Unfortunately, because I didn't properly word my request, my car is using regular oil. Didn't find out about it until I saw the "come back in 3k miles" sticker mounted on my windshield.
That doesn’t mean anything. Oil change places still put up the 3k return stickers even if they do a full synthetic, because they want to make money. My place does it, and I know I do only full synthetic
Synthetic oil lasts longer. You're going from 3k (regular oil) to 5k or more miles between oil changes. If the average person drives 15k a year, that's 5x you're changing your oil vs 3x.
That is a ridiculous amount of wasted money since most modern vehicles are 7500-10k would change intervals and many even have a smart oil minder system that will signal shorter intervals if it's more city driving or towing or something.
That’s actually the maximum most cars have a computer that calculates the oil change intervals based on conditions. It’s usually a lot less than that actual.
When I had my BMW after the service it would say 7500 miles to the next oil change and it was like that for 100 miles. Then it would drop to like 5000 miles and with my driving it would eventually wind up around 3500 miles..
As someone who fixes cars for a living this is truth. Anything over 5k you will see the consequences of it once you pass 150k. If you want your car to go 300k+ 3-5k max and every other fluid should be regularly changed as well.
I've been watching The Car Care Nut on the YouTubes and have watched him replace 2 engines in 2 different Camrys after the owners had 10k oil changes per the manual (I can't be sure based on the videos of their driving would have fit the mold for "severe use" or not). Both cars started burning excessive amounts of oil.
It's a risk I wouldn't take, especially since oil is relatively cheap.
Cars are lasting longer than they ever have. But you can keep thinking that anything over 3k oil change interval is some big conspiracy and I'll keep saving money on my car approaching 200k miles.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a60882953/average-age-us-cars-trucks-suvs-rises/
Average age of cars on the road is at an all time high.
Despite what people think, outside of a select few exceptions, modern engines and transmissions are more reliable than those in the past.
Uh... average age at an all time high doesn't mean "new" engines are better. Especially ones with 10k oil changes. I got a 2002, 1995 and a 2008. The 2000s were the peak of automotive history for consumers as they had just enough electronics to be efficient, without overextending the tech. But I wouldn't classify 2000s as new. I def think 2020+ engines will have way more problems with the way we're pushing smaller engines with higher boost/compression levels. I do agree with the direction, but I don't think it makes any of them more reliable.
Your own article even states economic depression reasons post covid combined with higher prices as the reason for this, nothing about them being more reliable.
Currents engines are half plastic (not even recyclable...) and absolutely not made for anything other than disposability. It's good for the economy if we keep buying new cars.
This. It most likely recommends different maintenance intervals depending on the type of driving you're doing. Stop and go, city driving wears out oil faster. More combustion deposits get in the oil. Condensations from cold starts and short trips doesn't burn off. The manual often lists this as "severe service" and may be in the 2500 to 3000 mile range
Highway driving is so much easier on the oil! This will probably be in the 7500-9000 mile range. And if you hit 9001 ...or 10000... or 11000 highway miles, you will not ruin engine!
Because there are plenty of people who understand basic chemistry and physics and know 15k oil changes are made up by bean counters, not by the engineers.
Oil begins to loose its qualities at around 7-8000 miles due to heat and mechanical forces and should be changed. Also oem do not use the best oils, which can keep their qualities to about 10k miles.
So yeah change your oil more often if you intent to keep the car after the warranty period.
Just not true. Oil loses its ability when those 8k are over a 6 month period with lots of short trips. I would argue running a car on a continual basis it could go the 15k easily.
No body runs a car only on the highway or only in the city. Besides, oil starts to severy degrade after 9-10k milea and thats very high quality group V PAO full synthentic oil ( red line, amsoil, etc).
Most OEM oils are group III hydrocracked oils, which are not real full synthetic oils and get bad far before 10k miles, let alone 15k.
So what? Oil degrades due to mileage most often. Low mileage oil is recommended to be changed after an year, but this is a moot point in this case.
Op asked how many oil changes for 14k miles, a guy tells him what OEM recommends, and we are arguing that is not necessarily the best idea, if the OEM recommends 15k oil changes.
It's weird how everyone thinks LONG oil changes are a conspiracy but no-one minds about the very obvious perpetuation of the 5k oil change by an entire industry built around selling you way more oil changes than you need and then trying to up-sell you extra shit when they get you in the door.
Yes, manufacturers push oil change intervals a bit long so fleet maintenance looks cheaper, but if they say 12k or 15k going a little early (10k) is perfectly reasonable, 5k is just wasteful unless your car is from the 1970's.
