Why do many people buy in to the 3000 mile oil change myth, but not change other stuf

[exbass94]

Maybe I should've made my last post a little clearer...even under "severe conditions," 5k miles is STILL easily doable with any oil. So I'll say it again: 3k miles is a waste of oil!

 

[The_Dealer]

Wow I wish I had some of what u are smokin...not to be a dick but u obviously hsve never got an oil analycis done b4...now way in hell u can go longer then 3k miles on an oil change unleSs u are using that new NASA approved shit. When an oil turns black is because of heat breakdown and carbon. Keyword breakdown. Meaning lubricicity gets lower, which is the whole purpose of oil. Stop and go and long idleing kills oil because of the quick heating up and coolong down breaking down the oil, hence thermal breakdown. Yea u could run 75_90 for 9k miles and itd proLly be as thin as 5-20. But seriously its not just the oil that's the reason to change evry 3k. Your filter can't filter but so much b4 it starts making yer oil pressure go down. Which in turn starves bearings and other critical componants of oil, which in turn raises the oil temp increasing the possibility of "baking" on sludge and gunk. Think about it. Also run your oil for 5-7k and cut open your filter, then do the same for 3k and u might have second thoughts. Sorry for the shitty typing I'm on my phone

 

[doorgunner]

change oil & filter.......2,000 miles later---change FILTER & ADD 1 qt. oil.....2,000 miles later---change oil & filter...(I've seen engine oil with 5,000 miles on it...too thin/black for me...FYI---Amsoil's best with 15,000 miles on it doesnt look as bad as conventional oil with 3,000 miles on it)

I have used the above schedule & get 200,000+ miles on my vehicles with no problems using conventional oil....

transmission fluid & filter gets changed yearly...ALL other fluids get changed every 3 years....


but.....it's a personal thing.......

 

[exbass94]

Wow I wish I had some of what u are smokin...not to be a dick but u obviously hsve never got an oil analycis done b4...now way in hell u can go longer then 3k miles on an oil change unleSs u are using that new NASA approved shit. When an oil turns black is because of heat breakdown and carbon. Keyword breakdown. Meaning lubricicity gets lower, which is the whole purpose of oil. Stop and go and long idleing kills oil because of the quick heating up and coolong down breaking down the oil, hence thermal breakdown. Yea u could run 75_90 for 9k miles and itd proLly be as thin as 5-20. But seriously its not just the oil that's the reason to change evry 3k. Your filter can't filter but so much b4 it starts making yer oil pressure go down. Which in turn starves bearings and other critical componants of oil, which in turn raises the oil temp increasing the possibility of "baking" on sludge and gunk. Think about it. Also run your oil for 5-7k and cut open your filter, then do the same for 3k and u might have second thoughts. Sorry for the shitty typing I'm on my phone

Wow, not to be dick also, but you obviously know nothing about oil. First of all the color of an oil means NOTHING!!!! You ever see oil ran in a diesel after only 500 miles? Black as a midnight sky. Does that mean it’s bad? Hell no! The black color is NOT from breakdown, it’s all the dirt and crap that’s being held in suspension. In other words, it’s the dirt that’s NOT staying inside your engine. Think of it like a mop and bucket of water. As you clean, the dirt that WAS on the floor is now in the water. After a while, the water turns dark. Oil of course will eventually get dirty enough that it needs changed, but 3k miles is way too soon.

Obviously YOU have never gotten a UOA done because if you did it would’ve shown you could’ve gone much longer than 3k. Go to bobistheoilguy.com and you can see LITERALLY HUNDREDS of UOAs that show 5-7k is perfectly reasonable. Not to mention tons of internal engine pics on engines that ran 5-7k intervals their whole lives and not a speck of sludge.

Your analogy to 75w-90 gear oil also shows how much you don’t know. 90 weight gear oil is about the same viscosity as 10w-30 motor oil. They just use a different rating scale for gear oils.

And I HAVE cut open filters after 5k. You know what I found? Not a speck of grime in it!

Guys, this isn’t the 1970s anymore. Back then, you HAD to change every 3k. But oils are literally hundreds of times better now than they were back then. The oil companies are CONSTANTLY reformulating their oils and improving them. The new ILSAC GF-5 spec just came out last month. (If you don’t know what that is, don’t even TRY arguing with me about oil…)

Going back to my 1970s analogy…back in the 1950s you had to change oil every 1k miles, once again because oils were so crappy back then. But over time, oil technology improved and 3k became the new standard. And I’m sure all the old school guys thought 3k was crazy and said “no way can you go longer than 1k miles!!!” (SOUND FAMILIAR??)

now way in hell u can go longer then 3k miles

…once again, oil technology has improved and 5k is the new standard. Get with the times people

 

[exbass94]

Guys, I hate to come off as some sort of oil snob, and I know someone always mentions bobsitheoilguy, but seriously, if you're looking for oil info, that is THE site. Any other auto forum (and TRS is NO exception...) is full of nothing but oil myths and misconceptions and at least 90% of the members don't know DICK about oil.

