Will one year between oil changes wear the engine excessively?
Some of the premium synthetic oils claim their product, when used with top quality filters, will provide superior engine lubrication and protection for one year or 25,000 miles. Is this reasonable?
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
14 Answers
Yes. It’s the single worst thing you can do. You should be changing the oil every 3,000 miles without fail.
@dpworkin 3,000 miles is a stretch largely invented by marketing to get people to change their oil more often. You can stretch it to 5,000 miles easily and more.
My manufacturer recommends 5,000. I choose to change it every 3,000 miles. I have 180,000 on this engine with only two tuneups and two timing-belt replacements invested so far.
Sounds pretty bogus to me. Eventually oil burns up and without proper lube, no moving parts last long. Dirty oil is pretty destructive as well. Imagine sex with low amounts of dirty, gritty, black lube… Doesn’t sound to pleasing does it? You car wouldn’t think so either. Change it often to keep your motor in good shape. Not only will your vehicle last longer, but you can get a little more money out of it with proof that it’s been taken care of regularly if you decide to sell it.
Every 5,000 miles is sufficient, but driving habits differ. Watch your oil on the dipstick as you near 3,000. You can tell from color and viscosity if it needs the change at 3,000, 4,000 or 5,000 miles.
Most car manuals say 5k.
3k is recommended.
Synthetic oils do NOT mean you never need to change the oil in a year.
I don’t believe in any product that claims 25k between oil changes. That’s crazy talk.
On my Toyota with 219K miles, book recommends 5,000–7,500 miles depending on where and how you drive. I replace within the range, schedule permitting. ... none of the synthetic stuff either, except for a couple of Slick 50 additive in the earlier years (around 100K mileage).
@dpworkin What if you only drive 3,000 miles in a year?
yeah ive driven cars up to 5,000 between changes and never had a problem, but after 3k i start to check it more often to make sure things are looking okay. i guess if you don’t drive more than 3k a year it shouldn’t matter much just change it yearly
Motor oil is subjected to a host of offenses:
Mechanical friction, compression, heat, fuel contamination.
Paper filters disintegrate if used longer than recomended.
3 thousand miles, 3 months, don’t take chances.
Back in the olden days you did have to change it regularly. A decent modern synthetic oil say 10w40 Castrol GTX can go well in excess of 25,000 miles & still be lubricating your engine just fine.
Once upon a time BMW wanted to increase it’s market share by offering completely free maintenance for four years or 50 thousand miles.
Since they wanted to save some money they claimed that suddenly their cars could go six thousand miles between oil changes instead of the usual three.
BMW always used fully synthetic oils, what could go wrong kids?
After BMW replaced a number of engines under warranty that had become choked with oil filter paper the recommended period returned to three thousand miles.
What have we learned boys and girls?
Answer this question 
Composing members:
0