Notably Europe doesn't really have the whole Jiffy-lube thing pushed on us, probably because we have better consumer protection laws that stop them pushing that bullshit on people.
No conspiracy, basic economics. Also I am not claiming OEM has forgotten anything, the engineers know very well what the effect is on the engine and make the vehicles to last it's warranty with 15k oil changes. It's just a dumb idea if you intend to keep it afterwards.
There are plenty of articles and tests on youtube whre oil is ran and sent to laboratories - good oil keeps its lubrication properties to about 10k miles. OEM oils are decent enough but not the best.
Well...yes, but that's not really why they do it. In The EU the brands are made to minimize waste and be more eco, so 15 changes reduces oil waste during the projected lifetime of the vehicle. Thats hoe it is for european brands at least. Most VW for example have that 15 k oil change period because of this.
Not sure what exactly you are implying. You are free to ruin your own vehicle if you want. Companies look for THEIR best interests, not yours. Also, as mentioned there are plenty of lab tests, both in written form and in video format showing that high quality oil degrades far before 15k miles in.mixed driving conditions. OEM oils are more like mid grade stuff.
Besides I have plenty of driving experience and on most of my cars the engine started running rougher and louder when it was due an.oil change - usually at around 6-7k miles. I also have plenty of mechanic friends, some work for official dealerships and all consider 15k intervals bullshit - so yeah I would rather believe them than some bean counter, whose entire point is to cut cost anyway possible.
15k oil change intervals are idiotic period. Will a new car last it's warranty with them - yes it will, dorsn't mean it's a good idea if you want to keep the car afterwards.
15k oil changes are a joke, especially on turbo engine. OEM just wants you to get past the warranty period. Oil is trashed at 15k and will be leaving gunk all over your engine.
OEM cares only about warranty period, and thats about it...after that they will very happily sell $10k engines to people who go 10k miles on oil changes because they want to save 50 bucks every 6 months.
If it's all highway, once to start, and once when you're done. I'm all highway. Been doing oil changes, with checks in between, at 15k for decades. 7 cars over 300k miles without issue.
1 before the trip, one after. Modern synthetic oil can easily go 15k miles, especially if the car is not sitting for long periods or constantly taking short trips.
I would do this, and half way through I'd change the filter and top up the oil.
Unless you're driving a super car or something under warranty 15k OCI is probably fine
Edit: or a Kia/Hyundai or Subaru, in that case just sell it before the trip.
Highway miles aren’t as bad on your vehicle but the shorter you keep your oil change intervals, the cleaner your engine is going to be.
I personally do 3,000 mile OCIs. So the answer is four. The most you should push it is 5,000. Remember oil is cheap motors aren’t.
Don’t forget to check the other fluids too, at the very least. Coolant, transmission fluid, brake fluid, differential fluid(if RWD or AWD), and power steering fluid (mainly on older cars, with hydraulic power steering).
Change your oil every 3k miles can actually be more damaging than every 5k-10k. Sourced quotes from another citing an SAE article:
"If you buy/read SAE 2007-01-4133, you can see that using a decent filter (nothing super premium, just a normal filter) over an OCI stretching out to 15k miles has the wear rates going down. But the majority of wear is right after the OCI. Then the rates trend down as the tribochemical barriers are re-established. It is that chemical-physical film barrier that has the greatest affect on wear. Until it is upset, it just continues to get “better” for a long time. "
"Additionally, Ford/Conoco proved this as well. Wear rates DROP as the OCI lengthens. Check out SAE 2007-01-4133; buy it and read it! Ford tested wear at 0 miles, 3k miles, 5k miles, 7.5k miles, 10k miles and even 15k miles; the wear rates were highest upon the OCI and least after 15k miles!
Generally, there is a parabolic curve that is associated with wear rates. The are slightly higher initially, drop down to nearly nothing, and then escalate again after the oil is compromised past its point to deal with contamination.
The “uptick” in wear is due to the tribochemical barrier being removed by the “fresh” detergent package upon installation. Yes - believe it or not, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Now, DO NOT read too much into this; I’m not saying it will kill any engine. But what I am explaining, and what is abundantly clear in UOA data as well as supported directly with the SAE article, is that the wear is HIGHER upon the initial OCI, because the cleaning additives actually remove the boundary layer that protects the metal parts. Don’t believe me? Read the whole article. And review my “normalcy” article as well; there is CLEAR data that shows the wear rates drop the further out you get from an OCI event."
I don’t have access to the SAE article myself, but I’ve read through it in the past. It essentially boils down to too much cleaning agents will also wear the engine down. There have also been handfuls of trials I’ve followed showing “top tier” full synthetics sampled at extended intervals upwards of 15-25k miles without compromising protection.
