Professional Automotive Oil Changes

How Often Do I Need to Change My Oil?

The service industry rule of thumb for conventional oil is every 3 months or 3,000-3,500 miles, whichever comes first.  The main reason for changing your oil is not that the oil has worn out, but that it has become contaminated.  However, during the last decade many manufacturers have prescribed oil change intervals of up to 10,000 miles!  Why do they do this?  The main reason is so that they can advertise how easy and cheap their products are to maintain.  While the car is young the symptoms of such long oil change intervals do not show up (more on this here), but once the car has 50,000 miles on it (and is usually out of warranty) the accumulated sludge begins to take its toll.  But then it is your problem and not the manufacturers!

Plus, if you read the fine print in your owner’s manual you will see there is also a shorter recommended oil change interval for driving under severe conditions.  Read all the conditions and tally them up.  You will find that most of your driving habits meets one or  more of the conditions for the more frequent oil change interval. text here.

Should I Change My Oil Based On Time or Mileage?

For most customers the two usually coincide with each other.  One case where you can use mileage rather than time is when a vehicle is not driven often and consequently takes longer than usual to rack up the mileage.However, there is an exception which usually occurs with urban drivers.  If your driving usually consists of short trips of five miles or less and the car sits for an hour or more between trips then you need more frequent oil changes than the mileage would suggest.  Why?  Every time you turn off your car a small amount of unburned fuel leaks into the oil.  When you restart the car and drive 15 minutes or more that unburnt fuel will turn into vapor and be drawn into the intake through the PCV system and then be burned.  But if you drive mostly short trips the fuel will never evaporate and consequently it starts to dilute your oil as each trip adds to the accumulation of unburnt fuel.  If this is your driving pattern how can you tell when to change your oil?

Smell Your Oil Dipstick. If It Smells Like Gasoline, It’s Time for an Oil Change!

Too long between oil changes!
Left – grit in oil pan,  Right – sludge in head, before & after

In both of the pictured examples above. the customers thought they were changing the oil frequently enough! On the left, a review of their records showed only 3 oil changes in over 50,000 miles!  On the right, the oil was changed frequently enough, but too often done with cheap, low-grade oil, typically found in low-price, quickie oil change shops.  Always use top grade oils, they cost more, but either of these repair jobs would have paid for a lifetime of oil changes using premium grade oil and quality oil filters.  A shop that only offers quick, simple services is usually staffed by employees with simple skills and little knowledge or experience as mechanics. Let our experienced technicians look over your car with every oil change at no extra charge!