Another oil change question!

[Rob98GST]

I just read a topic on oil changes every 3k, 6k, 10k miles, synthitic, regular, etc.

My question is - what if you put only around 3k miles on your car in 6 months? My drive to work is only 5 miles and eveywhere else I drive is really close.

I read somewhere that everytime you start your car from completely cold is the same as a 200 mile trip - I am not sure if I believe this or not.

Should I change my oil every 3 months with driving conditions like this? Even if I only have 1500 miles on the oil? Or does it really matter on how old the oil is as far as time? It would be cool if I could just run full synthetic and change my oil once a year!

Thanks.

 

[dave99gst]

id change it 3 times a year in your case then.. close short drives are worse than long hiway drives. In other words oil with 4k hiway miles will prob be cleaner then your 3k city miles.

 

[gs-t_96]

I use to drive like that really low miles. After I went about 2,000 miles I looked at my dipstick and the oil was really dirty. So I would check the dipstick ever so often and see how dirty your oil is.

 

[Sk8er07999]

I would change it every three months for sure. Remember it's not the oil that wears out but the additives. Oil is oil. What makes oils different are the additives that change it's viscosity rating according to temperature. There are many other additives as well including anti-foaming agents, anti-corrosion agents, detergents, and so on. When these additives where out, and yes they will break down over time, your oil becomes less and less effective. When you start your car in the morning or whenever it has been sitting for a while it does cause alot of wear on the engine internals. I have hear more then 80% of engine wear occurs during engine start up. Stick with a full-synthetic oil as they are far superior to petroleum based oils. Mobil 1 tends to be a favorite. Also Mobil 1 has the highest standards among many other oil companies. So yes change your oil every 3 months or 3k miles. Change the filter too! If your not gonna change your filter might as well not change the oil. Hope this helps.