I purchased a 2004 Coupe with 3,900 miles and 3 years old. The car was privately owned and not used. The oil has not been changed since it was put into service 3 years ago. I reviewed the maintenance manual and it appears that you just need to follow the FSS mileage which is 6,100 miles. I guess because the synthetic oil does not break down this is satisfactory - just wait until I hit 6,100 miles.

Does anyone know if this is acceptable. I don't want to change oil just to change oil.

 

The service interval is every 7,000 miles or when the FSS tell you to. I change mine every 7,000 miles, because I am kinda **** about maintenance, most members here wait for the FSS.

 

Actually, the owner's manual says that you should go by the FSS OR change the oil every 1 year, if the FSS doesn't activate within one year.

Link to page that says this in the owner's manual.

 

I was told by the AutoZone guy that with newer oils you don't need to change it as often, but you should change the oil filter to get a little more out of the oil.

I know my parent's vehicles (both GM) have an oil life indicator and I know they don't follow the 3 month/ 3,000 mi. routine which is outdated anyway.

 

LOL yep, listen to the AutoZone guy...

 

The typical interval is between 7,000 - 10,000 miles I believe...

I seriously doubt anyone on this forum has seen anything other than 7,000 miles though!

Oil hasn't been changed...EVER!! Why are you even asking?

I changed mine after the first 1,000 miles!

 

My advice - go by what the manual says. ~ 7k or 12 months oil and filter. Mobil 1 0W-40. Just my .02

 

Change the oil and quit guessing... The thing that can help your engine last longer is LUBE.

 

The FSS always counts down from 7,000 miles, but those aren't "real" miles. They are just an estimation of how long till your next oil change. It will decrement faster or slower depending on a number of factors, such as temperature, throttle position, road speed, etc...

At my last oil change the car had traveled 9,100 "real" miles when the FSS counter finally hit zero.

 

Hate to burst your bubble, but mine was right at 10K. Most of my miles are long highway trips (i.e. FL to PA) and the FSS adjusts accordingly.

 

The miles on my SRT6 are mostly highway miles (usually 80 miles at one shot). The FSS suggested that I didn't have to change oil for 10k miles.

 

I've never experienced anything go wrong with any engine that any of my parent's or sister or I have owned by not changing the oil on a regular basis. One car (a Honda) went a good 10K miles when it should have been 3K and nothing was wrong with it and it had over 100K miles at that point. It's everything else around the engine that breaks on a car that's a pain, but never the engine or it's internals.

 

My wrench came on at 1,500 miles and again around 4,000 miles which works out to once a year for me. I personally will not go any longer than a year.
I will also do the next one myself. I could handle the $80-100 charge last year but $160 is plain outrageous!

Pat

 

I agree with HDDP, oil is the life blood of your engine and it can't be too clean. I change my oil every 4K-5K or once a year before it goes into storage.

 

LOL... I'm not even going to acknowledge your post because you obviously have never disassembled an engine... https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...ad.php?t=17196

 

Just follow the FSS, but I'd say its more about miles than time though, that is unless the car sits for a VERY long time between drives.

 

I don't mind saying mine was on track for a change at 10,300 according to the FSS but with winter the mileage was slower to accumulate and it changed to a time basis, seeing as it wasn't being driven and it was winter I let that slip a little and it went in just over 10,000.

I do put my foot down sometimes but my normal run to work is 15 miles and has lots and lots of fixed speed cameras and a good chance of seeing a mobile unit.

I wanted to take an oil sample for testing before it went in but didn't get a chance, first test is usually meaningless anyway, everything tends to be high, including Si, usually because of engine assembly grease etc but with a fancy Aluminum alloy engine coated in special coatings I would have spent the next 10K miles wondering what was getting worn off.

 

Would you like a cookie?

I'm not touting that it doesn't mean anything to change the oil. I'm just saying that in all the past cars that I've been exposed to, no internal engine problems have occurred due to not changing the oil changed when you're supposed to. I think the total accumulated miles in the cars my family has owned is well over 500K maybe even close to 1M.

Give me some common auto problems that are associated to improperly changing the oil in certain amounts of time for life of the car. If there is even 1 that I've experienced then I'll shut my mouth but belittling someone isn't the best approach for how old you are. It's quite immature.

Trust me I change the oil in my car typically before I should because I know it helps keep the engine running strong. Just because I haven't disassembled an engine doesn't make what I said untrue in my experiences with automobiles, if anything it's my ignorance because I'm not educated in this area as much as others.

 

In all my life i've never had cancer...I don't need someone to prove to me that it happens!!!

 

I'm not even going to bother with that question... I'm sure that everyone else on this forum will do it for me...I'm not and have not belittled you or have I been disrespectful IMHO... But I do take some offense to your response about my age ...That is the most honest and correct statement you have made in this post...