State Hopes To Break Car Owners' Habit Of Changing Oil Too Often

[JamesK]

FYI: 3000 Miles = 4828 KM

State hopes to break car owners' habit of changing oil too often

California launches a campaign against the widespread notion that oil changes are needed every 3,000 miles. Officials say the practice wastes millions of gallons of oil a year.

December 15, 2011

By Jerry Hirsch, Los Angeles Times

Many automobile owners are spending more than they need on motor oil, believing that it should be changed every 3,000 miles even though almost no manufacturer requires such an aggressive oil-change schedule.

The long-held notion that the oil should be changed every 3,000 miles is so prevalent that California officials have launched a campaign to stop drivers from wasting millions of gallons of oil annually because they have their vehicles serviced too often.

"Our survey data found that nearly half of California drivers are still changing their oil at 3,000 miles or even sooner," said Mark Oldfield, a spokesman for the California Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery, which has launched the Check Your Number campaign to encourage drivers to go with the manufacturer's recommendations.

Improvement in oils, friction proofing and car engines have lengthened the oil-change interval, typically 7,500 miles to 10,000 miles for most vehicles.

Changing motor oil according to manufacturer specifications would reduce motor-oil demand in California by about 10 million gallons a year, the agency said. The state has created a website,checkyournumber.org, where drivers can look up the suggested motor-oil change interval number for their vehicles.

The agency and other groups said slashing motor-oil consumption would be good for the environment and won't hurt the longevity or reliability of autos.

"Drivers have a number of ways to reduce the environmental impact of their vehicles, which can also save them money," said Don Anair, senior engineer at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Besides following the manufacturers recommendations for oil changes, drivers can reduce oil consumption by keeping their tires properly inflated and by avoiding idling their engines, Anair said.

"The 3,000-mile oil change just says that the marketing campaign by quick-lube companies has been effective," said Steve Mazor, manager of the Auto Club of Southern California's Automotive Research Center. It made sense years ago, when "we had cast-iron block engines with cast-iron pistons that would expand when they got hot and older lubricants," Mazor said.

Nationally 51% of vehicle owners said they believe oil should be changed every 3,000 miles or three months, according to an August survey by market research firm NPD Group. And just 33% wait more than 4,000 miles between oil changes, NPD said.

Drivers should be confident in the oil service advice offered by automakers, Mazor said.

Vehicle warranties, especially for power trains, have grown longer in recent years, he noted, and automakers would not give advice that could hurt engines and increase their warranty expenses.

Ford Motor Co. recommends oil changes for most of its new vehicles at 10,000 miles, although some still require the service at 7,500 miles.

"Our new generation of engines have tighter internal tolerances, which reduces the amount of carbon and other products from combustion that gets into the oil," said Richard Truett, a Ford spokesman.

The latest engines also run at more optimum temperatures, which diminishes the degradation of oil.

Honda Motor Co. and its luxury marque, Acura, no longer have a set interval for motor-oil changes.

Both Honda and Acura vehicles are equipped with a maintenance minder system that recommends oil changes and other services based on a number of vehicle-usage factors, including mileage and climate. Other manufacturers have similar systems that alert drivers to the need for an oil change.

"The idea is to prevent either over- or under-maintaining a car by following a set schedule," said Chris Martin, a Honda spokesman. "Now, there is no guesswork."

Typically, the indicator for an oil change lights up every 5,000 to 10,000 miles in Honda and Acura vehicles.

Owners of late-model BMWs can go as many as 15,000 miles between oil changes, depending on driving conditions. BMWs also have sensors alerting drivers to the need to change motor oil based on conditions like driving in stop-and-go traffic, making short trips and prolonged idling.

Despite these improvements, many drivers insist on changing the oil often even if it isn't recommended.

This has prompted some new car dealers to ask customers who come in for an oil change when it's not recommended to sign a document stating that they understand that the maintenance guidelines for their auto don't require a change at that time. The dealers are worried that someone might later accuse them of selling unnecessary maintenance services.

http://articles.lati...change-20111215

Edited March 8, 2012 by JamesK

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

just for that i'm gonna change my oil this weekend

[emts]

doing mine tomorrow,

not done more than 500km on a change for 2 years! they would love me

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

I might even pour mine on a baby seal

[emts]

You know what I'm gonna do?

