Who does your oil changes and do you use bulk or bottled motor oil

crosscreekcooter

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Yesterday I had a conversation with my buddy Mooch about my trip to Goodyear for an oil change. He asked if they used oil from the bottle or the bulk drum oil. I said hell I don't know I was sitting in the lobby watching The View. This is abnormal behavior for me as I am always pretty nosy when it comes to paying someone to do work for me. Anyway, Mooch has a friend who builds high-horsepower dragster engines for a couple of different racing teams and he told Moochie that the bulk oil that many of the quick change companies use is actually recycled oil that has been filtered and chemical additives added to it before being packacged and sold. His comments were that he has broken down engines that have been raised on a steady diet of this engine oil and they develop a hardened sheet of scum on top of the oil in the oil pan. The danger to this is as the oil pump begins to draw the oil for circulation, the sheet is sucked up around the oil pickup and starves the engine for oil, which will untimately cause engine failure. Anybody know anything about this? Also Attached is an article that poopoos the 3000 mile oil change.
http://www.edmunds.com/car-care/stop-changing-your-oil.html
 

G 2

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I've only ever used fully synthetic oil so I would never change the oil every 3k miles anyway.
 

Swamp Donkey

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3000 mile oil changes are silly, unless you have an old car with struggling rings or valve guides and it's contaminating the oil.

I know, it's an old habit to break.
 
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78

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I do mine at 5k. The manufacturer calls for longer, and I know synthetic can go that long, but the oil still gets dirty. Just one of my anal retentives.
 

Swamp Donkey

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I do mine at 5k. The manufacturer calls for longer, and I know synthetic can go that long, but the oil still gets dirty. Just one of my anal retentives.
What kind of car? Mine still looks really good at 7k.

You running a chip or something that changes the burn?
 

78

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What kind of car? Mine still looks really good at 7k.

You running a chip or something that changes the burn?

They can pick up garbage and contaminates from in and out of the motor, which makes the oil less effective. My car calls for a change the sooner of 10k or a year and I'm right on a year today, but I won't because I'm looking to trade.
 

NVGator

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I have mine changed at the Toyota Dealership about every 6k miles. Always have the oil changed and tires rotated at the same time. I use a synthetic blend. They'll snoop around and they'll me all the other snake oils that need to be changed without a service charge.
 

playzwtrux

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I've pretty much always changed my own oil and have paid to have it done less than 5 times in my life.

In my '05 F-150 (the one with the crappy 5.4L 3-valve engine, 180k+ miles) I only run Motorcraft Semi-Synthetic 5W-20 (factory recommended) with a Motorcraft filter. - these are specifically recommended by Ford for this engine (as well as others) - and I have read in multiple places, by multiple mechanic professionals with experience on these engines, that this is the best option for the "quirks" that this motor has. I will be glad when i replace this truck and no longer have to deal with said quirks. - I change about every 7k miles

in the last car that i had, '04 Grand Prix GT- 3.1L hoss of an engine, i used the wal-mart brand full synthetic with a Fram oil filter and changed every 7-10k miles, never having one single oil related problem with over 200k. - i wish i still had this car

If it's full Synthetic, does it really matter the label on the bottle? - i bet this stuff comes off the same line; just like tv screens, lithium batteries, anti-freeze, etc...

btw, if you own a Chevy & use that orange crap of an anti-freeze, it will eat up your seals & plastic parts within 5-7 years, just to give a lil more corrosion protection to your metal parts. - it's a rip off cause you'll spend more on the anti-freeze & plastic parts/seals then you'll save on the metal part damage.

in May i bought a '13 Hyundai Sonata in a deal i really couldn't pass on. i paid less than kbb trade-in value with less than 18k miles. I have only had the oil changed once and it was completed @ Firestone for $20 (i bet it was barrel oil). the only reason that i paid to have it done was because it needed to be done before i left for our honeymoon and i didn't have time with everything else going on. otherwise, i would have likely bought some Pennzoil & a Fram filter - my dad always swore by Pennzoil & Fram, so I have too, but in today's market I don't think any of the oils are really better than others.
 

