What is the ideal oil change interval? 

When the dealer is paying for the oil change it’s 10,000 miles. When you pay the dealer tells you every 3000-5000 miles.

I change my oil and filter when I can’t see my oil dip stick level lines through the oil. Over fifty years of using this method and never ever had a engine problem. Best oil is clean oil. Cheapest insurance for your car/truck.

I agree w you. I keep my cars long time. I have my cars oil change every 6 months or 5000 miles whichever comes first. 6 month only 1000 miles ? I still do the oil and oil filter change !

while performing oil change , also keep in mind the engine idling , which most customers don't pay much attention . They only see the kilometers between oil changes. Idling too reduces oil life .

I know everyone has a story. I don't have a story as much as info. I had a 1995 gmc pickup. Changed the oil every 5000km with synthetic. Never had a problem. Did my first tune up at 300,000km. Spark pugs looked new. Sold it at 600,000 km for $2200. Wow. Oil changes pay off in my books. Do them yourself it's not hard.

An excellent explanation. I bought a BMW with 25,000 oil change intervals and not long after the engine sludged up killing the variable valve timing and also the valve seals went hard from the contaminants in the oil and had to be replaces due to burning oil and the car had done only 90,000ks. It cost $12,000 to repair the car. 5-7000 ks oil change is a must.

On my Ford Focus 2007 1.6 diesel i changed the oil every 20.000km as the manual recommend. Worked flawlessly for 340.000km until i scrapped it do to rust. In 2018. Engine was still fine..

As a ASE Master Tech this is a very true video... The Problem, people will do what they're told, not what they should do... It is all about lower owner costs while under warranty after that you pay, not warranty... Car manufactures must sell cars , not make them last 200,000 miles... Synthetic Oil and filters are cheap, engines are not, thats my common sense advise, take it or leave it..

400,000 miles on my VW diesel. 10,000 mile oil changes its whole life. No problems.

This video is so informative on the truth, I’ve seen in many cases were dealerships would even withheld the truth from customers on maintenance, simply because they hate when your trying to keep your old vehicles too long, they want you to buy a new one, that’s why they are called the stealership enterprises.

Just changed oil in my Z4 E89, 5k mile changes, the vanos system loves fresh oil, you can feel the difference.

Never mind kilometers, miles, or even hours of run time. Go by the amount of fuel. I recommend changing oil after the engine has burned 100-120X more fuel, than the total capacity of the crank case, filter, and all lines.(total system capacity) If your crank case holds 4 liters of oil, change oil after it's burnt 400 liters of fuel, no more than 500. If your crank case holds 4 quarts of oil, figure 5 quarts if you include filter capacity and any lines or oil cooler if equipped, then change the oil after ~125 gallons of fuel. The reason for this recommendation is, that it also compensates for severe driving, pulling trailers, adverse weather, or even excessive idling. I did this, when I used to drive a tow truck. very often, recovery operations involved running the engine at a high idle for extended periods of time, to work the hydraulic wrecker system and winch cables. This put hours on the engine, but did not accumulate mileage on the odometer. In a tow truck, mileage is completely irrelevant to the service requirements of the engine. In a regular passenger car, if you're driving smooth and easy on the freeway, you can go many more miles between oil changes, than if you're doing intown deliveries, taxi, waiting for traffic lights, and accelerating shifting through lower gears, just to have to slow down again. On the freeway, this oil change interval will net about 10,000 Km, or just over 6,000 miles. In town, this might net about 5-6,000 Km, or somewhere close to 3-4,000 miles. in cold snowy weather, that could drop you clear down to 4-5,000 Km or, 2,500-3,000 miles. Very close to the oil change intervals recommended by independent shops. Bottom line, the most accurate way to determine oil change intervals, is by the amount of fuel consumed by the engine divided by 100, X the total engine oil capacity. For lawnmowers, which often don't have oil filters, I recommend changing the oil after the engine oil after only 30 X the oil capacity of its crank case capacity. Very often, these engines only hold ~1/2 liters, so after 15 liters, or 5 gallons of fuel, it's due for an oil change. That will ensure the engine out-lasts the mower.

You are right! The manufacturer really only cares about more sales. If you want longevity in any car, its "Clean Fluids and Filters". Use older guidelines, not the manufacturers.

My last car got superb oil and oil change intervals. I got the best filters and did whatever I could to keep the car in premium shape and rated as good as a owner can. Then a 17 year old who was drivin his parents car turned in front of me and I ended up with a totaled car. I got a check and it was for the average price of that car with the mileage that I had on it. I say don't obsess about such things. Do regular maintenance and realize that a car is temporary.

