Oil is the lifeblood of a car. Realistically, all the fluids are—coolant and transmission fluid too—but oil tends to take center stage. It needs to be changed far more regularly than the others, and failing to do so can trash your engine in short order. So I ask you—how often do you change your oil?
I’m not sure how I’m going to measure up in this regard. I suspect I’m not diligent enough and I’m going to catch mad flames for this, but I’ll take my chances and be very honest with you. I change my oil, ideally, on an annual basis. Once a year. Too often? Or, as I suspect you’re screaming at the monitor—not enough!
A year is a long time, it’s true. And if I’m honest, life gets in the way, and more often than not, it stretches to 13, 14, or even 15 months at times. That probably is too long. But I beg you to consider a mitigating factor—I don’t drive very much!
I’d estimate that, on average, I do maybe 6,000 miles a year. Probably less now that I live in the city. Meanwhile, modern automakers tend to suggest oil change intervals closer to 7,500 or 10,000 miles. Based on those figures, I’m bang on the money!
Funnily enough, I change my transmission fluid far more often than the recommended intervals. Manufacturers usually state huge figures like 50,000 miles, 100,000 miles, or even claim the transmission has “lifetime fluid.” I normally change this fluid within a few months of buying a car, even if its well under that figure. Sometimes I do it by accident.
Still not convinced? The pros have some insights, too. As covered by The Drive, the oil analysis experts at Blackstone Labs have explored this in detail. They’ve routinely found that it’s mileage that matters, more than time. Apparently, if the oil’s just sitting in your sump while the car is parked, it’s not really degrading very much. It’s when it’s getting pumped around a hot engine that it starts to pick up contaminants and break down.
Fundamentally, that knowledge gives me a lot of confidence that I’m not hurting my cars by only changing the oil every year or so. If I start driving a lot more, or if I get a more delicate older vehicle, I might up that to every six months or so. For now though, I think I’m sitting pretty at the yearly interval.
If your oil looks like a poopy milkshake, you’ve probably waited too long to change it.
Ultimately, though, this is Autopian Asks, so I’ll throw it over to you. How often do you change your oil? Do you do it based on your own gut feel, or do you religiously stick to manufacturer recommendations for time or mileage? Sound off below.
Image credits: Lewin Day
I’m targeting 5-6k miles on my Toyota, following the maintenance minder on the Honda’s I handle but those generally come due around 3-5k miles – usually around 5k but one of them is idled and short-tripped a LOT
On the 2.4 (both) Hyundai and Kia I no longer have, that would be 3k miles. “Severe” service for the 2.4 and 3.3 is 3,750 miles, 3,000 for the 2.0T. It won’t stop the Theta defect but it definitely could buy time. Albeit not much if it makes a difference.
The old Sienna got 3k mile intervals too but that was habit and fear of the 1MZ gel issue.
Mostly manufacturer recommendations. I push the Prius interval because I know the recommendation was longer in other parts of the world and I’ve done the UOA to know that the oil is fine after 10k miles so anything up to that is acceptable. In the 65k miles I’ve put on it the oil consumption hasn’t meaningfully increased, so I take that to mean I’m fine. Almost everything else gets annual changes because I don’t put enough miles on them to need it more often. Again, UOA says the oil coming out after a year is in excellent shape so I consider that plenty often.
It depends on the car. I own all German stuff, and those engines tend to take a reasonable quantity of oil. The N52, N51, and M52TU in my arsenal all take close to 7 quarts. I change their oil every 5,000 miles. I drive enough that I never go over a year between oil changes.
However, a lot of domestic and Japanese engines take basically no oil. My brother-in-law’s Toyota Corolla takes just over 4 liters. That just isn’t enough oil! If I had a car like that, I would do every 3,000 miles, max.
I had a 2015 WRX that legitimately could have stood to have more than a 5-litre capacity: boxer engines and oil starvation, my beloathed…
I, too, have gone German, and mine has an 8.2-litre capacity, which makes me feel much calmer.