Oil change?

[altwight]

I've never gotten an oil change for my car and it runs fine. However, my friend like every other month she says "omg I gotta save money need an oil change".

So, how often is an oil change needed and is it REALLY needed? I've had my car for 2 1/2 years. Only thing that has happened to it is the alternator went out.

[Cadsuane]

What's the mileage on your car?

edit: Your car runs fine but you've fucked the resale value if the buyer ever gets wind of your negligence. Oil changes are a preventative maintenance measure to preserve the moving parts of the motor; the fact that you've skimped on them shaves off effective service hours on crank bearings, cam lobes, piston seals, or anything else that is lubricated by motor oil. An oil change is needed whenever the manufacturer recommends it unless you're willfully running the car into the ground.

[Melena]

If you've gone 2 1/2 years without an oil change, your car is a ticking time bomb. That said, some swear every 3000 miles or 3 months, whichever comes first. My dealership told me to just go buy the maintenance minder gauge unless I'm doing some massive driving or driving in horrible conditions, which puts it about every 5 months on my car.

[Egon]

Every 3k miles. If you use Synthetic, 5kish. Be sure to use the recommended oil weight.

[Yabby]

If you haven't changed your oil in 2 1/2 years you shouldn't be driving a car. Ether way, to answer your question.

Rule of thumb:
1. If you use normal oil every 3,000 to 5,000 miles depending on how you drive
2. If you use sytheic you can get away with higher (Mobil one EP is rated 15,000~ Normal sytheic 5k You still need to change your oil filter at least)

Edit: If you put more than 50k in that time i can't believe your car hasn't killed over. Consider yourself lucky.

[zoobernut]

If you've gone 2 1/2 years without an oil change, your car is a ticking time bomb. That said, some swear every 3000 miles or 3 months, whichever comes first. My dealership told me to just go buy the maintenance minder gauge unless I'm doing some massive driving or driving in horrible conditions, which puts it about every 5 months on my car.

It depends on the engine and how old the car is. Older cars absolutely NEED regular oil changes otherwise you get accumulations of water condensing in the oil as well as metal or other dirt and grime. Even if your engine is in tip top shape and you get nothing in your oil, it will still break down and lose its ability to protect your engine after a while.


That being said newer cars do not need their oil changed nearly as much and you should definitely check with your owners manual or a dealership to find out the guide lines.

How often you change your oil really also depends on where you live, dusty dirty environment? Desert? you will change your oil more often. Drive every day hundreds of miles? you will change your oil more often.


If you don't change your oil you run the risk of your engine seizing.

Edit: As others have said consider yourself lucky your car is still running. Oil is one thing you definitely don't want to neglect.

[SephYuyX]

2.5 years and no oil change, no oil added, or both? I assume the first, as if you didnt add any oil, your engine would have blown up by now.

You can go the whole car life without getting the oil 'changed'. Change just means you drain the remaining old oil out, before adding new oil. As long as youre adding oil it's ok. Obviously getting rid of the old junky oil does help, how much I have no idea. The recommended length to get a change is 3k to 5k miles, obviously places that do oil changes for profit suggest 3k miles, but manufactures like ford say 5k is ok.

Old junky oil can make the motor run worse, but as long as your adding oil, it wont be as worse.

Take a look at youtube and find out how to change your own oil. All it is is unscrewing a cap and letting it drain out, anyone can do it, and then close it back up and add new oil.

[Cadsuane]

Yeah, can tell you're new at this. Symptoms of bad oil will only appear when your car fucking dies. Unless you're driving a beater that cost you next to nothing, you're being really fucking stupid.

Take a look at youtube and find out how to change your own oil. All it is is unscrewing a cap and letting it drain out, anyone can do it, and then close it back up and add new oil.

And changing a filter. Draining oil without changing a filter is like pissing into the wind.

[*Shinzon*]

The first time your engine has an issue, you'll need a new car or thousands of dollars in repairs to correct the damage already done. Also follow instructions above.

[Pirian]

...It's like 20 bucks in one time parts to change oil, and 10-15 for the oil each time after that. Congratulations, you've fucked up your car for 35 bucks

[Quixon]

Rofl...


