Bink

Yes, it does help even out the wear. Did it myself in the UK, but get it done here.

I would change my own oil, but it's a bit of a pain to dispose of it so I just let the garage do it.

Hyundai had a fit with me when I let my wife's new Elantra go 7,500 miles before I changed the oil.

On my Acadia, I will be changing it a little more frequently as I do quite a lot of miles in it (roughly 2k+/month) and I want to take care of it.

It does seem though that there is an expectation for every car to have its oil changed every 3k which just isn't necessary for most people.

cxx

We get the car serviced every 5k miles-ish which appalled one American guy who normally does his oil changes every 1500 miles!!!!!!!!!! Talk about falling for the hype

Jerseygirl

Surely that depends on the vehicle and mileage. Hubby's just replaced his after 2 years...in fact we normally have to get new tyres around the 2 to 3 year mark.

Tarkak9

There are numerous factors go into when oil is needed to be changed - engine running temperature, the oil temp, hwy/city driving, hard acceleration etc etc and also the quality of the oil filter. I tend to think the 3k rule of thumb was more applicable for older vehicles... greater than 15-20 yrs old; over time engines have become more advanced and cleaner. The first Buicks needed the oil to be changed after 100 miles or so; the Model T needed it about every 1k.
The contaminants in old and dirty oil is what eats away at the seals and gaskets .
Since people generally lease a vehicle over here, there is a mindset of 'not my car' so its common to see deferred maintenance; the car on the lot with 70k is there because the previous owner can't be bothered to spend a few hundred on replacing the timing belt or engine issues b/c they didn't regularly change the oil, which makes no sense to me spending a crap amount of money on a 'new' car rather to repair what you have.

IMO, consistent oil changes are the cheapest preventative maintenance one can do for an engine. My car runs on synthetic, although the book says the life of the oil is 15k, I change it about every 7.5 to 10k regardless; the cost of which is 2 regular oil changes but double the mileage so it balances out in the long run. If its dirty, change it!!

md95065

My Honda has a timing chain instead of a belt - unfortunately it also has a chain tensioner which is supposed to be replaced at the same interval as a timing belt would have been - the part costs very little but the labor cost is the same as it would have been to replace the timing belt

Bluegrass Lass

Only thing I wanted to comment on. I've also been told that if you go over about 80k miles without changing the transmission fluid, you shouldn't change it ever. We bought a '02 CR-V with 150k miles on it, and our mechanic wouldn't change it.

But they did recommend replacing the timing chain, as we have no idea if it's ever been replaced.

markwm

http://www.barrystiretech.com/direct...icaltires.html

Rotation is supposed to get the maximum wear out of the tyres but if you find that the tyres are wearing, for instance, unevenly, then rotating will not really help. You need to find out what the cause of the wear is.

Yorkieabroad

Just got a new F-150 last week, and am coming up to 1000 miles on it, so checked to see if it needed the 1000 mile oil change that the last 2 new cars had, complimentary from the dealer.

There's very little in the Owners Manual about oil changes - all it effectively says is watch the onboard computer for when the "Intelligent Oil Life Monitor" tells you you need new oil based on your driving habits. It does say to change the oil at max 1 year or 10,000 miles if the oil monitor hasn't already told you to. It recommends the "Ford Multipoint Check List" at each oil change (which seems to basically cover checking fluid levels, pad wear, leaks and wiper blades) but other than that the only scheduled service required before 100k miles is changing the cabin air filters every 20 and engine air filter every 30!!

Kwik Kar Lube, who routinely recommend transmission and power steering flushes every other week and replacing spark plugs about as often as you brush your teeth, are not going to be happy

Jan Alaska

My Merc just passed 100,000 miles and is telling me it needs a service. Now I could take it in to the local Mercedes-Benz dealer and part with $2K or I could let hubby change out the spark plugs (its still on the original ones) and take a look at anything else that might need doing.
He usually does the oil changes at home because he can and local oil change places charge a fortune, which is good except when something out of the ordinary happens like unscrewing the plug and discovering that the car takes 8 quarts of dino-juice not 4. Next time we will be prepared with a larger container and lots of rags.

fatbrit

So, I had a new one last week to fume over with the effing motor industry.

