How often do you need an oil change in modern cars REALLY

3k on conventional, 5k on synthetic. That's assuming you use top-shelf filters. Even a Mann filter is going to give in after about 6k miles.

>[Oil leaking intensifies]

A balance of city and highway driving, generally keeping the engine around 50% load on average or less at relatively constant RPMs. The kind of driving one does when they live in the suburbs and commute 10+ miles to work.

When it's dirty... Technically you should send a sample out to get it analysed and go from there. 10k miles driving like a grandma and 10k miles driving like a dickhead are two completely different things.

>every 3 months

How many miles do you drive yearly?

This is exactly what you shouldn't do unless you like fixing oil leaks.

>Whatever the instruction manual in your car says.
NO, I say whenever it's DIRTY, you DIP

>any modern car has an oil quality monitor

Most don't, Only a few GM's do. It's just a timer most the time.

The owner's manual assumes good oil and good filter, because that's what you get from the dealer. If you use a shit cheap filter and conventional oil, the recommended interval is going to be too long.

My Walmart recommends every 3k, and I agree because the standard filter you get from them is absolutely garbage.

>Veeky Forums bought in to the 3-5k oil change scam

I thought you'd be better than this

You want to get some stats or graphs on how well synthetic oil protects up to a point where it stops working so well. Typically it loses ability to work well after about 5-6000 miles. I think it stops working mainly because of contamination mixing with fuel that occurs over time. If you drive hard (redlining often) then I'd guess you'd get contaminated oil more quickly, so you'd want a shorter OCI.

8000mi but I do it every 5000mi.

I just change it when it starts getting too dark.

>running synthetic in a shitbox with a busted rear main seal

>owning a shitbox with a busted rear main seal

4,000 - 6,000 miles every three months depending on family outings and such.

It's a good rule of thumb for the ignorant

Best answer

this

Hondas have an oil life percentage based on driving style and city/highway miles

Toyotas have a maint req'd light

Nissans have an oil, oil filter, and tire reminder system based off a customizable mileage

Fords and Dodges have oil life percentage

VW/Audi/Mercedes have a service required message

Only sort of related but old air cooled Porsches have a check engine light purely based off of the odometer. Thought that was funny.

>not fixing the rear main seal
Eventually it'll be more expensive in topped off oil than it is to just fix it

I do it every day.

You're supposed to change it?

>Timer
>Timer
>Timer
>Timer
>Timers
Though the Mercedes system is for all maintenance items (oil, air/cabin filters, tire rotations, etc. hence why they're labeled "Service B2" or "Service A4" or whatever.

>old air cooled Porsches have a check engine light purely based off of the odometer.
A lot of early CELs ran this way. My B2200 does the same thing and all you have to do to shut it off is go under that dash and swap two plugs around (1 male that goes into one of two females). When it comes on again just switch them back.
I imagine this was set up to coincide with major service intervals.
>We fixed the CEL but we also found you need a timing belt, an oil change, spark plugs, etc.

Makes sense then. I average ~7k a year. So I just do it once or twice a year.

every 100 [spoiler]hours[/spoiler]

Never.

I change mine every 10K KM and never had any issue

>Go outside
>Locate your car
>Locate the glovebox
>Take out owner's manual
>Read owner's manual
Now you know how often to change the oil on your car!

how do you know when its dirty
>inb4 color
if you are going by color you are far beyond retarded.

Color is usually the best indicator and if you don't think so you should go to your mom's boyfriend's closet and take his 357 then play some russian roulette, you fucking virgin

Driving like a grandma will create a lot more carbon deposits and sludge than driving like a boyracer does

I'd recommend reading about chemistry, but i doubt you would understand anything.

Oil is going to change color with thermal cycles, so it can go from amber to dark without being contaminated at all. All dirty oil is going to be dark, but dark oil doesn't mean its dirty.

Just curious, is that trap you?

Color is a good enough indicator for those who aren't closet-homo autists and don't have the money/time to wait for lab results.

Learn to use google image search, you subhuman autistic tranny chaser.

>I'm a poor and stupid and cannot afford or read an oil analysis

Nice strawman argument, virgintrain. Are you gonna keep driving on 5,000mi old oil that's dark because "muh lab results havn't cum back yet, muh tranny girlfriend ain't gotten em in the mail!"

Yes

That's why I have a biologically female (girl) GF and you're a stupid subhuman tranny-chaser who hasn't legally lost his virginity yet because man-ass doesn't count. Maybe you and Frosty can fuse your retardation together one day, kek

Lol

lol

>25k km without oil change

it's about time I guess...

modern cars dont accept oil

Every other week

autism

Doesn't lessen the accuracy of what he posted, virginshirt.

I change it (along with the filter) once per year regardless of how much travelling I do during that period of time. Same goes for the transmission.
I find this trivial, this is something I have never really worried about before.

this, and i change the tranny oil once a year, and added an external filter.
the pos tranny still manages to make the oil dark somehow.

I know Veeky Forums spouts the "modern cars are more reliable" meme a lot because they're retarded and don't actually know anything about working on cars, but why would you think you need to change your oil less on a modern car?

