YNAB You Need A Budget

[blackdiamond]

How many of you YNABers still change your oil every 3,000 miles? My first recommendation is to follow the manufactures recommended schedule while under warranty. After that, you should easily be able to go 5,000 on any name brand conventional oil without issues. If you want to learn more about motor oil, the Bob Is The Oil Guy forum is the place to do it. I personally run my 2004 Sequoia 10,000 miles on my oil of choice and have paid to have the oil tested to verify the results. This won't work for everyone, but 5,000 miles should work for just about anyone.

[dpandslemmen]

I always thought that it was the Manufactures recommenation to change the oil every 3 months or 3,000 miles. Then one day (and is was a slow day) I blew the dust off my owners manually and one of my vechiles manual recommended to change every 10,000 miles, another said every 5,000, and the third every 3,000 so ever since then I changed the oil about every 6,000 miles (which is the average of the three.)

[blackdiamond]

There are a few cars that currently recommend oil changes every 10,000 miles (VW being one), but they also are extremely particular about the oil that is used. The most common recommendation is about 5,000 miles. I'm not sure 3,000 mile changes was ever really necessary, but with today's oils it's almost always a waste.

5,000 miles is easy on conventional oils and 7,500 with synthetics is a very reasonable distance.

[dpandslemmen]

Is Synthetic Oil worth the extra cost?

[blackdiamond]

I catch this one at home. The short answer is that it can be.

[blackdiamond]

The question is if synthetic oil is worth the extra money. If you don't put synthetics to good use you're wasting your money. In general, synthetics have a few characteristics that make them superior to conventional oils. Here's a quick list:

(1) Handle extremely high temperatures better. This means that if you have a cooling failure your motor should run a little longer before damage happens.

(2) Many synthetics have a natural multi-viscosity property that allows the blend to have less viscosity improvers (VIIs). The VIIs get mechanically broken down and cause your oil to thin out. Obviously, less VIIs means that this effect is less.

(3) Synthetics are much better at keeping your engine clean. I believe they require less of a detergent package to obtain the same result.

(4) Slightly less wear.

(5) Better fuel mileage in theory.

This isn't everything, but to summarize, synthetics tend to keep your engine cleaner and break down less from use. This means that you can run them longer than a conventional oil, but unless you run them long enough to offset the cost you really have not gained anything. Conventional oils are more than adequate to provide excellent protection in almost any engine for 5,000 mile.

I run my Sequoia 10,000+ miles on an oil change, but I use a carefully chosen oil (Castrol Syntec 0w-30 European Blend) that is spec'd as a long drain oil. I'm planning to switch to Mobil 1 Extended Performance because it's easier and cheaper to get and has been shown to go over 20,000 miles in an identical rig and still have some life left.

For the average user that isn't interested in testing their oil or pushing any limits, I would suggest running a name brand conventional oil for 5-6,000 miles and match it with your tire rotations. If you want to step up to the next oil Pennzoil Platinum is a great product for the price and should last at last 7,5000 miles in just about any application.

If your driving is extremely short trips this is harder on your oil, but if you spend any time on the highway at operating temperatures thing only get better when it comes to oil.

What kind of car do you drive?

[blackdiamond]

Make sure that you choose an oil that meets any requirement in your owners manual.

You may have noted that Valvoline has a warranty if you use your oil that can go as long as 300,000 miles. The fine print requires you to use synthetics and change it often so that they know that oil will never be the cause of the failure. In fact, oil is rarely the cause of a failure unless it is simply forgotten.

[Will]

I don't waste money on motor oil. My car is still under warranty and has the extended maintenance plan, so all oil changes are covered. And my car's on-board computer figures out when the oil needs to be changed based on my driving style and some other factors. I love my car!

[blackdiamond]

As long as you stick with the recommended oil, your oil life meter (OLM) will serve you well.

[dpandslemmen]

Thanks for the information. blackdiamond

[rollercoaster]

We ALWAYS go past the recommended date/mileage for oil changes by about double or even triple - Approximately 1 oil change per year/per vehicle. Laziness plays a big part in this, and also the fact that I don't believe in most "recommendations" coming from the company who stands to make money off of that recommendation. In that same line of thinking, I only use about 1/4 - 1/3 of the recommended amount of detergents for cleaning/laundry/etc. I have small kids and our clothes still get clean.

[blackdiamond]

We ALWAYS go past the recommended date/mileage for oil changes by about double or even triple - Approximately 1 oil change per year/per vehicle. Laziness plays a big part in this, and also the fact that I don't believe in most "recommendations" coming from the company who stands to make money off of that recommendation. In that same line of thinking, I only use about 1/4 - 1/3 of the recommended amount of detergents for cleaning/laundry/etc. I have small kids and our clothes still get clean.

What kind of cars do you drive? What type of oil do you use?

[willsenaaa]

You change your motor oil yourself so u know you are saving money if u have a use the waste your motor oil so please u r recycled n no cost to you. the American Petroleum Institute is take the all wastage oil n recycled. u r not using this wastage oil so u have a responsible to bad environment. because the wastage oil is sending in local waterways. so u also be responsible to all.

[jonmyers]

I used to read BITOG! Now I just go with a NAPA Gold filter, Mobil 1, and regular maintenance. I take the used oil to Autozone.

When my local supermarket has synthetic on sale ($5/quart), I stock up for the year. I shoot for 5k oil change (I figure it's cheap insurance), but my laziness tends to put my oil changes at 7.5-10k.

I drive an 06 Ranger with 60k; been using synthetic since 25k. I have a buddy who is an Amsoil dealer, but he can't beat the supermarket sale price!

[Jesso]

Reading all these posts about going so long without an oil change just makes me cringe! I totaled a car by going too long without an oil change. I was driving down the highway one chilly December day and noticed my car wasn't accelerating properly. I got over and took the next exit and as I slowed down I saw smoke coming out from the hood of my car. Then I noticed the temperature gauge was waaaayyy in the red. As soon as I stopped, the engine stopped, and wouldn't start again. Aaannd that's when I realized I'd left my cell phone at home, and naturally had stopped at the ONE exit without a gas station. That was a fun day. Long story short, we got it towed to my mechanic, who basically told us that the engine was completely seized up from not having any oil in it, and that it would cost more to replace the engine than the car was even worth.

So yeah... Oil change, every 3000 miles, or as soon after 3000 as I can. Cars need their oil. It is worth it to me to pay $25 every 3000 miles to prevent killing my car. Once was enough for me!