I use to change my oil every 3k on my old chevy truck. Now with synthetic they recommend 5k miles so i split it in half and do every 4k. I do a lot of short trips and a lot of times the motor does not get up to operating temp. 2013 tundra currently at 251k miles and running like new.

Great info. I change mine every 5k miles using M1 full synthetic.

I’m an Uber driver in Phoenix Arizona (very hot and dusty, and significant idling). I change my Toyota Camry oil and oil filter every 3000 miles w full synthetic. Anything past 3000 miles for me the oil seems to degrade (turn blacker and smelly and loose viscosity exponentially) Driving conditions are very important element to consider.

1 a year is good enough for cars if using synthetic oil. if you run it more than 10k miles then swapping the filter (synthetic)

My oil changes are between 5k to 7k miles, or around the 8-11k kilometer mark. 90% of my driving is on the highway and I do my oil changes myself. I’ve looked at the oil - no problems. I think if you’re doing mainly city commuting, then you’ll want to change it more often, say 5k to 7k kilometers.

Your word are right in one way but did not mention the wise minimal or average mileage or time for oil change interval that is not costly also because if costly same issue . Really tough question and depend on multiple factors and usage as will as quality of the oil plays a role For me I use part synthetic oil and change it every 10000 - 12000 km or every year with filter each time now for more than 5 years I have no engine or oil issues so really it depends So if you use regular oil change every 6 months or every 5000 - 7500 km which ever first Part synthetic every 12 months or every 10000- 12500 km which ever first Full synthetic every 12 months or every 15000 km I would not keep oil in car more than this time unless I am checking oil dip stick and adding oil if needed or changing filter in between That is for me using cars for 18 years now and does not experience any oil or engine related issues

Yes it certainly makes sense that the manufacturer would prefer longer sevice intervals for the purchaser but I thought many cars had varying service intervals determined by the way its used, by the car itself.

So let say you are right in one point what is your reference for best maintenance schedule I am agree with you that new car is different than 10 year old and old car should have more regular maintenence

This is why it is so important to read the *Small Print on oil change in the owners manual.

As a DIY mechanic for the past 50 Years, When using Conventional Oil 2k-2.5k miles, for Synthetic Oil 4k-5k miles, (Regardless of what dealers say). I've never had any type of engine problem. My Only exception is new cars, where I do the First oil change at 1200-1500 miles, to clean the engine, after the break-in period.

If the manufacturer really does want to make it less expensive for the car owner who owns that particular brand car, then why do many manufacturers make some very simple maintenance items so difficult to do yourself? Sometimes even requiring customers to purchase special (expensive) tools to perform what should be a simple procedure ... which then forces many customers to have the dealers do the job at exorbitant rates?

I like what he said. Spot on

I have multiple older German cars. Oil gets changed (fully synthetic) every 3,000 miles or at one year. Easy to do and so worth it.

He nails it perfectly. Some people naively believe that car manufacturer will tell the full story and give perfect advice so people keep their cars for 40 years. The planned obsolescence is everywhere. From smartphones to cars.

A big problem is fuel dilution.

There is also a drain interval time for severe conditions and normal conditions. We all drive in severe conditions.

Am I the only person that actually does long oil change intervals? I have went 20k on oils like Mobil 1 annual and amsoil SS with oil lab analysis at 20K the mobile was about done it needed an oil change but not too bad but on the other hand Amsoil still had some life left in it I still do 10 to 15K oil changes using Amsoil or mobile 200k+ on my truck and still going no need to change your average synthetic oil until 10k

Oil changes in past say before 1995 would be 3k, then synthetics came along, 5k changes. I stick to to 5k changes. Friend had new Mini from 1963, he did 3k oil changes, he got rid of car at 250k miles because floor rotted away.

It all depends on the car, type of fuel you use, the oil and the way you drive. There is no set distance.

