Why do we change our oil so often?

[Ralphie]

i was pretty sure his original post made it clear. while your car is "stopped" the motor is still running, therefore, still working. what he means is though your MILEAGE may be lower than say, someone who motly has longer trips, the hours the car works is more. example: an hour long trip on the interstate will give you lets say, 65 miles. An hour long trip through town with red lights....depending on traffic...MUCH LESS miles...yet at the same time, is also harder on the engine. repeated acceleration will cause more wear than just cruising...think of it in terms of weight lifting. you can do multiple reps of a lower weight....the reps work your body pretty good, even though its just a little weight. The repetition of it works you.

Ok well that makes sense...

ive always considered hard driving to be really getting on the car but obv sitting in traffic for an hour with the car running is worse then driving for an hour at a constant speed, as under engine temps etc are not as hot.

But if traffic is bad enough you should be turning the car off unless its true stop and go.

[19dabeast85]

Another thing most people don't realize is oil also has a relatively short shelf life. If you car sits for 6 months and you only drive it 10 miles total those 6 months.....you need an oil change. Additives in the oil break down naturally over time. I would never go over 6 months without an oil change regardless of mileage.

That said, the oil change interval is relative to a ton of different things, most of which have already been mentioned. To determine the best interval for your particular engine/mods and driving style you should send in 3-4 oil analysis. They'll tell you with the first one whether your oil still had life or not, then you simply adjust the intervals up or down, send in another sample and see what it says, adjust, etc....and then send in a sample at least once a year.

[I-Deal214]

All depends on driving habits and viscocity of the oil I use the synthetic that says not to change for 7500 miles its alot more expensive but my engine runs better for it I can really tell the difference and also added ZMAX to it it helped alot.

If not then the oil companies are just trying to get us to buy more products from them to build their death ray and turn us all into slaves!!!

[JohnD1079]

By who's book is it excessive?

really? 2.5 times more often is a lot. If you dont get it then....


The reason this thread is here is because I thought Honda recommended 3k oil changes. I got that impression from here since most people swear my what Honda recommends and everyone was saying 3k oil changes. This was literally how I found out about the 7.5k oil change, which is why I posted, wondering where the 3k number came from.

[thepowderblue]

Is it just me or is this it meaning oil the air filter every 7k.

[Smiley_cb7]

Is it just me or is this it meaning oil the air filter every 7k.

No it's saying change the oil filter every 7500mi

[gloryaccordy]

really? 2.5 times more often is a lot. If you dont get it then....


The reason this thread is here is because I thought Honda recommended 3k oil changes. I got that impression from here since most people swear my what Honda recommends and everyone was saying 3k oil changes. This was literally how I found out about the 7.5k oil change, which is why I posted, wondering where the 3k number came from.

So this whole thing was based on a false assumption? You're the only person here who assumed that the 3K oil change was a Honda thing. I wish the mods would lock this thread.

[markj]

Didn't bother reading the entire thread... so.

Working for a shop, we do the usual "3 months or 3,000 miles between oil changes" thing. However, I agree with those who say that oil these days is of course capable of harsher conditions and longer service intervals. From a shop point of view, frequent service is a means of making money, but it's also to be safe. Sure, oil can go pretty far before REALLY needing to be changed, but then again, changing it early never hurts. As for Honda's recommendation on when to regularly service our cars, I don't really know. They designed our shit so I'm assuming they'd know how to take care of it. Personally, I run synthetic and still change every 5,000, oil and filter. Maybe it truly is a waste of money, but it's not an expense that I mind much.

[ChIoVnIdCa]

I wish the mods would lock this thread.

Why ... There is this new thing called not clicking on it.

[JohnD1079]

How about some reasons of why changing your oil early is bad.
1.) You are wasting your money
2.) Since oil is made from crude oil, which mostly comes from OPEC, you are supporting the "big bad oil companies" that we all love to hate.
3.) Wasting the earth's resources. We should all use the earth's resources wisely.

Tippy and 19DaBeast gave the best advice so far.

[Tippey764]

How about some reasons of why changing your oil early is bad.
1.) You are wasting your money
2.) Since oil is made from crude oil, which mostly comes from OPEC, you are supporting the "big bad oil companies" that we all love to hate.
3.) Wasting the earth's resources. We should all use the earth's resources wisely.

Tippy and 19DaBeast gave the best advice so far.

exactly

The negative side effects of changing your oil too often is only part of a big picture. If everyone just changed their oil a little bit less often then we could save aton of oil at the cost of nothing.

I don't really care people reasoning behind changing it more often because most of the time its just unnecessary. I drive a 20 year old honda not some high preformance machine.