Oil Changes in Months not Miles!??
 

I normally only put on about 5K miles per year on my 03 Max (currently 36K miles on it), so how often in months wise can I go before changing my oil and filter since the 3000 miles doesn't really apply to me? How many months should I go rather than miles do you all think? I use dino oil typically Castrol GTX at Nissan Dealership. I live in Seattle, WA area.

Thanks!

I would say 6 months on dino oil. You could leave synthetic in your engine for a year if you changed the filter after six months.

I would change it every 3 months though, they always say every 3000 miles or every 3 months, which ever comes first

ive always been told every 3 months as well

You should be fine at 6 month intervals. If you really want to get some "expert" opinions, head on over to Bob is the oil guy.com.

Well the 3000 miles or 3 months is nothing more than a sales pitch from the Jiffy Lube types shops that got instilled in people's minds over the years. There is no longer any factual basis for it - see the manufacters recommendations. I have been doing it at 4-6 month intervals, and think I will do 6 month intervals now.

I noticed a huge influx of ads at oil change places around the Seattle, WA area of Kendall Synthetic Blend Oil and Mighty oil filters with pretty cheap oil change rates. Anyone know anything about this oil and oil filter? Is it good or crap? Thanks!

A good practice for the health of the engine is to change the the oil & filter every 5,000 km or 3 months which ever comes first.

this, i'd do it 3months, just because. i do my car every 3k miles and my mileage is highway miles which means i could go every 5k now

Alright, can someone tell me how Oil is going to break down after a year of limited driving? It's oil inside a metal container, not rubber in the sun and rain.

I would think that as long as you maintain your mileage intervals, and the engine doesn't have something wrong with it (burns oil, fuel in oil, water in oil) then the duration isn't that important.

Like I said, unless someone has a more specific scientific explanation...

It's about the "freshness" of the oil, open a bag of chips and eat them 3 months after. See how that tastes, same for your car.

Temperature changes also : expands and contracts oil (very little but noticeable at the molecular level)

In aviation it works this way. Calculated in hours inside the engine. Open-up the can of oil, and if it's on the shelf too long, discarded. For the above reasons.

To OP, you are going to get 50 different answers from 39 different people.

To everyone else, be more precise in what OPINION you offer as to which type of oil you are recommending to change.. be it dino or syn.

Changing syn. every 3 months or 3,000 miles is nothing but a waste of money.

I have had my car since 2000, have ran Mobil 1 syn. 5w-30 in it since ~500 miles on the clock, and I change it and the filter 1 every year (now have 122,000 miles). Keep a Mobil 1 extended mileage filter on it, and haven't had 1 issue. Nothing. It use to use a little oil, but even that has now stopped in the past 2yrs, and before that it only really was noticable in the few first months after the change.

So, to the OP it's your car and totally up to you on what you feel is the right time and or intervals to change the oil. If you want an answer to your question look at the manual and just do what it says. Otherwise you won't get nothing but opinions and hear-say here.



I also change the oil in my GMC Yukon XL Denali (6.2 liter, all wheel drive) every year with same oil and filter type. And the "oil life system" notification thing on the truck will run up to about 11 months before it even alerts that 0% remains on the oil.

How can you compare a perishable food item to motor oil and keep a straight face???

Aviation has much more stringent quality control then autos, their policies are overkill since their fleet is airborne, so again, apples to tater chips.

Temp changes aren't drastic enough if the car isn't running compared to when it is, so in the OP's case 5000 miles a year means there's a lot of sitting time below 100F.

The only argument I've ever heard that gives real weight to the monthly duration is if the oil is contaminated by unburned fuels getting past the cylinder wall as blow-by. But the engine would be burning Oil more than likely, so you'd know you have some issues to deal with; changing oil more frequently in that circumstance...

So, besides potato chips, does anyone have a real reason that a year is too long to wait to change oil if the mileage is still very low?

zcar, I have the same yr Max as you but I drive it alot more, (10k to 15k per year. Incidentally, I also have a 69 Cougar that I drive about 1800 to 3000 miles a yr. For the Cougar I change the oil/filter once a year in late February or early March depending on when the temps stay consistently warm. I drive it all year round on warm days but use that 4 wk window in the spring to change my oil.

I appreciate the advice. One thing I have noticed from this thread is that there are a lot of opinions! Here is what I am thinking after going through all the threads- could probably go 1 year between dino oil/filter changes and be ok. But to be safe I will change the oil/filter every 6 months. I appreciate everyone's advice and opinions! Thanks