Today is a special day in my car’s history.
This marks the first time – that I can recall – where the car “needed” an oil change not due to mileage, but due to time. Three months have passed since the last oil change, and the 3,000 mile mark hasn’t been met – far from it. Ordinarily the car does hit 3,000 miles on or around the 3 month timeframe. But this time, not so much.
The good news is that 5,000 miles is considered a ‘real’ limit for oil changes by the Car Talk guys, whom I’d trust with car-related knowledge fo’ sho’. I think I’ll still stick to 3,000 – as it’s never done me wrong – but it’s going to be another 1,500 miles or so before the next oil change happens.
So long as this doesn’t happen again it’ll all be okay.
Posted in Cars
Russ August 12, 2008, 6:01 pm
What about the oil filter? Eh? Think about that? Sure your oil might go 5,000 miles without hurting the engine too much (assuming you don’t drive down a lot of dirty, dusty roads), but most oil filters usually only have a life span of about 5,000 miles. So quit being cheap and give your engine what it wants, fresh clean oil every 3,000 miles! It’s the cheapest insurance for your engine, quit neglecting it.