Best Time to Change Oil?

When is the best time to change the oil? We have a new L300 with 1500
miles on it and I am inclined to change the oil every 3000 miles. The
manual says to change the oil when the oil light comes on. But that
could be anywhere from 3000 miles, to 8000 miles! Should I trust the oil
light, or go with the every 3000 miles? Thanks!

 

Is there an actual light that tells you time to service the
oil or is it just the idiot light? If an idiot light those don't
come on till your almost 3 qts low um yeap time to get
that oil changed then. lol

All kidding aside. Depends on the type of driving your
doing. Mostly highway or stop start city driving?

I change mine every 5k but i also use mobil 1 synthetic.
If you are using conventional oil I would do it every 3k
just to be on the safe side.

Also the nice thing about saturns is they have a spin on
filter for tranny fluid so if you feel so inclined have that
drained and changed every 25k you will avoid problems
down the road.

Here are some links with info about oil and filters.

http://people.msoe.edu/~yoderw/oilfilterstudy/oilfilterstudy.html

http://www.pepboys.com/learning_center/car_care/articles/synth_conven.html

http://www.corrosionvci.com/motoroil_faq.htm

http://www.1st-in-synthetics.com/amsoil/motoroil.htm

Some of the oil links are vendor specific but you'll gain
an good understanding.

Hope this helps

Tim

 

My preference is to change it in weather when it isn't raining. I hate lying
in a puddle in the driveway.
Seriously though, I check the dipstick occasionally for level and color. I
change it when I can't see the dipstick through the oil film. This roughly
agrees with the 'change oil' light.

Oppie
'01 lw300

 

Agreed. As a matter of habit, and because the S seiries are notorius
for burning oil, I check my oil about every or every other fill up while
I'm at the gas station. It only takes a minute to do, and can save a
world of hurt.

I don't have a light, but I notice that the oil is "dirty" enough to be
changed about every 3000 miles. If I don't remember the exact mileage,
the dipstick seems to be a pretty accurate indicator.

 

3000 miles. After all, who's in control? You or the car?

 

OH, and By the Way. It doesn't matter what kind of liquid gold snake oil
you pour in there, it still gets dirty. Still needs to be changed at 3000.

 

Yes the L300 has a time to change the oil light. The Manual says that it
will come on when the oil has lost it's effectivness. That is all well,
and good but some people say it does not come on until you get to 7500
miles! That just seems way to high to me, so I do not think I can trust
the light to tell me something like that. And for some people it might
take them an entire year to get to 7500 miles, and by then it might be
too late. I always went with 3 months, or 3000 miles so I guess II will
stick with that. And what will happen if your " Change Oil LIght" is
defective, and it never comes on???

 

Oil can last past 3000miles, more so if its synthetic but I wouldnt
trust "any" oil filter to last past 4000 miles. There is nothing to tell
you when and if the filter is being bypassed.

 

You certainly aren't going to have a problem if you change it every 3000.
What I was told about the oil sensor is that it actually counts engine
revolutions, so if you do a lot of sitting at lights, it is still counting.
So, it may come on after 4-5k mi. if you do a lot of city driving. If you do
a lot of flat highway driving, the overdrive drops your RPM's/mile (easy on
the engine), and you may get the light at 7k mi. What you may want to do is
purposely NOT reset the light at your first oil change, and then see when
the light comes on. I did this once or twice and it came on once at 5k and
another at 6k.

I personally feel that with modern engines with overdrive and fuel
injection/computers (carbs and older FI systems could spit a lot of unburned
gas into the oil), oil changes at 3000 miles is overkill. If you are trying
to make your engine last 600,000, drive like a maniac, do mostly city
driving (same thing), do a lot of towing, then you should probably stay
closer to 3k oils changes. Saturn will usually throw the analyzer on the
engine to look for any malfunction codes, so they may pick up a problem when
it is still small. However, if you drive sanely in mild temperatures, why
not go with the light? It won't void your warranty and you will save $$.

Dana

 

It depends on how long you are planning to keep it. My last vehical
went 234,000 miles and I did oil change every 3000 with some lapses.