L-boy

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My 2013 Taurus runs on synthetic blend. I probably change it around 5000. I'm going to check the manual though to see if it is longer. I usually just go to the quick lube type places or occasionally the dealer. No idea if they used bottled or bulk. In 35 years of driving I don't think I have ever had any engine related issues to engine oil problems.
 

crosscreekcooter

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My 2013 Taurus runs on synthetic blend. I probably change it around 5000. I'm going to check the manual though to see if it is longer. I usually just go to the quick lube type places or occasionally the dealer. No idea if they used bottled or bulk. In 35 years of driving I don't think I have ever had any engine related issues to engine oil problems.

That's good news for you. What's the most miles you've put on a car in those 35 years?
 

G 2

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I've pretty much always changed my own oil and have paid to have it done less than 5 times in my life.

In my '05 F-150 (the one with the crappy 5.4L 3-valve engine, 180k+ miles) I only run Motorcraft Semi-Synthetic 5W-20 (factory recommended) with a Motorcraft filter. - these are specifically recommended by Ford for this engine (as well as others) - and I have read in multiple places, by multiple mechanic professionals with experience on these engines, that this is the best option for the "quirks" that this motor has. I will be glad when i replace this truck and no longer have to deal with said quirks. - I change about every 7k miles

in the last car that i had, '04 Grand Prix GT- 3.1L hoss of an engine, i used the wal-mart brand full synthetic with a Fram oil filter and changed every 7-10k miles, never having one single oil related problem with over 200k. - i wish i still had this car

If it's full Synthetic, does it really matter the label on the bottle? - i bet this stuff comes off the same line; just like tv screens, lithium batteries, anti-freeze, etc...

btw, if you own a Chevy & use that orange crap of an anti-freeze, it will eat up your seals & plastic parts within 5-7 years, just to give a lil more corrosion protection to your metal parts. - it's a rip off cause you'll spend more on the anti-freeze & plastic parts/seals then you'll save on the metal part damage.

in May i bought a '13 Hyundai Sonata in a deal i really couldn't pass on. i paid less than kbb trade-in value with less than 18k miles. I have only had the oil changed once and it was completed @ Firestone for $20 (i bet it was barrel oil). the only reason that i paid to have it done was because it needed to be done before i left for our honeymoon and i didn't have time with everything else going on. otherwise, i would have likely bought some Pennzoil & a Fram filter - my dad always swore by Pennzoil & Fram, so I have too, but in today's market I don't think any of the oils are really better than others.
There is definitely different quality of synthetic engine oil but if you aren't doing a lot of heavy towing or track them then it isn't needed if you buy the right oil weight for your engine and climate.
 

Concrete Helmet

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Depends on which vehicle and the use. My Tundra recommends 10K with Amsoil which is the bomb but Toyota also warranties the engine and pays for the oil changes so until it goes out of warranty that's where and when I'll take it. It only gets driven about 8-9K miles a year and unless I decide to use it to tow my boat back and forth from the coast...then I'll get it done every 5-6K.
I beat on our 2015 Mustang GT pretty hard even though it only has 13K. It will spin up to 7300 RPM and I've bounced it off the rev limiter plenty of times so even though she gets full synthetic it gets changed between 4-5K.
My Shelby will get the oil changed once a year as it won't be driven more than 3K. Still a good idea at that frequency due to the stresses of being supercharged,15-16# of boost, and the fact that I drive it like I stole it.
Caddy, Camry and other company vehicles are at 7500 on synthetic. BTW, none of them are changed by me....I'm old, fat, and I hate getting dirty....
 

L-boy

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That's good news for you. What's the most miles you've put on a car in those 35 years?

The mileages have ranged from 150k to about 225k with 6 cars. Usually what seems to happen when you get over 160 to 170k sooner or later you will have some pretty expensive repairs. I'll sink some money into them to keep them going but if I have to sink more than $1500 in a shot I really start looking around.
 