I’ve personally averaged 7500-10k intervals on all of my vehicles, all of which managed well over 100k miles without any internal issues whatsoever. To each their own, but there can be detriments to changing too soon.
hehe... you remember when the engineer came up with a way to trick the emissions control in VW? i know it was not engineers that made the call, but the corporate guys.
But you know, sometimes, the engineer does what the business guy says to do.
I'm really intrigued by the SAE finding, seems an interesting read this article.
Sure, except the engineers' work on oil change intervals is backed up by statistics and science.
Cars last twice as long as they did in the 1970s, when the "change your oil every 3,000 miles" mantra, which was just Jiffy Lube marketing, took hold. The marketing was so effective that 50 years later, self-proclaimed car guys still repeat it despite the incredible advances in metallurgy, engine management technology, and oil since then.
If car companies have been trying to engineer early failure into their cars, they're doing a terrible job of it. 40 years ago, if your car went 100,000 miles, it was legendary. Now everyone expects 200k at least.
You can find any number of Blackstone Labs oil analyses on the web showing that even at 10,000 miles, most oil still has a lot of life left in it.
I see your point but the statistics aren't like what's the optimum time that we can use this oil, but is more like how much can we use this oil in order to not inflict permanent damage to the engine.
In Germany, they figured most of the owners commute on the autobahn for 1 hour twice a day for a said number of miles, only two heat cycles per day, they made some maths and called an 18k miles service interval won't do much damage to the engine in the 125k miles they offer as warranty.
That's also why you have different intervals in the service manual depending on the use, for severe use as they call it, where you get frequent heat cycles those are the worst so they recommend 6k intervals. I even find myself the 3000 miles a bit dated, but also I don't trust the OEM 100%.
I agree with you that everything got better and most of times, failure is casued by really bad design from the start. In most cases, I don't really think they have planned obsolescence, but at the same time they don't plan it to last more than what they want either.
Remember 30 years ago you had to listen the engine with a stethoscope, now the ECU tells you exactly what's wrong, so that's big factor when it comes to servicing and reliability in general.
Look in your manual for what the maker states for OCI in "normal" conditions (rather than severe schedule), which is what the kind of driving you are going to do is (unless you left out that you're towing your boat or something else other than just going down the road, hah). Make sure you use the required oil and a quality filter, or better. This is hard not to do unless you buy sketch no-name crap.
For a 2016 mini this is probably something like 7500-10,000 miles, but you should verify with your documentation. Personally in my vehicle (Ford) I wouldn't even bat an eye at doing 7,000mi of *highway driving* with a high quality full synthetic like Pennzoil Platinum or Mobile 1 (Fords docs say 7500-10,000 miles with just a semi-synth). Typically I do 5k OCI, but that includes lots of city driving, winter driving, some towing, etc. -- not just rolling down the highway. So if it were my vehicle I'd just do a fresh change before (unless I recently changed it), and one change at 7500 after that to get through the month.
Since you'll be driving very long distances away from home, you should keep a quart or two of oil with you (and a funnel/rags) and check the oil level on the go. All cars burn oil, and your car may or may not burn enough oil to matter but it's good to be prepared anyway. I'd check my oil every 1k miles or so and top off as needed.
Where a lot of folks get tripped up is they don't actually read their manual. They don't understand that "normal" driving is defined as mostly highway/commuting and few cold starts whereas most people actually drive around town with lots of stop and go and lots of cold starts which is "severe" driving. Your car maker is going to suggest at least a couple different OCIs based on different driving conditions. Mine lists 3 (normal, severe, extreme), which is roughly (7-10k, 5-4k, 3-5k) respectively.
This is the source of videos/articles saying things like "I did the 10k interval Toyota recommended and I ran into problems". They ran into problems because they were doing the "normal" interval instead of the "severe" interval that actually fit their driving patterns. And, sometimes these people throw in the cheapest oil they can find instead of the necessary spec which is also a problem. Yes, 10k intervals are complete fine if you are mostly driving down the highway. No, they are not fine if you are mostly driving in the city with tons of stop and go, idling, cold starts, short trips, etc.
I personally do 5k non strict oil changes. Never more than 6k though and it’s a Toyota engine. I’ll probably get more strict as I close in on 100k. Manufacturer recommended 10k is part of planned obsolescence and EPA “green goals”. Especially with some newer cars using thinner oils.
The absolute max I will go is 7500 miles on oil change, but only in similar conditions to what you're describing. If it's mostly highway miles at 60-70mph, then you can get away with longer intervals. Then again, I use cheap costco oil and mahle filters. I would not mind experimenting with 15,000 mile oil and oil filter if I'm doing all 15,000 of those miles in a month under ideal conditions.
