How often do we really need to change oil?

[eddiev9]

I live in a city full of skyscrapers and major traffic jams. I probably sit in traffic for nearly an hour or so and drive only a total of six miles a day. Maybe on weekends I may add on up to 20 miles. So that's roughly 600 miles or less in three months.
I used to drive a used Ford Taurus and only changed the oil once a year (not intentionally) or even longer. Even then the car ran flawlessly. I sold that car recently and I still see it cruising around today.
I researched all over the net. The question of following the recommended schedule of oil changes is highly contraversial. Some even say engines nowadays can run 12,000 miles without any problems at all.
I love my new Jeep and I want to take good care of it, but I also want to save money, especially when gas prices are so high now.
I was thinking maybe, in my case, changing oil every six months. Does anyone think this is a good or bad idea?

 

[Bonehead]

I'd run synthetic then change it every 6 months and not worry about it (biggrin) .................though knowing me I'd end up doing once year if I was running synthetic and putting on the amount of miles you put on it, but thats me.
Since I put more miles a week on mine than you do in 3mo I've never had to worry about the oil going out of date :-k .

 

[eddiev9]

I'd run synthetic then change it every 6 months and not worry about it (biggrin) .................though knowing me I'd end up doing once year if I was running synthetic and putting on the amount of miles you put on it, but thats me.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Yes, I have heard and received advice to use synthetics. I'm also thinking of replacing one quart with an additive like Dura Lube. That should keep me running smoothly for a year. But would it be advisable to at least change the oil filter a few times a year?

 

[phantom2]

Forget about the Dura Lube and don't waste your money.Use a good synthetic or a synthetic blend and you'll be in great shape.

 

[grogiefrog]

My last car, I changed it every 12k miles or 12 months, which ever came first, running synthetic.

Seriously, who is going to buy a new car and own a it forever? My uncle ran Amsoil in a Toyota and actually had the car for 300k miles! Other things broke before the four ****** did. My dad has been known to change his oil using the cheap stuff once a year without any problems. Now I wouldn't do that... I'll at least use synthetic (Mobile One).

I have posted this before, but here is a good private study on synthetic oil and how often to change it. Very interesting!

http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/oil-life.html

And this is their Mobile One Study with results:

http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/mobil1.html

This is the main point of their Mobile One Study results:

Based on the results we've got here, we'd recommend 8,000 miles between oil changes on an engine that uses no oil at all, perhaps 10,000 miles on an engine that uses some oil, and 15,000 miles or beyond with a filter change every 5,000 miles. This, of course, isn't any kind of guarantee, and you must evaluate for yourself what your engine requires. One thing we're pretty sure about though: 3,000-mile intervals is a huge waste of resources.

 

[eddiev9]

Forget about the Dura Lube and don't waste your money.Use a good synthetic or a synthetic blend and you'll be in great shape.

Yeah, I heard they are no use. I did some research myself and all the reviews said it sucked. I just had a naive buddy stateside who watches too many informercials at night. smashfreakB.gif

I appreciate the advice, everyone!

 

[CHUD]

I live in a city full of skyscrapers and major traffic jams. I probably sit in traffic for nearly an hour or so and drive only a total of six miles a day. Maybe on weekends I may add on up to 20 miles. So that's roughly 600 miles or less in three months.

I was thinking maybe, in my case, changing oil every six months. Does anyone think this is a good or bad idea?

I drive about 2 miles a day, 5 days a week, all city traffic - NO HIGHWAY. I bought the KJ in April 02 & as of today it has all of 4725 miles.

I've found it necessary to change my oil based on elapsed engine time - every 75 hours. I obviously can't change it every 3000 miles cause it'll be 3 years between changes. Fortunately, my KJ has an Elapsed Time function.