If you are going to trade it off before 100K miles then use the light
and be happy. If not, 3K miles.

JMHO

Wes

2001 SL1 44,444 miles purchased 11/03 with 31,800 on odo.

 

I do 35 miles each way down a highway in a rural area. 32 miles
highway and 3 miles city at 10:30 PM/ 7:00 AM so traffic is not stop
and go. The light came on at 5500 miles. It was the middle of a
northern michigan winter.

Oil is cheap, rebuilds at DIY rates will blow away any savings on
extending oil changes from 3K miles.

For example 200K miles will require 66 oil changes at 3000 mile
intervals. The local quick change will cost you $1866.00 over the
life of car assuming 200K miles. Going 6000 miles between changes
would cost 933. A shop putting in an engine will cost you 2500+ Not
worth the possible 933 savings. If you change your own oil using a 4
dollar filter and 6 bucks worth of oil then you are talking 666.00 at
3K vs 333.00 at 6K if you change it your self.

Change your own oil and change it often.

W

 

My wife's 2002 A6 Audi come with free maintenance. They change the oil
every 10K and use Mobil 1. 25K and we're on our second oil change.

I buy the synthetic and change it 7000 to 7500. The oil is just getting
dirty then. Did that in my two jeeps and Subaru Outback. Never used oil
and sold the cars with 60 - 90K on them.

 

I'd also use synthetics. Ok, I have a Harley, where oil is like
religion (seriously), but still, in any car, I'd use synthetics, which I
do in my bike, too. Maybe that extra bit won't be needed, but when
you're stuck in traffic on a 90+ degree day with the temperature gauge
climbing up up up and nowhere to pull over and cool off, it's nice to
know your oil isn't going to give up on you.

Oh yeah, I'm anal about Mobil One. It's the ONLY thing that goes into
my bike.

 

In the past I have been a 3000 mile oil change guy, but I
have to wonder why. Oil is far better now than in 1970.
Engines are better now than in 1970. My Sister who never
changes oil until her Honda's indicator says to change the
oil has never had an engine problem of any kind. Her old
Pinto got the oil changed whenever I embarrassed her into
doing so (often in the 10,000 mile range). That car never
had an engine problem either (was towed to the junk yard
with a blown transmission at around 200k). I have a sneaking
suspicion that I have spent literally thousands of dollars
on unnecessary oil changes over the last 35 years (I am 51).
I'd love to see one shred of evidence that changing oil at
300 miles instead of 7500 miles extends the life of an
engine by 10%, or 20%, or whatever. All I ever see are
statements like " I changed my oil every 3000 miles and I
drove my car for 256,000 miles." Guess what, statement like
this are meaningless. I know more than a few people (like my
sister), who don't seem to care about oil changes who have
driven their cars 256,000+ miles as well. The only semi
scientific and mostly unbiased studies I have seen seem to
indicate 3000 mile oil changes are a waste of money.

For my Saturn Vue, I have sort of decided to trust the
light. My strategy is to change the oil when the light
indicates, or at the first convenient time after 6000 miles,
which every comes first. I am using Mobil 1 (probably a
waste of money) as insurance. So far the oil has looked fine
when I changed it - I have done so twice - once at 3000
miles (old habits die hard), and again at 9,300 miles (light
never did come on, I just got to 6,000+ miles and it was a
good day to change oil). I am at 14,000 miles and the oil
looks good on the stick. None has been used.

Regards,

Ed White

 

You may have a point. 3K might be a little shy for typical vehicles.
My understanding of changing the oil has to do not only with it being
dirty, but perhaps more importantly that over time the oil's ability to
actually lubricate the moving parts breaks down. Synthetics like Mobil
1 have a much higher tolerance to breaking down.

This is why often in racing conditions synthetics are used over
conventional oils. The engines are run much much harder than any
(normal) street car, and the extreme conditions cause the molecular
structure of conventional oils to literally be torn apart.

Call the guys from 'Car talk' hacks if you will, but they tend to say 5K
is about right. Here is their take in response to one of those "my wife
says A and I say B" on when to change the oil:

+++++++++++++
....with the improvements in oils, engines (and the problems of used oil
disposal), we changed our recommendation [from 3,000] to every 5,000 miles.

