90% of large quick-lube operators still recommend 3000 mile oil change intervals, while 82% of smaller quick-lube operators still recommend 3000 mile oil change intervals. Big surprize. GM says I don't have to change my oil in my GTO until the "Oil Life Monitor" light turns on. 5200 miles in Texas summer heat and no light yet.

Shell products, QS and PZ, are the biggest "house" brands. Valvoline is second.

Lots of other interesting quick-lube facts. Read here:

http://www.imakenews.com/lng/e_artic....cfm?x=b11,0,w

 

Well, of course; what salesman asks you to buy less of his product?

I think the oil life monitor is great; much more accurate than going by mileage. Wish my F150 had it! (Do the new ones?)

I usually try to change when its down to 20% remaining instead of waiting until I get the "change oil soon". I still seem to get over 5000 miles (which is where I change my Ford's oil).

 

Along with the oil and filter change, there are other maintenance items that should be addressed at regular intervals - other fluid levels and condition, air filter, tire pressure check and rotations along with ensuring that the spare has air.

I manage a fleet of Rangers used for courier service. I am lucky in that most of my drivers are "mature" adults. I believe that many many drivers, like my fleet drivers, expect someone else to pay attention to the "needs" of their car. By returning to a Jiffy/Master/EZ/Grease Monkey for service, at least the fluids all get checked and topped off, tires get air and the oil and filter change is a bonus.

Members of this forum are the exception to rather than the rule when it comes to paying attention to the needs of their vehicle. IMHO, $20 - $30 every 3 months or so to keep your $20 - 30k investment running and safe is small change.

Always bothers me deeply to see a woman with little kids broken down on the side of the highway. Makes $30 look cheap huh?


Russ

 

I don't get your point. No one said that going to Jiffy Lube was a bad idea. The point is that no one, and I mean NO ONE, recommends 3000 mile oil change intervals except lube sellers.

So no, $20-$30 every so often is not too much to spend, but doing it 4 times a year instead of 3 or maybe even 2 is throwing away money.

You don't have a computer program that tracks mileage and alerts you when you need to service your vehicles?

 

3000 miles because the really cheaper ones use rerefined oil. and they all use a filter so cheap it's worthless. just pick up thiers and pick up a factory one. which is heavyier telling you it can filter better and longer then 3k.
plus a lot of them can't read or have not updated their parts books so in many cases they don't use a updated filter size and style. as to checking tires and fluids for it! they don't do what they tell you they do.

 

Is everyone here nuts? My company van has one of those rediculous oil change counters starting from 99 onward down. When I forst got it, it had fresh oil. By the time the oil counter got down to zero and the light came on, I had 16,000 km on the clock. I dont care what anybody says, thats just wrong.

Sure the Jiffy Lube places recommend a change every 3000 miles, it makes them more money. But what person in their right mind WOULD'NT? I change the oil in my Bronco ever 2000 religiously, not one km more.

Now, I change the oil on the company van every two weeks due to the amount of travelling I do. I follow my odometer, NOT that stupid oil counter.

-Matt

 

I do. It's just common sense.

So 80 to 110 dollars or so a year in oil changes is throwing away money? Personally, I think $1200 to rebuild the engine is throwing away money. Basically you are saying you change your oil once a year. Remind me to never buy a vehicle from you.



Like I said. They are garbage.

 

i work in a dealership so fast lube shops make me a lot of money.
first they strip the alloy pans drain plugs left and right, then they use a very cheap or wrong weight oil, even the wrong rating. ie, dyno when they most have syntec.
then the motor sludges up and blows and we have to make a non warrenty repair.
fast lubes! great for working piece work.
sorry guys. i'm not knocking them! only speaking the truth on what i deal with dally because of them, esp. the car wash kind.

 

That's funny. An editor for Car & Driver kept track of the problems he had getting his oil changed over the years. In his experience, dealer oil changes were much more troublesome than Quick-Lube places.

As far as using cheap oil, you might find these statistics interesting (but you already knows this from reading the article):

30 percent of the smaller operators list Pennzoil as their house brand, and 6 percent list Quaker State. Other best-selling brands are Valvoline (18 percent), Castrol (10 percent), Mobil (9 percent), and Havoline (8 percent).

Fully 81% of the smaller operators (those not connected to a major oil company such as PZ Jiffy-Lube) use a major brand name oil as their "generic" oil.

 

Maybe common nonsense, perpetuated by the misinformation distributed by oil-change places.