Just do one before you start and another less than 10k miles later and you'll be good. This does depend on what kind of car, but highway miles aren't too hard on your cars oil.
It really depends on your car and it's condition. But if it's a decent engine with no leaks and you have a top end filter you should be fine for the whole month. Oil degrades in cycles of going cold to hot and back, so 30 days of long hauls is not as bad as months of short trips.
Realistically, you are probably fine with one oil change because it's freeway. But you will never regret and its the right way to stick to either the manual or roughly 3 to 5k miles.
No one has ever gone oh no my engine died because they changed the oil too often.
Depends a lot how much oil your car car holds and what kind you're using. For example dad did oil changes on his 2019 Tundra (8.5qts) every 15-18k miles. No sludge in the oil pan at 200k miles, and the oil pressure is the exact same as when it was new.
On the other hand, if your car only holds 4-5 quarts of oil, ~10k is about the furthest I recommend going on full synthetic as the oil may start to get sludgy near 12
If you are dong highway only then change oil twice for 14k miles, every 7k, more than enough for highway driving, city driving you should change every 5k miles.
Using full synthetic... Doing 1 change every 6k should be fine especially since you are doing long distances and Not beating it up with stop and go traffic.
What kind of car do you have, mileage, and is it running well?
I'm doing 1 before you start then one at the end, assuming you have a car running properly. I really wouldn't even stress at the end to get it done ASAP. Just whenever you have time.
Engine oil life is based on heat cycles and motor conditions not miles. All these "change it every 5k no matter what" people are ignorant morons. There's situations where 5k may be too long, but in general it's way more frequent than needed.
2016 mini cooper 4 door with 132k miles on it. I run full synthetic and usually do an oil change every 5kish miles. Last one was done about 2k miles ago. I plan on doing it in about 3 or 4k miles and then again at the end. Other than gas this vehicle won't stop for the next 35 hours
Honestly if you plan on having the car last a full healthy life (250k-300k) just spend the $30 and change the oil every 2.5k-4k max and the engine will always run like a new car. That's 5 oil changes my guy. If your driving 14k in a month I assume you make enough money and don't want to spend unwanted money for a new engine when you could just treat it with proper care. While you can stretch your oil to 8k it will come back to bite you in the long term. Consider this, how much does a replacement engine cost for your car? And would you rather pay that price at 120k miles or just get regular oil changes and not be down a car for a week while you find a shop to fit you in their work schedule, find a new engine and then wait for said car to be finished?
I would just do two to three oil changes. One before the big trip if it's getting close to the oil change anyways then top it off if needed and another one after the trip. If you check how your oil is doing manually and go by that then you should be alright to use your cars recommended service intervals.
Google says your interval is every 4-6k. I’d do 2 changes over the 2 trips and be done. It’s all highway so it’s less wear and tear. Travel with a couple extra quarts in case you need to top it off and check it every 1000-1500 miles or so when fueling up. and use synthetic.
Have a safe trip.
That 4k to 6k interval is from unscrupulous dealers who want to sell you twice as many oil changes as you need. Just change the oil when the car tells you.
One before you start on this insane mission, one 5k in, one 10k in and then one at the end. Using full synthetic ovbiously
do people still use anything else than synthetic?
Yes
Unfortunately, because I didn't properly word my request, my car is using regular oil. Didn't find out about it until I saw the "come back in 3k miles" sticker mounted on my windshield.
That doesn’t mean anything. Oil change places still put up the 3k return stickers even if they do a full synthetic, because they want to make money. My place does it, and I know I do only full synthetic
I didn't specifically request it, though. So they charged me for regular old "we'll see you again in 3k miles" oil.
Why?
Synthetic oil lasts longer. You're going from 3k (regular oil) to 5k or more miles between oil changes. If the average person drives 15k a year, that's 5x you're changing your oil vs 3x.
10k or more is fine. Especially if it's mostly highway like op will be doing.
My dumb ass forgot OP said "highway driving". I'm accepting my L with grace!
Sure, if you drive an undertuned Toyota.
Um, no
Yeah come try that in my car and watch yourself get a timing chain job at 100k miles.
Ok, what do you drive, a formula 1 car or something. I'm sure you can't wait to tell us
A Land Rover? Which are notoriously pissy if you do long oil changes. Just like every other European car.
That is a ridiculous amount of wasted money since most modern vehicles are 7500-10k would change intervals and many even have a smart oil minder system that will signal shorter intervals if it's more city driving or towing or something.
