Oil Change Frequency

[dpike]

I do mine on the 5ks. X5,000 miles, X0,000 miles... Makes life easy

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[khramesh]

Every 5k-7k oil change and tire rotation. I change the engine air filter at the same time too living in dusty and windy Las Vegas. A/C filter every 8-10K miles.

3.6 Gasoline, Jeep manual says do it when the Jeep tells you to and use Synthetic. Been doing it like that on a number of Jeeps for many years. No issues. But sure, I know some people like to use arbitrary numbers and be a on tight schedule. Each their own and some places of business like to take advantage of goobers.

RTFM attached

Thank you all so much! This info is so helpful.
I average about 18,000 miles a year. My daily trip is 75% highway and 25% city. I have not done any trails or off-roading yet.
I will follow the computer alert or change oil with full synthetic every 10K or so.
Thank you all !

 

[grimmjeeper]

3k oil change intervals made sense for dino oil and flat tappet cams.

All the manufacturers switched to roller tappet cams and synthetic oil nearly 2 decades ago. Those can handle upwards of 10k miles between changes depending on how hard you work the engine. I personally go with 6k miles because that works out to twice a year or so. And time does affect oil. I could probably stretch it out longer but I don't want to push it too far.

The only reason dealers recommend 3k oil changes any more is because they make money selling you things you don't really need.

 

[00 Trans Ram]

I love how so many people seem to know better than the thousands of engineers that designed and built the vehicle and better than the computer that monitors hundreds of engine and environmental sensors dozens of times per second.

 

[Valpo Jeep]

Last few vehicles of mine:

2006 Saturn Vue. Used a blended oil and changed at the OLM warning interval so maybe every 7,000 - 8,000 miles. Purchased at 6,000 miles, traded in at 176,000 miles and no oil related engine problems

2012 Chevy Cruze. Blended oil again following the OLM so about every 7,000 - 8000 miles again. Purchased at 12,000 miles and traded in at 190,000 miles and no oil related engine problems

Currently have a 2012 Audi A7. 7 quarts of synthetic and a 10,000 mile OCI. Car currently has 228,000 miles on it and no oil related problems. Car had 142,000 miles when we bought it and all the changes were at the 10K mark from the dealer. Service records showed no issues for the previous owner.

Currently a 2018 JLU which gets synthetic so I will be following the OLM. We got about 7,000 miles on the first change and changed the oil at 26%, could have gone longer.

 

[Htfan]

Every 5k I change my oil and do a 5 tire rotation.

 

[LCW]

I go by the OLM... First 3 changes were Jeep Wave. Just did the fourth one myself. I'm now at 35,500 miles. That's averging 8875 miles between changes.

 

[martoaj]

Unless you were subjecting the Jeep to some super extreme conditions, you should ask the dealer to show you in writing where it says a 3k mile oil change is required.

Better idea: don't talk to this dealer (or at least this service advisor) ever again.

 

[TheRaven]

I agree with most here - if you are running full synthetic, 7500 miles is right. Do 5k if it makes you feel better. Anything tighter than that is a major waste of money.

 

[CarbonSteel]

I love how so many people seem to know better than the thousands of engineers that designed and built the vehicle and better than the computer that monitors hundreds of engine and environmental sensors dozens of times per second.

If you have never ran an UOA to understand the actual health of the oil and how much life is remaining, then it is not possible to understand why people go against the engineers and the iOLM which is using an algorithm and is not measuring anything directly related to the oil. In the end, the iOLM is a calculation and estimate of oil life--nothing more and nothing less. It is not measuring the oil or its chemical composition or degradation and therefore is not an absolute.

The general rule of thumb is that <2.0 of Total Base Number (TBN) is the cut-off for oil life. After 5,000 miles on 6 different runs of Rotella Gas Truck, my average TBN was 2.58, yet the iOLM typically stated that I had 40-50% of life remaining. The oil could have likely made it to 7,500 miles, but there is no way that it would still be actively neutralizing combustion by-products at 10,000 miles.

In addition, my 3.6L is an MPI engine which typically does not suffer from dilution, but the 2.0T is a different story. There is no way I would go past 5,000 miles on an oil change on that engine and though I have not had one, I have had other DI engines which diluted the oil driving it thinner which means less protection.

In the end, some folks are good with following the iOLM and OEM recommendations and if that works, then all good, but there are other ways to determine what is actually happening with the oil that are much more accurate and allow you to custom tailor your maintenance plan.

 

[TheRaven]

If you have never ran an UOA to understand the actual health of the oil...

No we haven't, but the engineers that built the engine and developed the OLM algorithm definitely have, and they understand the "actual health of the oil" far better than us or you.

 

[CarbonSteel]

No we haven't, but the engineers that built the engine and developed the OLM algorithm definitely have, and they understand the "actual health of the oil" far better than us or you.

BS...a UOA tests the actual oil and gives a direct read-out. The iOLM is doing nothing more than estimating. If that works for you, fine, but you will not convince me it is more accurate than an actual test of the oil.

 

[c20040215]

Take a 200,000 mile ownership for example and assume you do your own oil change:
$40 oil + $10 oil filter = $50 total

Every 5,000 mile
200,000/5,000 = 40 oil changes
$50 x 40 = $2,000

Every 7,500 mile
200,000/7,500 = 27 oil changes
$50 x 27 = $1,350

Every 10,000 mile
200,000/10,000 = 20 oil changes
$50 x 20 = $1,000

I change my oil every 5,000 miles. No guess work no confusion. Engine runs clean, I sleep better, and life is good.

I average about 12,000 miles a year. To get to 200k miles, it is a 16 year owner ship.
The extra cost of $650 or $1,000 over the 16 year span is insignificant.

 

[kah.mun.rah]

My oil is black at 3,000 miles so I change it every 3K. Did this on my JK from day one and it has over 200K miles on it and is still running strong and doesn't burn a drop. It's cheap enough and easy enough to do at home, so why not? My Lexus on the other hand still has clean oil after 5K miles so I spread the oil changes more on that one. More than miles, if it's black, change it.

 

[Borderline Jeep]

We have multiple vehicles. I change my oil in all of them every 5000 miles. So easy I don't have to put stickers or reminders up, I just change at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25k etc. No thinking or error involved. So simple I wish I thought of this sooner.

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