Steve said:
Yes, I, too, am one of those "fools" that "wastes" my money on oil
changes every 4000 miles. Even stupider, I pay life insurance, auto and
medical insurance premiums! You'd have a *really* great time taking my
money!
Suppose you came with a "life meter" that told you how long
you would last...Would you still by life insurance?
I think that the people who actually design and build
vehicles know that Americans have been conditioned to change
oil to often. GM is doing a good thing by trying to reduce
the amount of lubricating oil that is wasted by unecessary
oil changes. For most of my life, I have been a 3000 mile
oil change guy (in fact I still am for my two trucks).
However, I am very confident that this is completely
uneccsarry for most people. I have the following reasons for
thinking this:
1) My Father - he has never been a 3000 mile oil change guy.
He is a "change it when convenient guy". In the last 40+
years he has never had a single engine problem.
2) My older sister - she is "why should I change oil
person." Her current Honda has an odometer driven oil change
reminder. She rarely if ever has me change the oil before it
turns red- every 7500 miles. And until recently I feel she
definitely qualified for severe service (lots of short
trips). Her current Honda has just passed 100,000 miles.
Engine runs great, no oil consumption. She was even worse
about changing oil in a VW Jetta she owned. Engine ran great
when she sold it with 140,000 miles.
3) Our farm tractors - I have always changed them based on
engine hours (really jsut a rev counter). Two of the three
current tractors call for oil changes every 150 hours. 150
hours is roughly equivalent to 5000 miles. The two tractors
with the 150 hour oil change requirements both have over
5000 hours on the engine (one has over 6000 hours). 5000
hours is roughly equivalent to 175,000 miles. Now the
tractors don't do a lot of "short trips" but most of the
hours have been at very high loads in hot weather. Neither
tractors has ever had any sort of engine problem.
4) A local mechanic I trust said people are wasting money
chaging oil every 3000 miles. He thinks 5000 miles is more
than adequate. However, he'll change your oil whenever you
ask him to do it.
5) European engines usually have much longer oil change
intrvals than US engines, even in cases where the engines
are mecahnically the same.
I think GM is doing a good thing by providing the oil chage
monitor. It is really just a rev counter that modifies the
rev count to adjust for more severe than "normal"
conditions. For people that don't maintian their cars, it
might encourage them to do a better job. For people that
tend to change oil before it is necessary, it might give
them the confidence to go a little longer between changes. I
know it has done this for me. I have not yet managed to hold
out till the light has come on, but I defintiely have far
exceed the 3000 mile mark on my second and third oil changes
for my 2003 Vue. I am at 17,000 miles now and have changed
the oil three times. The first time was at around 1000 miles
(I like to change the oil early on to see if there is
anything in the filter).
Regards,
Ed White