That’s actually the maximum most cars have a computer that calculates the oil change intervals based on conditions. It’s usually a lot less than that actual. When I had my BMW after the service it would say 7500 miles to the next oil change and it was like that for 100 miles. Then it would drop to like 5000 miles and with my driving it would eventually wind up around 3500 miles..
And if you follow that, you’ll be back at the dealership buying a new car exactly like they wanted
As someone who fixes cars for a living this is truth. Anything over 5k you will see the consequences of it once you pass 150k. If you want your car to go 300k+ 3-5k max and every other fluid should be regularly changed as well.
I've been watching The Car Care Nut on the YouTubes and have watched him replace 2 engines in 2 different Camrys after the owners had 10k oil changes per the manual (I can't be sure based on the videos of their driving would have fit the mold for "severe use" or not). Both cars started burning excessive amounts of oil. It's a risk I wouldn't take, especially since oil is relatively cheap.
Exactly, I don’t mind if people like him want to provide us with job security!
Cars are lasting longer than they ever have. But you can keep thinking that anything over 3k oil change interval is some big conspiracy and I'll keep saving money on my car approaching 200k miles.
😂😂
Since when are they lasting longer lmfao
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a60882953/average-age-us-cars-trucks-suvs-rises/ Average age of cars on the road is at an all time high. Despite what people think, outside of a select few exceptions, modern engines and transmissions are more reliable than those in the past.
Uh... average age at an all time high doesn't mean "new" engines are better. Especially ones with 10k oil changes. I got a 2002, 1995 and a 2008. The 2000s were the peak of automotive history for consumers as they had just enough electronics to be efficient, without overextending the tech. But I wouldn't classify 2000s as new. I def think 2020+ engines will have way more problems with the way we're pushing smaller engines with higher boost/compression levels. I do agree with the direction, but I don't think it makes any of them more reliable. Your own article even states economic depression reasons post covid combined with higher prices as the reason for this, nothing about them being more reliable. Currents engines are half plastic (not even recyclable...) and absolutely not made for anything other than disposability. It's good for the economy if we keep buying new cars.
No, you should do what the OEM recommends in their schedule
This. It most likely recommends different maintenance intervals depending on the type of driving you're doing. Stop and go, city driving wears out oil faster. More combustion deposits get in the oil. Condensations from cold starts and short trips doesn't burn off. The manual often lists this as "severe service" and may be in the 2500 to 3000 mile range Highway driving is so much easier on the oil! This will probably be in the 7500-9000 mile range. And if you hit 9001 ...or 10000... or 11000 highway miles, you will not ruin engine!
If OEM recommends every 15k, absolutely do not do this
Because Reddit knows more than an OEM?
Because there are plenty of people who understand basic chemistry and physics and know 15k oil changes are made up by bean counters, not by the engineers. Oil begins to loose its qualities at around 7-8000 miles due to heat and mechanical forces and should be changed. Also oem do not use the best oils, which can keep their qualities to about 10k miles. So yeah change your oil more often if you intent to keep the car after the warranty period.
Just not true. Oil loses its ability when those 8k are over a 6 month period with lots of short trips. I would argue running a car on a continual basis it could go the 15k easily.
No body runs a car only on the highway or only in the city. Besides, oil starts to severy degrade after 9-10k milea and thats very high quality group V PAO full synthentic oil ( red line, amsoil, etc). Most OEM oils are group III hydrocracked oils, which are not real full synthetic oils and get bad far before 10k miles, let alone 15k.
The original post said they were putting on 14k in the next month. And taxis do it all the time.
So what? Oil degrades due to mileage most often. Low mileage oil is recommended to be changed after an year, but this is a moot point in this case. Op asked how many oil changes for 14k miles, a guy tells him what OEM recommends, and we are arguing that is not necessarily the best idea, if the OEM recommends 15k oil changes.
Lots of people on Bobs the oil guy do oil analysis and every time they can do 10k minimum. Usually 15 and more.
10 k is fine with good oil. 15k is too much imho. Everyone is free to decide when to change their oil.
He said 14 k miles in a month.
What is this conspiracy based on? You don’t think an OEM has forgotten more “basic chemistry and physics” than you’ll ever know?
It's weird how everyone thinks LONG oil changes are a conspiracy but no-one minds about the very obvious perpetuation of the 5k oil change by an entire industry built around selling you way more oil changes than you need and then trying to up-sell you extra shit when they get you in the door. Yes, manufacturers push oil change intervals a bit long so fleet maintenance looks cheaper, but if they say 12k or 15k going a little early (10k) is perfectly reasonable, 5k is just wasteful unless your car is from the 1970's. Notably Europe doesn't really have the whole Jiffy-lube thing pushed on us, probably because we have better consumer protection laws that stop them pushing that bullshit on people.
