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
There is surprisingly little information on oil change intervals for cars that are used rarely. I have 4 cars, none of them see more than 3k or so miles a year and I’ve defaulted to oil changes every 2 years on them. When I take the oil out, it’s still amber, not black. I’ve had it analyzed and tests results are that of partially used oil.
People who have classic cars that are not driven much extend that up to 4 years.
Some say that oil absorbs moisture and that could cause internal corrosion, but as long as you get your car up to operating temp once a month, that moisture will evaporate.
Tinfoil hat on: I suspect the lack of data around oil longevity in rarely used cars is due to oil manufacturers hiding it from the public.
Fun fact: The site says I’m logged in as you right now!
I find extended oil change interval information gets drowned out by neanderthals who think if you extend an OCI to 3001 miles your engine will throw a rod. It’s difficult to find a discussion about it that doesn’t immediately attract half a dozen of them.
I go strictly by the oil life monitor in my WL Cherokee and change it when it gets below 20%. Same on my Kia K5 but I just do it when it tells me it’s time for maintenance. My XJ gets it’s oil changed once a year as it doesn’t get driven a ton. My KX450f gets new oil every other time it gets ridden.
Whatever the manufacturer recommends as the “severe service” interval. Cause if you read what severe service is, it’s basically urban driving.
I change my Kia powered vehicles early, cause those engines need all the help they can get.
Every 3K or so miles, regular oil. It’s almost all city driving, 3750 mi is Kia’s “severe duty” recommendation (the “normal” criteria are laughable, I don’t know any normies). Kia says it’s the same no matter if the oil is mineral or synthetic. Might be 6 to 14 months, depending on if I take any trips and how long it takes the body shop to fix the most recent theft damage.
I do spring and fall for all of mine. I’m sure they dont need it that often, but I like knowing that if there is a failure.. it isnt engine oil related.
Twice a year, usually… once before winter sets in and once in the spring. I did an extra one this summer after a couple of long road trips, just for good measure. It’s just a good time while I’m changing out sets of tires and spraying fluid film and inspecting things. Spring is usually when I drain and fill ATF while I’m at it, so it’s just a good day of feeling accomplished with some oily dirty honest work.
My 25 year old BMW leaks so much oil that it changes itself. I just change the filter once in a while.
My kid is 13 now, but out of the blue she tells me the other day. “I miss the red car (E36) it used to make rainbows in parking lots!! “
Except for my truck (change it at 20% oil life left) everything gets changed once a year at the beginning of its season.
And of course, the EV never.
I change it in the 8-10K range in the ’13 4Runner. I do mostly highway miles, and it doesn’t use any oil between changes, and the oil is still amber on the stick the last time I checked it at 7K.
The LS1 Firebird gets changed typically every 2,500 – 3k miles, basically once it gets half a quart low I change it.
When it was my commuter, the 07 XC70 used to be every 6k on full syn, however my Volvo guy told me to do it closer to 3k since I mainly use it as a town car now. Sound advice.
The old 97ZJ was every 5-6, on full syn. Never had to add any between changes for the 165K miles I owned it.
Truck: once a year, which works out to 2-3,000 miles usually. More this year because of the move, so it’ll get a second change this fall.
Chrysler and Yukon: when the indicator come up on the dash. Both get synthetic, and neither has ever looked dark, so I figure it’s good enough.
MG: has had 450 miles put on it since the engine work five years ago. Hasn’t been changed since. I should probably go ahead and change it.
When it starts to taste bad.
Since moving to synthetic, I have changed to 6-8k, depending on the driving. 6k is the usual since it is lots of city.
Depends on age and use:
Like many others I use my oil changes as the basal unit of other maintenance tasks, so I keep a spreadsheet that tracks my mileage and conditionally formatted cells let me know when something’s due.
Fancy! My two-stroke cars, moped, and pogo stick all require premixing.
I only ever ride it with my pinky out. On BOTH hands!
The autolube is great, but I’ve also had the butt-clenching experience of the supply line popping off the oil input and causing the motor to seize whilst I was accelerating and ‘racing’ a Camaro off the line (we were giggling and revving our engines at each other; I think he started in 2nd or 3rd to make it ‘fair’). When it happens, you’re going along and then suddenly your rear tyre is screeching across tarmac and you’re starting to go sideways. In that moment I wished it were a premix bike.
I quickly reacted and pulled in the clutch, coasting to a stop, but that was an experience I will NEVER forget. I also check the oil line a lot more often now.
My ’67 SAAB 96 originally had an oil injection system but a previous owner had removed it long before I got the car. I understand this was a common method of addressing any problems with the system, which may very well have been related to the fact that the car had a replacement premix engine as well…
Yeah, the Vespa systems are pretty reliable, so as long as I’m not futzing with side-draft carbs and turning it into some sort of race bike it should be maintenance-free (save for the occasional cleaning when doing carb work).