I don’t know about the other manufactures but on Honda the maintenance minder system works great my little Honda fit now has 352,000 km on it and it runs fine doesn’t burn oil and I change the oil when it gets down to 5% and filter every second oil change. Oil change comes up every 9 to 10,000 km. I have checked no dirt in engine and oil still a golden brown colour when I change it. So the moral of the story the manufacture built the car must know what they’re doing. Think about it they wouldn’t be selling too many cars if motors and tranny’s kept blowing up. I am A mechanic and I haven’t seen a problem with 10,000 Km’s oil changes yet. My 12 civic goes 15,000 km on a oil change and I haven’t seen a problem yet and it’s got 100,000 km on it now

have always changed every 2,000 miles, dating back to ehen there were no oil filters and ill lose every other part on car before engine even shows signs of wear

This is based on what? Oil sample tests? SOAP tests? Oil filter tests? Car manufactures don’t want their cars falling apart. Black stone labs shows synthetic oil with 10,000 miles on it has plenty of life left in it.

ill stick to synthetic every 8000kms... i think its cheap enough for me

I guess the safe interval is 6 months or 8,000 km whichever comes first for a modern car. This should be applied if you're driving in the city traffic. For older cars I would shorten the mileage to 6,000 km

Change my oil and filter change between 1K and 2K myself Oil is cheap and does more than lubricate. Changing oil often eliminates fine metal particles and getting under your car often helps you spot potential problems before they get worse.

10,000 km is 6000 miles. That's an acceptable interval in most application, in the case of all highway miles or mixed driving. In all local and short-trip driving maybe not. Scotty Kilmer, a senior mechanic and media personality, says, do not go more than 7500 miles (12500 km) even with premium synthetics. I'm sure Amsoil hates Scotty. I have a vehicle where conventional oil was original. I use semisynthetic and keep a change interval of 2800 miles (4700 km), based on severe duty. The all-short-trips driving I do is severe duty even though it doesn't feel severe. I do understand the theory of it, but just believe me. The basic idea is, if you are driving maybe five miles (8 km) at a time or less and then stopping, the engine never really warms up.

Most manufacturers advise 10k. I do 5k synthetic because better to be sure. My current vehicle has 88k without issue. No smoking, no seeps, no drips, and only the coolant hoses and MAF sensor have been replaced. Once had a 2006 Suzuki Forenza. Drove it 7 years. Did 14 10k oil changes, never even disturbed a spark plug wire. Original battery was still in it.

Great points. Thank you!

with full synthetic oil i do my oil change every 7000km instead of 10000km as its only 1 additional oil change per year and instead of a maximum of 6 month i change oil at 5month interval..furthermore i do not drive more than 10000km in 6 month..oil is cheap whereas as parts and labour is not cheap

2:16 Like who are trying to fool? Do the mechanics have X-ray eyes? How are they supposed to see "problems" from longer oil change intervals??

I agree and will add every 6 months into the mix.

I change my engine oil and filter once a year. Old car that handles pretty much the cheapest oils.

Well explained

Ive owned cars for over fifty years. Best oil is clean oil. My personal method all these years has been when I can't see my oil level lines on the dip stick through the oil I change the oil. Cheap insurance. Use quality oil and a quality oil filter. Mobil One,Royal Purple,Purolator Boss, Wix are just a few filters. Castrol, Valvoline,Castrol GTX, Mobil One, Royal Purple are great oils.

Lancer ES 2015 recommends multigrade oil 12k interval (severe) or 6k (light use). - I change it every 10k with full synthetic (meant for every 20k) Hope not to damage my car.

I have to agree with him... don't go over 10,000 miles between oil changes. I personally change my synthetic oil between 5,000-7,500.

Wal Mart Super Tech Full Synthetic and Fram filter cost me $24 every 5,000 miles. Most cars actually qualify as severe service and really don’t qualify for the extended service intervals of 7,500-10,000 miles. City miles produce twenty times the wear as highway miles. Usually with promos even a dealership oil change is less than $50. Odds are you car will be totaled by computer problems if you take of your engine .

What do you have to say about the people going 10k+ miles between changes and still getting good oil sample results when they test it at independent labs?

So what you are saying I should follow the Manuel from my 1994 Ford Thunderbird.

During warranty, I always change the oil mid-way. Example, the Rav-4 says one year, 12,000KM, I change it half way, or 6,000KM. After that, I try to change it at around 7,500KM, even if I use Premium oil like Amsoil Signature Series.

Oil change interval conversations will run a Thanksgiving dinner. Just do what works for you.

The oil absorbs gas heat moisture carbon acids and other harmful junk. Change it at least every 5,000 miles or less. Google Irv Gordan and his 3,000,000 mile Volvo. Great story.