If you have trouble saving up $30 every 3 months for an oil change, fuck... it's even cheaper if you do it yourself, you really shouldn't be owning a car in the first place.

Oil breaks down, and looses its viscosity over time. Once you loose the viscosity you have metal parts rubbing on other metal parts...... I think you can figure out for yourself what happens once that gets bad enough.

You've probably fucked the engine already. Just a matter of time before it goes.

[Yabby]

...It's like 20 bucks in one time parts to change oil, and 10-15 for the oil each time after that. Congratulations, you've fucked up your car for 35 bucks

35 bucks what i pay for mobil one EP and a solid filter. If someone wants to be cheap they can get it done for 10 bucks or less. My last car i got when it was around 50k, 1st thing i did was change it to mobil 1 EP and never had a problem till about 285k when the fuel injectors started going. I miss my car.... it was a trooper.

[Quixon]

If you end up changing the oil yourself, run it through a fine screen and you'll see for yourself what you've done to the car.

[Dolmen]

I have a mechanic friend whose mother bought a car and never added a drop of oil, had it changed, etc..., in the time she had it. A few years later she traded it in and got KBB on it.

I had a car that I didn't change the oil in for 27,000 miles on before I sold it to Car Max. :D Granted I had it paid off, I hated it, and I wasn't going to buy a new car until that one died. So I decided to play around with it and see just what it could survive. I added oil to the car when it would stall out, otherwise it drove perfectly fine. Car Max gave me the same as KBB trade-in value, and remarked that the engine was in excellent condition. Now I have an Acura and change the oil every 3,000-4,000 miles depending on the amount of time between changes.

Simple answer - Get the freaking oil changed. While there's the chance nothing will happen to your car, there's also a chance you'll need a new engine/car. If you look around you can find a lot of places doing the specials for ~$16-$20, so after shop fees and tax you're paying like $7-$8 over cost. It's simply maintenance to extend the life of your car.

[Ksandra]

you guys are lucky btw if you're paying 25$. I have to do the synthetic kind for my volkswagen and it's usually 95$


Also, OP I hope your car isn't a lease lol.

[Pringles]

Just to jump in to ask a quick question, is it better to change my oil every 3 months or every 3k miles? I ususally drive 3k miles in 5-6 months on my car. Should I still change it every 3months or stick with every 3k miles. For refrence I drive a 99 chevy malibu with 61k miles on it.

[Quixon]

Are you bringing the car to the dealership for the oil changes?

No cars "need" synthetic oil, unless you're driving a very high end vehicle (Ferrari, Porsche, Lambo, etc). It's just a bunch of bullshit to get you to spend more money.

I always change my own oil, because I don't trust the idiots at Jiffylube. You can get synthetic oil at Walmart, and change it yourself for about 1/2 what you're spending.

I've driven/serviced a TON of different cars, most of the owner's prefer "dino" oil (non-synthetic). The guys that prefer synthetic are the ones who store the cars for a major part of the year.

Cars I know that are running Dino Oil just fine (since I change the oil myself or help em out)

-Fully Built Honda S2000 (My old car, always ran dino oil. Was fully built including HKS Turbo)
-07 Miata (My current vehicle)
-2009 Mustang Cobra
-2005 BMW M3
-2007 EVO
-First Gen Body Style Subari STI (3 different ones I know of)




Lease returns won't save him, at least in NY. My dad just turned his car in, and on the return inspection they filtered the oil to check for metal deposits. His car obviously didn't have anything in there, but you can bet your ass the OP's would.

[Ksandra]

@ Issac
most people say just go by the mileage not the months. Unless, I think, the car is really old (15+) and has like 150k miles. Then you might want to go more regularly. At least that's what I do lol.

[Quixon]

Just to jump in to ask a quick question, is it better to change my oil every 3 months or every 3k miles?

Whichever comes first.

[Ksandra]

Are you bringing the car to the dealership for the oil changes?

No cars "need" synthetic oil, unless you're driving a very high end vehicle (Ferrari, Porsche, Lambo, etc). It's just a bunch of bullshit to get you to spend more money.

Every place I've gone to (jiffylube, walmart, etc.) has told me the car requires it and I've asked for other options and they've said it can't because it's a volkswagen so iono.