HGerchikov

Mine goes in every six months, which is consistent with what the dealer says, and lines up with changing the tyres over from all seasons to winters and back again. I have found that car servicing is way cheaper here than in the UK, as they don't seem to have the same schedule, and I only pay for an oil change and then other thing as and when they need doing. The dealers in the UK had a schedule where after a certain number of miles they pretty much changed everything, or at least it seemed like it based on the cost.

iaink

With a new vehicle you really have no choice but to follow the service intervals in the handbook to avoid any unpleasant warranty refusals.

The canadian climate is harder on vehicles, but the 5 or 6k change is really a worst case based on a hard working vehicle on non synthetic oil in the worst conditions, in reality it doesnt apply to the vast majority of vehicles and certainly not when running synthetic oils. But if you want to maintain that warranty you need to change the oil when they say you should.

One reason I bought a Honda Civic rather than a Mazda 3 was that the maintenance on the mazda is stupidly frequent. Rather than set milages the civic has a minder system that calculates life based on actual usage. In my case its just gone past 60k and is booked for only its 4th service Monday, so 15k between services which is a lot more sensible. The oil doesnt even look that bad, but I would be wary of judging the performance solely by appearance, I cant tell by looking how long a hydrocarbon chain molecule is.

5k changes on synthetic is definitely stupid, its just a way for the dealers to make money. The now retired service manager at the subaru dealership admitted as much.

On our subaru the schedule is set at every 6000km, but we go 8 to 10000 no problem. That one just passed 170k and needed the timing belt replaced based on the maintenance schedule. Timing belts are one thing I wont push, the consequences of a failure are even more eye wateringly expensive than the $700 service charge....

not2old

I've been driving for 50 years, owned, as well as drove all kinds of different types of vehicles, from classics, antiques to newer off the lot ones.

Common sense prevails is my take on oil changes.

When I was driving 100 km one direction to work (all highway driving), after a year or so I would change the oil every 6 months. Even then the dipstick oil colour was as clean as it was when the oil change was done. When I got rid of it, with over 300,000 km on it was still passing the emission test with low numbers.

Now retired we own a 2002 Ford Escape with just over 287,000 km on it [it runs just fine] bit of a gas guzzler, although we do less than 10,000 km year, mostly all local in town traffic, stop start, lights, people, malls & we are never out in the vehicle more than one hour stretches. We do a run every 3 months cross border shopping which puts on ~350 KM for the day run.

The filter & oil [5W30 or 5W20] gets changed every 6 months. I check the colour & the smell - just like you would do with cooking oil.

I have yet to try just changing the oil filter every 6 months - then the oil & filter every 12 months

I'm sure back in the 30's, 40's & 50's they weren't changing oil every 3000 miles (5000 km)?

magnumpi

Yeh I would think u would have to be realy fast at unscrewing and screwing on an oil filter to achieve that one Lol

not2old

don't know about that, couple of reasons ...

- the oil filter is generally up a bit at the side of the block, so I figure not much oil loss

- with a cold engine & without oil pressure, maybe little to no oil loss?

according to this

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/i...6034324AATUxvM

Maybe a BE oil change expert can comment further?

MarkG

Ours is on top of the engine, so probably almost no loss if it's been sitting long enough to drain most of the oil back into the sump.

MarkG

Yes. That's the real issue with cars that are still under warranty.

Newer cars increasingly come with computers that will tell you when they think it needs servicing. Even with the cold weather here, changing every few thousand km just seems crazy.

magnumpi

Nice link, never noticed that the filter can be changed without the oil, unlike a lot of older MC that have filters on the gearbox

not2old

understand the corrosion issue, is there something that can be put in with the oil, such as a water absorbent/anti corrosion additive to cut down even further on oil changes?

BTW, I'd be OK with just changing the filter every 6 months, then the oil every 24 months if that was possible

Any suggestions?

iaink

Come to think of it, my Civic is at 60k, and the filter has only been changed the once, at around 30k. Standard service is change the oil, change the filter every second oil change...

Really, if the oil is doing its thing you would hope that there are not too many chunks of anything that would need to be filtered out..

magnumpi

Other way round, he said change filter only

MarkG

I believe it's called 'twenty miles of highway driving every now and again'. When the engine is fully warmed up, the oil should be around 100C, and any water and fuel that's got in there will boil off.

not2old

MarkG @ post #27 thanks

To add to the OP question about oil change frequecncy ...

Link below on oil changes + the comments below the article, kind of coincides with what Bob indicated at post# 10

Stop Changing Your Oil! - Edmunds.com

JonboyE

When I bought my first car here the handbook said Canadian owners should change the oil every 6,000kms and US owners every 6,000 miles. A North Dakota winter must be kinder on a car than a South Western BC one.

My current VW has an every 15,000 km service interval which seems sensible.

scrubbedexpat091

The UK service for Mazda indicates a oil change every 12,000 miles or 12 months.

I checked the book and the dealers are not following the manufacturer advice and I'll follow it and do it in April and October of each year or 12,000km whichever occurs first.

Is driving in the US/Canada so much more different vs the UK that a car there can go 12 months?