 

[06RangerXLT]

Guys, I hate to come off as some sort of oil snob, and I know someone always mentions bobsitheoilguy, but seriously, if you're looking for oil info, that is THE site. Any other auto forum (and TRS is NO exception...) is full of nothing but oil myths and misconceptions and at least 90% of the members don't know DICK about oil.

change it when you want and STFU.

 

[The_Dealer]

oil is black because of a dirty engine, mostly people that dont change at regular intervals. yea there are some engines thats oil turns black a few hundred miles after u change the oil. that is the detergents cleaing out the sludge and stuff thats in the motor because it wasnt changed at the reccomended intervals. most of the time synthetic oils can go longer without changing as conventional oils. and yes i do know alot about oil. i have a buddy with a dodge cummis that uses mobil 1 and the oil comes out as clean as it is when u put it in after 7k miles. he has around 550hp and has a clean tune. engine running condition has alot to do with how dirty the oil gets too, as egt's vary. always go by the oil's reccomended intervals. u cant say yea u can go xxxx miles with all oils. its just not correct. alot of the older/cheaper oils contained parafin wax in them and alot of older cars have sludge because of it. but 99% of the time when an oil gets black it starts to break down. diesels use thicker oils because of the higher egt's they see being from them not having a spark combustion. u ever cut your filter open after your 5k mile oil change? i have. i bought a filter cutter just to see what was going on. i used to go 7k miles as recommended with my mobil 1 oil, but i cut a filter open and still change it every 3-3500k. yea the technology is getting better with syn oils, and they have higher cleaning capabilities, but most of the time they are trying to clean engines with alot of engine gunk. why does engine oil look clean and get so black when u run a flush such as amsoil or autorx? its all the shit getting cleaned out from people running 5k miles on oil changes. diesels are a different thing as gas engines anyways. ive seen some clean diesel engines and ive seen some taken apart that the sludge gets baked on liike fawkn jb weld. the oil manufacturers have reccomended intervals for a reason. and i have gotten plenty of oil analysis from independent companies when i switch to amsoil products, befor and after the amsoil. i even did it after i switched to mobil. yea the amsoil was better for my engines then the mobil, but not by much, and not really enough to justify the cost. ive used amsoil in vehicles that smoked blue on startup and it stopped all that. i used conventional in the same cars for shits and giggles and guess what the smoke came back. when i used the amsoil and i started getting close to 15k miles on a change, even after changing the filter like reccomended...the smoke started comming back. that right there told me something. oil doesnt last forever, its cheaper to change it like u are supposed to then to risk saving a few bucks and sludging up your engine.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

I've changed mine about 12 times in the last 6 months.



Well, ok, "changed" might be too strong a word. I'm just too lazy to fix the leak. I fill it up when the pump gets noisy.

Now that`s funny I go by the color myself. Just kidding my 83 does just fine on 5000 and have just recently started changing PCV and plugs every other oil change along with filters (air-fuel). gear oils once a year plug wires every other year. Getting ready to do the brakes on both ranger and cherokee master, wheel cylinders and calipers. rotors, drums and new oil probably the most important neglected item is a thorough brake job.

 

[exbass94]

u cant say yea u can go xxxx miles with all oils. its just not correct. alot of the older/cheaper oils contained parafin wax in them and alot of older cars have sludge because of it.

Once again you have no idea what you're talkng about. Just about ALL oils have paraffinic base stock, even today. It is NOT the same thing as candle wax. Comparing paraffinic oils to paraffin wax is like comparing a chestnut horse to horse chestnut...