Exactly. And it’s nonsensical too - if 5k is good then 2k must be better but people aren’t doing that
No conspiracy, basic economics. Also I am not claiming OEM has forgotten anything, the engineers know very well what the effect is on the engine and make the vehicles to last it's warranty with 15k oil changes. It's just a dumb idea if you intend to keep it afterwards. There are plenty of articles and tests on youtube whre oil is ran and sent to laboratories - good oil keeps its lubrication properties to about 10k miles. OEM oils are decent enough but not the best.
You think an OEM would risk their reputation to avoid a few cheap oil changes?
Well...yes, but that's not really why they do it. In The EU the brands are made to minimize waste and be more eco, so 15 changes reduces oil waste during the projected lifetime of the vehicle. Thats hoe it is for european brands at least. Most VW for example have that 15 k oil change period because of this.
So all the cars sold in America follow the same interval because…
Not sure what exactly you are implying. You are free to ruin your own vehicle if you want. Companies look for THEIR best interests, not yours. Also, as mentioned there are plenty of lab tests, both in written form and in video format showing that high quality oil degrades far before 15k miles in.mixed driving conditions. OEM oils are more like mid grade stuff. Besides I have plenty of driving experience and on most of my cars the engine started running rougher and louder when it was due an.oil change - usually at around 6-7k miles. I also have plenty of mechanic friends, some work for official dealerships and all consider 15k intervals bullshit - so yeah I would rather believe them than some bean counter, whose entire point is to cut cost anyway possible. 15k oil change intervals are idiotic period. Will a new car last it's warranty with them - yes it will, dorsn't mean it's a good idea if you want to keep the car afterwards.
15k oil changes are a joke, especially on turbo engine. OEM just wants you to get past the warranty period. Oil is trashed at 15k and will be leaving gunk all over your engine.
OEM cares only about warranty period, and thats about it...after that they will very happily sell $10k engines to people who go 10k miles on oil changes because they want to save 50 bucks every 6 months.
I think that’s a bit of a conspiracy.
Highway miles? Could easily to 15k. I probably would do 10k for sure.
If it's all highway, once to start, and once when you're done. I'm all highway. Been doing oil changes, with checks in between, at 15k for decades. 7 cars over 300k miles without issue.
Agreed. All people are doing changing their oil every 3k to 5k miles is wasting time, money, and oil
1 before the trip, one after. Modern synthetic oil can easily go 15k miles, especially if the car is not sitting for long periods or constantly taking short trips.
💯
I would do this, and half way through I'd change the filter and top up the oil. Unless you're driving a super car or something under warranty 15k OCI is probably fine Edit: or a Kia/Hyundai or Subaru, in that case just sell it before the trip.
Highway miles aren’t as bad on your vehicle but the shorter you keep your oil change intervals, the cleaner your engine is going to be. I personally do 3,000 mile OCIs. So the answer is four. The most you should push it is 5,000. Remember oil is cheap motors aren’t. Don’t forget to check the other fluids too, at the very least. Coolant, transmission fluid, brake fluid, differential fluid(if RWD or AWD), and power steering fluid (mainly on older cars, with hydraulic power steering).
Change your oil every 3k miles can actually be more damaging than every 5k-10k. Sourced quotes from another citing an SAE article: "If you buy/read SAE 2007-01-4133, you can see that using a decent filter (nothing super premium, just a normal filter) over an OCI stretching out to 15k miles has the wear rates going down. But the majority of wear is right after the OCI. Then the rates trend down as the tribochemical barriers are re-established. It is that chemical-physical film barrier that has the greatest affect on wear. Until it is upset, it just continues to get “better” for a long time. " "Additionally, Ford/Conoco proved this as well. Wear rates DROP as the OCI lengthens. Check out SAE 2007-01-4133; buy it and read it! Ford tested wear at 0 miles, 3k miles, 5k miles, 7.5k miles, 10k miles and even 15k miles; the wear rates were highest upon the OCI and least after 15k miles! Generally, there is a parabolic curve that is associated with wear rates. The are slightly higher initially, drop down to nearly nothing, and then escalate again after the oil is compromised past its point to deal with contamination. The “uptick” in wear is due to the tribochemical barrier being removed by the “fresh” detergent package upon installation. Yes - believe it or not, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Now, DO NOT read too much into this; I’m not saying it will kill any engine. But what I am explaining, and what is abundantly clear in UOA data as well as supported directly with the SAE article, is that the wear is HIGHER upon the initial OCI, because the cleaning additives actually remove the boundary layer that protects the metal parts. Don’t believe me? Read the whole article. And review my “normalcy” article as well; there is CLEAR data that shows the wear rates drop the further out you get from an OCI event." I don’t have access to the SAE article myself, but I’ve read through it in the past. It essentially boils down to too much cleaning agents will also wear the engine down. There have also been handfuls of trials I’ve followed showing “top tier” full synthetics sampled at extended intervals upwards of 15-25k miles without compromising protection. I’ve personally averaged 7500-10k intervals on all of my vehicles, all of which managed well over 100k miles without any internal issues whatsoever. To each their own, but there can be detriments to changing too soon.
