In recent years, many customers have become confused about when to change their vehicle’s engine oil. The owner’s manuals of the various manufacturers are now recommending a wide array of different mileage intervals, often much longer than the well-known standard span of 3mos/3,000 miles. The automotive service industries are standing behind the 3mos/3,000 mile “rule”. Who is correct?
The answer is they are both correct. How often you service your vehicle depends on a couple factors:
Driving conditions
Manufacturers recommend intervals of service based on driving conditions. Severe service intervals are more frequent than the average intervals most manufacturers advertise. If you regularly drive less than 15 miles in one trip or do mostly stop and go driving, your driving habits are severe. Most cars in this area are driven under severe driving conditions, the condition that puts the most wear and tear on your vehicle’s components. Getting an oil change and inspection every 3 months/3,000 miles allows you to check the condition of the entire car and all the fluids can be inspected and changed when needed.
Which entity you choose to place your trust: the manufacturer or your technician.
Improvements in engine design have made it possible for manufacturers to reduce the amount of maintenance recommended in newer model cars. Since many of the recommended intervals have changed, engine replacements on newer cars (1999 and newer) are more common. 90% of these blown engines are caused by sludge building up internally in the engine. The only possible cause of sludge build up is lack of oil change services. Newer engines can cost as much as $7,000, a hard expense to swallow when you still owe money on the car. Sludge build-up is not covered by any factory or extended warranty. Usually, sludge build-up does not show itself until 40-50K miles. Even if you can prove you serviced the vehicle according to manufacturer‚s recommendations, it is still out of the warranty period. Do you want to trust a recommendation that the manufacturer will not stand behind after your 3 years/36,000 miles warranty expires? If you want your car to perform it’s best and last for years, change your engine oil and filter every 3 months or 3K miles.