....[every] 5,000 [miles] may be too often, but we think it's a good
estimate. The dealer would obviously like you to change it more often
because for every oil change, he gets ... what? Paid!

Ray: And the manufacturers would like you to think that you can wait
longer between changes because they're mostly concerned about getting
you through the warranty period. Plus, the promise of less maintenance
appeals to potential buyers of these cars.

Tom: And neither one of these parties is wrong. One is just being
extra-cautious, and the other is being perfectly reasonable. Since we
lean a little toward the cautious side in this regard, we recommend an
oil change every 5,000 miles.

Ray: But remember, even 5,000 miles is just an estimate, Richard. So
once you've discussed this with Deborah, you should still do what any
red-blooded American male would do: Whatever your wife says.
+++++++++++++

-rj
98SL2

 

http://service.gm.com/gmtechlink/images/issues/may03/TLMay03e.html#story1

 

I live in Northern Michigan, I seldom get stuck in traffic and 90
degree days are not the norm. Now having a 20+ grand harley, I think
I might just baby it. Hope you get a lot of enjoyment out of the
bike..

I don't see synthetics being so great over freqent oil changes but
everone pays his or her's money and takes their chances.

Riding a bike isn't the safest thing in the world either or in my case
a bicycle at times. Freedom is to pick your poison and live with the
outcome.

If synthetics came down a bit more in price like 50%, I would likely
give them a whirl.

Wes

 

Thanks, for all the reponses to this question, but now I am totally
confused. Some of you said yes 3,000 is a good time to change the oil
and others say to wait until 5,000-7,5000 and still others seem to have
waited till their oil turned to Sludge! I think I will go with the
3,000 miles for the first change because I always heard that it is a
good idea to get rid of the first oil as soon as possible because during
the manufaturing process some metal might flake off and migrate into the
oil system. And this could cause premeture wear, and tear on your
Engine. So I will go with 3,000 for the first oil change but now I have
no idea what to do after that!! LOL!! Thanks again for all the good
suggestions!

 

....sorry I didn't catch your ordinal post. I think the best is to follow
the user manual. There's always a ton of info most of us overlook by just
throwing the thing in the glove box. If your model Saturn includes a change
oil lamp on the dash that would be the easiest. Otherwise a common standard
is 3 months or 3,000 miles, which ever comes first. I only drive about
2,000 miles in 3 months in my 97SL2, and so I just watch my odometer and
change at 2,000 mile intervals, ex: 84,000, 86,000, 88,000 miles etc. For
contrast I will tell you I can't remember the last time I changed the oil in
my old Isuzu truck I use for trips to Home Depot or to the dump. And
embarrassingly I have let the level get so low the low pressure lamp would
come on when came to a stop. It's 20 years old and won't die, although I
think it won't pass smog this year and I may end up replacing or getting rid
of it. I'll do a better job with the oil changes if I get a replacement
pickup and maybe keep it 30 years! (grin)

 

First oil changes should be 500 miles and the rpms should be kept low
along with loading the engine. 3000 miles isnt so much the limit on the
oil anymore but it still pretty much is for the """filter""". Plus you
can tell by the varnish on a dipstick as to how frequent the oil changes
have been. I stay away from cars with anything more than a tinge to it
especially with low miles. Not that it cant be cleaned off there but
thats not the only place I look.

Typical Rebuilt and Blueprinted engines will usually follow this pattern
below and its seldom ever practiced on new cars because well...Its the
general public.

(use conventional oil for breakin)
-Priming and starting, half hour to an hour of running at 2000 rpm with
some flogging.
-Pull plug, drain oil, inspect for large materials. Pull filter and do
the same. (1/2 to 1 hour running)
((use mild loading of the engine for the first 500 miles. Keep the rpms
down, no towing))
-Run 500 miles, change oil and filter. (500 miles total)
-2500 miles, change oil and filter. (3000 miles total)
-3000 miles, change oil and filter. (6000 miles total)
-3000 miles, change oil and filter. (9000 mile mark, valves and rings
are seated, switch to synthetic if so desired.)
-3000-4000 miles, etc etc...