It used to drive me crazy. Seeing millions of people being suckered into believing they should change their oil every 3,000 miles.
They even put a sticker in your window so that it reminded you every……single……day. I knew it was wrong. It says it right there in your vehicle’s manual the correct amount of miles you should wait between changes. Yet the marketing of the oil change places prevailed new JiffyLubes and equivalents were put up on every corner. Hundreds of millions of barrels of oil wasted on the myth that we were all saving money and our engines from damage. And now CheckYourNumber.org is proving me right.
One of my first websites, and one of many that never was completed, was a site that showed the recommended mileage between oil changes by make and model of car. Real data from the actual car manuals directly from the manufacturer. I had the data but never could get it up and running. Looks like someone beat me to it. California has created their own website with the same data. CheckYourNumber.org. It’s a simple site, put in your car’s info and they tell you how many miles are recommended between oil changes.
I have no idea why this is now jut become part of the oil saving movement but I sure hope it catches on. Not to hurt the businesses of the oil change companies but because it’s what’s best for the car and it saves oil. Per usual, I tried to come up with a better domain for this type of site but I can’t really come up with a better name. The dot org certainly works but they don’t own the dot com. Simon Butterworth of the Mrs. Butterworth fortune owns it and got it 6 months before the dot org was even registered and I imagine he gets a lot of free traffic.
PS: I made up the Mrs. Butterworth thing and I don’t really own a Porsche that was in the graphic above. I DO own a car that has 15,000 between changes. Gotta love the Germans.
Your link to the website has an extra “s” in it. May want to fix that.
Thanks Spike,
Fixed it
HI Shane,
I have tried to tell people basically this same thing for years on end. Most everyone I know changes their oil still…every 3,000- 6,000 miles. ( Like it some sort of Religion)
This is OK until for the first oil change, but after that..6K minimum to say 12k is good for almost everyone, depending how you drive.
With the improvements in oil etc… no needs to change their oil at every 3k-5k miles.
Do not people realize how much more money these company’s make, having people ‘still convinced’ that they ‘have to’ change their oil every 3k mile’s or so.
Oil has come along way from are parents time 🙂
What an effect it would have if everyone who now change their oil every 3K-5K miles, would all start to change their oil at say every 6k miles instead.
It would save multi-millions of dollars and help the environment all at the same time, and their cars would last just as long as they are going to changing it a 3k- 5k.
One of my best friends has changed the oil in his cars for the past 20 years at 4K miles or less…and I told him so many times that 6K-8K would be perfectly fine…and he to this day, acts like it is the ‘craziest’ thing he has ever heard!
Best,
‘D’
BTW: I once had an 1984 ‘Jetta’ that in one period of time, I did not change the oil for almost 25K miles….I would just add if it was low…I drove that car for 10 years, put 228K miles on it…and the engine was perfectly fine when I traded it in…everything else was falling apart 😉
Dan,
I agree. I have never had a car less than 10 years and change the oil once a year ( I drive 10-15K miles a year) and all three of my vehicles have run great. Thanks for the comments
I never look at the sticker because the computer in my vehicle’s engine automatically keeps track of oil changes. Instead of panel lamps (which are easy to overlook), it has a special clicker and blue smoke generator built in to let you know it’s time. Saved me a ton of money over the years.
Great info Shane.
Do I still have to change my toothbrush every 3 months and my underwear every day?
🙂