Among our collection, the FB family has got an old, fwd car that only gets driven around around locally 4 or 5 days a month. The front tires were shot, the rear tires are fine with at least 30% tread and look fine.....but they have been sitting in the Arizona sun for 4 or 5 years. So, I finally go and grab a new pair for the front. When I go to pick it up, they've put the new tires on the rear and moved the rear tires to the front!

Tire place states they can only put 2 new tires on the rear since otherwise it is more likely to hydroplane. This was the law -- though I'm not sure they'd know the law if it hit them in the face. This in a place where the last time we had enough water on the road to actually have a chance at the joys of hydroplaning was at least 6 months ago. The danger on the Arizona freeways is blowout, and you'll pass the carcase of a blown-out tire at least every mile. I want my good tires on the driving/steering wheels!

So spent the following morning before it rose above 100 swapping the effing tires around. Twats, the lot of them.

Steerpike

As mentioned by others, some engines are more susceptible to this than others. Honda's are incredibly reliable vehicles but many people told me to change the timing belt 'on time' with a Honda - circa 75k miles - and I certainly do mine on time (had hondas since 83).

Some tires are unidirectional - and thus you must swap front-rear on the same side. Other tires are bidirectional, and can be swapped diagonally if desired.

Rotation is designed to even the wear between front and rear. With a Front-wheel drive car, the front tires wear must faster than the rear tires; with a rear-wheel drive car, the front tires wear a bit faster but less noticeably.

The other factor is your wheel alignment. I hate getting the wheels aligned - expensive and hard to find places to do it. But I just found that my front tire tread is separating from the body of the tire after 35,000 miles of wear (plenty of 'tread' left on the tire in the center), and the tire place won't honor the warranty because they said the alignment is off, resulting in uneven wear ... something I can't argue with. So now I'm looking at over $1,000 is replacement cost. Rotating the wheels, and having good alignment, is money well spent.

Thankfully my car has those new fangled TPM devices - Tire Pressure Monitors built in, and I was alerted to the loss of pressure. If it weren't for these gizmos, I'd probably have suffered a blowout. I could feel the steel poking out the side ...

While waiting around at the tire place last weekend dealing with the above-mentioned tire separation, they were showing an endless loop video of why you must always put new tires on the rear. I watched it over and over, having nothing better to do ... I guess it's a big deal to them. Now, even though it doesn't rain much here in AZ, when it does rain, it F**&ing pours and I wouldn't mind having the best odds during those circumstances!

fatbrit

If you want the best odds, put 4 new quality tires on your car.

Which tire disaster is more likely to happen to you in the Valley -- hydroplaning or blowout? Would you like your blowout to occur on your front or rear wheels?

The 2-tire advice is great if you live someone normal. In Phoenix given the scenario I outlined, I think it's bollocks.

md95065

.. and most of my cars over the last 25 years have had both unidirectional tires and different sized front and rear tires which makes tire rotation impossible ...

(It doesn't stop some service departments from checking the box to say that they rotated the tires which means that you then have to go and look to make sure that they didn't *really* do it - but it does make you wonder how many of the other things on the service checklist didn't get done either ... )

Does that mean that if front and rear are different sizes you can't just replace the front tires you have to replace both front and rear at the same time?

Mr Weeze

If that's the Kwik Kar on Fry they are verging on criminal in what they try to sell you

Yorkieabroad

Thats the one. Total crooks. I always watch them to make sure they actually do the oil change rather than just switching the sticker!

Every time they get out the little bottle of transmission fluid that they have just taken from your car to compare to their color chart.....they tried to sell me a change 5000 miles after I'd just had it done at Allen Samuels Dodge. They also try to sell me new radiator hoses every single time - claim they are "blown", but Allen Samuels disagree.....