Concrete Helmet

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The mileages have ranged from 150k to about 225k with 6 cars. Usually what seems to happen when you get over 160 to 170k sooner or later you will have some pretty expensive repairs. I'll sink some money into them to keep them going but if I have to sink more than $1500 in a shot I really start looking around.

Probably best because even though the imports like Toyota and Honda seem to run forever their replacement parts are pretty expensive. I've had both brands go over 200K several times in years past without major failure. Another reason for me is the lack of quality independent shops these days to work on older or higher mileage stuff at least in my area.

We've also had crappy luck with the high end European makes like BMW and Mercedes. I have a 2003 Mercedes suv that has been a parking lot ornament for 3 years because at 60,000 it needs a $6,000 repair which is nothing more than a speedometer cable seal....they said replacing the tranny was cheaper than breaking it down to repair. My wife had a beautiful Mercedes Cabriolet that we traded on our 2015 Mustang GT because it was in constant need of some ticky tack BS.....I never saw the dash that it didn't have at least 2 or 3 service lights on at the same time. Less than 50K miles. This was despite taking it to the dealer and finally some independent shops . I will NEVER own another Mercedes or BMW. The depreciation sucks and the repair bills once out of warranty are just stupid, even the routine service bills are a joke.
 
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L-boy

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Probably best because even though the imports like Toyota and Honda seem to run forever their replacement parts are pretty expensive. I've had both brands go over 200K several times in years past without major failure. Another reason for me is the lack of quality independent shops these days to work on older or higher mileage stuff at least in my area.

We've also had crappy luck with the high end European makes like BMW and Mercedes. I have a 2003 Mercedes suv that has been a parking lot ornament for 3 years because at 60,000 it needs a $6,000 repair which is nothing more than a speedometer cable seal....they said replacing the tranny was cheaper than breaking it down to repair. My wife had a beautiful Mercedes Cabriolet that we traded on our 2015 Mustang GT because it was in constant need of some ticky tack BS.....I never saw the dash that it didn't have at least 2 or 3 service lights on at the same time. Less than 50K miles. This was despite taking it to the dealer and finally some independent shops . I will NEVER own another Mercedes or BMW. The depreciation sucks and the repair bills once out of warranty are just stupid, even the routine service bills are a joke.

We have owned 2 Nissan maximas, 2 Toyota Avalons, a Honda Accord and 2 ford Tauruses. Probably the least maintenance was the 2007 for Taurus I bought used. Basically no maintaince other than oil changes and some fluid changes to about 160k until and then some expensive issues came up.

When doing maintenance sometimes I go to dealers and sometimes other. Everybody says dealers are so expensive, but I have found non Dealers sometimes to be worse. It really depends on what needs to be done. Generally with a dealer they seem to do the work right.

With us a lot of it is convenience. We will pay a little more to make sure it gets done right.

When you get up around 180k you are typically looking at a couple of thousand a year in maintenance on average, and occasionally higher than that. That may be cheaper than a new car, but you get into reliability issues, and seems to me a good low mileage used car is more economic than the older. Took our last Avalon in and it probably needed about $4000 of work to get it up to snuff. Instead traded it in for a used 3'yearnold Lexus with low mileage for net trade of $15k. That was a no brainer.
 

Concrete Helmet

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Took our last Avalon in and it probably needed about $4000 of work to get it up to snuff. Instead traded it in for a used 3'yearnold Lexus with low mileage for net trade of $15k. That was a no brainer.
Amazing how much even those higher mileage older Toyotas bring on trade. I had a 2002 Tacoma TRD pickup with 165K on it and was planning on selling it to my buddy as a work truck for $3500....that was until I ask AFTER negotiating the price for my new Tundra how much they would have given me. When they came back at $6,000 I told them to stop and rewrite my deal with the trade in....My buddy wasn't real happy but admitted he probably would have been able to sell it for almost twice what I would have sold it to him for.
 

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