of fresh oil, not overly concerned about how dirty it gets by the time it's changed.

I have a 2000 New Beetle and drive it about 3000 miles per year and change the oil at 5000 mile intervals. And even at that, the oil doesn't look very black. It has 135, 000 mies on it and is destined to become my granddaughter's car in about 5 years.

My 2017 Golf Sport Wagen 4 motion...every 5k..in spite of the 'factory' saying every 10k..

[JMT3]

I used to drive 65,000 miles a year before retiring. I did 1.8 million miles with my last company. I used to change my oil every 5,000 per a mechanic that worked for my company and maintained the fleet. My last vehicle that I owned while working was a Volvo S60 T5 and Volvo recommended every 10,000 miles so that is what I did. I also rotated tires every 5,000 miles. I would usually get about 80,000 miles from a set of tires and had one set last for102,000 miles before hitting the wear marks.

[Nessism]

I'm also a low mileage driver, less than 7500 miles/year, and to keep things simple, I change the oil once a year.

Doing an oil analysis is a waste of money, and costs more than an oil change does (or close.) If using synthetic, the oil won't be broken down by 7500. And even if you have some fuel accumulation in the oil, which is common with direct injection engines, 7500 miles is still safe.

Changing more frequently doesn't increase engine life, unless there is some specific reason to do so. On some other cars I've owned, I've done 5k changes, but that was more about keeping it simple to remember, than anything else. Yes, a random reason. A lot of guys go 10k these days with synthetic, and oil analysis shows no problem, but I've yet to make this leap for emotional reasons. If traveling cross-country, with mostly highway miles, it wouldn't bother me, though.

[jadmt]

Originally Posted by bigbill

That's a lot of miles for a few years. In the horse world, the vast majority of trucks are diesels. A friend has a RAM 2500 with the 6.4 gas that pulls a big fifth wheel trailer, and he does alright when towing. We travel together and let him set the pace on hilly roads. The negative is 14 mpg without a trailer, while I get 22 mpg in my F250 with a 6.7 diesel.

My wife drives a Chevy 2500 with a 6.6 diesel so we're a two truck family. This summer we are getting my son's 2018 Ford Escape so we can leave the trucks parked when we're not traveling.

someone responded the same thing and another poster said well it is only 125,000 a year lol..for sure if I were doing that kind of driving or pulling a heavy trailer I would want a diesel. My 2020 PW with 6.4 and 35's gets 16-17 on the highway if I keep it under 80. speed limits are 80 tho and if you drive much under you get passed by little old ladies or semis who tailgate you...

[jadmt]

Originally Posted by CAAD

Neither drain valve has a 90-degree bend so they don't protrude under the plan. Plus one car has a 1/4in aluminum engine skid plate and the other car I replaced the felt under tray with a 5052 alloy under tray. If something gets through those I'll have bigger things to worry about.

yea on both my current vehicles if a fumoto valve got hit I would have bigger things to worry about. I imagine there are some vehicles that they might be an issue but none I have ever owned.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by jadmt

there is a guy on Ram heavy duty gassers who has a 2021 6.4 hemi with over 250,000 miles and claims all he has done is changed oil every 10,000 miles. there are some that have over 500,000 with minor engine work. We probably change oil way too often. not like the old days where oil was not nearly as good now were the quality of engines.

Just a reminder...

The plural of anecdote is not data

[biker72]

My Honda's have a mileage minder that calculates oil life. The dealership recommends changing the oil when the minder get down to 15% or every year which ever comes first.

In reality I usually go around 5k miles between changes.

They use a full synthetic 0W-20. With coupons from the dealer I can usually get a oil/filter change for around $55 in less than 30 minutes.

[jadmt]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

Just a reminder...

The plural of anecdote is not data

no doubt about that.