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RW> Stop Changing Your Oil
 
 
I am an ASE certified master automobile and auto body technician and have been
certified for more than 20 years.
 
I have rebuilt numerous engines and the older ones do need frequent oil
changes to prevent harmful deposits and build up, however engines with
computer controlls since the late 90's can go 20,000 miles on an oil change
with filter changes every 5,000 miles.
 
I have been using full synethetic oil for over 30 years and have used the
above proceedure with no adverse effects. I tested a couple engines using
30,000 mile changes with no problems. Aircraft jets and turboprops have been
using synthetic oils since the late 1950's and never change the oil only the
filter and keep it topped off.
 
 
  RW> By Philip Reed, Senior Consumer Advice Editor, Ronald Montoya, Consumer
RW> Advice Associate | Published Aug 24, 2010
 
RW> Oil chemistry and engine technology have evolved tremendously in recent
RW> years, but you'd never know it from the quick-change behavior of American
RW> car owners. Driven by an outdated 3,000-mile oil change commandment, they
RW> are unnecessarily spending millions of dollars and spilling an ocean of
RW> contaminated waste oil.
 
RW> Although the average car's oil change interval is around 7,800 miles -
RW> and
RW> as high as 20,000 miles in some cars - this wasteful cycle continues
RW> largely because the automotive service industry, while fully aware of the
RW> technological advances, continues to preach the 3,000-mile gospel as a
RW> way
RW> to keep the service bays busy. As a result, even the most cautious owners
RW> are dumping their engine oil twice as often as their service manuals
RW> recommend.
 
RW> After interviews with oil experts, mechanics and automakers, one thing is
RW> clear: The 3,000-mile oil change is a myth that should be laid to rest.
RW> Failing to heed the service interval in your owner's manual wastes oil
RW> and
RW> money, while compounding the environmental impact of illicit waste-oil
RW> dumping.
 
RW> Scared Into Needless Service
RW> Part of the blame for this over-servicing lies in our insecurities about
RW> increasingly complicated engines that are all but inaccessible to the
RW> average driver. Pop open the hood of a modern car, and a mass of plastic
RW> covers wall off the engine. On some vehicles, the only thing an owner can
RW> easily access is the oil cap.
 
RW> "Vehicles are so sophisticated that oil is one of the last things that
RW> customers can have a direct influence over," said Matt Snider, project
RW> engineer in GM's Fuels and Lubricants Group. "There's maybe some feeling
RW> that they're taking care of their vehicle if they change their oil more
RW> often."
 
RW> The 3,000-mile myth is also promoted by the quick lube industry's
RW> "convenient reminder" windshield sticker. It is a surprisingly effective
RW> tool that prompts us to continue following a dictate that our fathers (or
RW> grandfathers) drummed into our heads: It's your duty to change your oil
RW> every 3,000 miles - or your car will pay the price. But as former service
RW> advisor David Langness put it, the 3,000-mile oil change is "a marketing
RW> tactic that dealers use to get you into the service bay on a regular
RW> basis. Unless you go to the drag strip on weekends, you don't need it."
 
RW> Because busy car owners seldom read their owner's manuals, most have no
RW> idea of the actual oil change interval for their cars. And so they
RW> blindly
RW> follow the windshield reminder sticker, whether it's an accurate
RW> indicator
RW> of the need for an oil change or not. "I just go by the sticker in the
RW> windshield," one well-to-do, educated Denver Lexus owner said.
RW> "Otherwise,
RW> how would I know when to change it?"
 
RW> A career Navy mechanic who bought an Edmunds.com long-term car just
RW> shrugged when he was told that the vehicle had safely gone 13,000 miles
RW> between oil changes. "I'll just keep changing the oil every 5,000 miles,"
RW> he said. "It's worked well for me in the past."
 
RW> Our oil change addiction also comes from the erroneous argument that
RW> nearly all cars should be serviced under the "severe" schedule found in
RW> the owner's manual. In fact, a quiz on the Web site maintained by Jiffy
RW> Lube International Inc. (owned by petrochemical giant Shell Oil Company)
RW> recommends the severe maintenance schedule for virtually every kind of
RW> driving pattern.
 
RW> The argument that most people drive under severe conditions is losing its
RW> footing, however. A number of automakers, including Ford and GM, have
RW> contacted Edmunds data editors to request that the maintenance section of
RW> Edmunds' site substitute the normal maintenance schedule for the severe
RW> schedule that had been displayed.
 
