How Often Do You Change Your Cars Motor Oil?

[howard251]

I would appreciate some feedback about the maintenance of my new Honda City ZX car.

I was taught the most important thing one could do to extend the life of your car engine, is to change the oil every 3,000 miles, (4,828 kilometers).

In Thailand, the car dealer mechanics recommend the oil be changed every 6,214 miles, (10,000 kilometers).

Do the car engines in Thailand have a special oil filter or use a special synthetic oil which doubles the normal miles driven before the oil needs to be changed?

I would be interested in some feedback from other Thailand drivers as to how often you change your car oil?

Thanks,

Howard

Edited February 20, 2006 by howard251

[Thaiboxer]

The oil industry would like folks to believe that they need to change their oil every 3,000 miles. You can change it every 5,000 miles and the car will be ok. I change my engine oil at 5,000km only because my car is really old. Synthetic oils will last longer than petroleum based ones. I'm not sure if you can go 6,000 miles or so but with these new cars/synthetic oils, I wouldn't be surprised if you could. Double check on the 6,000 figure but 5,000 is no problem.

[Gary A]

I think it depends on your driving habits. If you do a lot of short trips and seldom put on the highway kilometers you should change oil AND filter at least every five thousand kilometers. If most of your driving is long distance extending to the manufacturers recommendation is fine.

[raro]

The oil industry would like folks to believe that they need to change their oil every 3,000 miles.

to the OP....I just wanted to say you saw that in an engine oil commercial, did you?

Honda recommends for my Jazz (must be the same engine as yours) every 10,000 km and I bet they are on the conservative side as the warranty is depending on it. Once I'm past warranty I will change less often whereas I do a lot of high way.

[Thaiboxer]

to the OP....I just wanted to say you saw that in an engine oil commercial, did you?

Actually, I saw that on a website about engine oil. I can't remember the site though. Most of my km's are from city driving so I have to change the oil more often. City driving really eats up vehicles but some of those old cars can go for years without major overhauls.

[corkscrew]

to the OP....I just wanted to say you saw that in an engine oil commercial, did you?

Actually, I saw that on a website about engine oil. I can't remember the site though. Most of my km's are from city driving so I have to change the oil more often. City driving really eats up vehicles but some of those old cars can go for years without major overhauls.

Mercedes suggests oil changes every 13,000 kms.

[Nordlys]

Quite a few non-dealer service garage mechanics told me it is more recommended that you use cheap oil but change frequently (say, 3,000km) than to use expensive, high grade oil or synthetic oil and change it infreuqnetly.

Edited February 20, 2006 by Nordlys

[moonoi]

Quite a few non-dealer service garage mechanics told me it is more recommended that you use cheap oil but change frequently (say, 3,000km) than to use expensive, high grade oil or synthetic oil and change it infreuqnetly.

Use cheap oil and its fine to change at the recommended manufacturers intervals (10K km for most new cars). When manufacturers specify the service interval they take into account the fact the car could be used mostly for city driving etc. I've always followed these and never had any problems for any of my cars (from a 1976 mini 850 to Lancia Delta HF Integrale and BMW M3s')

Theres been many a test comparing cheap with expensive oils with no benefit provided by spending extra on fancy stuff. I seem to remember there was a previous thread on this but can't find it now.

[chanchao]

How about for Diesel engines (pick-ups)? Currently I change it every 5000 kms.. It's not like it's expensive to change or anything, and at the same time they clean the air filter and check other stuff. Don't really see a reason not to change it. How about changing the oil filter? I think I do that every 10,000 but not sure.. Kind of leave it up to the mechanic, could be every 5000 just the same. Again, oil filters are cheap, too, so it's not like it's an issue.

On a side note, with petrol prices so high, everything else seems relatively insignificant.. Like almost every time I take the car to the dealer for service, the total bill is less than even filling up the tank once.

[sierra01]

How about for Diesel engines (pick-ups)? Currently I change it every 5000 kms.. It's not like it's expensive to change or anything, and at the same time they clean the air filter and check other stuff. Don't really see a reason not to change it. How about changing the oil filter? I think I do that every 10,000 but not sure.. Kind of leave it up to the mechanic, could be every 5000 just the same. Again, oil filters are cheap, too, so it's not like it's an issue.

