When do you change your oil?

[ChiHummer3]

Hey, I hope it is accurate. I LOVE not having to change the oil that often!

I love my Hummer and want it in good health for a long, long time. That was the whole point of asking the question.

I guess I was always brought up not to believe everything you hear. I know that the oil changes every 3K helped keep all of my previous vehicles running for almost 200K - I didn't want to take a chance on screwing up my Hummer.

[NewHummerGuy]

Originally Posted by ChiHummer3

Hey, I hope it is accurate. I LOVE not having to change the oil that often!

I love my Hummer and want it good health for a long, long time. That was the whole point of asking the question.

I guess I was always brought up not to believe everything you hear. I know that the oil changes every 3K helped keep all of my previous vehicles running for almost 200K - I didn't want to take a chance on screwing up my Hummer.

It wont screw anything up. I personally wouldnt go down to 0% but thats me. I dont think anyone does this.

[whaaaaT]

ha i waited for the car to say it. I figure less money out of my pocket. Plus im lazy. I waited forever. I changed the oil at 3,000 when i first got the truck. Then last week at 14,000 something. I was actually driving home thinking to myself god is this thing working. And then it happend. Change Oil came on. WoW! Yea i wont be changing it till it says.

[H3.007]

I used to do the 3,000 mile thing myself. I am still not ready to push it to 0%, so I wait until it hits 45%. This delay is particularly useful due to the ridiculous cost of an oil change and synthetic oils. And it keeps me from giving more money to the Arabs!!!

[fourfourto]

I dont care what the monitor says,I will change the oil with moble one synthetic every 6,000 miles.
I am planning on keeping the H3 for a long time and probobly keep it past 250,000 miles
At 50,000 im planning on changing trans fluid and the rear fluids and will repeat every 50,000.
Also every tire rotation I will clean and add brake lube to the brake pad shims so the brake noise doesnt come back.

[Desert Dan]

I have allways tried to change my oil and filter every 3-4,000 miles. I will continue to do so with my H3 but maybe bump the oil change interval to 4-5,000 depending on conditions.

Think about it, If car makers made engines and cars that lasted 300k-500k miles that would hurt their sales wouldn't it?

Newer cars run much cleaner and may have better internal tolerances. Oil filters may be better too?

I have had several engines in Jeeps and Toyota go 100 to 150K w/o any problems or burning oil etc.

Now with the H3 I need a new head at 9500 miles?

Oil may not wear out but if it is dirty

[K9sH3]

I change it between 3K and 6k no matter what. And I change it before a trip if it is close to 3K miles.

Not only that I get a loaner truck to use while its being done.

[usetosellhummer]

When the Hummer says to. Todays high tech oil lasting only 3k is bull

[f5fstop]

It has always amazed me why people drain perfectly good oil from their engine, just to replace with perfectly good oil. It should be quite easy for people to rationalize that a set mileage for oil changes is and always will be ludicrous. Just think about the different conditions the engine was run under that same number of miles.
Was the engine started up in sub-freezing weather everyday, versus being started up at 70 degrees F? Was the engine run for five minutes or six hours? Was it a constant speed or a stop and go condition?
I have had people tell me that they religiously change their oil every three thousand miles, all year long. Well, up here in the cold north, if the oil was wasted at three thousand miles of summer driving, it was destroyed at 2000 miles of winter driving, so why not change it at 2000 miles.
In other words, what I am trying to say is that miles mean nothing to the engine oil; it is the time the engine is running and the conditions that the engine is run at during this time span. The reason we use miles is the simple fact we have odometers; not engine hour meters on our vehicles.
Sensors monitor different engine conditions and temperatures as well as mileage while the engine is running and upon immediate startup. It is a well know fact, that short trips in the winter will destroy oil faster than long trips in the summer. So, the computer looks at the engine temp upon startup, along with the ambient temperatures, it clocks how long the engine runs to get up to operating temp, then how long it is at operating temp. These are the main factors in determining the oil life.
The algorithm talked about in the article posted by NewHummerGuy, looks at the sensors? readings from the PCM, and compares all this to its built-in charts. It does assume that you are using oil that is specified by General Motors (or better oil such as a synthetic in the case of the H3). If you use oil that does not meet the spec required, the output from the algorithms will be incorrect also, and your oil life monitor will not turn on the light when required.
In other words, oil that does not meet the spec, could breakdown earlier, but the computer does not know this, so it will keep the light on after the non-spec oil has degraded. Thus, your engine could be damaged. In turn, if the oil is better than spec (dyno versus synthetic), the oil life indicator system will turn on before the engine oil has degraded to a point where it requires changing. Thus, no harm to the engine.
If people are worried about their oil, and were wondering if the oil still had some life after the change, they can always send a sample off to an independent testing lab and get the results back in a week or two. I have done this many times, even when going on the oil life monitor to the big zero, the oil still had a TBN (total base number) above minimum, and the adaptives were still present.
I will add that if people are using an aftermarket foam type air filter, than it might be best to change earlier. How early, I cannot say. Foam type filters allow more dirt into the engine than the paper filters recommended, and the oil life system assumes the intake system is sealed correctly and has a paper filter.

