Quote:
Originally Posted by MuseChaser
Assuming you're talking 350k-400k kilometers, then we're talking about the same lifespan, and I don't doubt you for a second. My point isn't that changing your oil every 3000 miles is a necessity, it's that it isn't a very expensive thing to do and it sure can't hurt. In my experience, it helps. The cars I neglected in my youth (a Datsun B210, a '73 Olds Delta 88, and a Plymouth Colt, and a Plymouth Colt Vista (the last two were Mitsubishis, too, as were the cars T cited) all died early engine-related deaths (in miles, 90K, 130K, 95k, and 120k, respectively). I used to go up to 15k miles between changes because I was lazy and broke at times.
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Can't hurt, true, but if you change every 3k miles (assuming 225,000 mile car lifetime) you'll make 75 oil changes, which at $60/change totals out to $4500. If you do 5k miles, which is still well within the recommended interval, the numbers over the same vehicle lifetime comes out to $2500. Yes, we are talking over multiple years of car life, but thats enough of a difference that I would say that it is actually a lot more expensive to do it every 3k than every 5k.
Second point, your engine-related deaths for sure were due to your "up to 15k" change interval.
Lastly, I'm willing to bet your mechanic buddies don't pay for oil changes. So of course they would recommend the most aggressive interval.