[LianneMigiano]

Originally Posted by Toymeister

Changing the oil at 5k miles will always work in your favor.
Btw what brand of car do you own?

We will have had it for 6 years on 8/10/25. My husband has made me change the synthetic oil 3 times already. It is now our only car - but still has been driven less than 3,000 miles so far this year. We rarely drive anywhere outside of "the bubble". I thought that agreeing to the mechanic putting in synthetic oil I would need to change the oil fewer times - and after greater mileage had elapsed. What advice do some of you "experts" out there suggest?

[biker1]

What does your owner's manual say? I am guessing that is says to change the oil at least once a year. I generally prefer to follow the recommendations of the people who designed and built the car. Many cars have a oil weight recommendation, such as 0W-20, that essentially requires a synthetic.

Originally Posted by LianneMigiano

We will have had it for 6 years on 8/10/25. My husband has made me change the synthetic oil 3 times already. It is now our only car - but still has been driven less than 3,000 miles so far this year. We rarely drive anywhere outside of "the bubble". I thought that agreeing to the mechanic putting in synthetic oil I would need to change the oil fewer times - and after greater mileage had elapsed. What advice do some of you "experts" out there suggest?

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by biker1

What does your owner's manual say? I am guessing that is says to change the oil at least once a year. I generally prefer to follow the recommendations of the people who designed and built the car. Many cars have a oil weight recommendation, such as 0W-20, that essentially requires a synthetic.

The 10K, 1yr recommendation started when that was required for the mfg to get energy credits. The car is designed to survive a 3-4 yr warranty period running that oil change interval.

If you want to keep a car +80K mi, due to tighter tollarances and smaller oil passages, the experienced mechanics recommend not to go more than 5K mi without an oil change. Especially with the higher MPG 2L turbo engines.

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by LianneMigiano

We will have had it for 6 years on 8/10/25. My husband has made me change the synthetic oil 3 times already. It is now our only car - but still has been driven less than 3,000 miles so far this year. We rarely drive anywhere outside of "the bubble". I thought that agreeing to the mechanic putting in synthetic oil I would need to change the oil fewer times - and after greater mileage had elapsed. What advice do some of you "experts" out there suggest?

The reason for the 12 mo recommendation is that low miles and shorter drives increases oil contamination reducing lubrication effectiveness.

Especially for the newer high MPG turbo motors. The turbo gets very hot and the oil that remains in them continues to cook and degrade after the engine shuts down.

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by Altavia

The reason for the 12 mo recommendation is that low miles and shorter drives increases oil contamination reducing lubrication effectiveness.

Especially for the newer high MPG turbo motors. The turbo gets very hot and the oil that remains in them continues to cook and degrade after the engine shuts down.

Don’t forget about variable valve timing passages and piston rings carbon buildup. If I have turbo engine I would be changing oil more frequently due to turbo and coking. But, that’s me.

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by CarlR33

Um, Heck no, even a cheap $50 oil change 4 times a year would be $200!

IMO with new oils formals that a bit much unless the engine on it’s last legs and need to get every mile out of it. Twice year or minimum once year if not driven much IMO. My car changes around year mark cause or sets most of time in garage.

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by LianneMigiano

We will have had it for 6 years on 8/10/25. My husband has made me change the synthetic oil 3 times already. It is now our only car - but still has been driven less than 3,000 miles so far this year. We rarely drive anywhere outside of "the bubble". I thought that agreeing to the mechanic putting in synthetic oil I would need to change the oil fewer times - and after greater mileage had elapsed. What advice do some of you "experts" out there suggest?

You didn’t mention mileage? Three times in 6 years only once every two years average. When it was newer get away with that, but if you plan on keeping it IMO every 2 years to long as engine ages it cokes up more when oil left in longer. Most people don’t keep vehicles pass 3 or 4 years so they never experience engine oil related problems. It’s the second owner that discovers oil related problems from lack of changes. That’s why most want see service records on used car.

Plenty of utube videos on oil change intervals. Most recommend 5K or one year which ever comes first. If you drive over road majority to time long steady speed trips can go longer cause that don’t have same effect on oil as stop and go short trip driving.

