I don't know what to think! :-\

[ViPER1313]

VW recommends 10k mile changes for the Rabbit after the 2nd change - thats what it's gonna get.

[Maengelito]

i have no problems changing the oil at the specified intervals. if it says 15k, then the ones who built your car probably know what they're talking about. will it hurt to change 5 times in the specified interval? probably not. if its worth the peace of mind for you, then so be it. i'm not sure i've ever heard anyone recommend at 3k oil change interval except jiffy pube. and they definitely have invested interest in people that dont know much about cars to have their oil changed frequently. no one, except us the consumers, has anything to gain from recommending longer intervals.

my suby recomends 7500 between oil changes, or 3750 for harsh conditions. i change it at 5000 because its easy to remember and i dont drive like a grandma, but at the same time, its not my track car. it also has one of the lifetime fuel filters as its part of the fuel pump assembly.

evan, your miata is probably 13-16 years old, so chances are it isnt one of those cars that recommends having its oil changed every 15k miles. besides, miatas are known to be sensitive to lifter noise in the first place. and if the oil is turning black quickly, then its doing part of its job cleaning the engine.

[Ginger]

And are we all on the same page that lifetime trans fluid is BS? Do we have any data to support that? I mean, after seeing these trucks with engine oil going 100s of thousands of miles, I guess I could see that manual trans oil, being significantly less stressed, should last that long as well.... :dunno:

BMW Motorrad sent a bulletin that Final Drive fluid was liftetime on their R12 models back upon release in like, '06 or something. Within a couple months they had backed that out and reccomended an intial change after just 1,000 or something. I think after that it was supposed to be liftime. I think the techs all feel that that's a time bomb, though.

[Apoc]

My S4 gets 10k between synthetic and I haven't had any issues (yet). I haven't had the oil analyzed but I've never kept a car long enough to see the effects of what an extended interval may be. Yay disposable America!

[Ginger]

It's funny you should mention that, Chris. I'm one of the few people I know that's going to keep my 4 wheel vehicle until it just won't go any more. My Accord's been in my family for the latter half of it's 200,000 mile life and it's finally bit the dust (and really, it's my fault it's dead; if I hadn't fucked with it I'd be getting more life out of it). I'm not that way with my bikes, although I'd really like to keep my current stable for a while.

I think most of the club plays too much musical motors to really consider how long oil change intervals will effect motor life. The guys that have high mileage cars around here have usually bought them in the later portions of the vechile's life, and anybody that's got something newer probably isn't hanging on to it forever. It'd be hard for us to determine how much an effect these intervals would have on our toys for a couple reasons related to that. To really see the effect, we'd have to be doing them from very early on in the car's life and continue doing them well into the high mileage zones. Starting a 15K interval at 100K doesn't give us a very accurate picture, nor does only keeping a car for it's first 100K. That, and for those guys that track their cars, the intervals aren't changed. I don't tihnk you'd find anybody willing to run the same oil in the track car even for just half of the 15K.

But, I mean, have times changed? I know we're out of the repair and, and into the remove and replace era... but are people keeping their cars for less time? I haven't really noticed any difference; I'd guess that we're keeping our cars longer, though, since they're lasting longer. Could anybody even imagine putting 200K on a Fury or a GTO?

[Scott]

I have a '94 Accord that is a 1 family car (my Dad then me), that I have personally put over 100k on (and I'm not easy on the car), it now has 160k+ on it, and I change the oil every 3k. The manual says 7500, but what I have done has lasted this long, so why change it? I plan to drive this car until it has nothing left to give (it also has it's original clutch...)

[.RJ]

I change the oil every 3k. The manual says 7500, but what I have done has lasted this long, so why change it?

So it would not have lasted as long changing the oil at 7500 miles?

[Scott]

I change the oil every 3k. The manual says 7500, but what I have done has lasted this long, so why change it?

So it would not have lasted as long changing the oil at 7500 miles?

I have no idea, maybe it would have been fine, and maybe it wouldn't have, but it's worked this long so I'm not going to change it, it doesn't seem worth the risk

[.RJ]

You could run the oil 500 or 1000 miles longer each change, test it and see how well it held up.

[Dave]

The most effective way to test something like this, in my opinion would be for a family of 3-4 driviers to all buy the exact same car and each adhere to a strict maintenance schedule and see who's continues to run. Of course, then you've eliminated the car variable but it doesn't count into effect that the teenage son will try to drive the minivan into the ground and streetrace against his dad, while mom is busy motoring around between soccer games and PTA meetings :-). In all reality, something like this is so hard to measure in the real world b/c there are simply too many variables involved.

[PGK]

Can I chime in here? Manufacturer recommendations are generally minimum service recommendations. Regular oil changes aren't going to cause problems, unless you're a hamfisted retard who doesn't know left from right and you pull out the threads on your drainplug. And I would be very wary of anything claimed to be 'lifetime'....the 'lifetime' transmission in my sisters jetta just kicked the bucket at a little over 100k, and from what i understand that's pretty common for those cars.

oil changes are not bad....do them. at or before the manufacturers recommended interval.

[Andy]

oil changes are not bad....

Unnecessary oil changes are bad for your wallet, manufacturing costs and natural resources. I don't think anyone is arguing against oil changes, just debating what the sweet spot is for them and also to kill time during work.