The manual has no table of service vs. mileage!

[Old Ears too]

A friend of mine was given a Silverado pickup truck that had been sitting for some time and had 200k miles on it. I helped him do the usual 'get it back on the road' stuff and we put a can of Seafoam in the gas tank and added the recommended amount to the oil too. It's been working well ever since from what I know.
I'd run Seafoam in the oil for at least 2-3k miles in an engine I was trying to unstick the rings on.

 

[gadget73]

When I got my S10 it had ping problems. It had those problems for years and I was never able to fix it. Ran 1/3 can of Seafoam through the PCV valve,shut it off for 5 minutes, and dumped the rest in the tank. When I started it back up I got a nasty cloud of crap and the ping problems have been completely gone for better than 10 years now. Its the only time I've used it, but it did fix a problem for me.

By and large I try to avoid mechanic in a bottle type things but I had run out of options short of pulling the heads to de-carbon them.

 

[cgutz]

My 2008 Odyssey indicates 15k oil change on the speedometer. My understanding is the new synthetics don't break down with age as much as older oils, hence, the longer service intervals using synthetics.

 

[gadget73]

between that, better fuel mixing control, and tighter engines there is both less garbage going into the oil, and a better additives package to handle what does.

 

[Old Ears too]

When I got my S10 it had ping problems. It had those problems for years and I was never able to fix it. Ran 1/3 can of Seafoam through the PCV valve,shut it off for 5 minutes, and dumped the rest in the tank. When I started it back up I got a nasty cloud of crap and the ping problems have been completely gone for better than 10 years now. Its the only time I've used it, but it did fix a problem for me.

By and large I try to avoid mechanic in a bottle type things but I had run out of options short of pulling the heads to de-carbon them.

Back when I was a kid, we had a '59 Pontiac wagon w/389 tri-power and it had 10.5:1 CR. Only ran good on Chevron Custom Supreme. It would ping on anything else and would tend to carbon up easily too. To cure it, Dad would get an old orange juice can, you know the frozen kind you add water too and mix, and fill it with water. He'd then take the air cleaner top off and with the engine running at @2k rpm, slowly pour the water down the middle carb throat. Doing that at a rate that almost had the engine dying, but not quite. All kinds of carbon chunks would come out the exhaust pipes. After that, the car ran like new. He'd do that about once a year just to keep it happy.

 

[toxcrusadr]

Hmm, I actually know why that works. Steam plus carbon is the same as the old coal gasification process that produced 'town gas' for heating and lighting before there were natural gas pipelines. Steam will react with carbon at high temperatures. The oxygen will combine with carbon to make a little CO2 but it's oxygen starved so you get some CO also. The hydrogen from the water hydrogenates the carbon to make methane, and a host of other hydrocarbons from ethane all the way up to asphalt. The whole process gave off heat which kept the reactor hot to sustain the reaction. The heavy stuff and water was condensed out as coal tar, and the CO, remaining hydrogen and volatile hydrocarbons were piped out as burnable gas. I can see why water would work better than air for getting the carbon off the cylinders.

 

[MaxxVolume]

My 2008 Odyssey indicates 15k oil change on the speedometer. My understanding is the new synthetics don't break down with age as much as older oils, hence, the longer service intervals using synthetics.

If you`re gonna push that synthetic oil for 15,000 miles, it wouldn`t be a bad idea to change the filter at the 7500 mark.

 

[toxcrusadr]

I never considered changing a filter before changing oil! How the world has changed. For a couple years when our '92 Accord was new, I would change the oil and not the filter at 3000 mi, till my mechanic told me not to cheap out and just change them both.

I guess the filter is above the pan on most vehicles so it doesn't all run out when you do that? I always drain the oil first so I've never had to find out...

 

[MacNoob]

Conversely, my Honda Insight maintenance minder wants you to change the filter every other oil change. Would leave you with the same filter in there for 25,000kms or so. I'm not brave enough for that.

 

[whoaru99]

I never considered changing a filter before changing oil! How the world has changed. For a couple years when our '92 Accord was new, I would change the oil and not the filter at 3000 mi, till my mechanic told me not to cheap out and just change them both.

I guess the filter is above the pan on most vehicles so it doesn't all run out when you do that? I always drain the oil first so I've never had to find out...

You will get a little drainage from the oil galleries but the pan does not drain. Yes, usually the filter is near or above above the level but also because the filter is generally on the pressure side of the pump, not an open supply/return to/from the pan.

More or less...

 

[Shadowdog]

The filters also usually bypass more and more oil (so less gets filtered) as it gets more dirt in it as the miles pile up so it's really false economy to not change the filter.

You can set up a full flow oil filter usually with a remote oil filter added on (either replacing or adding to the original) , but for sure it would have to be changed then!

