First oil change recommendations???

[brian42]

Things change over time. I can't imagine that a vehicle leaves a dealer lot with the onus on the customer to do something almost immediately otherwise a catastrophic failure could happen. In this day and age of sensitivity I would think the manufacturers would engineer the driver/owner out of the equation as much as possible. While progress isn't necessarily better (e.g. nearly self-driving cars that dulls a driver's attention to anything outside the windshield), things have come a long way since I was a kid.

I'm from the days that you couldn't wax your car for 6 months after the build date (so the paint could cure), oil was changed every 3K miles (or sooner depending on driving habits/conditions), spark plugs were good for 20K miles max, and you had to adjust your timing manually with a light gun, just to name a few.

With the internet anybody can post whatever they want about anything at all whether it's right or wrong (including me right now). I have some facts but base a lot of what I do off of personal preference, what I read, and what I know (see previous paragraph). It may or may not be in line with the majority (or the norm) but I do what keeps me in my comfort level of confidence. It may be more or less than others but their decisions will be based on a completely different set of parameters than me. I grew up under my hood every weekend and changing my oil almost monthly while someone else might only take a vehicle to a dealer once in a blue moon when their dashboard tells them too.

Just my .02

 

[Klute]

In college (long long time ago), I had a roommate that worked at a local 'service' station. When customers came in for an oil change that's exactly what they got. They would drain used oil in drum and then use that oil from previous changes for the 'change'. Technically it was an oil change, just not fresh oil.

 

[dsn112]

Things change over time. I can't imagine that a vehicle leaves a dealer lot with the onus on the customer to do something almost immediately otherwise a catastrophic failure could happen. In this day and age of sensitivity I would think the manufacturers would engineer the driver/owner out of the equation as much as possible. While progress isn't necessarily better (e.g. nearly self-driving cars that dulls a driver's attention to anything outside the windshield), things have come a long way since I was a kid.

I'm from the days that you couldn't wax your car for 6 months after the build date (so the paint could cure), oil was changed every 3K miles (or sooner depending on driving habits/conditions), spark plugs were good for 20K miles max, and you had to adjust your timing manually with a light gun, just to name a few.

With the internet anybody can post whatever they want about anything at all whether it's right or wrong (including me right now). I have some facts but base a lot of what I do off of personal preference, what I read, and what I know (see previous paragraph). It may or may not be in line with the majority (or the norm) but I do what keeps me in my comfort level of confidence. It may be more or less than others but there decisions will be based on a completely different set of parameters than me. I grew up under my hood every weekend and changing my oil almost monthly while someone else might only take a vehicle to a dealer once in a blue moon when their dashboard tells them too.

Just my .02

Improvements are made though, and if you are stuck in the past, then you are basically wasting your time and money. Synthetic oil isn't really new either, so the science and the thousands of submitted oil tests all over the web is enough evidence for me, and anyone else to know that you can easily get 10k out of good oil now.

I am all for doing what makes you comfortable, but you can't live like these advances in modern technology isn't real. Changing oil every 3k is dead, no reason to ever do that again.

 

[brian42]

I am all for doing what makes you comfortable, but you can't live like these advances in modern technology isn't real. Changing oil every 3k is dead, no reason to ever do that again.

Agreed. I grew up in the past but semi-embrace the future. I change my oil every 10K miles and spark plugs in 100K or so. I will, though, stay somewhere in the "top half" of quality products I use. It is nice to not need a monthly parts budget any more.

 

[jdmartin]

Agreed. I grew up in the past but semi-embrace the future. I change my oil every 10K miles and spark plugs in 100K or so. I will, though, stay somewhere in the "top half" of quality products I use. It is nice to not need a monthly parts budget any more.

That's for sure. Anyone who has been driving long enough remembers having to have money set aside every month for the myriad of things that would break down on a car. No matter what you own, cars have become infinitely more durable and reliable.

 

[Big Harold]

You can't really tell anything much from color. The only real way to know how loaded the oil is with contaminants and metals and how much detergent is left is to do an oil sample analysis. I used to do Blackstones on a few of my vehicles because being old-school I was skeptical of the 7500 mile claims, but as it turned out the oil always had plenty of life left in it at the 4-5k intervals I would use, and if I had to add any oil for any reason you'd see sample data that was almost refreshed. I don't remember the website, but they did an experiment like this on an old Camaro or Mustang and found that replenishing just to make up for what they drew on samples (they installed a Fumoto valve) and replacing the filter occasionally (I think they did 5k miles or similar) they could almost drive forever without changing the oil. I personally wouldn't try that but if you really want to know how long your oil can go, do a Blackstone and you'll not only have data you can use, you can share it with the forum so everyone else can see what the loads look like.

Oil never loses its ability to lubricate. It gets contaminated by the combustion process through dirty air, engine wear and combustion by products. An uncle worked for Catepillar in the 50s. It wasn’t uncommon to rebuild engines used in agriculture after 2,000 hrs. Today, because of better metals, more precise tolerances, cleaner combustion and intake air, and better lubricants, engines can now be run to 10,000 to 12,000 hours without issues. 10,000 miles is the new 3,000 miles in normal service use.