RW> About the only ones that really need a 3,000-mile oil change are the
RW> quick-lube outlets and dealership service departments. In their internal
RW> industry communications, they're frank about how oil changes bring in
RW> customers. "Many people...know when to have their oil changed but don't
RW> pay that much attention to it," said an article in the National Oil and
RW> Lube News online newsletter. "Take advantage of that by using a window
RW> sticker system [and] customers will be making their way back to you in a
RW> few short months."
 
RW> Another National Oil and Lube News article tied the frequency of oil
RW> changes to success in pushing related products and services. For a
RW> midsize
RW> SUV, the stepped-up oil change intervals will bring in $1,800 over the
RW> life of the car, the article says. "A few extra services [or oil changes]
RW> can go a long way toward increasing the amount of money a customer will
RW> spend during the lifespan we estimated here," the article concludes.
 
RW> Today's Oil Goes the Distance
RW> While the car-servicing industry is clear about its reasons for believing
RW> in the 3,000-mile oil change, customers cling to it only because they're
RW> largely unaware of advances in automotive technology. Among 2010 models,
RW> the average recommended oil change interval, based on a normal service
RW> schedule, is about 7,800 miles - more than double the traditional
RW> 3,000-mile interval. The longest oil change interval is 20,000 miles, for
RW> all Porsches. The shortest oil change interval is 5,000 miles in some
RW> late-model Toyotas, but the carmaker has begun shifting its fleet to
RW> 10,000-mile oil change intervals using synthetic oil.
 
RW> "Oil has changed quite a bit and most of that isn't transparent to the
RW> average consuming public," said Robert Sutherland, principal scientist at
RW> Pennzoil Passenger Car Engine Lubricants. Synthetic oils, such as the
RW> popular Mobil 1, are stretching oil change intervals, leaving the
RW> 3,000-mile mark in the dust. "The great majority of new vehicles today
RW> have a recommended oil change interval greater than 3,000 miles," said
RW> Mobil spokeswoman Kristen A. Hellmer. The company's most advanced
RW> synthetic product (Mobil 1 Extended Performance) is guaranteed for 15,000
RW> miles.
 
RW> Today's longer oil change intervals are due to:
 
RW> Improved "robustness" of today's oils, with their ability to protect
RW> engines from wear and heat and still deliver good fuel economy with low
RW> emissions
RW> Tighter tolerances (the gap between metal moving parts) of modern
RW> engines
RW> The introduction of oil life monitoring systems, which notify the
RW> driver when an oil change is required and are based on the way the car is
RW> driven and the conditions it encounters
 
RW> For 2010 vehicles, 14 of 35 carmakers are now using oil life monitoring
RW> systems. One GM car driven by Edmunds went 13,000 miles before the
RW> monitoring system indicated the need for an oil change. We sent a sample
RW> of that oil to a lab for analysis. The results showed the oil could have
RW> safely delivered at least another 2,000 miles of service.
 
RW> Oil experts and car manufacturers are solidly on the side of the
RW> less-frequent oil changes that these formulation changes make possible.
RW> "If customers always just stayed with the 3,000-mile recommendation,
RW> there'd be these great strides in the robustness of oil that oil
RW> companies
RW> have made [that] wouldn't be utilized," said GM's Matt Snider. Consumers,
RW> he said, would be "throwing away good oil."
 
RW> Chris Risdon, a product education specialist for Toyota agreed, adding
RW> that oil technology advances that permit fewer changes are a tool to
RW> protect the environment. "If you're doing it half as much, that's 5
RW> quarts
RW> of oil times 1.7 million vehicles a year - that's a tremendous amount of
RW> waste oil that's not being circulated into the environment."
 
RW> Waste oil is a problem exacerbated by too-frequent oil changes, according
RW> to the California Integrated Waste Management Board, which has campaigned
RW> against the 3,000-mile dictate. The agency says that 153.5 million
RW> gallons
RW> of used oil is generated in California annually, but only 59 percent of
RW> it
RW> is recycled.
 
RW> Our Fit Gets Taken for a Ride
RW> To see what might happen to the average car owner, we took a 2007 Honda
RW> Fit to Jiffy Lube for an oil change. The car has an oil life monitoring
RW> system, and the system has recommended the past two oil change intervals
RW> at 5,500 miles and 7,600 miles on non-synthetic oil. In both cases, an
RW> engine oil analysis revealed that the oil could have provided at least
RW> another 2,000 miles of service.
 