Change your own oil use top tier oil and filter change it every 3000 miles and the car will bless you Be a good steward to what you are given to drive

If your going keep your car a long time, make sure you get a car you can do it yourself. Get the basic tools cheap oil a good filter it saves you time and money. When you go to sell the used car you go look here in the back of the manual I wrote down the mileage and date of everything I did to the car, repairs have receipts its not hard. The 10,000 miles on a oil change its to long, shoot for 5 or 6 $25 bucks for a 1.8lL with walmart synthetic and a good filter from amazon or ebay never buy a fram. Never go to shop and trust those people again and get sold for add ons

Approximately 10k miles won't cause problems with brand full synthetic.

Three thousand miles and you'll never be sorry.

being a retired autoworker working in QC, my synthetic once a year oil change intervals have kept my Ford escape 2 litre twin turbo engine purring smoothly without any problems for 9 years now and I expect another 5 before I buy another vehicle and sell this one. Ask yourself a simple question, who do you trust, The design team that designed-built and tested the engine under every condition and there jobs depend on putting out the best engine they can, Or a person trying to sell you a service ? Of course the engine oil looks black after 2 weeks its because its working in a dirty engine, Its all about thermal viscosity breakdown and cold temp flow rates, these are the important factors and synthetic oils are proven by reputable scientists to work for about 10-12 months admirably in both instances.

I change oil every 10,000 km, a nice round off figure I do not need to keep record, just look at my speedo. Now with synthic, I double it to 20,000 km. and I take care to stay out of the severe service category. My last 2 cars both lasted almost 20 years with 300,000km on them. If the manufacturer really want you to destroy your car, they can always recommend you to switch to olive oil after the warranty.

Everything he says makes sense.

Good info

It very depends on what oil you use.

Very true your absolutely right

For a new car. First change at 1000 kms. Then on, routine changes at 5000/6000 kms along with OEM Filter.

You are every stealership's nightmare! Refreshing logic and common sense here.

I think basically he's saying change the filter more often than the oil.

Depends on oil pan capacity. Honda cb500x, 2.5 liter oil capacity. Honda says change oil every 12.000 kms = pure joke Opel oil pan capacity is 3.7 liter and they say 15.000 or even 30.000 kms change, on some models, that a joke also. There are some cars though with over 7 liters or even 12liters capacity that say oil change 15.000 or 30.000 . 12 liters with 30.000 oil change intervals isn't a joke it's closer to the truth

JUST RECENTLY GOT A CAR.JUST DID A OIL/FILTHER CHANGE.DOING ANOTHER CHANGE IN ABOUT 5.000 MILES.

his wife is always stretching herself 😂, great video

BS. car maker loses reputation by recommending an oil change interval that wrecks the engine in less than 10yrs. don't forget that reputation is king in the auto industry

As far as I'm concerned, official maintenance schedule: six month or 8000km, whichever comes first. My 20year old car is happy with that.

10,000 km is only 6,217 miles. Not outrageously high if you're using full synthetic. I do 5,000 mile changes and my family cars have clean engines.

my mazda manual says 3000 miles or 3 months for oil changes ....mind you its a 2000 year mazda .

The simple answer is to change your oil when it starts getting dark brown and before it gets black. Also, no need for all this flushing hype either, modern oils have detergents to keep your engine clean. Oil stands up and last a long time, that's not the issue anymore. There are really only two issues, moisture and carbon levels from blowby. If you don't drive much, moisture will get in your oil and acidify. This is solved by driving for 30 minutes once a month, minimum. Carbon levels in the oil will be from how tight the engine is and how the car is driven. So once a month with a warm engine, pull out the dip stick and wipe with white paper towel or let drip on white sheet of paper. If dirty, time to change your oil. This time will vary on how you have been driving your car. A blind time or mileage change is unnecessary and ineffective. Why are you changing clean oil or why did you wait to change black oil? Why not change brown oil? See what I mean? Oil stands up these days, so after a year or even 10,000 miles, the oil itself will still test good, but high concentrations of carbon (microscopic sandpaper) will cause damage. A very tight engine driven gently may still have golden oil after 5000 miles so why change it? If you are slamming around, the oil might be dark brown at 3000 miles, so change it. Why change your oil on some schedule when you can see how it’s doing and change it then?

Yeah, don't buy it. Blackstone your oil to see for yourself that manafacturer oil changes are fine. If you stop and go or short trip the car, then cut their number in half. Normal use of vehicle will not need 3k mile chamges

Alfa Romeo reverted from 2 years/20k miles 2 years ago which I think says a lot. Also its strange that many manufacturers advise longer changes for UK cars compared to europe, go figure.