Older engines are more fragile because of their age, meaning you have to be a lot more specific about the way you handle stuff like oil changes. Not saying I agree with it, but imo it's a pretty easy assumption to make.

Every three to five thousand miles. Don't be a faggot, give your car some love. Change your other fluids occasionally. I change my transmission fluid and coolant once a year. I rely on my shitbox to get me from point a to point b without any issues aside from minor niggling maintenance, and surprise surprise, I've never had a fucking problem

Every hour. I drive a lot.

Of old oil is amber coloured still that can mean there's fuel getting into it. Particularly true of diesels.

>Color is usually the best indicator

No its not

t. diesel driver

Depends on the car, 5k oil changes for turbo cars makes sense.

Actually mondern engines can go longer without oil changes than recommended in the owners manual. Speaking specifically in GM vehicles, they can go between 7,500 to 10,000 miles without necessary oil changes based on normal driving conditions, but are recommended (by owners manual)at 5,000 because it makes it safer for those who tend to run past their service interval. I've had cars 3,000 miles past the due interval mileage/date and the oil is still relatively clean considering its been through 7,000 miles. GM seems to recommend 4,000 mile service interval despite the owners manual staying otherwise. GM also will suggests instead of 3 or 5 months rather you should come based on mileage or oil life percentage, which ever comes first. We use the percentage rather than time becauae one it monitors the condition of the oil as it passes the sensor, and two we understand that some owners won't put more than 5,000 miles within one year. Also with our oil (Mobil 1), being full synthetic now starting this past January, doesn't break down as quickly as conventional will. There's a special blend that GM made with Mobil 1 that's called Dexos (other brands carry Dexos but our main supplier is Mobil 1) thats suppose to be better than other oils for GM vehicles.

tl;dr
Modern engines don't require oil changes as often as recommended by manual. Manufacturers follow oil percentages over time because oil doesn't break down like it use to. It you own a GM product, but Dexos oil.

Depends on how you drive and what kind of engine you have.

For example, when I had an STi the manual recommended to change every 3k miles because it came stock with 14.7 psi of boost and oil-cooled turbos definitely decrease oil life.

Should I be redlining my engine every day to reduce carbon deposits and therefore lengthening it's life? Or drive like a grandma? Or like a responsible 27 year old male?

It's the first new car I've owned so I want to do it right from the beginning.

>any modern car has an oil quality monitor and will tell you when to change the oil, just listen to that
Don't listen to this tard, unless you want a blown motor

Smell is just as good an indicator. If it's dark and smells burnt then it needs changing as a rule.

No, you don't need to redline anything.

Just drive it responsibly, but don't be afraid to give it some revs at least once in a while. You don't need to redline it.

Unless it has a rotary engine

>5k, or twice a year

T-thanks Scotty

When the oil is black on the dip stick generally.
if the oil is still see through then it is still good oil.

the color has fuck all to do with the state of oil.

Synthetic oil will flow well even when run for long periods of time (15k miles plus). but to be safe I would be changing it every 10k miles at least.
synthetics also don't leave as much varnish or sludge so less chance of that when run for long periods.
Semi synth will go for 7500 depending on the engine before its ability to flow is impacted.
dino probably around 3000.

It all depends on the engine and its running conditions though. some engines will contaminate the oil very quickly and some won't. depending on your driving habits you may impact the oils life span through heat ( modern engines with really thin oils that are run hard may need more frequent oil changes or need to change to a different weight) or lack of heat whereby the oil won't get hot enough to burn off the condensation that collects ( yes it happens to almost every car, get clear vacuum lines for your crankcase vent and prepare to be scared).

generally:
Synth : 10k
semi : 7.5k
dino : 3 - 5k

then adjust for the car and for driving habits.

>buy new VAG vehicle with tarbu
>manufacturer advocated "long life" oil to be changed every 30k km
>half a year of ownership, 8k km
>compressor turbine starts rattling immensely under load, gets changed under warranty
>go for an oil change at 12k km without computer notification
>mechanic rings me up, you still have 5k km until your scheduled checkup, are you sure you want to change?

The fuck, man, I understand modern technology, engine materials, fuel and oil composition goes ahead, but 30000km is just batshit.

Nobody gives a fuck about diesel drivers, go suck your mom's boyfriends dick

How would you like your big black smoke, faggot?

>mfw I can report you and make you pay a fine for that in my state

>>go for an oil change at 12k km without computer notification
>>mechanic rings me up, you still have 5k km until your scheduled checkup, are you sure you want to change?
>The fuck, man, I understand modern technology, engine materials, fuel and oil composition goes ahead, but 30000km is just batshit.

30,000 KM is just north of 10,000 miles, and that's my current rate. I tend to go 10-14k on my full synthetic before changing it. 110,000 miles, no problem so far.

>30k KM is just north of 10k miles

10000 mi = 16093.44 kilometers
30000 km = 18641.1358 miles

not really in the vicinity, no

Every 10k or a year.

Refer to the booklet

But what about diesels?