The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop OIL CHANGE QUESTION

I only have 2 vehicles. 1964 K10 'Burb and a '72 Toyota Landcruiser. In an average year I don't drive either one more than 2000 miles. Yeah, you heard right, I drive less than 4000 miles a year. Total. Usually the miles, for each rig is about 1500. Most of the miles are around town.

It seems that the recommendation is that oil should be changed every 6 months or 3000 miles. My question is, do I really need to change my oil every 6 months?

I know oil is cheap. I don't normally change the oil myself, because I have no way to dispose of the old oil. So, I take it to a place that does oil changes. On the Toyota, the charge is about $45 for oil, filter and lube. The Toyota takes 8 and 1/2 quarts with a new filter.

So, what do you folks recommend? How often do you change oil when you only drive a vehicle a couple of thousand miles a year?

I'm about in the same situation as you with my Cherokee... I change my oil every 6 months. But you do bring up a good point and I'm looking forward to hearing what others have to say.

During the normal combustion process, oils become acidic with condensation, etc. after 6 months, it can start to eat away at the bearings. I would change oil when you change clocks in your situation.

The wife and I on the other hand put over 40,000 miles per year on the vehicles. I change my own oil, and use the waste to heat my shop.

I'll agree with Scott. Driving as infrequently that you both do, changing the oil every six months is wise. And using the clock change as a reminder is a clever idea.I on the other hand have 3 active vehicles that get changed every 3K miles. Some times it seems I'm at the local garage every 2 weeks with one of them!

I wish I had your problem! Living 20 miles from the nearest supermarket, and commuting 80 miles one way to work twice a week makes it necessary to change oil at least every two months, sometimes more often. Fortunately, I can recycle oil at work with no expense. The upside is living 20 miles from the nearest town in either direction, and they're small ones! My hunting/shooting range is the back yard, and nobody gripes about the collection of stovebolts littering the 100-acre property. It would get hazardous to their health if they did, BTW!
Jerry

Back in the 6o's Fram oil filter advertized pay me now or pay me later ! I think it's the same with oil, pay for a oil change now,or pay for a big repair bill later

Oil despite rising prices, is cheap insurance as far as motors go. I change my truck every 1000 miles (235" with filter and my 81 Malibu every 2000 kilometres)

In California, they PAY you for each quart of oil you recycle.

Stuart

Last year I read about a guy fighting with Chrysler over the failure of the motor in his fairly new Dodge truck. It seems that he didn't put a lot of miles on the truck and so he ignored the six month rule (I think it is more like three months actually). One day in the winter he was driing down the street and the oil light came on. He stopped, checked the oil and it was full. Stupid like he got in and continued driving. Well he didn't get very far before the motor gave out. Chrysler took it apart and apprently the sump was frozen up with water and the motor was oil starved. They refused to fix it under warranty.

We can recycle at any service station but we pay an environmental levy up front per quart when we buy the oil. We also pay 50 cents 'environmental fee' for each oil filter. We pay environmental levies on almost everything, batteries, tires, and even soft drink bottles, along with the regular deposit.

I want to heat my shop with waste oil. What kind of stove are you useing? I have been looking at Mother Earth oil stoves.

My friend heats his with used cooking oil for the past two years.
Oh, I change my oil and filter every 5,000 miles on every car I've had since 1976 and never had a problem. This includes, Nissans, Olds, Datsun, Pontiacs, Honda and Chevy cars and trucks. Currently my 2000 Silverado had 170,000 on it and I just changed it last week. Still will hit a 100 in a skinny minute! I might add that the Olds above was a disel and I did the same on it. I also put 165,000 to 225,000 on each of the above vehicles and never had any mayor engine problems...at least not associated with oil. Just my .02 worth. I like being safe but I don't like giving my money away either! I guess its "to each his own".....but I do like the change every time we change the clock for those who do not drive much. I would like to add for those that don't drive much at least run it long enough each time that the engine gets up to operating temperture for obvious reasons.

All of my gas-powered gadgets get a change in the spring. (Truck, Tractor, Lawn Mower, Weedwacker, et cetera)

My car gets one every 3 months (or thereabouts).

Once I start driving the truck more, I'll probably do its oil on a semiannual basis, as there still won't be a whole lot of use on it.