[biker1]

They are changing the oil every two years and probably more than 6,000 miles. This is beyond what the manufacturer probably recommends. Yes, they should be changing it more frequently. Annually should be fine, instead of every two years, as it appears they aren't putting a lot of miles on the car.

Originally Posted by Altavia

The 10K, 1yr recommendation started when that was required for the mfg to get energy credits. The car is designed to survive a 3-4 yr warranty period running that oil change interval.

If you want to keep a car +80K mi, due to tighter tollarances and smaller oil passages, the experienced mechanics recommend not to go more than 5K mi without an oil change. Especially with the higher MPG 2L turbo engines.

[CoachKandSportsguy]

Wow! lots of great opinions here. . .

I have always changed my synthetic oil every 5K miles, and never had a problem. Always other parts of the car failed before the engine failed. I have never had a major engine failure since I started owning cars in 1980, with regular oil maintenance. With a low mileage use vehicle, a change every 6 months should keep the engine working well, as well as a brake check as high humidity / rain can cause rust on the rotors and increase brake wear and stopping distances. . .

A quick tip about checking oil using a dip stick:
pull the dipstick with a cold engine in the morning after sitting all night. The oil will have drained down into the pan, and the cool/cold nature of the oil will give an easier read on the dip stick as the oil is thicker and easier to see.

Regular maintenance on a large cost item will keep the large cost item from becoming future junk later rather than sooner, as all vehicles are future junk.

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

I agree with everything that you said, especially the idea of checking the tailpipe for excessive oil burning. My humble opinion is that in Florida, I am not sold on multiple weight oils. They are fine for up North, but in Florida I prefer a straight weight 30W oil.

What? you still driving flat head ford?

You can’t use straight 30W oil in variable valve timing vehicles. Passages are too small some chain tensioners and other components use oil pressure to operate, then there heat factor that will slug/gum up 30W oil quicker. Most news vehicles use 0-15w oil now.

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by Topspinmo

What? you still driving flat head ford?

You can’t use straight 30W oil in variable valve timing vehicles. Passages are too small some chain tensioners and other components use oil pressure to operate, then there heat factor that will slug/gum up 30W oil quicker. Most news vehicles use 0-15w oil now.

Especially with newer direct injection turbo's, need to stick with Mfg recomendations - including the alphabet soup list of letters behind the oil type.

[MrFlorida]

I change my oil ( Mobile 1 ) once a year, but I only get about 4 k miles living in the bubble.

[Notsocrates]

a healthy engine does mot "burn" oil

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by Donegalkid

Accurate. Some new engine designs by certain manufacturers result in higher oil consumption, as stated, up to a quart per 1K of miles. I’ll leave out the manufacturers and engine models but one can easily research your car. Ironically, some of these new engine designs are now “oil burners” in the pursuit of higher MPG and “performance”. Engine longevity can suffer, though, as can the life of key components, like catalytic converters.

Why leave out who makes junk engines? IMO new engines should NOT be using quart oil in 1000 miles. They use that excess to get out of engine replacements under warranty which in most cases 3 years, most people replace vehicles after warranty runs out. The problem goes away for 1st owner and dealer.

Unless that engine is Hugh diesel that gets gallons of oil not few quarts should not be using quart in 1000 miles. Direct injected engines are IMO going to be new junk of 80’s. High pressure fuel directly injected into combustion chamber washes cycle walls of oil and bypass intake valves causing them to carbon up. So maybe better to buy EV than direct injected engine vehicles?

Another thing some manufacturers put water pump inside the timing chain cover. What idiot thought that and what idiots approved it? now when it goes bad or leaks got water in oil and have to tear whole front end of engine off to get to water pump or internal transfer tube leak.

[BrianL99]

Originally Posted by PilotAlan

Burning that much oil is totally unacceptable.
The language about "1 quart every 1000 miles" being acceptable is there to limit warranty claims. What it really means is "we won't fix anything until it burns more than 1 qt every 1000 miles".

You are exactly right.

That said, there are very few automobiles, where the burning of 1 quart of oil per 1000 miles is by design. As you said, it's warranty butt covering by manufacturers.

I can't imagine a vehicle burning a quart per 1000 miles, without the driving seeing smoke ... & I can't imagine leaking that much oil without someone noticing.

Even more unusual, is an oil light not illuminating if a vehicle was that low on oil.