Courtesy of Quaker State's website:

There are two basic types of crude oil, naphthenic and paraffinic. Most conventional engine lubricating oils today are made from paraffinic crude oil. Paraffinic crude oil is recognized for its ability to resist thinning and thickening with temperature, as well as its lubricating properties and resistance to oxidation (sludge-forming tendencies). In the refining process, the paraffinic crude oil is broken down into many different products. One of the products is wax, and others are gasoline, kerosene, lubricating oils, asphalt, etc. Virtually every oil company uses paraffinic base stocks in blending its conventional engine oil products.
Many people believe the term paraffinic to be synonymous with wax. Some have the misconception that paraffinic oils will coat the engine with a wax film that can result in engine deposits. This is not true. The confusion exists because paraffinic molecules can form wax crystals at low temperatures. In lubricating oils, this wax is removed in a refining process called dewaxing. Wax is a premium product obtained from crude oil and to help us produce the highest-quality base stocks available, Quaker State® uses base stocks with the minimum amount of wax possible. The end result is a motor oil product formulated with premium lubricating base oil.

http://www.quakerstate.com/#/car-care/myth-vs-fact/

u ever cut your filter open after your 5k mile oil change?

Umm if you read my last post you would see that YES I have cut open my filter after 5k..

Here are some photos of engines that have run their entire lives on 5k+ intervals, some on synthetic, some on bulk conventional. By all means, point out this horrible sludge you're talking about...

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2063774&page=1

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2055287#Post2055287

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2009132&page=2

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1882472&page=1

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1546406&page=1

 

[fastpakr]

I'm not buying the 3k mile oil change nonsense either. The Ranger gets conventional oil every 5k or so. The Vulcan gets Rotella synthetic 5w40. Last oil sample was at 4174 miles and it passed with flying colors. I'm running to 6k miles this time and will send another sample in for analysis.

 

[rjppunk]

Well thanks to a little power steering leak, mine gets flushed about once a month. and yes I change my oil every 3k but when it costs under 20 bucks for a new filter and 5 quarts from napa, it really doesn't save me a lot at the end of the day to go longer.

 

[Toms01PSD]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3,000_mile_myth

I lol'd at your link. Glad to see anyone can go on wikipedia and make a page without facts still.

 

[Eagle_Scout2002]

As far as diesel engines go, the oil change intervals are a lot higher than for gasoline cars. Some of the newer Cummins ISX engines have a recommended oil change interval of 20000 miles. This is right from Cummins. And yes I know this as a fact as I work for an International dealership and we have a lof of Cummins engines in the over-the-road applications. Even the newer big bore International recommended oil change interval of 25000 miles. It does depend on the filter you are using as well. I have seen some of the Lubefiner filters collapse before 10000 miles on the ISX. The recommended oil for these engines is non-synthetic.

As far as cars I am not as familiar. I was changing my oil on my Ranger and Focus at 3000 miles, but the oil was still coming out very clean. I looked in the owners manual and it said to change it at 5000 miles. I was changing the oil at the 5000 mile point and it was still fairly clean. I guess it is each to his own. If someone wants to change their oil at 3000 miles, more power to them. If they want to take and not change it till 20000 miles, their problems.

As far as oil samples, these are great informational tools. They can help you know when you are having issues. They are also a great indicator of more than just your engine oil as well.

As far as other fluids, no they do not get change enough. I see this all the time at work. Since the economy started declining and the price of fuel going up, more people/drivers/companys are letting the mainenace go on their units. This may save you a little in the short run, but will cost a lot more down the road. If you think parts are expensive for passenger cars and pickups, just imagine the cost of parts on any medium or heavy duty truck. Well that is my thoughts. Hope some of the information helps.

Ray

 

[doorgunner]

Quote by EXBASS:
{Guys, this isn’t the 1970s anymore. Back then, you HAD to change every 3k. But oils are literally hundreds of times better now than they were back then. The oil companies are CONSTANTLY reformulating their oils and improving them. The new ILSAC GF-5 spec just came out last month. (If you don’t know what that is, don’t even TRY arguing with me about oil…)}



Douche'.........errrr.........Touche'.....come to think of it--the oil DID get black/nasty/stinky alot faster in the 70's.....good thing us old-timers griped enough to get the oil companies to improve their products......


Which reminds me.......in 1968, an experimental oil was given to the Houston Police Department to use in their vehicles....the cops reported on National television news that they were getting 3 to 4 mpg's better IN TOWN because of the oil.........Wonder where it went?????????? It must have gotten "re-formulated" into the synthetic oil we have now.....minus-the-3 to 4-mpg's.....

 

[straycat]

Why do many people buy in to the 3000 mile engine oil change myth and then ignore the transmission fluid, brake fluid and even engine coolant? Automatics can cost more to repair than engines.

I know several people that have 90k on their automatic transmission fluid, but changes oil every 3k.

Every new or used bike, car or truck I have ever owned I go by the manufacturer's recommended service schedule. I have never had an issue with any of my rides by doing so. I do know that some people I have known who never do any services and they wind up with nothing but trouble later on down the road.