On a side note, with petrol prices so high, everything else seems relatively insignificant.. Like almost every time I take the car to the dealer for service, the total bill is less than even filling up the tank once.

I saw an advert a few years ago....'We supply new engines for those that forget to change their filters'!

I personally use a good quality semi synthetic oil, and change it every 10,000km. Doing it every 5,000km I reckon is more to put extra money in the oil companies pockets than anything else. Maybe it had to be done many years ago but modern oil is quite high tech, and far more capable of of doing it's job to 10,000km than yesteryear oils.

[Nordlys]

How about changing the oil filter? I think I do that every 10,000 but not sure.. Kind of leave it up to the mechanic, could be every 5000 just the same. Again, oil filters are cheap, too, so it's not like it's an issue.

Heard general rule of thumb is that oil filter be changed once every two times you change the motor oil. But since the oil filter is so cheap, I tell my garage to change it every time I change the oil.

[TokyoT]

When in the US I use to change my oil every 5,000 miles in all my vehicles. I tended to do mostly highway driving so changing every 5,000 miles is pretty conservative.

How often you change the oil certainly will depend upon what type of driving you do. For example if you routinely sit in BKK traffic in the heat for long periods of time each day (or several times a week) you should change your oil more often than if you do mostly city driving in say Korat. When most people classify city vs highway driving they are generally thinking along the lines of long vs short trips; one 100km trip being easier on your car than say 10, 10km trips. But other factors should also be considered – such as sitting in traffic jams I mentioned above.

Not changing the oil filter every time you change the oil IMHO is not a wise choice. Even the basic motor oils available on today’s market are more than capable of providing sufficient lubrication and can be relied upon to not break-down significantly between moderate oil changes. There is still the issue of the impurities that the oil picks up while being circulated thru the engine.

The filter is what helps to trap these impurities and prevent them from being continually circulated thru your engine. So changing the filter with every oil change helps make sure you minimize the amounts of these particles that are allowed to circulate. Along the same lines even after an oil change some of these impurities remain in the residual oil, as well as lying on the bottom of the oil pan. This is one of the reasons I was told (by dear ol’ Dad) to change the oil immediately after operating the vehicle – even though this can make changing the oil a bit more of a hassle. As the oil has been circulated thru the car and many more of the impurities are in suspension, therefore more of the impurities get flushed out with the old oil.

[Thaiboxer]

I've always changed the filter every time I changed the oil. When I used to live at home, I would back into the garage after having driven quite a bit, prop the car up on those steel ramps, undo the oil pan nut and let the hot oil run right into the catch pan. At that temp, the oil runs out like water but as mentioned earlier it is a bit of a hassle and I used to wear thick, rubber gloves when I did it. If you have one of these gas stations change your oil, you'd better check to make sure they didn't cross thread the oil pan nut. A dealership should generally be more cautious when working on your vehicle but they are more expensive.

As for the air filter, I don't clean it by blowing air through or running water over it. I just change it since it's so cheap plus cleaning it can cause gaps to form which will allow dust to get in the engine.

[britmaveric]

3-5K change the oil and for the most part car will take care of itself.

[Carmine6]

I would appreciate some feedback about the maintenance of my new Honda City ZX car.

I was taught the most important thing one could do to extend the life of your car engine, is to change the oil every 3,000 miles, (4,828 kilometers).

In Thailand, the car dealer mechanics recommend the oil be changed every 6,214 miles, (10,000 kilometers).

Do the car engines in Thailand have a special oil filter or use a special synthetic oil which doubles the normal miles driven before the oil needs to be changed?

I would be interested in some feedback from other Thailand drivers as to how often you change your car oil?

Thanks,

Howard

Owner's manuals used to say change around 3,000 miles and the car maintenance industry has just stuck to this since it means more money for them. If you read owner's manuals today, you'll see a recommendation twice as long or more since oil additives and engines are better. Check what your owner's manual says.

I've taken 3 cars over 100,000 miles (1 over 200,000) and I've never changed oil more frequently than around 6,000 - 7,000 miles. I changed the engine in the 200,000 mile car around 180,000 miles, but could easily have sold it well before that with no issues. It had started burning a bit of oil and was hard to pass Califonia emissions tests which are done every 2 years. Not any noticeable oil burning, but the limits on the California test are pretty strict.