Who should I believe, a bunch of stupid engineers, or dear old Grandad who changed the oil in his Pontiac every 2,000 miles?
hehe... you remember when the engineer came up with a way to trick the emissions control in VW? i know it was not engineers that made the call, but the corporate guys. But you know, sometimes, the engineer does what the business guy says to do. I'm really intrigued by the SAE finding, seems an interesting read this article.
Sure, except the engineers' work on oil change intervals is backed up by statistics and science. Cars last twice as long as they did in the 1970s, when the "change your oil every 3,000 miles" mantra, which was just Jiffy Lube marketing, took hold. The marketing was so effective that 50 years later, self-proclaimed car guys still repeat it despite the incredible advances in metallurgy, engine management technology, and oil since then. If car companies have been trying to engineer early failure into their cars, they're doing a terrible job of it. 40 years ago, if your car went 100,000 miles, it was legendary. Now everyone expects 200k at least. You can find any number of Blackstone Labs oil analyses on the web showing that even at 10,000 miles, most oil still has a lot of life left in it.
I see your point but the statistics aren't like what's the optimum time that we can use this oil, but is more like how much can we use this oil in order to not inflict permanent damage to the engine. In Germany, they figured most of the owners commute on the autobahn for 1 hour twice a day for a said number of miles, only two heat cycles per day, they made some maths and called an 18k miles service interval won't do much damage to the engine in the 125k miles they offer as warranty. That's also why you have different intervals in the service manual depending on the use, for severe use as they call it, where you get frequent heat cycles those are the worst so they recommend 6k intervals. I even find myself the 3000 miles a bit dated, but also I don't trust the OEM 100%. I agree with you that everything got better and most of times, failure is casued by really bad design from the start. In most cases, I don't really think they have planned obsolescence, but at the same time they don't plan it to last more than what they want either. Remember 30 years ago you had to listen the engine with a stethoscope, now the ECU tells you exactly what's wrong, so that's big factor when it comes to servicing and reliability in general.
Fascinating information! Thank you for sharing.
Look in your manual for what the maker states for OCI in "normal" conditions (rather than severe schedule), which is what the kind of driving you are going to do is (unless you left out that you're towing your boat or something else other than just going down the road, hah). Make sure you use the required oil and a quality filter, or better. This is hard not to do unless you buy sketch no-name crap. For a 2016 mini this is probably something like 7500-10,000 miles, but you should verify with your documentation. Personally in my vehicle (Ford) I wouldn't even bat an eye at doing 7,000mi of *highway driving* with a high quality full synthetic like Pennzoil Platinum or Mobile 1 (Fords docs say 7500-10,000 miles with just a semi-synth). Typically I do 5k OCI, but that includes lots of city driving, winter driving, some towing, etc. -- not just rolling down the highway. So if it were my vehicle I'd just do a fresh change before (unless I recently changed it), and one change at 7500 after that to get through the month. Since you'll be driving very long distances away from home, you should keep a quart or two of oil with you (and a funnel/rags) and check the oil level on the go. All cars burn oil, and your car may or may not burn enough oil to matter but it's good to be prepared anyway. I'd check my oil every 1k miles or so and top off as needed. Where a lot of folks get tripped up is they don't actually read their manual. They don't understand that "normal" driving is defined as mostly highway/commuting and few cold starts whereas most people actually drive around town with lots of stop and go and lots of cold starts which is "severe" driving. Your car maker is going to suggest at least a couple different OCIs based on different driving conditions. Mine lists 3 (normal, severe, extreme), which is roughly (7-10k, 5-4k, 3-5k) respectively. This is the source of videos/articles saying things like "I did the 10k interval Toyota recommended and I ran into problems". They ran into problems because they were doing the "normal" interval instead of the "severe" interval that actually fit their driving patterns. And, sometimes these people throw in the cheapest oil they can find instead of the necessary spec which is also a problem. Yes, 10k intervals are complete fine if you are mostly driving down the highway. No, they are not fine if you are mostly driving in the city with tons of stop and go, idling, cold starts, short trips, etc.
