Oil change? miles or oil life?

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Just wondering if you guys go by miles or by oil life to change oil? 

Im 1k over my miles but the oil life is at 21%.

Do i take it in or wait til the oil life is at 10%(2-3kmiles) 

2019 chevy 2500hd(never had a oil life reader on my old truck). 

thanks

 
445k mles on my 2006 LLY Duramax and I always went by the DIC (Driver Information Center).  I also had the Caterpillar engine oil and fuel filter upgrades.  The DIC on my son's 06 LBZ doesn't seem very accurate and resets itself for some reason.  He drives a lot so we change his engine oil every 7k.  He also has the Cat filters.  We change the Allison spin on external transmission filter every other engine oil change.

 
Depends on what I have been doing the last couple months. Lots of towing? Just driving around town? Heavy trip coming up and no time in between? I'm usually 5k-7k.

 
Miles on all my cars. 
80% of the miles on my truck is towing 19000lbs. No way am I going 7500 miles like the computer tells me to. Lol

 
I dont tow but 4 or 6 times a year the rest of the time its commuting.  I change mine every 5000. 

 
Todays oil doesn't break down it gets contaminated.  Cat said you could go 10k miles on the C7 without changing the oil, maybe even 12k....then the injector pumps all blew up.  Oil changes are cheap insurance.  5k makes me feel better....

 
Be fun to learn the history and progress of the oil sensors. Are they sampling the oil on newer vehicles? Or is it still a computer calculation of miles, RPM, load. ect? 

To me the older style was flawed because it doesnt take into account humidity and dust. (unless the air filter sensor covers the dust part??)

All things equal a truck driving around sunny San Diego will have cleaner oil after 5000 miles than the same exact truck out in high humidity and/or dirt roads. 

Tried to do a quick search on newer synthetic oils and hygroscopicity. A quick little thing came up saying mineral oil is LESS hydroscopic. That is another reason to look into the motor oil that Grease Monkey was telling us about. I believe he even sells it? I told SG about it. We have (2) older 7.3 fords here and considered switching over because i trust what a long time mechanic says. Especially for a tow vehicle that sits. Motor oil most likely absorbs too much H20 before it ever breaks down from mileage in that particular example. Although the truck is parked in very low humidity setting. Goes back to the climate where the truck is used being a big factor for oil life.

 
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Depends on the vehicle. Anything direct injected with a cam type, change it and change it often. 

I prefer to change every 5k or year. The DIC in my mustang has only told me to change the oil once at 14,000 miles… No thanks. 

 
I do everything at 5K miles 2010 F150 V8, Highlander V6, Imprezza 4cyl.

Pick up the oil at Walmart or Costco.

I have freinds who send oil off to the lab to see how long they can stretch the life of the oil. I don't have enough GAF for that. I do nerd out on personal finance that way but with engine oil I just change it at 5K

 
So I have a 2014 ram 3500 with the 6.7 Cummins. I have always ran Rotella T6 full synthetic. I have always been a 5000 mile and fuel and water separators every 10,000. Am I changing it to often. Oil is getting harder to find. 

 
I personally change every 5k miles or yearly in all of my vehicles, synthetic or not. The diesels also get fuel filters every 10k/2 years. I pushed the moho oil out to two years this last time because it got so little miles on it in 2020 and it holds 29 quarts of oil.

DI gasoline engines with cam chains are prone to chain stretch due to soot contamination in the oil which gets trapped in between the chain pins and links and over time wollers out the links. Going 7,500-10,000 miles between oil changes will cause you frustrations down the road on those.

 
I have a 2011 Dually, 6.7 Ford

I only use it to tow the ToyHauler,   I Change the oil Every 6 months or Once a Year,  This equals about 3,000-5000  I Use the Ford Filters From the Dealer, and AmsOil, Oil was super black, thinking about doing it 3 times a year about every 2000 miles, 

The Trailer is 47-Foot around 21,000 Pounds,  Have a sensor go out but no major engine failure,  I purchased the truck with 90,000 miles and now has 130,000 miles.

 
I go by the info gauge and usually change when it gets to 10-15%.

Not sure how many miles that is...

 
I change oil every 5000 miles and use mobile 1 in the car and delo in the truck. If I have been towing heavy and for many miles I will change the diesel oil a little sooner.

 
J Alper said:
I have a 2011 Dually, 6.7 Ford

I only use it to tow the ToyHauler,   I Change the oil Every 6 months or Once a Year,  This equals about 3,000-5000  I Use the Ford Filters From the Dealer, and AmsOil, Oil was super black, thinking about doing it 3 times a year about every 2000 miles, 

The Trailer is 47-Foot around 21,000 Pounds,  Have a sensor go out but no major engine failure,  I purchased the truck with 90,000 miles and now has 130,000 miles.
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Diesels will always turn the oil black in short time from the soot

 
ElCaminoManT said:
I personally change every 5k miles or yearly in all of my vehicles, synthetic or not. The diesels also get fuel filters every 10k/2 years. I pushed the moho oil out to two years this last time because it got so little miles on it in 2020 and it holds 29 quarts of oil.

DI gasoline engines with cam chains are prone to chain stretch due to soot contamination in the oil which gets trapped in between the chain pins and links and over time wollers out the links. Going 7,500-10,000 miles between oil changes will cause you frustrations down the road on those.
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That, and cam phasers on variable valve timing engines (almost every modern engine) clog super easily.

J Alper said:
I have a 2011 Dually, 6.7 Ford

I only use it to tow the ToyHauler,   I Change the oil Every 6 months or Once a Year,  This equals about 3,000-5000  I Use the Ford Filters From the Dealer, and AmsOil, Oil was super black, thinking about doing it 3 times a year about every 2000 miles, 

The Trailer is 47-Foot around 21,000 Pounds,  Have a sensor go out but no major engine failure,  I purchased the truck with 90,000 miles and now has 130,000 miles.
Click to expand...
I had to swap an oil filter (bought the wrong one) from an oil change I did a little over a week prior from my CTD Yodge.  Midnight black...

 
I live pretty close to work, 7 miles.  And, I have a couple different rides to take.  Along with that, I travel a ton. So, I might collectively put 5k miles on my stuff a year.  Maybe...  If we go anywhere far we take my chicks car.  None of my sht gets decent fuel economy.  2 Jeeps with 4.0s, lifted and 33/35s (XJ and LJ), DMAX truck, and a Trailblazer with a 402ci LS2.

Once a year...ish.

 
For me this is simple. 
 

whats cheaper oil changes or engines? 
 

I just did the 3rd oil change on my Jeep JK tonight. 
I bought it with 62,000 miles. It just turned 68,000 miles. 
 

I also replaced trans, diff and transfer case fluids when I bought it. Cheap insurance. 

 
There is no right or wrong answer, it's whatever you want to do. In my 35 years of working on cars for a living, there is no rhyme or reason for why or when an engine will have an internal failure, it runs until it doesn't, regardless of how good the owner has maintained it. I use the oil life monitor that's what it's for, but don't listen to me I'm just a dumb mechanic.

 
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