RW> On this occasion, we told the Jiffy Lube service advisor we were
RW> considering synthetic Mobil 1 because we heard it could extend our oil
RW> change intervals. The service advisor said the synthetic oil could enable
RW> the Fit to go 4,000 or 5,000 miles before the oil "burned out." The Mobil
RW> 1 oil change had a price tag of $92.39. The technician also took the
RW> opportunity to upsell us, recommending a cabin air filter for $49.99. The
RW> total for our visit, after a $15 coupon, was $132.72.
 
RW> When the car was returned to us, the sticker in the window called for an
RW> oil change in 3,000 miles, not the 4,000 or 5,000 miles the service
RW> advisor had promised.
 
RW> If we were foolish enough to follow Jiffy Lube's 3,000-mile change
RW> schedule (which is essentially the advice given by all quick oil change
RW> outlets and dealership service departments), the Fit would undergo four
RW> unnecessary oil changes per year (assuming 15,000 miles per year of
RW> driving), wasting $369 and 15.2 quarts of perfectly good oil. Over five
RW> years of the car's life and 60,000 miles of driving, this would amount to
RW> $1,847 and 125 quarts of wasted oil. This does not include other
RW> "upselling" items at each visit, such as cabin air filters.
 
RW> Defending the 3,000-Mile Interval
RW> The quick oil change industry justifies its perpetuation of the
RW> 3,000-mile
RW> standard by saying that most people drive under "severe" conditions.
RW> Jiffy
RW> Lube's quiz, mentioned earlier in this article, is one example of how
RW> that
RW> notion is reinforced in drivers' minds. An oil change company
RW> representative said the 3,000-mile recommendation is meant to be just
RW> that
RW> - a recommendation.
 
RW> Scott Cudini, innovations manager for Jiffy Lube, repeatedly called the
RW> 3,000-mile interval a good "fallback position," meant to be a guideline
RW> but not a hard-and-fast rule. He added that Jiffy Lube technicians would
RW> initiate a "dialogue" with customers about the oil change intervals that
RW> apply specifically to their cars.
 
RW> "In most cases," Cudini said, "even if customers' cars have been
RW> plastered
RW> with that 3,000-mile sticker, they may have been told by the service
RW> advisor that, 'By the way, Sir/Madam, your interval is 5,500 miles.'"
RW> Based on our experience at Jiffy Lube and other quick-change outlets,
RW> technicians rarely initiate dialogues that could provide accurate
RW> information about oil change intervals. In fact, according to a Jiffy
RW> Lube
RW> spokesperson, the system for supplying technicians with answers only
RW> gives
RW> them information from a vehicle's severe schedule.
 
RW> The quick-change industry's deep fallback argument in favor of frequent
RW> oil changes is that they are a hedge against trouble. You can't hurt your
RW> engine by changing your oil too often, so doesn't that imply that it
RW> might
RW> actually help it? Well, no.
 
RW> Steve Mazor, manager of American Automobile Association's Research
RW> Center,
RW> said that more-frequent-than-necessary oil changes will not "gain any
RW> additional life for your engine or any improved fuel economy." He added,
RW> "In reality it will make little or no difference to the performance of
RW> the
RW> vehicle."
 
RW> The Right Time To Change Your Oil
RW> So where does this leave the car owner who was raised on the perceived
RW> wisdom of the 3,000-mile oil change? For a full discussion, your next
RW> stop
RW> should be our related article, "When Should You Change Your Oil?," which
RW> will save you hundreds of dollars over the next few years and fully
RW> protect your car and its warranty, while limiting the use of a natural
RW> resource.
 
RW> The short answer, meanwhile, is to consult your service manual or
RW> Edmunds'
RW> maintenance section to learn your car's actual oil change schedule. If
RW> your car has an oil life monitoring system, don't try to second-guess it.
RW> Understand how it works and follow its guidelines. To probe more deeply
RW> into this subject, consider sending a sample of the oil from your next
RW> oil
RW> change to a lab such as Blackstone Laboratories, for an inexpensive
RW> analysis. Our last suggestion? Rip that sticker off your windshield.
 
RW> c Edmunds Inc. All Rights Reserved. This information was extracted from
RW> www.edmunds.com and is subject to the terms of the Visitor Agreement at
RW> http://www.edmunds.com/about/visitor-agreement.html.
 
 
RW> R\%/itt
 
 
RW> --- GoldED+/W32
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