I drive extremely low miles. Oil changes?

[frozentundra123456]

Those seem like really long oil change intervals. I have never seen a one year recommended factory oil change. I have a 2013 Altima, and the recommended "normal usage" interval is 6 months or 7,500 miles. However, the recommended interval for "severe service" is 3 months or 3,750 miles. And actually, most driving, especially for low mileage situations like those being discussed in this thread, will qualify as "severe service" ie. "short trips of less than 5 miles or 10 miles in freezing temperatures." Personally, I never feel comfortable going more than 6 months between oil changes, no matter what the mileage.

 

[mindless1]

^ Marketing has done a good job of tricking clueless consumers into thinking oil implodes based on the position of the sun, hence 1 year, 6 months, etc.

There is never a situation where oil should be changed more often than once every FIVE YEARS, based on only a calendar schedule.

Instead, it is often that oil should be changed based on mileage, or running hours, or high # of short trips, or engine decay like a bad PCV valve, but never based on a calendar.

 

[frozentundra123456]

^ Marketing has done a good job of tricking clueless consumers into thinking oil implodes based on the position of the sun, hence 1 year, 6 months, etc.

There is never a situation where oil should be changed more often than once every FIVE YEARS, based on only a calendar schedule.

Instead, it is often that oil should be changed based on mileage, or running hours, or high # of short trips, or engine decay like a bad PCV valve, but never based on a calendar.

Well, like it or not, if one wants to keep the factory warranty intact, you have to follow the oil change intervals recommended by the manufacturer. Also, I know it uses resources and creates waste, but 30 bucks for an oil change every six months is a negligible cost compared to the cost of the car, and even to insurance (I pay over a hundred dollars a month for insurance for my Altima.)

And my point *was* that low mileage drivers most likely do use the car for short trips.

 

[deadlyapp]

Well, like it or not, if one wants to keep the factory warranty intact, you have to follow the oil change intervals recommended by the manufacturer. Also, I know it uses resources and creates waste, but 30 bucks for an oil change every six months is a negligible cost compared to the cost of the car, and even to insurance (I pay over a hundred dollars a month for insurance for my Altima.)

And my point *was* that low mileage drivers most likely do use the car for short trips.

I'm fairly confident that no manufacturer can tell how often you change your oil short of an oil reset light which in no way could serve as an evidence that you did/didn't change your oil.

 

[mindless1]

I agree about wanting to preserve the warranty and do feel a case could be made against a customer if there is wear typical of lack of oil changes and the customer can't present some evidence that oil was changed the # of times that is directed in the owner's manual.

The vehicle computer could keep a tally of how many times alert and reset events occurred. In theory it could also keep track of how long it was between alerts and resets though I have not heard of this happening, being evidence used against a customer needing warranty work.

 

[bradly1101]

Well, like it or not, if one wants to keep the factory warranty intact, you have to follow the oil change intervals recommended by the manufacturer. Also, I know it uses resources and creates waste, but 30 bucks for an oil change every six months is a negligible cost compared to the cost of the car, and even to insurance (I pay over a hundred dollars a month for insurance for my Altima.)

And my point *was* that low mileage drivers most likely do use the car for short trips.

That's not true at least with Toyota. Right there in the maintenance manual it states that warranty service is NOT affected by irregular maintenance unless an "oil-related" failure occurred with mine. I know this brand too well, and I get 300K+ with no major problems, so "oil-related" failure when changing perfect looking oil is not a concern to me.

They are short trips, but I drive very gently.

And it aint no $30 with syn. oil, but that's cool.

 

[mindless1]

^ My last DIY oil change was $28. $24 w/tax for 5 qt Mobile 1 at Walmart and $4 for an OEM filter on Amazon, tho' Amazon raised their price so the next filter is a $3 Denso closeout from Rockauto... except there was a $12 rebate on the oil so $16 total.

