At what percent should be good to change the oil

 

Some say 50 some say 1

Just dont go past the 100 and change it more depending on if you drive your car hard, in dirty conditions. Or lots of short city distances

 

I change mine around 35%

 

Don't you mean 1%

 

Ok thanks

 

My car has 100k on it, Ill be changing it at 50%. I changed it at 98,888. It has 100,1xx. It is at 69%. Id say around the 3k mark I will change it.

 

What type of oil are you using? Also if you read your owners manual you'll know when to ghange the oil. If your using conventional oil, I'd say change it right at or around 3000. If your using synthetic, you can get by with letting go a little longer.

 

The only way to know for sure is is to get an oil analysis, I use Blackstone. I'm currently trying out 5000 mi which appears to be when 0% is going to roll around.

 

I changed my oil every 3,000 miles, up until i switched to synthetic at 15,000 miles. Ever since then I've been changing it at 5,000, Keeps things easy too. Usually my oil life indicator is around 40 to 60% when I change my oil.

YelloEye, are you using synthetic or conventional oil? Even on conventional oil befor I made the switch, my oil life meter at 3,000 miles was still only at 40%. I don't know why yours would be so low at 5000...

 

O whoops yep

 

I change mine at around 50% and it would seem its about that time now

 

LNF on Mobil1 synthetic and I see 20.5 mpg average if that gives you any hint on how I drive. Back when I had an L61 I changed it almost religiously at 3000 mi, but then I was running Royal Purple and could tell when it was time to change because the engine ran different.

 

I change my filter every 3k and oil every 6k. I always use a high grade full synthetic and 1 quart of oil stabilizer.

 

Gotcha I was gonna say either the conditions you drive in suck or you drive it hard....

 

When you change the filter do you drain the oil and strain then put it back in, or do you just change the filter and top it off?

 

Just change the filter and top off if needed, but usually doesn't need topped because basically no oil is lost changing the filter.

 

What ever happened to the days of checking your oil and changing it as needed?

 

synthetic oil happened...

on top of that, my dad used to have a 76 Ram. He got it in 1992, and was using it as his work truck, it had a ton of miles, he owned it for 15 years, and he never did an oil change on it. The truck burned oil, so he would just change the filter and fill up the oil, and that thing ran pretty damn smooth

 

In my LT I ran Mobil 1 and changed it every 4500-5000 miles. In my SS I also run Mobil 1 and will be changing it at 5000 miles. I used to change it every 3k in my LT till I learned I was wasting money and oil lol.

 

What does synthetic oil have to do with the car saying the oil life is at a certain percentage?

 

0%

 

I personally don't use the oil life monitor. When I first bought my LT I went 5000 miles on the first oil change with about 20-25% left on the monitor. I've seen people come in at the dealership I work for with 6500 miles on an oil change before the change oil message comes on.

 

I don't use the oil life monitor either.

 

Let me start off by saying, you can change the oil in your car whenever you want if it makes you feel better. However, it is a waste of money to change the oil sooner than you have to. It is a common myth that oil gets "dirty" and needs to be changed in a healthy engine.

There are only a couple of things that truly effect how often you need to change your oil and the only way to reliably know them are through an oil analysis.

1. Insoluble particulates (dust, sand, etc.) and excessive metal wear. You can call these "dirt" but if you have high concentrations of insoluble particulates then it means that your air filter and/or oil filter are not doing there job. It really has nothing ot do with the oil itself. Same goes for excessive wear metals; if you have excessive wear metal then something is wrong with the engine.

2. Fuel/Coolant dilution. If you have a head gasket leak or worn piston rings you can get quite a bit of coolant or fuel into the oil. When you have coolant or fuel diluting the oil then the oil is not able to do its two primary jobs 1) lubricate moving parts and 2) neutralize acids which causes the breakdown of engine components.

3. Which leads to number three, TBN. TBN is the additive which is put into oil which nuetralizes harmful acids. In a properly maintained and healthy engine, TBN is the single important deciding factor in whether to change your oil. If you have a proper air filter that is properly blocking insolubles and you have a proper oil filter to pick up any wear particles, then acid is the only thing that you have to worry about. Oil does not "break down" as people always like to say.

I always get an oil analysis done on my car. Aside from the first oil change, which I did at 1500 miles, I have always follwed the oil life monitor which typically has me change the oil at about 7500 - 8000 miles. I have always used Mobil1. My oil analysis always comes out with low wear metals, no fuel or collant dilution, and almost no insoluble particles. My TBN at 7500 to 8000 miles is usually 4 to 5 and Mobile1 starts with a TBN of 12, which means that I could actually go another 2000 to 3000 miles before hitting the "danger level" of 2 for TBN.