[NewHummerGuy]

Thanks F5. Well put

[HummBebe]

Originally Posted by f5fstop

If people are worried about their oil, and were wondering if the oil still had some life after the change, they can always send a sample off to an independent testing lab and get the results back in a week or two. I have done this many times, even when going on the oil life monitor to the big zero, the oil still had a TBN (total base number) above minimum, and the adaptives were still present.

[whaaaaT]

Originally Posted by fourfourto

I dont care what the monitor says,I will change the oil with moble one synthetic every 6,000 miles.
I am planning on keeping the H3 for a long time and probobly keep it past 250,000 miles
At 50,000 im planning on changing trans fluid and the rear fluids and will repeat every 50,000.
Also every tire rotation I will clean and add brake lube to the brake pad shims so the brake noise doesnt come back.

250,000 miles at 40 bucks a change for synthetic maybe more. Im just guessing cause firestone is more than that without the coupon. If you change your oil every 6,000 miles for 250,000 you could've bought an engine and a transmission anyway. Plus they will probly be cheaper to get a rebuilt one by then.

This is interesting
Make sure you guys read the 3k mile myth and the dark oil myth on the bottom

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_change#Maintenance

[f5fstop]

Originally Posted by whaaaaT

250,000 miles at 40 bucks a change for synthetic maybe more. Im just guessing cause firestone is more than that without the coupon. If you change your oil every 6,000 miles for 250,000 you could've bought an engine and a transmission anyway. Plus they will probly be cheaper to get a rebuilt one by then.

This is interesting
Make sure you guys read the 3k mile myth and the dark oil myth on the bottom

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_change#Maintenance

Decent article but...

"There are still vehicles that need 3K oil changes, but it's not because the oil goes bad after 3K miles. One example is the Saturn S series. These vehicles have a timing chain system that is very sensitive to clean oil because oil pressure is used as hydraulic fluid to ratchet up the timing chain tensioner. If varnish forms in the timing chain tensioner bore then this system can fail and the chain will become loose and eventually break. Dealers have gone as far as tearing out the normal service schedule (6000 miles) and leaving only the severe service schedule. If an engine is destroyed by a failed timing chain while under warranty, then the dealer will legitimately request evidence of oil changes from the owner. Unfortunately this problem usually won't manifest itself during the warranty period."

True for first two years of the S-series; however, after that there was no big problem with the oil passages and varnishing for lubricating the timing chain. Also, no dealer was able to void a warranty if the customer had the oil changed at 6K. NO dealer can VOID a warranty, only Saturn corp could void a warranty, and we NEVER voided a warranty for changing oil at the recommeneded interval.
Hell, we knew it was a problem, and even cars out of warranty were covered if the customer called, or the dealer called for 'em.

"Instead of making motor oil with the conventional petroleum base, "true" synthetic oil base stocks are artificially synthesized. ("Commercial" synthetic oils are in fact Group III mineral base oils.) "

Mobil 1 and one of the grades of Amsoil are Group IV syntethic; there might be others.