Question for the oil guys

[Dieselnerd]

I was recycling my used oil at a quick oil change place the other day. During the process one of the oil change people asked me how often I changed my oil.



I said that my owners manual said for the very best conditions you could drive 15000 miles but for most uses including towing you shouldn't go any longer than 7500. I told him I changed mine at 5000 mile intervals.



He remarked that oil filters were all clogged by 3000 miles and you bypassed the filter after that so everyone should change their oil at 3000 miles or less. He said "those diesel guys always seem to wait too long before they change oil and were ruining their engines".



I think filters being clogged at 3000 miles is pure BS but it got me wondering about how long they actually do go before clogging.



Anybody have any real information on this subject?

 

[JCasper]

I go longer then 3,000 most of the time.



Right now I have amsoil in it and it has been in there for 10K. I changed the filter at 5K and am about to do it again along with a oil analysis.

 

[amsoilman]

Quick oil change places want you to beleive the oil and filter will only last 3,000 miles! They want you to thnk the oil is so smart, that at 3,000 miles it automaticly becomes NO GOOD! They simply want your hard earned money! Todays oiils and filters will laast much longer than that!



Wayne

amsoilman

 

[roperteacher]

I have to agree, if you needed the changes every 3,000 the owners manual would say it. It would also say, leave oil in 7500 but change filter at 3,000 if that was the case. I am running the AMSOIL Syn 1540 and really like it so far

 

[JH8128]

if you go extended oil drain then you should always check you oil with a reputable lab. This will show early signs of you filter not properly filtering or your oil is in need of a change (it will also show early signs of a potentially big problem). So plain and simple oil annalisys is the answer. If it calls for oil changes every 5,000 miles then check the oil then and see how its doing.

HE WANTS YOUR MONEY. I dont know very many diesel owners who change their oil every 3,000 miles. And how many of those diesel engines out there who are at 200,000 miles plus. you dont see very many gassers doing that many mile and they change thier oil every 3k. That guy is full of BS

 

[jelag]

I own a several trucks besides the ones listed below..... I change our oil every 8 or 9,000 miles... in each case we drive them for 500,000 miles before we trade... we buy oil by the barrel or take them to a lube center based on where we park the truck at night and how busy our guy is who does the work... in all the years and at least 2 or 3 million miles we've never bought an engine from it wearing out from a lubrication point of view... ... or any problem we could relate back to oil or the use of lubrication... . We have replaced engines at 500K because of wear out... .

I do the same on my personal stuff as well... the oil change is based on the manual..... the Jeep and Car are both at 6000 miles... . and I'll sell them at 150 to 175K miles... .

Just my thoughts... .

 

[LandShark]

Wow... . You found a oil guy that knows more than all the Cummins and Dodge engineers! NOT.

In many years on this site I don't recall ever reading about a oil related failure. Oil analysis always calls for leaving the oil in longer. I usually use the maximum recomended interval... 6000 miles for my old 2nd gen. I've gone as long as 12,000 with synthetic and the analysis still called for leaving it in longer.