I do respect the “screw it all I’m going as simple and reliable as possible” approach, though.
Especially after that Blackstone data came out, I’m ok with going a year or slightly more between oil changes on the cars that don’t get a lot of miles put on them.
Daily drivers are determined by mileage, but I’ll also change it early before winter so I don’t have to do oil changes in the cold. Usually the timing works out where I’m only 1000ish miles early or less.
I have been *really* bad in the past though, like when I didn’t change the oil in my
04 Silverado for over 2 years and probably close to 10,000 miles. I think the oil in the Miata is older than that at this point (yeah, uh, July 2021), but it’s also only been driven a couple thousand miles in that time. It will be changed in the spring though for sure.
For the most part, when the Honda Maintenance minder tells me to. I’ve decided, however, to change my CTR oil at 5k as it seems like it’s going to have a more stressful existence than the Pilot.
Annually.
The only vehicle I own that goes more than 5-6,000 miles a year is my van and I do 10K intervals with full syn.
Just to add some support to this, I recently changed the oil in my UTV after nearly 2 years (but only about 30 miles and 10 hours, since I only use it for yard work and plowing snow) and it came out clean.
10k interval? 7500-8k miles, 5k interval? About 5k, maybe a hair less. Or annually, regardless of mileage if I don’t hit the cap. being slightly early is cheap insurance, but modern cars that recommend a change at 10k on full synthetic are not lying when the say it can generally last that. Only exception being turbo engines like my CX-30, I stay below the recommended mileage limits because that engine is more sensitive than the NA variant to oil change intervals.
Nissan VK56VD: every 5k miles that comes out to 2-3 times a year. Despite a relatively large V8, it only takes 6.9 quarts. It is usually quite dark and dirty looking already by 5k miles.
Jatco RE7R01B 7-speed automatic: drain and fill every 30k. Kinda annoying to do because there is of course no dipstick anymore.Not the greatest transmissions so cheap insurance. It might still break eventually, but at least I tried to avoid that as much as I could.Front and rear diffs: every 30k
Transfer case has some super-expensive synthetic stuff in it that’s supposed to last until 90k. I haven’t touched it yet (82k)
I do every 6 months or 5,000 miles, whichever comes first (almost always 6 months since I don’t drive THAT much). I’m almost certainly overdoing it but I daily an incredibly caffeinated turbo 4 popper that lives a hard life between the track days, DC traffic, and frequent backroad rips.
I’d rather be safe than sorry and turbos often burn oil when pushed hard. I’ve seen some oil temperatures on the track that are almost certainly higher than they should be. I also do an early oil change with new cars to get the break in oil out. There’s a lot of debate as to whether or not this is necessary but I’m sticking with it.
I don’t drive as much anymore so I change it every 6 months because I don’t come close to the mileage in that time. Back when I was doing 50K miles a year I was changing it every 3K miles.
I change it when the display tells me I’m at 15% oil life left or once every 12 months if I don’t hit the mileage (per the owners manual).
Depends on the car. The Sienna gets it changed when the car tells me to, which is every 10k. I know a lot of people swear that’s a terrible idea and all sorts of problems come from doing that, but the car has 150k on it now and has never missed a beat, so while I do keep thinking I need to go to the 5k interval now that it’s so old and high mileage, I have been too cheap/lazy and still stuck to the 10k so far.
My Roadster (Miata) will get it every 5k kms, maybe 6k. First change will be at 3k because while I know it was changed right before I bought it, I don’t know what’s in it and I like to know what oil is in there.
Same. I change the oil in my 13 4Runner closer to the 10K interval and have gone a little over once or twice. I also use the specified 0W-20. According to the Toyota nerds, I’m ruining my engine, however it’s at 180K miles and runs like a top. It doesn’t use any between changes, and the last time I checked it at 7K miles, the oil on the stock was still amber.
Yeah exactly. I check it occasionally, and it always looks new, and is never low. If I’m ruining my engine, it’s sure taking a long time to get ruined.
I think one of the reasons Toyota tend to last so long is that a lot of people over maintain them. It’s almost like a self-fulfilling prophesy. “These last a long time, I’d better take good care of it” = vehicle lasts a long time because it was well taken care of.
Some of the 4R guys talk about changing engine oil every 2k and diffs ever 25K.
One guy recently posted about changing water pump, coils, radiator hoses as “preventative maintenance” at 95K. Dude, mine has twice that I’ve not needed to touch any of those things.
5k miles or one year. Both of us WFH so they usually hit the 1 year mark before they hit 5k miles. I bought my car with 42k miles in 2021 and it’s at 56k now. They also get Blackstone reports at every oil change, which is total overkill, but I like doing it.
Depends on if I intend to keep the car or am just leasing.
For a car I care about, it’s 5k or one year, whichever comes first.
Otherwise, it’s whatever the minimum requirements are.
Every 3,000 miles. It’s my truck and I keep it maintained.