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how well do you stick to changing oil after 3 months

how often do you change your oil

  • 3,000 miles, i drive often/far (5k if that's how you roll)

    Votes: 21 61.8%
  • 3 months, on the dot

    Votes: 4 11.8%
  • i just keep adding oil b/c it leaks so bad

    Votes: 2 5.9%
  • 3+ months, when i get around to it

    Votes: 7 20.6%

  • Total voters
    34
i usually only drive 2,000 miles or so after 3 months. i'm terrible about doing it after 3 months. usually i end up putting it off until about 4 months.

those of you that don't usually hit the 3k mark, how often do you change your oil?
 

john112deere

caffeine junkie
Staff member
10,807
405
central Vermont
I change my oil every 5k, with little regard to time between changes.

However, I average less than 15k/year, so overall my average time between changes is >4 months.
 

LEB Ben

Arrogant A-hole At-Large
34,919
1,124
outside your house
Well now...this is more complex for me...In Red, I'm pretty religious in the 3000 mile changes. The Bronco, well I figure I've changed the oil 1.5 times by the time 3000 miles rolls around because it burns so much of the stuff. In Thunder...well there are times when I've seriously neglected that ol' girl and probably gone 8-10,000 miles sometimes between changes, but usually with her, I make it somewhere around 5k.
 

sicktight722

Greatest man alive
i do mine when ever I get around to it. normally do oil and filter too. I'll be doing it weekend in fact, changed the air filter in my truck and saw in my log that its been over 5k miles since the last change, so i'll be heading home because I refuse to pay someone else to change my oil. Side note, Never replaced the air filter in my truck (didn't think about it), the p.o had wrote the date on the filter with a sharpie, Sept. 5, 2005. made me chuckle because i've been wondering why my mpg keeps going down.
 

LEB Ben

Arrogant A-hole At-Large
34,919
1,124
outside your house
I have a question...what's up with the whole time frame '3 month' thing? Is that basically a rule of thumb that correlates with 3000 miles...like most folks travel 3k in 3 months? Or are there people out there that change at 3 months regardless if they traveled 1500 miles or 8000 miles? I have never heard of someone changing their oil based on a monthly clock.
 

john112deere

caffeine junkie
Staff member
10,807
405
central Vermont
I got an odometer that looks like this (well, did 8 months ago or so) and says 5k can be more than adequate if you use good oil and otherwise practice good maintenance and vehicle care...
 

1985 Ford F-150

Country Boys Can Survive
7,816
307
Tooele, Utah
I do it every 3000 on the 85 The mule burns too much so I just change the filter every 3000. I havent put enough miles on the jeep so I changed it when I bought the thing (summer of 07) and then changed it a little while ago. I probly only put 100 miles or so on it in that time cause it aint road legal.
 
I have a question...what's up with the whole time frame '3 month' thing? Is that basically a rule of thumb that correlates with 3000 miles...like most folks travel 3k in 3 months? Or are there people out there that change at 3 months regardless if they traveled 1500 miles or 8000 miles? I have never heard of someone changing their oil based on a monthly clock.
i kinda assumed it was just a way for jiffy lube to get you back in the door, even if you don't drive much. but i also wondered if there was an argument for the oil magically breaking down quicker after 3 months. (don't really believe that) - that's why i created the thread.

should i do it after 3 months, or just watch the odometer?
 

LEB Ben

Arrogant A-hole At-Large
34,919
1,124
outside your house
My vote is just watch the odometer. My grandfather (FMC master mechanic) used to laugh at the folks that would come in religiously for oil changes. He always said the oil was plenty good for 10k...roughly a years worth of driving for most.
 

LEB Ben

Arrogant A-hole At-Large
34,919
1,124
outside your house
DONT GO TO JIFFY LUBE!!! I worked there ya dont want to know what kinda crap they do.

Since you said that...I gotta ask, what brand oil and filter do they use for those $10-20 oil changes. I know cheap quarts of oil at WalMart is right aroun $2-3 a quart...which would be $12-18 for oil alone for CHEAP stuff...so what the heck does JL use...it can't be anything more than water or some else's old used oil.
 

Fellro

Moderator
Staff member
I don't pay attention to time, just miles. My dad buys abandoned vehicles, who knows how many miles or months are on them when we get them, he tends to run them for a bit before changing the oil... I have had some sit for a few years and not change the oil, never been an issue. Main reason behind the 3 months is because of condensation inside the motor adding water to the mix, but the more modern engines aren't so much an issue as they are more sealed up than the old days. Back in the days of no PCV and road draft tubes, it may have been a bigger issue.

I also tend to run longer on oil changes, about 5000 miles on regular dino, 7000 with Lucas added. My wife's car is going about 7000 on regular synthetic, still looks clean. Going to try out the 15,000 mile synthetic, miles vs price it figures out less cost.
 

1985 Ford F-150

Country Boys Can Survive
7,816
307
Tooele, Utah
Its all quaker state and some penzoil synthetic and dino. The filters arent much better than an aluminum can strength wise. If ya drop it on the ground then ya have to get a new one off the shelf. They over fill diffs and tranmissions and t cases without checkin em first to see if theyre full they just fill em up till it pours out of the hole then they throw the plug in and tighten it down (most of the time too far and end up strippin it). They stip out oil pans and the one I worked for was in sucha rush they forgot to put oil in a car and it siezed the motor. They made us do stuff so fast that they easily miss stuff. They grease the zerks reguardless of wether they need it or not. I will never ever work there again and will never take a vehicle there.
 

racsan

4xford
usually around 3,000 miles, i often pay more attention to how it looks, the truck must have a bit more blow-by than the taurus, it gets dirty quicker, but its worked harder. the car sometimes goes to 5,000 because its driven so much more, around 200 miles per week on average. about the time its 1/2 qt low, its time to be changed. oil consumption on it is pretty good for a 3.0 with over 100K. the truck will use about a whole qt evry 3,000. not too much in my opinion, some of it is leakage past the front crank seal, im sure the rest is blow-by. the montana van i traded in to get this ranger burned a qt every 500. now that i considered excessive. i always use pennzoil, been using the synthetic lately, only use motorcraft filters, with a big magnet stuck to the bottom of the canister. may not do any good, but it surely cant cause any harm.
 

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