GM has millions and millions and millions (and millions) of miles of data on mileage versus oil versus engine wear, going back maybe 20-30 years. Test engines in its lab and real world engines out on the street. That is how GM knows how to program the oil life monitor in my car (there have been several article published on this, some of which I have posted on this board). My oil is at 5300 miles and the light hasn't gone on yet. Know why? Because GM knows that I don't need to change my oil yet. The oil is still good.

If changing your oil every 3000 miles makes you giddy with delight, more power to you. But don't try and tell me I am abusing my engine because I follow what GM recommends. And don't try and tell me that the oil changes placed are just looking out for my best interests.


OK, now you are just making stuff up. Where in all of that did I say that I only change my oil once per year? But yes, some of my cars I only put 2000-3000 miles on in a year. And yes, I do only change those cars once per year.

But back to your point. Yes, if you change your oil 4 times per year when it only really needed to be done 3 times, you just threw $20-$30 away.

Funny. I have been changing my oil every 5000 miles or so using the absolutely cheapest oil and filter that I can find (that neets OEM specs) for over 30 years in maybe 50-60 different cars. I haven't put a new engine in one of them yet.

And yes. If you get a chance to buy one of my cars used, you should.

I worked for a heavy/highway/mining excavation contractor 25 years ago. They had tens of millions of dollars worth of off-road heavy Terex dump trucks, big dozers, etc., etc. They had a computer program that tracked hours on each piece of equipment and sent reminders to the mechanic in the field when it was time for each piece to be serviced. They figured it saved them $$$millions$$$ in repar costs. (They also oil sampled religiously).

Now that was 25 years ago. Can't imagine what sort of computer programs are available now.

 

Foolish, foolish people such as yourself.

People fear what they don't understand.

You should really read how the oil life montor system was developed. Perhaps look over the several patents that GM has on the system. Maybe then you would come to understand it and fear it less.

 

Actually, no it's not.

From GM:

Read more here:

http://www.gm.com/automotive/vehicle...fe_system.html

And because you are from the Great White North, here is what GM Canada said:

Read more here:

http://email.gmcanada.com/corpdb/cac...1?OpenDocument

Golly gee, even Amsoil says GM is right:

 

The "change oil soon" display comes on at 10% remaining. Maybe I'm still wasting money by changing at 20%, but then I don't go over if I need to make an unexpected trip.

I wonder what margin is programmed in. In other words, is it still safe for another 10%? I doubt it turns to peanut butter exactly at "Zero ".

 

My GTO does not have %'s. When the light comes on, GM says to change within 600 miles (which is probably about a 10% average).

The oil life system uses mathematical formulas to graph sort of a triangular-shaped "safe" area. Sorry, but I now forget the variable name on the coordinates of the graph (mileage certainly has to be one of them). So long as you are operating in this "safe" zone on the graph, you are good to go. How close GM lets you get to the edges of the graph, I don't know.

My understanding of the mathematical formulas is that GM starts out with the oil being good for so many revolutions of the crank. You then get "penalized" (revolutions deducted) for various variables. For example, 1 rpm at normal operating temp with your engine operating at say 2000 rpm costs you 1 revolution. But 1 rpm with a cold engine might cost you 2 revolutions. Operating at 5000 rpm might cost you 3 revolutions. Idling when cold might cost you 4 revolutions, etc. These mathematical relationships or ratios were developed by GM over decades and millions of miles.

So the oil life system monitors the operating conditions of your engine and takes off a variable amount of revolutions from the total revolutions available. When you get down to having only a few revolutions left (I guess 10%), the light comes on. When you reset the light, you start over again.

So to more directly respond to an earlier post, the OLM System "knows" how many cold starts there have been. It "knows" how much time the engine was running when cold, hot or somewhere in between. It "knows" how much the engine has run at idle, at 2000 rpm, at 5000 rpm, etc. So the system is pretty smart and adaptive to different driving conditions. If the OLM System says that your oil is still good, your oil is still good.

 

Good information on the GMOLS. I didn't know that much about it. The owner's guide for my Cadillac car says to change the oil at the next oppourtunity once it gets to 5%.

I don't think rerefined oil is that common. If at all, you would see it in a municipality with a large fleet of busses or trash trucks. They would be doing so to reduce their waste stream.

Most spiffy lube businesses rely on the franchise advertising and brand name identification. Brand name identification is why Pennzoil bills itself as "the ask for motor oil" and why folks will pay more for it and other high visibility brands such as Castrol. If they can get an oil/filter change with a branded oil for under $30 that's considered a value.