I wouldn't go much beyond 6K miles or 10K KM in my experience (even with synthetics) even if all highway miles if you want Maximum engine life/reliability as the additives

where out and fine grit/dirt builds up that the normal filters can catch. I did this myself & the engine was still new after 120K miles , with an oil pressure test, leakdown test, & cam on OHC

with manual valve adjustment was still new in spec. as I never had to adjust the valves. I checked the adjustment every 15K miles as required. I drove it at 75 MPH a lot also and the 89 Festiva

with 1.3L & 4 sp had no OD either, so ran close to 4K RPM!

 

[gadget73]

Depending what set of instructions I read, the BMW motor in my Continental wants oil every 5K and filter every 10K, or both every 5K. I figure on doing both on a 5K interval. Stupid cartridge filter isn't the cheapest thing but engines are way more expensive. At least its polite enough to have a housing drain so I can just remove that instead of having to dump a half-full filter down my arm and all over the chassis while removing it like my other Lincolns do. Ford and their horizontal mount oil filters, bah. The ZF trans also politely includes a drain plug, which is something that I personally think all automatics ought to have. I added them to my AOD pans, dropping a full trans pan is a mess.

The Bimmer motor also gets regular valve lash adjustments. I haven't had to manually set valves since my 1973 SuperBeetle went to the tin can factory in the sky quite some years ago. I've also never done it on an overhead cam engine, so that adds a little bit of extra stuff in the way to deal with.

 

[Shadowdog]

It's actually easier on most overhead cam engines as you can see the cam lobes!

Sometimes you need special tools to get shims out if used or you can make your own tool & on that type you needed a micrometer to measure them, plus the usual feeler gauge.

Maybe you will never have to adjust them again like I found on most well built/designed engines,

as you won't get any wear if maintained well and treated right (no hard or fast running till up to operating temp)

 

[dosmalo]

I went to fully synthetic in my 99 Cry-seller in early Spring 2016 and did 3 filter (only) changes over the course of approximately 3K miles before doing a complete drain and refill with the same brand synthetic. 1st filter with the initial change-over was a Mopar filter and then 2 Purolators and then I went back to the Mopar with the next complete drain and change (saved it and run it in my lawn mower). I have the same filter set ups waiting on the garage shelves now but plan on settling down to a regular 3K - 5K w/one filter change schedule after the next complete drain and change.

 

[N8Nagel]

I bought a 2015 Honda Civic last month. I've always done my own oil changes and I keep a little notebook in the glove compartment with all the service info - mileage, date and work done - so it's easy to look up when I had something done or whether I need to change the oil soon.

Manuals for every car I've owned had a chart telling you when to do everything from changing the electrons in the radio to replacing the timing belt.

My new car does not.

It has a dashboard indicator that is supposed to show a number, and you look in the book and find out what the number is telling you to do. That's fine for people who don't have a clue, and it probably helps with maintenance. Or maybe it just helps the customer bring the car back to the dealer and hand them the keys and their wallet, I don't know.

But you would think it's fair to at least include in the owner's manual how often you should change the oil. That's not asking too much, is it?

BMW does this too. they call it condition based service. Basically the computer factors in things like number of cold starts, 160MPH Autobahn blasts, etc. and shortens the interval but stretches it out if you do lots of long but reasonably sane highway trips. Mine wants me to change the oil at about 15K miles and I'm not totally cool with that, I usually do an intermediate oil change at about 7500 and then again when the CBS tells me to.

 

[Wildcat]

Conversely, my Honda Insight maintenance minder wants you to change the filter every other oil change. Would leave you with the same filter in there for 25,000kms or so. I'm not brave enough for that.

I figure I'm already under the car getting oil all over the place so it's just cheap insurance to change the filter each time the oil is changed.

 

[gadget73]

Maybe you will never have to adjust them again like I found on most well built/designed engines,

Its possible, dunno. I have to pull the valve cover when I do the timing belt so I'll check it then. Manual says its just a feeler gauge setting plus the wrenches to lock and adjust it. Basically I have no clue what the maintenance history is on this car other than I know it sat for 10 years and the odometer claims 180K. I'm just going to assume everything is due and take care of it so I have a starting point.

 

[mkane]

10000 on our Hondas, sometimes more if I'm not on it right away.

 

[2011etec]

I change the oil and filter 2x a year whether i need or not with full synth.Just use the supertech full synth which is just as good as anything else .Believe its 17.95 for 5 liters.Of course the 4.6 takes a little more .2003 f150 4x4 with 100,000 plus miles and doesn't burn a drop of oil period.5w20.My Polaris ace 325 takes 0w50.That little motor is amazing,has as much hp as my 2010 500h.o. did and will give great mileage for an atv and climb up the side of a mountain .

 

[beat_truck]

I generally change my vehicle's oil at around 5k miles with plain old conventional Wally World Supertech oil and any brand of oil filter except for Fram. I did that in my last vehicle, a crappy little Ford Aspire, from 108k to 156k. I had the valve cover off at around 150k to change the gasket, and it was still VERY clean inside except for a very light golden tint. After the valve cover gasket was replaced, it went back to using little to no oil in 5k. I do plan to change the oil in my '83 Dodge pickup sooner at 3k miles because it is carbureted and the oil gets dirty a LOT sooner.