Scared of a 15,000-25,000 mile oil change?

26124 Views 47 Replies 12 Participants Last post by pL2014, Jan 29, 2014

XtremeRevolution

Discussion Starter · Jan 19, 2014 (Edited)

To shed some light on oil drain intervals and the marketing scam behind Jiffy Lube's "3000 miles for a well-oiled machine." (owned by Pennzoil, courtesy of Shell oil), I performed a quick search of some vehicles/engines used in the UK and their respective drain intervals through google.co.uk.

Fiat Multijet 1.3L: 20,000KM (12,500 miles) or 1 year
Opel 1.3L: 30,000KM (18,000 miles) or 1 year
Fiat 500 1.4L: 30,000KM (18,000 miles) or 1 year
Alfa Romeo 147 1.6 TS: 20,000KM (12,500 miles) or 1 year
Vauxhall Astra 1.4L: 18,000 miles or 1 year
Vauxhall Corsa: 20,000 miles or 1 year
Vauxhall Vectra C: 20,000 miles or 1 year
Peugeot 206 CC: 20,000 miles or 2 years
BMW 325i: 15,000 miles or 1 year
Renault Clio: 18,000 miles or 1 year
Renault Modus: 12,000 miles or 1 year
Ford C-Max 1.6: 12,000 miles or 1 year
Audi Q5: 20,000 miles or 1 year
Mercedes-Benz Vito Taxi: 18,000 - 24,000 miles
Toyota Corolla/Prius: 10,000 miles or 1 year
Nissan Juke 1.6: 18,000 miles or 1 year
Volkswagen Polo: 15,000km (9,300 miles) or 1 year
Ford Fiesta: 12,000 miles or 1 year
Citroen DS3 Cabrio: 20,000 miles or 1 year (check out the list at http://info.citroen.co.uk/.../caring.../service-intervals)
Dacia Logan: 30,000km (18,000 miles) or 1 year
Audi A1 (and all new audis): 9,000 miles fixed or 18,000 miles variable (oil life monitor) or 1 year. Most of the results I've seen have people changing at 14,000-18,000 miles or 2 years.

Audi A1 (and all new audies): 9,000 miles fixed or 18,000 miles variable (oil life monitor) or 1 year. Most of the results I've seen have people changing at 14,000-18,000 miles or 2 years. I've been trying to tell people for a long time now that there is a massive oil quality problem in the US, and that a longer drain interval with a quality synthetic oil such as the ones commonly found in the UK and most of Europe are not only perfectly safe, but advised for engine longevity and are capable of saving you quite a bit of money, maintenance, and downtime. Europe uses brands such as ELF, MOTUL, and TOTAL QUARTZ to name a few. You will notice that those are curiously not readily available in the US.

We do, however, have AMSOIL Signature Series as a true synthetic.
AMSOIL SAE 5W-30 Signature Series 100% Synthetic Motor Oil

We also have AMSOIL XL for those who don't want to push the car past 10,000 miles...
AMSOIL SAE 5W-30 XL Extended Life Synthetic Motor Oil

..and AMSOIL OE for those who want to stick to their manufacturer recommended oil drain intervals.
AMSOIL SAE 5W-30 OE Synthetic Motor Oil

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41 - 48 of 48 Posts

pL2014

· #41 · Jan 29, 2014

$24-25+tax for 5 qts usually.

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mikestony

· #42 · Jan 29, 2014

Wow. All this talk about oil change intervals, oil hydrocracking, molecules, yadda, yadda, yadda makes my mind spin. I'm just a simpleton.

Impressive as your knowledge is about oil XtremeRevolution, (and I've read your other thread on oil too--very nice!) I think I'll just stick to my 3000 mile or so oil changes

Mobil 1/Wix filter every 6 weeks (3000 miles).
As long as I can afford to do so, I will.

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Blue Angel

· #43 · Jan 29, 2014

pL2014 said:
$24-25+tax for 5 qts usually.

J E A L O U S

Even on sale we pay over $30/jug for synthetics up here. You all probably know that by now, this was supposed to be my inside voice...

BTW, Penzoil Ultra is a great oil, especially if you can get it for those prices. Penzoil Platinum 5W-30 is also a fantastic oil and has a very high Viscosity Index and great cold flow properties in anything but the absolute coldest weather. I would consider a 0W-30 though, since you're in Michigan where it's cold for several months of the year.

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Blue Angel

· #44 · Jan 29, 2014 (Edited)

mikestony said:
I think I'll just stick to my 3000 mile or so oil changes Mobil 1/Wix filter every 6 weeks (3000 miles).
As long as I can afford to do so, I will.

You could afford to do more other things with the money saved!

3000 mile changes could be done safely with just about any oil. If you're stuck on Mobil 1 you could at least DOUBLE your OCI mileage without a care in the world... then buy yourself a nice X-Mas present every year with the money you're saving!

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XtremeRevolution

Discussion Starter · #45 · Jan 29, 2014

Blue Angel said:
J E A L O U S

Even on sale we pay over $30/jug for synthetics up here. You all probably know that by now, this was supposed to be my inside voice...

BTW, Penzoil Ultra is a great oil, especially if you can get it for those prices. Penzoil Platinum 5W-30 is also a fantastic oil and has a very high Viscosity Index and great cold flow properties in anything but the absolute coldest weather. I would consider a 0W-30 though, since you're in Michigan where it's cold for several months of the year.

I can get it for $23 plus tax. My PU is $27 plus tax for 5 quarts. I am still trying to wrap my head around how they can produce a GTL base stock blend for that cheap. That's at Walmart however and if I really wanted a group 3 oil, I can get AMSOIL OE for $4.44 a quart by the case or $4.60 a quart individual bottles. No sense in using Mobil 1 and anyone can get AMSOIL's wholesale pricing. The only oil I can't compete with is PU at Walmart pricing. AMSOIL XL has a higher volatility and AMSOIL SS has a better additive package and warranty.

As much as I like saving money, I also proudly support my local family-owned businesses. I'll pay the extra $5 a gallon to buy my oil from my local NAPA store instead of Walmart.

Sent from mobile.

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pL2014

· #46 · Jan 29, 2014

I used to only shop at Walmart when I needed oil. Fortunately, Meijers in Michigan has started selling 5 qt jugs and coming very close to Walmart's prices. I was just there this afternoon and forgot to check PU's price.

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obermd

· #47 · Jan 29, 2014

mikestony said:
Wow. All this talk about oil change intervals, oil hydrocracking, molecules, yadda, yadda, yadda makes my mind spin. I'm just a simpleton.
Impressive as your knowledge is about oil XtremeRevolution, (and I've read your other thread on oil too--very nice!) I think I'll just stick to my 3000 mile or so oil changes Mobil 1/Wix filter every 6 weeks (3000 miles).
As long as I can afford to do so, I will.

Jiffy Lube must love you! I haven't used a 3,000 mile oil change in nearly 18 years. I switched to 5,000 mile intervals in 1996 and that was on the old Penzoil dino oil. You are wasting a lot of money changing this frequently.

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pL2014

· #48 · Jan 29, 2014

I changed my own oil in my 02 Intrigue every 3000 for 210000 miles using Valvoline Max-Life (blend, not the synpower). Engine still ran strong the day I traded it. I kinda wish I had done an UOA at some point in the last decade....

That said, I've finally come around to ~7000 mile OCI on my wife's Honda, and I'm still unsure about how long I'll go on the Cruze, but I'm thinking 5k for the dealer oil since I get 4 free oil changes. Then I might go more like 7-8k after that with better oil.

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