Oil change frequency

[06blacktaco]

This may sound like a stupid question, but it is confusing me. My service manual tells me to change the oil every 5k miles. Is this a typo or is this true? If its true, how can the trucks stand this treatment.

[06blacktaco]

This may sound like a stupid question, but it is confusing me. My service manual tells me to change the oil every 5k miles. Is this a typo or is this true? If its true, how can the trucks stand this treatment.

[06blacktaco]

This may sound like a stupid question, but it is confusing me. My service manual tells me to change the oil every 5k miles. Is this a typo or is this true? If its true, how can the trucks stand this treatment.

[Jacobi]

This is quite the debate. Alot of people feel that modern oils allow you to go five thousand miles without a change, while many people here, including myself, change it early (say 500 miles) just to get any metal shavings out of the pan, and will then change it every 3k after that. The only way to really know is to have your oil tested and see how long it is truly lasting. I believe the company is Black Lab. or something like that. They will tell you what trace metals were found in your oil which can tell you what is and isn't wearing more than usual. Good luck, and get your oil tested to answer your question. It's very easy to do and they send you a vile to do it with.

-Barry-

[Joeyg023]

If you do a search you will find a lot of posts that will give you lots of info. Also why do you have 4 posts about Oil changes? I think 1 will do and be prepared to get flammed.

[Gonefishin]

My F250 with a PSD is 7000/normal service, and I think 3500-4000 for severe service(towing,or long idle time). It also holds 15 quarts.

[Billzebub]

5k or 6 months whichever comes 1st.

Castrol GTX dino here. V6

[TahoesHateMe]

Oil can last longer now with newer engines running cleaner and not contaiminating the oil so much. 5k or 6 months on dino oil isn't going to hurt it. I've seen many engines last a long time on dino oil without any oil problems as long as they are maintained.

[morcheez]

i think most new cars are all the same ...so no its not a typo ...but most of us here wont wait that long ...i still change mine every 3-4 k

[humanoid]

It's 5k because of the the way newer cars/trucks are made and how oil is currently formulated. Trucks these days are made to work more efficiently than days past. Same goes for motor oil. Hell, you can get away with one oil change per year (25k miles) using Amsoil oil and filters. But I would personally get an oil analysis done before doing any extended interval oil changes.

[06Sport]

my old 01 prelude manual said to change it ever 7,500 miles. Using full synthetic, im confident in changing it every 5k. even 6,500 isnt bad unless you are really getting on it. An oil analasys will tell you how the oil is holding up and how much longer you can go.

[cdebnil]

My BMW manual states every 15,000 miles between oil changes...the car actually monitors the quality of the oil and gives you miles left until the oil change is required...Don't know how it actually measures the quality...it usually ends up telling me I need to change the oil between 15 and 16k...I have 1100 miles on my 3 week old Tacoma..should I go ahead and get an oil change to get rid of the shavings? The dealership changed the oil before I picked up the car.

[msibille]

Originally Posted by cdebnil

My BMW manual states every 15,000 miles between oil changes...the car actually monitors the quality of the oil and gives you miles left until the oil change is required...Don't know how it actually measures the quality...it usually ends up telling me I need to change the oil between 15 and 16k...I have 1100 miles on my 3 week old Tacoma..should I go ahead and get an oil change to get rid of the shavings? The dealership changed the oil before I picked up the car.

I don't change mine before the manual recommendations and I've not had any prblms with UOA. In fact, just this summer, changed my wife's Honda Ody oil/filter at 4917 miles (5k recommended) and Blackstone report indicated that the oil and metals were fine for that interval. (Doesn't mean that there weren't some particles trapped in the filter or that stayed in the bottom of the sump, but that's what's supposed to happen. As far as large shavings clogging the pickup, that would be incredibly poor quality in today's industry and would fall under warranty.)


But be careful with your assumptions on the Beamer.
I think you'll find that the oil life monitor is just like those in a lot of late model vehicles (though BMW was one of the first to do it). It does NOT monitor the quality/cleanliness of the oil. It monitors driving conditions (e.g. city, stop-n-go, highway, etc.) and an algorithm in the cpu computes the expected remaining oil life. MOST IMPORTANT- I think you'll find that your manual says to only use BMW synthetic oil part no. XXXXXXXX. The algorithm is set up specifically for that synthetic oil. If you use dino oil -or even a different synthetic, you may not get the same protection.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not synthetic-or-nothing freak. I personally use dino. For me it makes more sense as I do very low mileage driving. As a result, I have to change my oil more because of calendar time than mileage, so the potential for more mileage on the oil is wasted on me. (I think you'll also find text in your manual that says if you drive low mileage you should change oil and filter at least once every 2 years -again assuming you're using their oil and filter.)

If you do anything less conservative than the mfr's recommendations, you need to back up your plan with UOA. Otherwise, you're flying blind. You might not hit the mountain, but...

[cdebnil]

Originally Posted by msibille

Be careful with your assumptions on the Beamer.
I think you'll find that the oil life monitor is just like those in a lot of late model vehicles (though BMW was one of the first to do it). It does NOT monitor the quality/cleanliness of the oil. It monitors driving conditions (e.g. city, stop-n-go, highway, etc.) and an algorithm in the cpu computes the expected remaining oil life. MOST IMPORTANT- I think you'll find that your manual says to only use BMW synthetic oil part no. XXXXXXXX. The algorithm is set up specifically for that synthetic oil. If you use dino oil -or even a different synthetic, you may not get the same protection.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not synthetic-or-nothing freak. I personally use dino. For me it makes more sense as I do very low mileage driving. As a result, I have to change my oil more because of calendar time than mileage, so the potential for more mileage on the oil is wasted on me. (I think you'll also find text in your manual that says if you drive low mileage you should change oil and filter at least once every 2 years -again assuming you're using their oil and filter.)

If you do anything less conservative than the mfr's recommendations, you need to back up your plan with UOA. Otherwise, you're flying blind. You might not hit the mountain, but...

Hehe...even with the 15,000 miles I ended up driving that in less then 6 months the first 2 years I had the car...was driving about 32,000 miles a year...So i'd end up getting an oil change every 4-6 months....I totally agree with the synthetic...The first 4 years and 60,000 miles of maintenance was free so I would take it to the dealership...they only use BMW branded synthetic which I think is Castrol...the car has run great since I bought it...no probs...but now that I'm out of the 60,000 mile free maintence and with the last flood that happened in Houston in October, I decided to get the Tacoma...and love it! (besides the crappy tailgate and ticking) Still have the BMW for the weekends

I looked up how the sensors work on the BMW's...The 5 series actually does monitor the quality of the oil where as the 3 series uses an algorithm...Do you know if the Tacoma's maintence req'd light is an algorithm related to driving paterns or directly related to the amount of miles driven? Thanks!

[06Sport]

^^ tacoma is just a "reminder" light. Goes off every 5k miles