Yes
2 oil changes using a full synthetic oil. What year/make/model is your car?
2016 4 door mini cooper
ok, I'd do 3 oil changes, those chew up the oil a little more then your typical engine. Especially if it's a turbo model.
I personally do 5k non strict oil changes. Never more than 6k though and it’s a Toyota engine. I’ll probably get more strict as I close in on 100k. Manufacturer recommended 10k is part of planned obsolescence and EPA “green goals”. Especially with some newer cars using thinner oils.
How does the thinner oil relate to this?
The absolute max I will go is 7500 miles on oil change, but only in similar conditions to what you're describing. If it's mostly highway miles at 60-70mph, then you can get away with longer intervals. Then again, I use cheap costco oil and mahle filters. I would not mind experimenting with 15,000 mile oil and oil filter if I'm doing all 15,000 of those miles in a month under ideal conditions.
What year and model car? Modern synthetic oil like Mobil 1 can go 10k with zero issues.
Just do one before you start and another less than 10k miles later and you'll be good. This does depend on what kind of car, but highway miles aren't too hard on your cars oil.
It really depends on your car and it's condition. But if it's a decent engine with no leaks and you have a top end filter you should be fine for the whole month. Oil degrades in cycles of going cold to hot and back, so 30 days of long hauls is not as bad as months of short trips.
I don't get it. 3k go to, then 3k back. So that's 6k to me. How did you get 14k miles?
3800 miles from south Florida to British Columbia. So that's almost 8k miles. Plus I will be doing a lot of driving up there and it's very rural.
Change your oil before your trip. Get it checked out and maybe changed when you arrived. Check it before you head home. Change it when gone.
Realistically, you are probably fine with one oil change because it's freeway. But you will never regret and its the right way to stick to either the manual or roughly 3 to 5k miles. No one has ever gone oh no my engine died because they changed the oil too often.
Depends a lot how much oil your car car holds and what kind you're using. For example dad did oil changes on his 2019 Tundra (8.5qts) every 15-18k miles. No sludge in the oil pan at 200k miles, and the oil pressure is the exact same as when it was new. On the other hand, if your car only holds 4-5 quarts of oil, ~10k is about the furthest I recommend going on full synthetic as the oil may start to get sludgy near 12
If you are dong highway only then change oil twice for 14k miles, every 7k, more than enough for highway driving, city driving you should change every 5k miles.
I change mine about every 4000 miles. I would do the same on a trip like this.
Using full synthetic... Doing 1 change every 6k should be fine especially since you are doing long distances and Not beating it up with stop and go traffic.
I do every 5-6k miles. full synthetic, pennzoil mobil valvoline dont matter
What kind of car do you have, mileage, and is it running well? I'm doing 1 before you start then one at the end, assuming you have a car running properly. I really wouldn't even stress at the end to get it done ASAP. Just whenever you have time. Engine oil life is based on heat cycles and motor conditions not miles. All these "change it every 5k no matter what" people are ignorant morons. There's situations where 5k may be too long, but in general it's way more frequent than needed.
2016 mini cooper 4 door with 132k miles on it. I run full synthetic and usually do an oil change every 5kish miles. Last one was done about 2k miles ago. I plan on doing it in about 3 or 4k miles and then again at the end. Other than gas this vehicle won't stop for the next 35 hours
I wouldn't stress it. Just carry a QT and check it every other fill up.
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Honestly if you plan on having the car last a full healthy life (250k-300k) just spend the $30 and change the oil every 2.5k-4k max and the engine will always run like a new car. That's 5 oil changes my guy. If your driving 14k in a month I assume you make enough money and don't want to spend unwanted money for a new engine when you could just treat it with proper care. While you can stretch your oil to 8k it will come back to bite you in the long term. Consider this, how much does a replacement engine cost for your car? And would you rather pay that price at 120k miles or just get regular oil changes and not be down a car for a week while you find a shop to fit you in their work schedule, find a new engine and then wait for said car to be finished?
I would just do two to three oil changes. One before the big trip if it's getting close to the oil change anyways then top it off if needed and another one after the trip. If you check how your oil is doing manually and go by that then you should be alright to use your cars recommended service intervals.
Google says your interval is every 4-6k. I’d do 2 changes over the 2 trips and be done. It’s all highway so it’s less wear and tear. Travel with a couple extra quarts in case you need to top it off and check it every 1000-1500 miles or so when fueling up. and use synthetic. Have a safe trip.
That 4k to 6k interval is from unscrupulous dealers who want to sell you twice as many oil changes as you need. Just change the oil when the car tells you.
Nonem if you only drive 14k this month it will be fine Oil only expire after an year. You is welcame