Oil Changes are supposed to be every 3 months or 3000 miles right? I find myself in the peculiar situation of owning a car that the time limit, 3 months, comes up first.

Can someone tell me what happens to oil over time that it would need to be changed even though there's very little mileage on it? I probably have 1200 miles on my current oil and it just hit 4 months.

Lyfisin

 

According to my manual (2003 F-150, 4.6 liter) oil changes for normal driving are 5,000 miles or 6 months.

 

I believe the regular service schedule calls for a 6 month, 5,000 mile interval, like pcouch pointed out. Severe duty steps up to the 3 month, 3000 mile schedule.

The time interval is there for a very simple reason. If you aren't putting on that many miles during that interval, it is pretty likely that you are doing a lot of short trip driving. As a result, your engine oil may not ever really come up to full operating temperature. Condensation and other byproducts of internal combustion engines will then build up in the oil, since it never really gets warm enough to "burn" or evaporate the condensation and byproducts off. This buildup can eventually deplete some of the addititves in the oil.
Therefore, there is also a time interval on the oil change.

 

I am a believer in the Quarterly oil changes ... that way even if you are under or a couple hundred miles over (less than 5000) you should plan on the 3 month intervals or as I like to say an oil change every quarter. don't know if this helps or not.. as it turns out my truck is due right now January 1st .. within 400 miles of the 3000 mile interval , so I plan on roughly 1st week Jan first week April , 1st week july and also October give or take , but if a trip puts me way over on miles , I of course chang the oil before hits 5000 miles.

 

I will have to agree with everybody else. While 3 months or 3000 miles (recommended by the petrolium companys) seems a bit much, if you haven't hit your mileage mark by 6 month point you should change your oil and filter anyway.

 

The only time you would ignore it is like in my case where one of my vehicles is garaged for a relatively long period of time, nothing 'happens' to the oil just sitting there.

 

I'm not too concerned about condensation here in the desert, heh.

 

HI!... I change my oil every 3000KMS no matter what. Also once a year I change all my other fluids as well, rearend, tranny, power steering. These all get changed with REDLINE synthetic oils. I also flush my cooling system once a year and use dionized water instead of tap water. Engine oil still gets VALVOLINE 10-W-30 and fram double guard filter.