 

[User_3336]

Oil never loses its ability to lubricate. It gets contaminated by the combustion process through dirty air, engine wear and combustion by products. An uncle worked for Catepillar in the 50s. It wasn’t uncommon to rebuild engines used in agriculture after 2,000 hrs. Today, because of better metals, more precise tolerances, cleaner combustion and intake air, and better lubricants, engines can now be run to 10,000 to 12,000 hours without issues. 10,000 miles is the new 3,000 miles in normal service use.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! This message thread is TWO years old ! !

 

[Snekpete]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! This message thread is THREE years old ! !

Not to quibble too much about 5W-20 vs 5W-30 vs 10W-30, but the thread is TWO years old.

 

[User_3336]

Not to quibble too much about 5W-20 vs 5W-30 vs 10W-30, but the thread is TWO years old.

I can't add! LOL, yea, 2 yrs.

 

[ldoh]

Oil never loses its ability to lubricate. It gets contaminated by the combustion process through dirty air, engine wear and combustion by products. An uncle worked for Catepillar in the 50s. It wasn’t uncommon to rebuild engines used in agriculture after 2,000 hrs. Today, because of better metals, more precise tolerances, cleaner combustion and intake air, and better lubricants, engines can now be run to 10,000 to 12,000 hours without issues. 10,000 miles is the new 3,000 miles in normal service use.

It's amazing to see antique vehicles start up after years of sitting. In the cold they like to heat the engine case (oil) and rotate the engine before letting it fully fire up. But there probably still an expiration (shelf life) to think about.

 

[Mountain Whiskey]

It's like a seance. Does anyone have a dead relative they would like to bring to the conversation?

 

[jdmartin]

It's like a seance. Does anyone have a dead relative they would like to bring to the conversation?

I vote for "Willworkfortruck". He's dead, right? Or at least dead here

 

[wallyuwl]

I just use which ever full synthetic oil is on sale. It's usually a name brand 5 gallon jug at close to $15.

This is what I do. O changed OEM fill a month ago at 9k miles, had around 10% OLM left IIRC. I had a Limited on order I didn't take delivery of (dealership screwed around on agreed price), otherwise would have changed it around 5 or 6k miles. But oil looked fine draining out.

Replaced with Havoline synthetic and OEM filter. Next will probably be after 6k miles and Pennzoil Platinum (got 4 gallons for $10 per gallon after rebate recently) and I got a Mobil 1 filter.

 

[User_3336]

This is what I do. O changed OEM fill a month ago at 9k miles, had around 10% OLM left IIRC. I had a Limited on order I didn't take delivery of (dealership screwed around on agreed price), otherwise would have changed it around 5 or 6k miles. But oil looked fine draining out.

Replaced with Havoline synthetic and OEM filter. Next will probably be after 6k miles and Pennzoil Platinum (got 4 gallons for $10 per gallon after rebate recently) and I got a Mobil 1 filter.

Where did you originally buy your Pennzoil? Because the rebates seem to be very restrictive about the place of purchase in the last round of rebates?

 

[wallyuwl]

Where did you originally buy your Pennzoil? Because the rebates seem to be very restrictive about the place of purchase in the last round of rebates?

Fleet Farm. Had on sale for $19.99 then $10 rebate. Could get up to 4 jugs. Rebate arrived in a couple weeks after submitting.

 

[User_3336]

Fleet Farm. Had on sale for $19.99 then $10 rebate. Could get up to 4 jugs. Rebate arrived in a couple weeks after submitting.

Got ya. I noticed they took WALMART and AMAZON off the retailer list, so out of luck there.

 

[JimD007]

I changed my oil for the first time within 2,000 miles and again at 5,000 and I change it every 5,000 miles now. Almost certainly this is overkill but my truck is VERY easy to change, I do not even lift it, and it costs very little in money or time. I also use full synthetic oil - Walmart brand. I don't know if its better or worse than others but I am confident it can go 5,000 miles.

 

[djevox]

I’m at 2,300mi and am doing my first oil change tomorrow morning. I’ve got my 6 foot cheater bar ready to help me loosen that oil filter…

 

[djevox]

I just got done with my first oil change, and I'm very glad I did it when I did. For the last almost 20 years, I've had a new vehicle either every year or every other year and have never seen oil this black on a first oil change. I haven't had the oil tested, but I'm guessing I wouldn't like the results. Why people wait more than 1-2k miles for the first change is beyond me.

For the filter, Mongo the oil filter tightener must've been replaced by Frank because I had no issue loosening it with a short metal strap wrench positioned near the base of the filter (where it's strongest). Sure it was tight, but nowhere near what people are claiming. I haven't found the writeup for the two-ziplock bag method, so I used one gallon ziplock and it worked perfectly. Pics of the gross oil and ziplocked filter are below.

 

[ldoh]

I just changed my oil and filter and it was much easier using the Oil Udder. It eases the grief (teeth gnashing, cursing, paper towels, cleaners, etc) of replacing the oil filter in the 4WD Gen 5 Ram. It's thick and durable enough you don't have to worry about a slippery plastic bag trying to contain warm to hot oil and filter.