That rebate is still ongoing, or $17 off with a Mobile 1 filter purchase too: https://mobiloil.com/en/promotion/mobil-promotions/17-off-motor-oil-march-may-2018

Walmart isn't listed as a participating merchant but I got the rebate back the last time (prior rebate promo) I bought there without WM being listed, as did others.

 

[ondma]

I'm fairly confident that no manufacturer can tell how often you change your oil short of an oil reset light which in no way could serve as an evidence that you did/didn't change your oil.

Are you advocating lying? In any case the answer is simple. They can ask you for receipts that prove you either bought the oil and filter to change it yourself or for the receipts from whoever you say changed it for you. If you cannot produce documentation, then the claim by the factory would be that you did not in fact change it.

 

[bradly1101]

^ My last DIY oil change was $28. $24 w/tax for 5 qt Mobile 1 at Walmart and $4 for an OEM filter on Amazon, tho' Amazon raised their price so the next filter is a $3 Denso closeout from Rockauto... except there was a $12 rebate on the oil so $16 total.

That rebate is still ongoing, or $17 off with a Mobile 1 filter purchase too: https://mobiloil.com/en/promotion/mobil-promotions/17-off-motor-oil-march-may-2018

Walmart isn't listed as a participating merchant but I got the rebate back the last time (prior rebate promo) I bought there without WM being listed, as did others.

At my mileage I'm sure that Mobil1 is fine (and is believed to be what Toyota uses).

 

[crashtech]

Personally I think Mobil1 rests on its name and has less quality than some other oils. My cars tend to perform and sound better with alternative synthetic oils. But in the case of the OP, it doesn't really matter too much.

 

[deadlyapp]

Are you advocating lying? In any case the answer is simple. They can ask you for receipts that prove you either bought the oil and filter to change it yourself or for the receipts from whoever you say changed it for you. If you cannot produce documentation, then the claim by the factory would be that you did not in fact change it.

Yeah...I'm pretty sure they really can't do that. Burden of proof is on the manufacturer to prove that the oil in fact caused the failure, and as an engineer who often works with oil in rotating machinery, about 99% of the time the cause of failure is not due to "old" oil that has low number of hours on it. The causes of failure are due to introduction of other liquids (eg water seepage) or external load (eg unbalanced) that causes failure of the bearing and subsequent other failures.

 

[bruceb]

Mobil 1 is a good oil and it is Dexos certified to meet GM Specifications. And GM puts it in most of their new cars, like the Corvette and others come with it from the factory. I would not worry about it's quality.

 

[Yuriman]

I recently did a 12,000 mile oil change on my Insight (235,000 miles), at a year and 2 months. It was what you can probably consider "severe duty" - a lot of short trips with cold starts in subzero weather this winter, and I had my hybrid system flipped off for ~2 months during the coldest of it which meant I was revving the crap out of the engine to get power. I sent a sample off to Blackstone. They saw slightly elevated wear over the last sample I sent them, which was at 7,000 much gentler miles, and they suggested if I were to continue driving the car that way I might consider a more frequent change.

Mind you, this engine holds only ~2.5 quarts of oil. I expect in a warmer climate I could get away with those OCIs, and a younger engine with a larger oil pan would probably be fine too.

 

[bradly1101]

I recently did a 12,000 mile oil change on my Insight (235,000 miles), at a year and 2 months. It was what you can probably consider "severe duty" - a lot of short trips with cold starts in subzero weather this winter, and I had my hybrid system flipped off for ~2 months during the coldest of it which meant I was revving the crap out of the engine to get power. I sent a sample off to Blackstone. They saw slightly elevated wear over the last sample I sent them, which was at 7,000 much gentler miles, and they suggested if I were to continue driving the car that way I might consider a more frequent change.

Mind you, this engine holds only ~2.5 quarts of oil. I expect in a warmer climate I could get away with those OCIs, and a younger engine with a larger oil pan would probably be fine too.

2.5? That would be great. Mine is 5.8 (I wish they were even numbers).