Oil Change Intervals

Let’s look at setting up a regular quick oil change interval for your automobile. First, both your motor oil and oil filter are recommended to be changed every 5,000 to 7,500 miles by many motor oil manufacturers. But, some sources recommend every 3,000 miles for how often to change oil. Even others recommend an interval of every 3,000 miles or at 3-month marks. How often should you change your oil? Why do some indicate time, some distance, and some both as how often to change oil? How often to change oil really depends on the types of driving, distances and frequency you drive your automobile.

Let’s look at your driving conditions to relate to an oil change. Do you drive:

  • in climates that are very hot or cold? Both?
  • in dusty or hilly conditions?
  • in traffic that is stop and go?
  • a vehicle that is high-revving?
  • hauling heavy loads or towing a trailer?
  • on trips that are always short?

The driving conditions above are considered severe. They potentially cause additional wear on tear on your engine. A study performed by the State of California stipulated that greater than 80 percent of all drivers operate their automobile under severe conditions.

To help determine how often to change oil, consult these suggested plans. These suggestions are for conventional motor oil. Some information about how often to change oil if it is synthetic is further down.

Aggressive Plan: 3 months or after each 3,000 miles of driving is how often to change oil for severe conditions:

  • dusty or hilly conditions
  • stop and go traffic
  • high-rev vehicles
  • tow a trailer or haul heavy loads
  • take mostly short trips

Moderate Plan: 5,000 to 7,500 miles is how often to change oil if your driving conditions are consistent, temperatures are both moderate and consistent, and you do not take many short trips.

Minimum Plan: twice a year minimum is how often to change oil if you do not drive your car often. Sludge in oil settles. It is good to flush it out.

Synthetics:

If you use synthetic motor oil, you have a whole different scenario for your oil change intervals. Some synthetic motor oils last 15,000 miles or more. Some even claim 25,000 miles, and how often to change oil as once per year one-year. Synthetics can cost two to three times as much as conventional motor oil. Some, even more. Look at the whole of oil change deals when deciding to go synthetic vs conventional motor oil for your oil change. The oil filters that go with synthetic motor oils may require 12,000 mile change intervals. That can create a hassle, or waste oil life if you simply change them both at the same time. How often you should change oil is best as one oil change deal including oil change and filter.

Synthetic motor oils are best for late model cars, specialty automobiles and sports cars. There is also a big range of difference between many of them. If you use synthetic motor oil, it is best to consult your automobile owner’s manual and the synthetic motor oil specifications to set up how often to change oil.

General rule of thumb for how often to change oil

Use this general rule–the less you drive, the more you can follow calendar intervals for how often to change oil. The more you drive, the more you should follow mileage intervals to determine how often to change oil.

When you are in need to change oil, make sure to use oil change coupons located on the homepage of our website.