A couple days after I got my first scheduled oil change I got a call from Inner Circle basically asking some survey questions. Since they called I decided to ask a quesiton of my own since I was concerned about a warranty issue. I had slightly gone over the recommended mileage for an oil change and so I asked how **** they are about the number being before or exact or whatever. Anyway, the rep said "Well you may qualify for Light Maintenance, let me ask you some qualifying questions and we'll determine that." I was then asked these 4 questions....


Do you take repeated short trips of less than 5 miles in regular weather or repeated short trips of less than 10 miles in freezing weather?

Do you sit in stop and go traffic in hot weather or drive at low speeds for long distances?

Do you drive in dusty conditions or rough, muddy, or salt spreaded roads?

Do you tow a trailer, camper, or use a car top carrier?


If you answered yes to any of these then you do NOT qualify for light maintenance. I, however, answered no to all of them so therefore I qualify. What this means is that I only need an oil change every 7500 miles.

I know that some of you will probably balk at this and that is fine. I doubt I'll run it that far myself anyway, but it was good information that I thought I should pass along.....

 

Yes you can go further under 'light' load conditions, but I wouldn't. It's cheap insurance to put in fresh oil and filter every 5k.

G/L with your ride.
C.

 

The owners manual states for max engine life: change every 90 days or 3,750 miles which ever occurs sooner.

Thank goodness most used car buyers don't bother to look up orginal owners and take their frustrations out on them.........with a whip.

 

Virtually every study I've read recently states that changing oil every 3 months is overkill. BMWs and Porsches require oil changes on a once per year basis and we are talking about some super expensive cars. IMO if you use a good oil filter and synthetic oil, two oil changes a year is all that's required.

 

Very true. Synthetic oil has changed the 'old school' thinking about oil changes. I change the oil and filter in all of my vehicles every 5k miles with Mobil 1.

 

Get a free Blackstone labs kit, run to 5K and get a sample. You'll know if its safe or not for sure. Only run you $20-ish.

 

Im running ScheduleII myself. 7500miles or 6months. Typically in my case the 6months comes first (changed every ~4k miles).

 

On my mom's 2005.5 Jetta, the oil change schedule is every 10,000 miles. Each oil change costs about 70 bucks but I think in the long run it comes out cheaper.