I disagree with this assessment. Because if dealers are recommending minimal maintenance to sell u next car and make certain that the current one has problems right outside warranty period, it would immediately start trending on internet and news sites that certain brand of cars have poor quality resale value and the sales of these kind of cars will start to slump.

i followed bmw 24k km or 1 year oil changes. luckily i only drive less than 10k km but even at this interval i needed a $18k cyclinder head job etc. No thanks bmw and got rid of it. I now change my oil every 6500 km max now!!

You will never hurt an engine by putting fresh oil in it , I do 5k kms . Cheap and easy .

Yes, the car dealers want to sell you another car however the shop's main job is to sell work on said car. Most shops are just as shady as the car dealers. The best option is to cut the ain't intervals in half and do your own maintenance. If you cant do it, then go learn. Mechanics did not come out of the womb knowing how to repair cars, they learned and so can the average Joe.

I got 23 y.o. diesel and I change my oil evry 10000km or 10 months :D

By his logic engine oil would go bad in the bottle since it's not being "streched" as he calls it! I've been building engines since I was 8 years old I've never heard anything about that now if you don't get your oil hot and you take short trips you won't cook off the moisture or the contaminants like if you took long trips but I have seen engine oil tested from the seventies some of the first synthetics and it was still good

On my Seat Ibiza the Interval is 30000km or 2 years which sucks ass..

I do every 5 thousand its on the very safe side plus its easy to do the math, lol. Im at 215 thousand miles goings strong.

Congrats someone who is a pro who agrees with me

Hold on. Am I the only one that catches this? 10,000 Km is 6213 miles. In the US they recommend 10,000 miles which is 16,093 KM. I think this is all bullshit. Oil is fine after 6500 miles. Especially modern synthetics. At least that's what oil testing is saying. If you are a person that is worried about this, Take a oil sample, send it off to get tested, and let them tell you when to change it. The fact is, oil last differently for different people. Highway vs City, Towing vs not towing, warm vs cold, lead foot vs grandpa. I tow a boat almost daily in city traffic. I have to change my oil way more than my fiancee who doesn't tow with her car. My fiancee and I have to change our oil more than my parents who do not tow and live in the country. If your worried test your oil. If you don't want to go through that, change it early and change it often but, don't let this guy scare you into spending alot of money with him to change your oil unnecessarily.

Good video advice. Unlike some BS video from Eben promoting AMSOIL . 20k miles! 32k km?

Are you f***ing kidding me? Did anyone except me notice he couldn't even answer the question? As far as I am concerned this doesn't make him any better than the dealer. Just answer the question, how many miles? No need to qualify for 6 minutes and 29 seconds. Just two seconds is all you need - how many miles??? Answer??? Whoops after 6 and 1/2 minutes I for got to answer the g**d*** question.

7.5k miles for engine oil change interval is ok. 5k miles for turbo engine. You won't need a new engine for long long time 150k miles or 15 years. I am talking about Mobil one engine oil. Nó need any better engine oil.

I change all fluids and filters every 4 years. Engine oil when dirty.

I don't care what they say. I change my oil and filter every 6 months.

Mercedes tells me i can change my oil every 10000 miles. So i change the filter every 2500 miles and the oil at 7000 miles. I have never spent a dime at a Mercedes dealer.

You have to ask what has changed that they now say you can do an oil change every 10,000 miles. Well the regulations changed. What regulations you may ask. Well the regulations that car manufacturers must make cars that cut down on waste and are more efficient to run. So reducing the amount of oil changes cuts down on waste oil. In some cases cutting the waste in half. Just by moving the oil change mileage up 100%. Now consider the manufacturers of the oil also had to meet the same regulations to cut down on the waste oil. Is it a coincidence that both car manufacturers and oil manufacturers came up with the same 10,000 mile number? Even after taking all the driving conditions that are thrown into the conversation. The real evidence is there for all to see. When you take apart the oil filters of thees cars doing 10,000 miles between oil changes. Car manufacturers are pushing it to the limits. How far are the limits. Well enough to meet the regulations to cut down on the waste and just enough to get that car over the warranty. finish line. The truth can be found in one thing the oil filter. Open them up and see for yourselves

the dealer what’s i sell cars and the shop what’s to sell easy oil changes so you can’t win lol

elantra 6000km six months

So what's the ideal then?

Semi synthetic every 3k… full synthetic 6k max