I'm gonna get myself a 1967 Cadillac Eldorado convertible,

hot pink, with whale skin hubcaps and all leather cow interior and big brown baby seal eyes for headlights.

Yeah! And I'm gonna drive around in that baby at 115 miles an hour,

getting 1 mile per gallon,

sucking down quarter pounder cheeseburgers from McDonald's in the old-fashioned non- biodegradable Styrofoam containers!

And when I'm done suckin' down those grease ball burgers I'm gonna wipe my mouth on the American flag and then toss the Styrofoam containers right out the side

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

it's just... the luxury edition has so much more Eagle

[Rekin]

the article is talking about educating the local joe that when their mechanic says to change oil every 3000miles in their corolla it isnt actually required...

Irrelevent to all of us as we agree to change our oil and arent pressured by mechanics to do so...

In the end it means more oil for us if the general public understands that 3000miles service is no longer the norm.

Motul 300v for everyone!!!

[emts]

ya I run 300v, it's good stuff

[SS8_Gohan]

it's just... the luxury edition has so much more Eagle

ahaha, "man this AC is awesome! getting a bit cold though, better turn up the heat"

"man this heater is awesome!, getting a bit hold though, better turn up the AC"

Oils have come a long way and i for the average driver with a quality synthetic, 3000 miles is ridiculous. Obviously for motorsport people, we follow a diff schedule but for general public the Cali campaign makes a lot of sense.

just starting to getting oil testing now and i reckon with results that i get back, i foresee having extended drain intervals when all the good stuff of the oil are still present. Won't mind that at all as good oil is $$

[RB2600]

Properly inflating your tyres will reduce oil consumption lmaooo senior engineer of union of concerned scientists.

Removing weight from the car will also achieve similar results, or perhaps swapping out to a lower final drive so you're sitting on 1200rpm @ 60MPH instead of 2000rpm.

Just in case it's consuming too much oil at higher engine speeds.

I hope this is a joke

[iseekool]

I change oil on my cars every 5000km, especially the is200, sludge tends to build up real quick.

If I remember correctly Toyota engines of the mid 90s to mid 2000s had engine sludge issues, so oil had to be changed every 3000 miles (there was some lawsuit against Toyota USA).

[Get EPIC]

You know what I'm gonna do?

I'm gonna get myself a 1967 Cadillac Eldorado convertible,

hot pink, with whale skin hubcaps and all leather cow interior and big brown baby seal eyes for headlights.

Yeah! And I'm gonna drive around in that baby at 115 miles an hour,

getting 1 mile per gallon,

sucking down quarter pounder cheeseburgers from McDonald's in the old-fashioned non- biodegradable Styrofoam containers!

And when I'm done suckin' down those grease ball burgers I'm gonna wipe my mouth on the American flag and then toss the Styrofoam containers right out the side

you know, you really are an asshole!

[mistamidget]

Huh

I'm all for "sucking down quarter pounder cheeseburgers from McDonald's in the old-fashioned non- biodegradable Styrofoam containers"

I get 50 burgers/100k/m if I keep my foot flat to the floor.

The containers taste crap tho'

[W0rp3D]

you know, you really are an asshole!

why dont you just shut up and sing the song pal!

Edited March 11, 2012 by W0rp3D

[MrWindsurf]

it's just... the luxury edition has so much more Eagle

thundercougarfalconbird

[zebra]

why dont you just shut up and sing the song pal!

But Im just a regular joe, with a regular job. I'm your average white suburbanite slob

[Downforce]

america are running out of oil, maybe they want to stop people from consuming so much

[KamikazeNinja34]

Why not just start another war to get more oil then lol.

Gen y says please translate mile figure to make sense in metric figure based country?

[SS8_Gohan]

i think multiply roughly by 1.61

so 3000 miles is about 4830km

7500 miles is about 12075km

10000 is about 16100km

[W0rp3D]

Why not just start another war to get more oil then lol.

Gen y says please translate mile figure to make sense in metric figure based country?

Gen x says get a conversion app