5.3 Guys, opinion on oil change intervals

[Marky Dissod]

I genuinely believe that letting the Oil Life Monitor reach zero is less than ideal.
Even if the Oil Life Monitor has the right idea, it may not be quite critical enough.

I know many NYC cabdrivers who apply the following 'skews' to their Oil Life Monitor:
Nearly all highway miles: change oil & filter @ 17%
Mostly highway, lil bit metro / urban: change oil @ 20%
More metro / urban, some highway: change oil @ 25%
Nearly all metro / urban miles, lots of slow traffic: change oil @ 33%
Some NYC cabdrivers change oil & filter as often as every five to six weeks, which could be UNDER 3000 miles.

 

[BlaineBug]

I believe Mercedes and/or BMW have 10,000 or near recommended intervals. Of course don't their V6's take about 3 gallons of oil?

 

[tom3]

I read somewhere that German oil specs are some different that over here in the US? Could have something to do with longer intervals for the German cars.

 

[BlaineBug]

I read somewhere that German oil specs are some different that over here in the US? Could have something to do with longer intervals for the German cars.

They subscribe to the same "oil is bad" agenda in Europe even harder than they do here in the US, that is all.

 

[R32driver]

I've been going with 5K mile oil changes for 20 years now give or take and I've never had an engine problem on any car I've owned. Some of my cars I just do annually because they never get close to 5K miles put on in a year

 

[BlaineBug]

I've been going with 5K mile oil changes for 20 years now give or take and I've never had an engine problem on any car I've owned. Some of my cars I just do annually because they never get close to 5K miles put on in a year

Nothing wrong with that interval but some will still claim it's too high. I used to stretch to 6,000-7,000 but I won't be doing that anymore.

 

[Marky Dissod]

I've been going with 5K mile oil changes for 20 years now give or take,
and I've never had an engine problem on any car I've owned.
Some of my cars I just do annually because they never get close to 5K miles put on in a year.

Nothing wrong with that interval, but some will still claim it's too high.
I used to stretch to 6,000-7,000 but I won't be doing that anymore.

Long story short, both sides of that argument:
5,000 mile oil changes are aok, IFF the 5,000 miles are mostly highway, driven moderately.
If you drive more like I do -
stop'n'go, very little highway, local molasses traffic, gratuitously brisk accelerations to cut idiots off -
3,000 miles between oil changes is a much safer way to go.
Depends how you drive.

*but never less than once a year ...

 

[B-train]

I've been going with 5K mile oil changes for 20 years now give or take and I've never had an engine problem on any car I've owned. Some of my cars I just do annually because they never get close to 5K miles put on in a year

DITTO!! It's worked well for many hundreds of thousands of driven miles from Impala 3.8L to 5.3, 6.0, and 6.2L engines in trucks and suvs.

Plus, it's much easier to rhyme on the fives than have to over math it on those weird 3 or 4 numbers. LOL

 

[BlaineBug]

My Grandfather worked at Standard Oil/Amoco and retired as a chemist in 1986. He used to argue with me, stating that oil never breaks down and doesn't need to be changed annually, in his older years when I would recommend changing the oil once a year regardless. I am sure he didn't even test synthetic oils back then when he was a chemist either.

 

[Stbentoak]

If you drive say 2-3K a year or have a seasonal vehicle and use modern synthetic oils, there is zero logic in changing it just because "It's been a year"
I've went 2 years on seasonal vehicles and half the time that oil is as clean as it went in, in gas vehicles.